Polish Research Institute at Lund University, Sweden

Transcription

1 Witness family & given names: XXXXXXXXXX Places of internation Born on 19 th August 1911 Time period from / to Birth place: Poraj, Poland August 29, 1941 / Profession: Trade dealer May 20, 1942 Placed in: ZONDEK, Poland Prisoner data (triangle, number, letter) Notes Labor camp Nationality: Citizenship: Polish Polish June 12, 1942 / July 20, 1943 Religion: Roman Catholic July 21, 1943 / Parents names (F/M) Jan/Bronisława May 7, 1945 Last domicile in Poland: Poraj Present domicile: Poraj, Poland SUVNADAL, Norway MOLDE, Norway Labor camp, O.T. Labor camp, O.T. The testimony consists of 5 pages of handwritten text and covers the following main items: 1. Descriptions of the labor camp in Poland. 2. Transport to Norway Sweden refuses to grant permission for the transit through their territory. 3. Description of the camps in Norway (O.T.): a) Poles always treated worse in all aspects, b) hard labor building fortifications in rocks, c) contacts with civilians prohibited, d) encounter with a British secret agent, e) listening to the radio, f) help from Norwegians. Page 1 of 5

2 Institute member at the protocol: Józef NOWACZYK, (Translation from Polish by Kris Murawski 1 ) RECORD OF WITNESS TESTIMONY No. 218 Name, Mr. XXXXXXXXXX Born: 19 th August, 1911 In: Poraj n. Częstochowa [Myszków County?], Poland. Profession: Trade dealer Religion: Roman Catholic Parents 1 st names: Jan, Bronisława Last domicile in Poland: Poraj, Current domicile: Poraj, Poland Instructed about the importance of truthful testimony as well as on responsibility and consequences of false testimony, the witness testifies as to the following: I was in: ZONDEK Labor camp from: August 29, 1941 to: May 1942, then I was in: SUVNADAL, Norway Labor camp. Assignment to O.T. from: June 12, 1942 to: July 20, 1943, and then in: MOLDE, Norway Labor camp. Assignment to O.T. from: July 21, 1943 to: May 7, 1945, Asked if in connection with my incarceration, my work in labor camp, I have any specific information about camp organization, the camp regimen, prisoners work conditions, treatment of prisoners, medical and pastoral care, sanitary/hygienic conditions, and also any specific events in all aspects of the camp life, I testify as follows: The testimony consists of 5 pages of handwritten text and covers the following main items: 1. Descriptions of the labor camp in Poland. 2. Transport to Norway Sweden refuses to grant permission for the transit through their territory. 3. Description of the camps in Norway (O.T.): a) Poles always treated worse in all aspects, b) hard labor building fortifications in rocks, c) contacts with civilians prohibited, d) encounter with a British secret agent, e) listening to the radio, 1 Translator s notes (if any) are in cursive, enclosed in square brackets Page 2 of 5

3 f) help from Norwegians. As a Polish soldier, after the Polish-German campaign I became a German POW. Shortly after that, I escaped and went home (Poraj). We POWs were transported for four days with no food and during that transport I managed to run. I hid at home not registering at the residency office to avoid arresting me as a POW again. On August 19, 1941 I was nevertheless taken for forced labor and transported to the labor camp in ZONDEK. There was a new military airfield under construction there. Lodging and hygienic conditions were OK. We stayed in barracks. There were about 200 of us Poles. Our work was cementing the airfield, digging holes for plumbing and shelters, subterranean warehouses. The terrain was rocky. Work was very hard, 12 hours with a half-hour break for lunch. The regime was strict. Poor performance was punished with beating. We were getting 500 g of bread and approximately 20 g of margarine daily, black coffee two times during a day, potato or cabbage soup with scraps of meat once a day. As being Poles we received those food rations from the camp kitchen, as anywhere in Poland, significantly reduced as compared with the rations for the Germans. Civilian Germans who worked at the airfield, ate privately. We supplemented our food with the parcels received from families. Our wages after deductions for food, lodging, etc., amounted up to 2 marks per day. After work we were allowed to go out. Invectives like verfluchter Pollack, Hund, were used all the time. On May 21, 1942, 37 young people were selected, me included, and sent for work to Norway. The route was supposed to lead through Sweden. When we arrived in Helsingborg, the Swedish authorities declined the right to transit with a justification that they cannot issue such permit for workers of the Polish nationality. So, our ship left for Denmark. In Helsingborg we intended to flee to Sweden, but as we were watched severely, we could not do it. On arrival in Oslo we were assigned by the labor office to a labor camp in SUVNADAL. Continuing journey to that camp we made by train and at the end, by buses. We arrived in SUVNADAL on June 12, There were 77 Poles, 57 Frenchmen, 60 Belgians in that camp. Our work included building bunkers, tunnels, shelters. The terrain was rocky. We worked 10 hours in the winter, 12 hours in summer. Only Poles were used for the toughest assignments. And they were very tough indeed. When a cement transport arrived, we had to work daily even 16 hours in a row to unload ships. Work had to be done regardless of weather which was very variable. Many a time, we were soaked by rain several times per day. The next morning we had to put on wet Page 3 of 5

