Helen Lang - February 23, 1982
Stutthof Evacuates to Praust
Now how much longer were you in Praust?
In Praust, in January--around January the people they were emptying Stutthof because the Russians were coming close. So overnight somehow they let them sleep in our block--men, women, all together, you know. So who arrived? The Polish guy. He says to me, "Wie gehts? How you doing here?" I said, "I'm doing all right." I says, "I have the food." He says, "Look, I am Polish, I know the territory here. I have some men's clothes, come with us." He says, "I have some friends, we're going to escape." I says, "I have my sister. Would you take my sister?" He says, "No, I can't." I said, "I'm sorry, I'm not going." And he said, "You sure?" I said, "Yes, I am sure. I'm not going to leave my sister." He said, "Do you have everything?" I says, "You know what? Now I'm going to ask you, do you need anything?" I says, "Think what I could give you--I gave you my share of bread. Do you want that? I'll be more than happy. You were nice to me when I needed you." I said, "No, I can't--at least that much, ask me for something." He says, "No, I--we don't need anything. We're all prepared to do our things. We gonna escape. Come with us." I don't know how many they were. He says, "But I have men's clothes, come on." I say, "No, I'm not going." He says, "I wish you good luck and I hope you succeed whatever you do with..." he said--I said. And that was it. I never saw him in my life.
They escaped. You don't know. Hm.
I have no idea.
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