Mrs. Roemerfeld - 1982?
Work in Kitchen
Yes, you can go.
Okay. Uh, well at the end of 1944 uh, Auschwitz was to liquidate. And uh, I went to work and I went in to cook for my bosses, the German officers.
When did you do this? You worked all day with sorting of, of clothing and then you were sent to the cook?
No, I was picked out to cook for them. After that...
In the mornings?
I did not, I did not do uh, anymore, uh...
Sorting.
...sorting.
But you remained in Block 21.
Right. I'm speaking now of the job, where at, place where I worked. So when I went in there to cook for them. Naturally if I got through early, they sent me out to uh, sort the clothes.
How were you treated by the Germans that you cooked for?
Oh, I was treated fairly. Uh, well, because I had to cook for them, wash their hair. And they used to splash on me all the water while I was washing their hair. And they called me Helena. And uh, they happened to like me, like me uh, me and another girl from Krakow. The both of us were doing it. And uh, they said "Helena, if you don't wanna go uh, you're going to be transferred. But if you don't wanna go, you can go to the white Kapchen"--which means uh, White Babushkas, you know--"but you would have to be near uh, the crematorium, right next door." And I made up my mind, no. And I told them, "No." And my cousin that lives in New York worked there. I couldn't take it. I was too weak. I just couldn't take it. The screaming and uh, the cries and the smoke. It was right next door to the crematorium. It just like from here across the street. And uh, uh...
Did you...
I was, I was sold to a firm named Telefunken. And I was sold for a hundred marks.
How do you know the amount?
That's what they were talking about uh, the girls. Not that I have knowledge first hand. They were talking about it. And after we arrived in Telefunken, the Germans in the firm told us that we were slaves brought over from Auschwitz. And uh, we were uh, sold for a hundred marks.
The German soldiers in--were they SS?
Yes...
The one that you washed their...
...yes.
Did they...
They were high ranks. High rank.
Did they ever abuse you in any way?
No. They didn't have to. They had their own clubs in, in the city of Auschwitz. They had their own clubs which they picked out from what, you know, it's hearsay uh, some, the most beautiful girls. And they kept them there for that reason, and when they got tired of them they uh, just shipped them off.
To the gas chambers.
Yeah.
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