Joseph Stanley Wardzala
Nació: 1923, en Smigno, Poland
Describe las condiciones en el campo de trabajos forzados en Hannover [Entrevista: 1990]
There was a barrack, wood barrack, and each, uh, room was about 20, uh, bed, bunk bed, like a wood box and, uh, very small, and a, and a locker room, so each one have a locker and we have some item. What do you have items? You have a bowl, a round, have round, uh, bowl, metal, for eat, and a spoon and, and a card, uh, where, uh, they give, they give you a ration [card] stamped so you have to take it and when they bring you to camp, you go wash. You go to a room, wash yourself, and go in the mess room and then wait for, uh, for the, the big kitchen and they open up the window. You give them the stamp and you get warm...then you go to another window and you get a little bread. And you eat this and after one hour you're hungry and you have nothing in the morning. In the morning you get coffee, uh, but the coffee was made of chicory, sour like, uh, something hot. And lunch time, uh, nothing, only the evening. That's what, uh, that's what it was, uh, day after day and, uh, uh, the food was from the beginning it was a little bit more and, but, uh, 1943, '44, '45 was, they cut the bread ration so was very, very hungry, very, uh, all the time, but--hunger is the worst thing for, um, a human being.
There was a barrack, wood barrack, and each, uh, room was about 20, uh, bed, bunk bed, like a wood box and, uh, very small, and a, and a locker room, so each one have a locker and we have some item. What do you have items? You have a bowl, a round, have round, uh, bowl, metal, for eat, and a spoon and, and a card, uh, where, uh, they give, they give you a ration [card] stamped so you have to take it and when they bring you to camp, you go wash. You go to a room, wash yourself, and go in the mess room and then wait for, uh, for the, the big kitchen and they open up the window. You give them the stamp and you get warm...then you go to another window and you get a little bread. And you eat this and after one hour you're hungry and you have nothing in the morning. In the morning you get coffee, uh, but the coffee was made of chicory, sour like, uh, something hot. And lunch time, uh, nothing, only the evening. That's what, uh, that's what it was, uh, day after day and, uh, uh, the food was from the beginning it was a little bit more and, but, uh, 1943, '44, '45 was, they cut the bread ration so was very, very hungry, very, uh, all the time, but--hunger is the worst thing for, um, a human being.
Joseph y su familia eran católicos romanos. Después que Alemania invadió Polonia en 1939, empezaron las redadas de los polacos para hacer trabajos forzados en Alemania. Joseph escapó al arresto dos veces pero la tercera vez, en 1941, fue deportado a un campo de trabajos forzados en Hannover, Alemania. Por más de cuatro años fue forzado a trabajar en la construcción de refugios contra bombardeos hechos de hormigón. Con la liberación por las fuerzas estadounidenses en 1945, el campo de trabajos forzados fue transformado en un campo de refugiados. Joseph se quedó ahí hasta que recibió una visa para entrar a los Estados Unidos en 1950.
— US Holocaust Memorial Museum - Collections
