Anna Greenberger - August 24, 1982
Hygiene in Auschwitz
So it was five of us, uh, they took us in the uh, some--probably it was a gas chamber, but they didn't gas everybody, they were picking people to work. The strong, they--and it's not just strong, you had to be lucky--maybe we were lucky because they picked us all five. So they took us in a big, big, huge, huge--you saw on the television already how they built those gas chambers, the--it was pipes and like water uh, was coming. So we went there and so they told us to get undressed--nude. And men was--were there, you know, they were there already before especially with the Polish. They were there since 1937 maybe. And they told us to strip completely and they started to shave our head and uh, all over. And then they disinfected everybody. We didn't know what's going on. They said to throw everything down, all the clothes and we will get other clothes. And we didn't recognize each other, you know, five of us. And Judy always said, "You just stay one next to each other. Don't go. If they call for some...something--" you know, because they were picking people to cook and sew--"don't volunteer for nothing. We want to stay together. Don't volunteer." And we heard already, you know, that people were screaming and, and uh, they especially in music--they made music, like you see, it's true. And uh, some people were marching and singing. So uh, when they stripped everybody--there we met some people who we knew from home, but we didn't recognize, you know, without hair, no hair, nothing.
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