Day 59 - "Jedem Das Seine" or "To Each his Own"

"Recht oder Unrecht mein Vaterland", Right or Wrong my Country.


"To commit wrongness in the name of patriotism is certainly not the right thing to do!  It brings to mind the saying "Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel".


We now came to the habitat of the Commandant, at "half way house".  It was on the left of us and well constructed with a garden and in front of it were two soixante-quinze guns. You could call him the son of a gun then!
The house was in the Cararcho Weg/Way and was quite nice.  No formal greeting here that would be coming.


On our right, we could see the electrical fence and some of the camp site sloping downwards and there was also a lane of tree coverage between us.  The setting and decor was ideal and grand and it would get better.  As we proceeded we walked as if to eternity, getting one surprise after another.  Continually, moving towards the sunset now or in the morning to the sunrise, heads bobbing up and down.


We came to what looked like part of an actual zoo.  These animals had come from the Berlin Tiergarden Zoo to be put in a safe place away from the bombing  and under the protection of the camp.  There was, of course, the rock garden with baboons showing their bald bottoms to us.  There was also a black bear present who we guessed was being better fed than we were. 
Behind the animals was a dug out space with a ramp of soil. 


This space was there to receive the impact of the machine gun bullets from the ripped in half victims who were placed on the wooden stakes - more often to be replaced than not.  I suppose the barking of the dog baboons assisted in muffling up the noise that was made.  One can comprehend how the nerves of these animals must have become agitated every time executions were carried out.


With our "dimmed view", we now had to wait on the spot.  Looking over the camp and on a short curve to the right, we could now see a big center tower.  It had cellular constructions extending from the base, these were the execution or torture cells which were located on each side of the tower.  They also used these constructions for quick interrogations and for firing squad and guillotine transports.


The "Mutzen ab", order was given again and then we had the "privilege" of hearing the best band in Germany performing or beating time for our benefit. 
They were dressed in the most colourful uniforms taken from the nineteenth century orchestra or military capelle.  They looked like real clowns or a circus band.  By the way, these people were originally  musicians from the Philharmonic Orchestra of Prague,  they were taken as hostages for some disturbances that had occurred in Czechoslavakia at that time.  Only the best were good enough for this.


Around the camp were many "Miradors", as the French called them, or Watch Towers - these were manned by a machine gunner with a search light and two more soldiers.  On the center tower were several search lights placed on the balcony.  From this point, the Administration could watch the crowds, who were to be counted, as well as see the entirety of the whole camp which was in the shape of a nearly perfect pentagon and on a slope.


On a clear day we could see the statue of Barberossa which was an enormous obelisk in the distance.  Barberossa was a Swedish, Field Marshal and conqueror of renown.  More often than not, in the late season, as we stood for roll call, we were covered with a mist or rather low passing clouds.


Turning in from the corner end our band stood, the Commandant in the company of his wife of a certain fame, named Ilse Koch and his S.S. Handlangers! with their whips ready.


We were now faced with the gate in wrought iron!  On the bars in letters about the width and height of a man were the words, "Jedem Das Seine" or "To Each his Own". 


The gates opened for us and we would enter now!  It was like the entrance of hell on the way to heaven, guarded by the devil and his demons.  Only Saint Peter was absent".....


To be continued ...  

Day 58 - "Caracho Weg", Good Road or Paradise Way!!

"Our files followed us everywhere and while in Buchenwald our deaths would come about by hard labour in the quarry or strassen-bau, firing squad, machine gun, hanging, injection, torture and chopping off of heads -  which was the privilege of another outside department, you were specially sent for on this occasion!


There were also a number of on-demand applications performed by the S.S. doctors such as garotting! with piano wires or meat hooks and dissecting, as well as other medicinal and scientific experiments.  The human guinea pigs were there in ample supply and always available at any time.


There was a tower too, the Bismarck Tower, I could now faintly see the silhouette of the tower though the mist.  Under this tower were the broken bodies of so many buried in mass graves.


Towards the direction of Weimer, beyond the work places, was Goethe's tree house.  This stood near to a double gate with more fences.  Goethe wrote many of his best works here and spent many hours relaxing at this spot. We couldn't see the tree house as we were walking but could see an indictor/sign that pointed to Wiemar. 


