Simon Kalmas - May 25, 1982
Life at Coal Mine Camp
We had a, uh, we were considered as a hard workers, so we had double ration. Instead of a third, we had a half loaf of bread, you know, per day. That's what you got in the morning. And uh, and a dish of coffee, which was artificial coffee made--ersatz coffee. In the morning and a piece of bread and this is what you went to work. It was three o'clock in the morning. Then you came back it was twelve o'clock at night. So sanitary conditions I wouldn't say that--I didn't have nothing to complain about. And uh, if you would only have the time to clean yourself, wash yourself, you know, and, and, and, and, and soap yourself. Everything was in a hurry--rush, rush, rush, rush, rush, because there wasn't enough time. And you came back eleven thirty or eleven o'clock, all you wanted to get to bed as soon as you can. Rest up a little bit. Especially me--I, I had an accident in the coal mine and I had a damaged leg and it swell up.
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