Interview Context

• Date: 11/07/1995
• Interviewer: Leah Zasuyer
• Location: Rochester, New York, USA

Key Events and Individuals

• Mr. and Mrs. Bitkove:

  • Encounter with Schromberger, who executed them for complaining about conditions in the camp.
  • Each received two shots to the head.

• Execution of Innocents:

  • A 5 or 6-year-old boy was also executed by Schromberger.
  • The act was common as a means of instilling fear and maintaining control over prisoners.

• Daily Executions:

  • Was a regular occurrence; individuals were taken to a dispensary and executed within days if they could not walk.
  • Schromberger and Zimmerman identified as executing collaborators.

• Father's Role:

  • Involved in grave digging, witnessing the execution of multiple individuals, including women and children.
  • 12 executions in a single day was noted.

Conditions in Concentration Camps

• Tattooing and Humiliation:

  • Tattoo system used for identification to prevent escape.
  • Multiple specimens of humiliation practices such as tattoos on arms and faces, including the Star of David for Jewish prisoners.

• Harsh Living Conditions:

  • Described as a constant struggle for survival amidst beatings, executions, and torture.
  • Lack of medical aid for injuries including a broken arm sustained from a brutal beating by Schromberger.

Movement Between Camps

• Multiple Transfers:
  • The victims were shuffled between camps (Yeletsk, Velizka, and Flossenburg) under the guise of administrative management, often to shock or destabilize them emotionally.
  • The shifting was part of a strategy to maintain control and labor force efficiency.

Personal Accounts and Survival

• Tailoring Skills:

  • The father's skills were vital for their family's survival, providing him some protection from execution due to utility.

• Typhoid Experience:

  • Despite lack of medical treatment, a jar of raspberry syrup provided some relief during an illness.

• Flossenburg Experience:

  • Conditions were horrendous, with overcrowded sleeping quarters and inadequate clothing and food.
  • Prisoners often identified by numbers and subjected to severe punishments.

Nature of Labor Camps

• Work Conditions:

  • Description of work in stone quarries under extreme hardship with frequent beatings and abuse from guards.
  • Described as a labor camp but functioned similarly to extermination camps.

• Reunion with Brother:

  • Documented emotional account of reuniting with a brother at Flossenburg shortly before he was tragically killed.

Closing Reflections

• Testimonies of Inhumanity:

  • The speaker reflects on the difficulty of recounting these traumatic experiences, emphasizing the sheer brutality of the Holocaust.
  • Witnessing torture and executions as a normalized aspect of life in the camps highlights the systemic nature of the horrors faced.

• Concluding Thoughts:

  • The pervasive belief of extermination as the ultimate outcome for all prisoners, regardless of the duration of their incarceration.
  • Emphasizes that, for many, survival was determined by personal resilience against an oppressive and fatal system.