Ordinary everyday objects became a matter of life and death in the concentration camp environment. It was impossible to work without a belt on one's big trousers, or to eat without an enamel bowl. It is estimated that 1 million Jews were killed in Auschwitz, the largest Nazi concentration camp.
Out of more than 200,000 prisoners, only 58 survived, none of them probably from Slovakia.
Prisoners in the 44 sub-camps of Auschwitz worked in factories and industrial concerns. Slave labour was one of the methods of liquidation, which also brought considerable economic profits. On average, the prisoners in this camp lived for 3 to 4 months. Most of the Jews deported from Slovakia perished in the Sobibor extermination camp (similar to Auschwitz in what is now Poland). It is estimated that as many as 26 thousand. This camp differed from the other Nazi camps in that almost no one survived. Out of more than 200,000 prisoners, only 58 survived, none of them probably from Slovakia.
The process of deciding whether someone would be gassed (immediately murdered) in a concentration camp or further used for slave labour was called selection. Twice a week, the camp doctor would identify those who would be murdered because they were no longer able to walk or had fallen ill, thus making room for new arrivals for slave labour. One of these doctors was Josef Mengele, who selected persons for medical experiments during the selections.
They drove us out of the wagon and selected us. We were selected by Dr. Mengele. He stood at the ramp, he had an SS uniform, black gloves, a white coat, an SS cap, the ramp came down and he was pointing with his hand. Left, right. No problem. He didn't ask anybody. I got on the side of death and then he looked at me, called me back, we were walking with my mom, he asked how old I was and when I told him, he hit my mom who fell and rolled on the ground and put me on the side of life. And now unfortunately I'm here and I can't find a place because it still haunts me. I have no peace
The third time there was a selection, they needed to eliminate three thousand people. (...). Five SS men on one side and five SS men on the other side and we had to go through the middle and I, it was in winter, my hands were swollen. The SS man hadn't noticed me yet, and there was a girl walking behind me who had her hands swollen and he gassed her. And we waited there, there were two thousand of us who were still left in the camp, to wait before they took them all away on trucks, and they cried, they begged God, they prayed.(...) They knew what was waiting for them.
The big selection on December 6, 1942 (...) and they left us standing in the cold all day and we just stuck out our hands in the evening and just behind me they took me, in front of me they took me, they left me sick, and my sister was taken to the gas at that time. At that time, out of the 19,000 Slovaks in Auschwitz in 1942 (...) about 300 of us were still alive.
Whoever survived until December, we already knew how to organize, how to steal something. The conditions were no better, we just learned to live in them.
During the duration of the Second World War, there were two successful uprisings in the extermination camps. The first in 1943 at Treblinka camp, when about 300 of the 850 prisoners managed to escape and 50 lived to see the end of the war. The second a few months later in Sobibor, when about 300 prisoners also managed to escape and 58 lived to see the end of the war.
Even in these inhumane conditions, there were often expressions of different kinds of solidarity between the male and female prisoners. For example, older women helped teenage girls who got their first period, mothers breastfed each other's babies. It was this group solidarity that helped to keep up the morale of the male and female prisoners.
To say that the one who survives thinks the most of himself, it's not true. In such situations, even just showing mutuality and self-help is more than getting a bigger or smaller slice of bread.
all chapters
Remembering the HolocaustHungary
Return and emigrationHungary
LMBTQHungary
History of the HolocaustHungary
Fascist ideologyHungary
The HolocaustHungary
The HolocaustSlovakia
Slovak StateSlovakia
IdeologySlovakia
PersecutionSlovakia
AntisemitismSlovakia
AryanisationSlovakia
PorajmosSlovakia
PorajmosHungary
LGBT minoritySlovakia
First transportSlovakia
DeportationsSlovakia
Life in the campSlovakia
Slovak National UprisingSlovakia
HomecomingSlovakia
EmigrationSlovakia