4 clothing. The rocks were blasted with drills and dynamite and then hauled or carried to a designated spot. Then build, cement and arrange tunnels or shelters. In other places we carried away, using wheelbarrows, the top layer of soil which covered the underlying rocky layer. Those wheelbarrows were pulled with wire ropes by two people, one pushing it from behind. We had to use pickaxes as well. In a nutshell then, and in particular because the Poles were burdened with the toughest and worst of tasks, the working conditions for us were extremely tough. To finish building bunkers, we Poles had to work 16, 18 and even 20 hours in a row, including work with cement. German military doing work at the same time worked 8 hour shifts. People could barely walk from exhaustion. The O.T. Germans were getting their dinner first when they returned from work, of course better, with meat. They ate separately. We foreign workers sat in a separate dining room and we Poles were getting food last. Our wages were 30 crowns per month, while the French and the Belgians made up to 90 crowns. As of 1945 our wages increased to 50 crowns per month. Wages of the French and Belgians remained the same. The O.T. members were getting over 100 crowns after deductions and about 200 crowns were paid to their families at home. We all were treated harshly. But we Poles were treated even more harshly than others. For working to slow or not well enough, the punishment was slapping on the face. This was done by the so called supervisors from O.T. Germans. We were not allowed to converse with the civilian Norwegians. One time an interpreter noticed me talking with a Norwegian woman. It took place over a barbed wire fence which surrounded our camp. For this, 8 of us Poles were sent to the Strafkolonne for 3 days. We were getting half of the dinner portion of soup, were prohibited talking to each other, allowed to the toilet for no more than 5 minutes. In case of an illness it was hard to get a referral to the doctor who was visiting from a nearby town. He was a Norwegian, a very good man, but allowed to see only those patients who were selected by the orderly a German. And he made it difficult, and that for Poles, again. As a rule, only those patients were seen by the doctor, who were carried there because they fell ill and fainted at work. Serious cases were sent to TRONDHEIM, about 130 km away. There were no killings of workers. We were guarded by Germans of O.T. Labor camp MOLDE July 21, 1943 May 7, Poles, 53 Frenchmen and over 100 Norwegians were placed in barracks. We lodged by nationalities. The Germans however stayed in a school house. Tasks and work conditions were the same as in SUVNADAL. However, even that we were observed, we were allowed to spend time free of work outside of the camp, till 10 pm. In the Page 4 of 5

5 previous camp we were not allowed to go out. I believe that this loosening of restrictions resulted from German failures on the war fronts. The Norwegians in both camps gave us secretly help in form of food and clothing. Our relations with the Frenchmen and Belgians were always exemplary. Those people were all of young age. One of the Frenchmen managed to organize a radio receiver, which was placed in the internal wall of the room and appropriately camouflaged. Trusted individuals from among the Frenchmen and Poles, among the others me included, were in secrecy listening to foreign radio transmissions. At one time a German from O.T. overheard certain sounds from the radio he burst into the room but in spite of searching for it, he did not discover the receiver which was perfectly hidden. We then removed the receiver from the block. We gave it to civilian Norwegians. After that, a search of the barrack was conducted, but the receiver was not found. Because there was no evidence against us, the case could not be presented to the court. We later listened to the radio at the Norwegian family with which we hid the receiver. There were escapes as well among Poles as Frenchmen. People tried fleeng to Sweden. None of those escapes was successful. Escapees were captured. Because of skillful defense, none of those escapees were proven guilty. One of the Poles was captured before reaching the Swedish border. He was forced to return under convoy for 40 km with skis put on his bare feet. Due to frostbite he lost parts of his feet which needed to be amputated. In winter of 1944/45 a certain Norwegian professor who came illegally from England, appeared in our area. He made drawings and took photographs of fortifications, talked to us. Upon completing his task he left, but he was later identified and captured. However he was able to escape with his materials during the transport. Read, signed, accepted Józef Nowaczyk Institute member XXXXXXXXXX Witness Comments of the interviewer: There are no reservations regarding the truthfulness of the details of the testimony. Józef Nowaczyk Institute member Page 5 of 5