Abraham Mondry - June 15, 22, 29 & July 13, 1992
Auschwitz--Selection II
When Mengele came in to the, was it the Krankenstübe? Is that what it was called?
Huh?
The Krankenstübe?
The Krankenstübe, yes.
When he came in there for selection, what would happen exactly?
I tell you, you had to stay over the line, all undressed naked and take a hold of their legs and kneel, the Köpf, the head...He used to look at, take the Köpf, look at, look at you. You to live, you to die.
With his thumb?
He always going with his thumb like this. And he took the cap off, put it on this side means you going to crematorium. If the trucks come, you have to bring them down on the, on the lower floor, you know. Have the door and the trucks come in, you know. I had one, you know, one, one, one I, I, I cannot forget. He was this gentle Jew too, you know, and he was going to the sanitarium. He was going to the sanitarium and forgot to take his spoon, you know. He left his spoon in his bed, a spoon with a fork. You used to get, like a military, a fork, a spoon, a little knife, you know, all on, on one little. So, he used to say, how is he gonna eat without this thing? How is he gonna have his lunch, you know? So I say to another Jew, he was a Polish guy, a young guy. They took him, too. He said, "Hey, German schmuck," he say, "You German idiot," he say. "There wouldn't be nothing of you in an hour. Now you're wondering when you're going to eat." He say, "The, the rats will eat you." I was feeling so bad, so I went out and I got him, the fork and I offered--for three days he don't know he don't know where he goes, you know. I brothered him, you know.
So that he could eat?
He will, he really believed he's going to the sanitarium.
And he went to the gas chamber?
He had one leg. They want to cut another one. It had to be cut. He had gangrene, you know, infection. What they call gangrene here?
© Board of Regents University of Michigan-Dearborn