Isaac Engel - June 16 & 25, 1992
Beatings in Czestochowa
Were there any beatings in Czestochowa?
Oh yes, yes.
Did people get hung?
No.
You watched--in Skarzysko you watched the man being hung.
Yes, yes. One guy.
Everybody was forced to watch?
He was from ???. Everybody was forced to watch. I believe it was on a Sunday and--it was on a Sunday.
And how old were you then? T...twenty years old?
I was twenty-one. In Skarzysko already I was twenty-two.
So what, what, what did you--had you ever seen somebody hung before?
No.
What was your reaction to that?
My reaction was terrible. It was terrible. I say, what can I do? What could I do? Couldn't do nothing. There was one guy--guard, was sitting on a, on the, what do they call it, on the--where they sitting on top in the middle of the camp and looked down.
Tower.
Yeah, from a tower. And then here they came and then there was--there was a guard from the front and came in. And there was, there was nothing you do.
Now in, in Czestochowa, what kind of work did you do there? The same kind, with the bullets?
Yes, yes.
So you, you the labor gang was moved with--by Hasag.
Yes, yes.
Is that right?
Yes, it was also a Hasag. They just had more work areas and they produced more in Chenstochov...
Mm-hm.
...than before. And we were all experienced, you know. They brought in from Skarzysko--we were all experienced.
Only men.
Men and women.
Women too. Jewish women?
Yes. All Jewish women. There were some Poles with--they came in a few. And uh, but in Czestochowa I haven't seen any Polish women. Polish men I saw. I didn't see any Poles.
Was there any contact with the women?
Yeah! Yes. They were living in different barracks. Yes.
[interruption in interview]
Had you heard that there was a, there was a resistance movement--there was a rebellion in Czestochowa in 1943, had you heard about that?
No.
You didn't know.
I came in 1944.
Came in '44, so it was over already.
Yes.
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