Herman Marczak - May 12, 1982
Treatment in Labor Camp
Uh, I wanted to ask you some questions about these--the armament factory you worked in.
Yeah.
What was the treatment like there?
The treatment was--we didn't--we, we got a little more food. We could survive on the food we got.
Were there Kapos?
There were Kapos and there were Jewish police. We were watched from, from everybody, but...
And ???
...anyhow, the, the situation was this, they knew that we were doing productive work, you know.
Were there beatings?
Not in particularly, except if, if, if you were a schlimazel you know. If you, if you did one--make a lot of damage and things like this. Because those Germans who were there, they were professionals. That was their trade. They was--they were sent out from their, from their company to run those things.
Were there SS there too?
No.
No?
No. It was not SS, but it was that they were party men, they were--belonged to the, to the National Socialist.
Were they Wehrmacht?
No, no, no, they were not military at all.
Oh.
They were young people--they were, they were--they didn't have to go to war because of their skills...
I see.
...and they wanted that to go on.
I see.
We got some of 'em from the professions, we had a, a movie star--a Germans--they wanted to save him not to go to war, so they sent him over there to be a watchdog over us, you know.
Well, were there any particularly cruel...
They were cruel. They were....
Were there shootings?
Shooting, you talked about shooting. If they were, they were--the commander of the camp, you know, he killed hundreds of people with his own hands through, through the years as long as he was commander of that camp.
Oh, he did. Do you remember his name?
Kuhnemann. They hanged him after the war in Germany.
Kuhnemann.
Yeah. He, he, he robbed flowers and dogs and girls. They had--what they did, it's, it's impossible sometimes--you see, I don't get emotional upset if I talk about it, because I, I never talk about it with people in the war, but with people who we, who we were together, you know, we always, always talk about it, you know. I don't get when I--I don't get emotional upset when I talk about it.
© Board of Regents University of Michigan-Dearborn