Harry Praw - June 30, 1982
Surviving in Camp
Well, food was very scarce. We went to work and to be perfectly honest--I don't think everybody ever told you that--I am not ashamed to say it. If we could steal a pair of shoes off the next guy in the same barrack, or his shirt off his back even knowing that he has nothing else to put on we did it and we sold it in the factory to the Polacks for a piece of bread. It didn't make no difference whether it was your brother or sister, no matter what.
It was a question of survival.
You didn't care if the other guy survives or not you were looking out for your own, for your own benefit, for your own interest. Of course, their soups only consisted of, oh, one thing: a big pail of water. That was their main meal. Once in awhile you had a holiday and they threw in a piece of bread. And we were about a year in Skarżysko and they--there for one reason or another they closed up the plant and they had to move us out. And every time they moved one place--one camp to the next we had to line up again--roll call. And they always started going, "One, two, three, four, out. One, two, three, four, out." And they took us out--they took the kids out in the woods. The camp was in the woods. They took them outside the gate and all you heard were shots.
Mm-hm. Were they taking younger kids out?
Didn't matter. The guy just went, "One, two, three." He didn't...
Randomly?
...he didn't care whether look--if you didn't look at him right or you looked him straight in the eyes, you're gone.
Mm-hm.
So the next thing you knew when they picked you out, next you heard was shots outside the door--outside the gate.
Uh-huh, uh-huh.
And then they made you run. Run around in circles and they picked you out running. If you didn't run straight, you were out. If you didn't run this way, you were out. You run that way, you were out. So, happened I had a good friend of mine right next to me and they pulled him out and, and killed him. Right next to me.
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