Arbeit macht frei: - Fredrick Töben

epairing the bunks, but I had been so lethargic that I had not heard him
hammering. He looked at me and said, ‘Chin up. What’s the matter
with you?’ I staredbut did not answer. So he climbed down. I saw that
he was tall. His eyes were a clear, sparkling blue; …How could a man
smile in this camp? I found somebody who had not succumbed to the
spiritual degradation…I learned he was Polish and that he had been in
prison camps for four years, ever since the fall of Warsaw…Every day
thereafter he came to repair the beds…I felt his arms around my waist.
His other hand touched me and began to fondle my breasts…In learned
afterwards that his was the finest style of love-making in Auschwitz. The
ordinary approach was much more crude and to the point. I stood there
silently, tears running down my cheeks.>For many days, selections, the gas chamber, and the crematory oven
had been the subjects of long arguments in our barrack. My companions
believed that all the stories were largely fantastic rumours and nothing
more. I already knew that a selection meant the gas chamber. Many
others had also learned this secret, but it was as difficult to get the
majority to understand as it is difficult to make the reader fathom the
conditions under which we existed. We were no more than a few
hundred yards from the so-called ‘bakery,’ and we could smell the
sweetish odor that wafted from it. They burned people in the ‘bakery.’
Yet, after months of internment there were still people in the camp who
could not believe that it was possible. Why did they refuse to accept the
truth? I asked myself that many times. Perhaps they doubted because
they did not want to believe. Even at the moment when they were being
pushed into the gas chamber, many effused to believe. Magda was such
an optimist.>Often I was in a dilemma. What attitude should I take toward those
who refused to believe that there were gas chambers and crematories?
Should I let them continue to think that the whole story was idle gossip,
a cunning instrument in the hands of a sadistic blocovac when they
wanted to frighten us? Was it not my duty to enlighten my fellowsufferers?
If I did not convince them of the cruel truth, they might offer
themselves at the next selection.>For weeks there were no facilities for the care of the sick. No hospital
for health services had been organized and no pharmaceuticals products
were available. One day we were told that we were finally to have an
infirmary. But here again they used a magnificent word to describe a
piddling reality.>Later that same day I had to accompany Dr. Klein on his rounds.
…One of the sick remarked to him, ‘We appreciate your kindness, Herr
Oberarzt,’ and she went on to say that some people in the camp
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