Joseph Gringlas - January 14 & 22, March 18, 1993
Smuggling Letter
One of the things you didn't tell me is a story about a letter that, um...
Yeah.
...you.
How do you know about it?
I read your son's.
Anyway. There was, there was going on a little ???, you know, because the G...eh, the German Kapos had connection in the Buna, in the factory, with civilians. And I carried out a letter. If I would have been caught...there was, they caught some people of those going back to that Buna factory, from the factory back to the. The barracks was not the factory--you had to march away from a few kilometer.
Okay, which, which barracks? Was this in Auschwitz?
This was in Buna.
From Buna to...
From the factory to--back to the...
...to the...
...to barracks.
To the fact...
There was the camp, the marching...
...the Buna camp.
Yeah, Mm-hm.
Okay, Monowitz camp.
Mm-hm. I carried a letter and I, I, you know--why did I carry the letter is because that Kapo gave me food. I got uh, it was on the red wing, it's for politic, you know.
So he was a communist really.
Yeah and uh, he gave me some food and he told me--asked me if I can do that. I did it. That was foolish. I could have been killed--hanged.
Were others caught? Did you see them?
Yeah. There's some caught and hanged.
Um, what would have happened if you'd refused? What would he have to done to you?
You know, you were so hungry, if anybody could, tried to give you some food, you don't think it's gonna--what's going to happen to you because you're hungry. So.
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