Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive

Eva Cigler - March 17, 1982

Witnessing an Aktion III

Oh. And the building was all made out of brick.

Yes.

Then what happened to the bodies, they were taken where? Did you ever see them pulling the bodies into the crematorium?

The bodies, actually we didn't see they pulling 'em out because at night we were just uh, seeing it you know, the work what they was doing. They putting 'em out in a wagon and they bringing 'em out.

They pulled them out of a wagon

Yeah.

and took them to another building?

No, was a... Not alre...who was already in that crematorium, they took us o...they took 'em outside to burn. But in the crematorium there was uh, they could uh, burn 'em right away just like the oven. They push 'em you know, like assembly line.

In other words...

Yeah, that's the guy I was telling us who was working in that crematorium. In that crematorium when we was working, we just see at night when they gassed them they put 'em burn in that crematorium. It could be they didn't have the oven. Or uh, they have the oven, it was too small and there was plenty too full so they have to dig a hole outside and bring 'em outside.

And you saw all of this.

And that one I saw all of it. But what was going on the other crematorium I didn't see how they was doing it, but I see when the people was waiting and they was pushing each other because came a rain, was raining sometime and they couldn't stand, standing naked and they was pushing each other to go in there. They didn't know.

Into the gas chamber.

Yeah, in the gas chamber. They was thinking they going to take a bath and they uh, come back and dry themself off and take their clothes back what they left in a bundle there and they going to go to uh, work. They didn't know what's happening uh, with him.


© Board of Regents University of Michigan-Dearborn