Saul Raimi - July 7, 1982
Auschwitz Blockältester
And the Blockältester, that mean the block uh, leader, the block leader, the barrack leader...
Mm-hm.
...beated us. He was actually a criminal who had a life sentence in Germany before Hitler's year. Life in for killing. He was a, actually, a uh, bandit, a gangster. And they brought him from that prison to Auschwitz with an experience in killing to teach us, to, to educate us. Now, that man had a small, little, beautiful room and his uh, job was to see that everything functions in that barrack. That barrack had about, I'd say about 500 prisoners. And uh, I came in, he, he greeted us with a little speech. He said he, he wanted us to know that we didn't come to Auschwitz for ??? that means in a resting home.
Mm-hm.
But to--for ??? to be destroyed. But if you work and you abide yourself for the uh, uh, the laws and requirements of that camp there is a chance that you might survive. And uh, he told us there were all kinds of ??? there, you always you have to be willing to work, you have to be clean, and you have to be attentive and receive orders without question, you know. And as an example he beat up a few of my friends, I mean from that uh, that uh, they had to go to the hospital and they never came back, you know. He was an expert killer this guy. He didn't need a--he didn't need a gun or anything. He come with you bare hands, he could kill people. And he did.
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