Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive

Eva Cigler - March 17, 1982

Liberation

What happened when you got liberated, can you...

When we got liberated I remember we was uh, inside in a barrack and the microphone came and they said, "People you free, you liberated and we're going to bring you milk soon. You just be patient, everybody should stay in the barrack because it's too much shooting was going on." And the shooting, who was the shooting, the Kapos, the guy who get hold of the Kapo who was so uh, bad and the Stubowa, they was all get beat up and who had the gun they shoot them. So you had...

How did they get a gun? You mean the prisoners got a gun.

The prisoners, yes, they get the gun. I don't know from where or they went already to the German barrack and they get the gun from there and they was shooting the guy who was such a--make such a misery for them. Their own uh, Jewish you know, the Kapos there who watch them. And so they said, "Stay in the barrack and don't come out we're going to bring you some milk." And then, ha, we were so weak we went to hug each other, finally, what happened? Uh, we saved or we going to get all killed or what? But when we heard the voice we're going to bring you milk we see something is uh, special is happening. So that night we couldn't sleep and then we realize that what we went through in Auschwitz and everything came back. There is nobody left, just the three of us. And uh, the next day they came to our block was the first block who they take care of.

Mm-hm.

Right away they took the dead out, and who take the dead out? The German.

The SS.

Who they get caught. Yeah, the SS. And they had on, since then I would never have a yellow uh, raincoat. A rubber yellow...

Mm-hm.

coat with the hat and even they give them gloves and they take out the dead from our barracks. And then they have to uh, because the camp was so uh, badly uh, diseased, infected, they want to get moving with the girl uh, who stayed alive they should move us from that uh, camp and took 'em to Ber...Belsen. But before we uh, they took us out, we have to stay 'bout a week. And then the German truck was coming and they piled all the dead and they make two big uh, holes and just throw in one after the other. And that part where we was in that barrack there was all the dead. And we could see how the German hold that and they even you know, even doing work on, uh...


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