Born: 1925, Makow, Poland Describes forced labor in the gravel
pits of Auschwitz [Interview: 1991] When we got to the job, hell
broke loose all over. We stayed in a gravel pit, it was maybe
about...well...it was lower than our...the gravel was deeper
than our heads and we had to shovel gravel above our head into a
wagon. A prisoner was standing there with a wagon, with a horse
and buggy, and we had to load this wagon with gravel so it could
be used for making concrete uh...embankments or concrete posts
for the concentration camp. And just the shovel alone was too
heavy for me to lift. Still I had to get some gravel into it and
the gravel was with water. So every time I tried to pitch a
shovel of gravel over my head I got soaking wet. The water ran
right down on me. And the temperature was already freezing. And
people were dying. Everywhere I looked around there was one or
two just dropping down, dropping down. I mean it was just awful.
So, my brother says to me, "It wasn't such a bright idea to save
yourself.