Herman Marczak - May 12, 1982
Medical Treatment and Sanitation in Camp
Which camp are you talking about?
About Skarżysko--about that Kuhnemann--about that, that, that commander. You asked if they, if they...
Yes.
...killed people. So the purpose really was if it'll be an air attack if they should be able to hide themselves over in, in, in that barrack and that--and, and they should throw the bombs they should believe it was a hospital, you know. But anyhow, there wasn't--there was no medical treatments. There were no, no medication, there were nothing. If somebody got sick, he has to go. But there was doctors, there was a--first there was a lot of small, petty accidents at work like it happens here. You got a ??? on your eye from the machine, it hit you. I hit myself, this finger--that, that is from over there, you see. So you have to go to a doctor. And they had--doctors they had bandages, some kind of first aid, things like this.
Oh you did have medical treatment.
Not, not, not, not medical treatment but technical treatment rather, you see. You know, if you got a ??? in your eye, you can go in, the doctor took it out. He didn't have not even aspirin; he didn't have nothing to help you. So if somebody was really sick, and they didn't--some, some of the people got contagious diseases...
Mm-hm.
...they put them in at that barrack.
Oh did they.
Yeah. So you know what the treatment was? Kuhnemann come in by the night with a flashlight and, and, and looked them in the face, and he's got a, a, a Jewish stooge who, who was, who was assignment was to bury the dead. You know, take 'em, take 'em out. So he got a box behind that, behind that barrack and he took the gun and shot him. That was the treatment they give him. And that's where he killed hundreds of people. You--it is--you can't, you can't tell everything, it's impossible. But anyhow, so they put us...
Were there whippings and lashings and things like that?
Not, uh, if, if they smuggle out of there or--it was, but it was not, not, not, not, not, not, uh....
What about um, sanitary facilities?
You--we had a shower. You--we could go into a shower anytime you wanted.
Oh you could.
Yeah, and, and...
And there was soap?
...not in the barracks, but where we worked.
Oh where you worked there were showers.
Yeah.
With soap?
Yeah.
And towels?
Not, not, not soap, it was some kind of powders. You wouldn't even use it today for--to washing a floor, but...
[interruption in interview]
© Board of Regents University of Michigan-Dearborn