Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive

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Saul Raimi - July 7, 1982

And, and the Cell Eleven? What--did you hear about...

I heard about it, I saw it, I--actually we didn't know what's going on, we knew they had--you knew if you did something wrong or you did something ??? they send you to Block, Block Eleven, they sent you in there. From there, nobody comes back because uh, nobody survives over there but yet, I mean, what could be more ??? tortured you to death. Of course you died but to torture you in such horrible ways that after and when it was discovered, I was shocked myself even so I was over two--about two and a half years. Another thing which I remember, going out to work in winter or summertime and there were a lot of people dying outside, I mean, on the work uh, places, wherever you worked. Those people had to be brought in and carrying those dead, that was one of the most horrible scenes in there. You understand, we were hungry and tired and underweight but those peop... those dead had to be brought in, laid out exactly to that barrack where they belong be... because that assessment. He would come and count and even if you're dead or alive, you had to be counted.

Mm-hm.

That was called the Deutsche Disziplin, I mean, the German discipline. So that, then they took 'em, they took those dead away but if you died over there, some prisoner, I mean, that was a daily occurrence, died you had to be brought in even you have to carry him for twenty mi... kilometers, you had to, you had to carry him, bringing him back and you had to be counted for the barrack. That was a uh, that was a rule and we had to abide and like I said that was every day people were dying on work, from beating, from the Ger... from those dogs, German Shepherds.

Yes.

And from uh, the guards. And uh, unfortunately there were a lot of Kapos who helped out with that too. Probably read about the Kapos.

Yes. Uh, Ukrainians or Jews?

??? But uh, there were a lot of Ukrainians, there were a lot of uh, Germans. Mostly, I would say. I wouldn't say there were Kapos uh, Jewish Kapos ??? but uh, they help you. A lot of...