The road for the prisoners in the camp was nicely captioned too and was written in Russian and read as,  "Caracho Weg",  meaning the Good Road or Paradise Way - so Buchenwald might as well have been called Shangri-la too!  The sarcasm of it all had just begun!


At this point, we were just reaching two guard houses, one on each side of the road when we encountered two representatives from this "mock paradise", with weapons pointed they ordered us to; Mutzen ab" (caps off).


Perched on a pillar, in the middle of the road was an enormous eagle, carved in stone, hewn from the quarry.


On a wooden board, above the guardhouse entrance was inscribed, in Goethe script,  "Recht oder Unrecht mein Vaterland" , meaning, "Right or Wrong my Country".






To be continued ... 

Day 57 - First Impressions of Buchenwald!

"We were on our way back to Weimar, the old republic of Saxony and Goethe's paradise and home region.  There was no attempt at anything like escaping, it was out of the question - our brains could only absorb so much!  We now wondered what Buchenwald would be like!


As usual, the railway ran on time and gradually we mounted the slope leading up to the wooded area of Eisenberg - all nicely tucked away so that nobody could see too much.   Near the bottom of the hill was a massive cordon of tank corps situated at the outer circle.  On top of the hill was a full, S.S. training camp and then there were the guards and the electrical fence circling the entire concentration camp.  Buchenwald had started out as a rehabilitation camp for dissidents and from thereon had gone from bad to worse.


We came to the camp station just next to and outside the fence and were greeted by the usual welcome party - ferocious dogs.  Some of us were bitten straight away, pieces of flesh were bitten right out of our buttocks leaving bleeding and large open wounds.  In this situation one just had to run for your life.


On my left side I noticed that there were newly built factories. I was walked or rather I should say rushed around with those dogs behind me, panting and drooling and trying to get a  bite.  At this point it was us against the dogs.  Then suddenly the human "Welcome Society",  came into view - they seemed to be as obedient as the dogs.  They were armed with whips and comprised of the underdog, slave drivers or camp elders and CAPO's.  Everybody had badges with red triangles.  


Some of the guards were Germans who had survived the rise of the Reich with Hitler as Fuhrer - they had extra Rights and Privileges because according to the Nazi's they were not considered to be, "ordinary criminals". They were mostly just a bit left-wing, communist or socialist.  There were also some religious representatives - mostly protestants.  In addition, there were  deserters and people considered to be abnormal.


They all wore ordinary civilian suits and berets usually of typical European origin.  The suits had been altered using dye or by the addition of squares that had been sewn in so one could clearly see the markings and they also had the white-blue stripes of galley prisoners.  There was a number under the triangle and a stripped ribbon with block and wing marks as well as armbands with the word "Capo" on.  These camp guards now took charge of us instead of the S.S. standing beside us. 


I remember all the details clearly.  Auschwitz had looked like a forest with dead/death trees sticking out of a bog, very bare in comparison with this camp, which in contrast, had a a superb view, similar to what I would expect to see in a holiday camp.


At a four point crossroads elevated on a green, grass patch was a pole, very much like a totem pole. The pole had planks jutting out that were being used as sign posts.  On one was a clearly drawn and painted caricature of S.S. marching figures.  They were drawn in groups of four in full regalia with weapons.  This particular plank pointed towards the S.S. quarters which stuck  out in the distance.  The buildings resembled high rise flats and were of a somber grey colour.


The rest of the planks at the crossroads had the following images: an affluent Jewish capitalist with the yellow star of King David, a political prisoner with a red triangle, a criminal with a green triangle and a purple, black and blue triangle representing: religions, homosexuals, saboteurs and deserters.


Lastly, was "Gouzloff Werke", which represented factory installations. These factories were next to the thick woods by the station and on the other side of the train tracks. Gouzloff was a German capitalist or industralist and a major shareholder in the company."


To be continued ...

Day 56A

After having just finished blogging my Dad's memoirs, I logged onto facebook and liked this quote posted today, by the Dalai Lama;


"Peace has a great deal to do with warm-heartedness and respect for the lives of others, avoiding doing them harm and regarding their lives as being as precious as our own.


If on that basis, we can also be of help to others, so much the better".