Martin Shlanger - March 4, 1983
Conditions in Jaworzno
What were you given in the camp? What, what kind of food did the camp give you?
Well, we had nothing for breakfast; for lunch we had, had bowl of soup. Turnip, horsebeet soup. I don't know, I think you can call it turnip. And for supper we had a slice of margarine or a slice of sausage and we received about a half-pound of bread.
How many hours a day were you working?
In the summer months, as many as thirteen, fourteen hours a day.
Why did you call it horsebeet? Had you seen these before?
Well, yes, of course. We used to grow it at home on, on the farm. We used to feed the horses with uh, with that um, that type of beet. It, it's like sugar beet but it's much, much, grows much bigger.
You fed horses with it?
Yes, we fed horses at home with it, yes.
But not people?
Oh no, people didn't eat it. Not even the poorest people, they didn't eat that.
And these Polish workers then supplemented your diet by...
They were helping me, yes. A piece of bread, a piece of sausage.
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