Siegfried Halbreich
Nació: 1909, en Polonia
Describe las condiciones y los trabajos forzados en el campo de Gross-Rosen [Entrevista: 1992]
There was a new camp, consisted only in the beginning of six blocks, barracks, and at night we were taken to our barrack, and this was our barrack for the whole year, and the conditions were there much worse than in Sachsenhausen. During the day, we had to march to the stone quarry, I would say maybe 20 minutes away, and it was in a mountainous terrain, and, uh, there we had to work, we had to work in this quarry carrying the heavy rocks [coughs], and, uh, people died like flies. On the way back, we had to everyone carry one big rock on our shoulders to the camp because coming home, I mean, to the barracks, to the camp after the report, counting how many people are left, or how many, if the, the same amount of people is coming back who went out of the camp, they said, "All go back to the camp, to the barracks, but the Jews remain." And we had to continue to build the camp till twelve o'clock at night. So--all without food. When we came to the barracks, we were so tired that we just didn't have any appetite. We fall asleep. And in the morning, five, six o'clock right away, up and again the same thing.
There was a new camp, consisted only in the beginning of six blocks, barracks, and at night we were taken to our barrack, and this was our barrack for the whole year, and the conditions were there much worse than in Sachsenhausen. During the day, we had to march to the stone quarry, I would say maybe 20 minutes away, and it was in a mountainous terrain, and, uh, there we had to work, we had to work in this quarry carrying the heavy rocks [coughs], and, uh, people died like flies. On the way back, we had to everyone carry one big rock on our shoulders to the camp because coming home, I mean, to the barracks, to the camp after the report, counting how many people are left, or how many, if the, the same amount of people is coming back who went out of the camp, they said, "All go back to the camp, to the barracks, but the Jews remain." And we had to continue to build the camp till twelve o'clock at night. So--all without food. When we came to the barracks, we were so tired that we just didn't have any appetite. We fall asleep. And in the morning, five, six o'clock right away, up and again the same thing.
Después de que Alemania invadió Polonia el 1 de septiembre de 1939, Siegfried huyó con un amigo. Intentaron obtener documentos que les permitieran ir a Francia, pero fueron denunciados a los alemanes. Siegfried fue encarcelado, llevado a Berlín, y luego transportado al campo de Sachsenhausen cerca de Berlín en octubre de 1939. Él fue de los primeros polacos judíos encarcelados en Sachsenhausen. Los prisioneros eran maltratados y asignados a trabajos forzados. Después de dos años, Siegfried fue deportado al campo de concentración de Gross-Rosen, donde fue forzado a trabajar en la cantera. En octubre de 1942, Siegfried fue deportado de Gross-Rosen al campo de Auschwitz en Polonia ocupada. Ahí, Siegfried intentó usar su experiencia de farmacéutico para salvar prisioneros enfermos. Mientras las tropas soviéticas se acercaban al campo de Auschwitz en enero de 1945, Siegfried fue forzado en una marcha de la muerte. Los prisioneros que no podían continuar fueron asesinados. Siegfried sobrevivió.
— US Holocaust Memorial Museum - Collections
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