Pivnik - Survivor: Auschwitz, the death march, and my fight for freedom

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Contents

There is a straight line from You have no right to live among us as Jews to You have no right to live among us to You have no right to live.

Raul Hilberg

Acknowledgements

There are so many people I would like to thank for bringing my story to publication that it is really impossible to name them all, but some stand out and so to them I would like to give my special thanks: Philip Appleby, for his patience and unfailing support this book would have been impossible without him; Andrew Lownie, my agent, for believing in this project; Rupert Lancaster, Kate Miles and all the team at Hodder and Stoughton; all of the researchers and writers who have worked with me over the years, in particular Danielle Fox and Adrian Weale; my friends and supporters Ray Appleby, David Breuer-Weil and Alan James; Judith Hassan and all the staff at the Hendon Holocaust Centre; Chris Brassett; Jill Pivnik, my sister-in-law and Mei Trow, my able ghost writer who has brought my memories to life. But most especially I should thank all who have not been with me since I was a boy; my mother and father, my brothers and sisters and all my friends from Bedzin. They gave me the strength to carry on.

Sam Pivnik

I would like to thank four people in particular for their help on this book. First and foremost as always my wife Carol, who has spent many hours typing the manuscript, even with a dislocated elbow; my son, Taliesin, who again, as always was an indefatigable researcher, gentle critic and, on this occasion, back-up typist; Greta Hofmann, for her indispensable translation work from various German texts; and Bryan Jackson, for the use of his extensive Holocaust library.

M.J.T.

Picture Acknowledgements

Authors collection: .

Every reasonable effort has been made to trace the copyright holders, but if there are any errors or omissions, Hodder & Stoughton will be pleased to insert the appropriate acknowledgement in any subsequent printings or editions.

Glossary of Terms

Aktions The removal of Jews, Gypsies and other enemies of the Third Reich to the concentration camps.

Aliyah Bet The codename given to the illegal immigration of Jews to Palestine in the 1930s and 40s.

Appell Roll-call at the camps.

Appellplatz The square where prisoners would assemble for roll-call.

Arschlcher German insult; arsehole.

Asos Short for antisocial ones a category of prisoners including the homeless, long-term unemployed, sex offenders etc.

Baumeisters Civilian engineers (see also Steigers ).

Bedzin Authors home town.

Berchtesgaden Hitlers Bavarian retreat.

Berufsverbrecher Professional criminals who worked in the camps.

Blockltester Block senior.

Blockschreiber Roll-call clerk.

Blocksperre Lock-down.

Byelorussia Belarus.

Dreckjuden! German insult; Dirt Jew!

Edelweiss Piraten Anti-Nazi movement in Germany.

Einsatzgruppe German taskforce, execution squad.

Eretz Yisrael The Biblical Land of Israel; Greater Israel.

Fall Weiss The Nazis strategic plan for invading Poland.

Familienlager Family camp.

Gau German district.

Gauleiter District leader.

Gordonia A Zionist youth movement.

Hachshara Preparation for emigration to Palestine/Israel.

Hftlingskrankenbau Prisoners hospital.

Haganah Jewish Defence Force; paramilitary organisation.

Hausfrau Housewife.

Heder Religious primary school.

Hefker Jewish term for being free of responsibilities; from the legal term to denote an ownerless property.

Hitlerjugend Hitler Youth.

Jedem das Seine To each, his own motto on gates of Mauthausen camp.

Judenfieber Typhus; lit. Jew fever.

Judenrat Jewish council.

Judenrein Cleansed of Jews.

Kaddish Jewish prayer for the dead.

Kapos Camp foremen, recruited from the ranks of the prisoners.

Kappellmeister Bandmaster.

Kindertransporte The transport of children either to safety, or to the death camps.

Knochenmhle The bone-grinder nickname for Mauthausen camp.

Kojen Three-tiered bunk.

Kommando German term for unit.

Kriegsmarine German Navy.

Lagerlteste Camp seniors.

Lagerfhrer Camp commandant.

Lagerschreiber Camp clerk.

Lausbub German insult; rascal.

Lebensraum Literally, living space, Hitlers foreign policy for expanding the Reich.

Machal The Hebrew acronym for Overseas Volunteers; soldiers who fought for the new state of Israel.

Maurerschule Builders school.

Muselmnner Muslims (col. for starving camp inmates).

Oberkapo Chief Kapo.

Operation Barbarossa Codename for German invasion of Russia.

Organisation Slang for black market operations in the camps.

Piepels Boys used for sex by camp guards and Kapos.

Premiumschein Ticket for canteen.

Rampe Kommando Platform detachment.

Rapportfhrer Sergeant Major, commander of Block.

Raus! Out!

Reichsfeldmarschall German rank of Field Marshal.

Rottenfhrer Nazi Party section leader.

Scheissjude Racial insult (lit. shit-Jew).

Schiffchen Soft side-cap.

Schnell! Quickly!

Schutzhftlinge Political prisoners (lit. protective prisoners).

Shabbat Jewish Sabbath.

Sheitel Traditional black wig worn by Jewish women.

Shem Yisborach Hebrew name for God.

Sicherheitsdienst German security service.

Smetana Sour cream.

Sonderausweis Passes that stated you were essential to the war effort.

Sonderbehandlung Special treatment.

Sonderkommando Special units; inmates who were forced to operate the gas chambers and crematoria.

Stahlhelmes Steel helmets.

Stalags Prisoner-of-war camp.

Steigers Civilian engineers (see also Baumeisters ).

Stiebel Jewish prayer room.

Stube Side room.

Stubendienst Camp orderlies.

Sturmabteilung Brown Shirts.

Sturmbrigade Dirlewanger Notorious SS military unit composed of German prisoners.

Totenkopf Deaths Head units of SS.

Treif Non-kosher food.

Treuhnder A trusty; trusted helper.

Umgeseidelt im Osten Resettlement in the East.

Untermenschen Literally, subhuman. A Nazi term for Jews.

Unteroffizier/Unterscharfhrer Corporal (Army/SS).

Volksdeutsche Poles of German origin.

Vorarbeiter Foreman.

Wehrmacht Germanys armed forces.

Winterhilfe Contributions to help soldiers on the Eastern Front.

Yad Vashem Holocaust History Museum in Jerusalem.

Yiddishkeit Jewishness.

Zyklon B Chemical compound used in the gas chambers.

PROLOGUE

Facing the Angel

There was no calendar in Auschwitz. No dates, no anniversaries, nothing to mark the passing of time. For the lucky ones, those of us who survived, night followed day and days became weeks. Not many of us outlived the passage of months. So I dont know exactly when I fell ill. It was probably December 1943, freezing as only the Polish winter can freeze. In my thin striped tunic and trousers I should have felt bitterly cold, but that particular morning I felt hot and sweaty.

We slept five to a kojen, a three-tiered bunk, crammed together on the hard, damp wooden boards and it took me a while to take stock to realise that all that shared body heat should have faded now I was standing alone. My head throbbed and the glands in my neck were painful and inflamed. In the days before the war if you felt ill you went to the doctor. If you couldnt afford a doctor, you stayed in bed, wrapped up warm and took an aspirin. In Auschwitz there were no doctors like that. And the only hospital was a place of death it was the HKB, the Hftlingskrankenbau, the prisoners hospital, known to us as all as the waiting-room for the gas chamber. I buttoned up my jacket and tried not to shiver as the raging fever gave way to chills.