Mrs. Pearl Samet (Part III)

We stood in a line, and Mengele came down the line. He told each person where to go. If you could work he sent you to the right.

We had to undress completely. The only thing we were allowed to keep on was our shoes. They shaved our heads completely. The shavers weren’t good appliances and they ripped out the hair. The Germans led us into what they called a “sauna” — to wash. We were given soap bars that were inscribed RIF, Rein Judisch Fett — Pure Jewish Fat.

We were constantly lining up. We were told that if we didn’t listen to orders the first time, the Germans would shoot us. Each girl was given one dress. Some dresses were too big, some were too small. Then we were told to line up “five in a row” and we were taken to the lager.

In the lager, they put us together with Slovakian girls. Our blockalteste was Slovakian. They had been there for a while already. They were the leaders. They were very bitter. We started to ask questions: Where are our parents? They answered us that we would see our parents every Sunday. We asked them again about our parents, and they answered, “Parents? The parents are not here anymore. You see the smoke? That’s where your parents are.” When they told us what was happening to our parents and the small children, we thought they were crazy. We asked them once more. This time they said, “While you Hungarians were eating chopped liver, we were suffering here. Why did you let them bring you here? You should have done everything not to come!” But we answered, “Who would believe such stories?”

When we were still at home in our village, we certainly did not know what was going on in Auschwitz!

What type of work were you forced to do?

We were each given a white kerchief and sent to work. Our job was to unload all the packages when the transports arrived. Now we had plenty of food. Sometimes we found bread in these bags, sometimes it was candy, but there was plenty to eat.

In the packages we opened, we found everything you can imagine. It was like a hardware store, or a clothing store. There were dishes, children’s shoes, wheelchairs, medications and brushes. It was our job to sort through it all. The Hungarian transports had a lot of clothing and food, while the Polish transports had nothing. The Germans took all this stuff and sent it to Germany. If there were any yellow stars found in the packages, we quickly got rid of them.

Aside from emptying the packages, I also had to help prepare the fires. I saw how they made fires and burned the bodies. Two men would come, one took the hands and one took the feet and they threw the body into the fire. They would scream, “Gei tzum drut!” We watched and there was nothing we could do. We literally went crazy.

What was your morning routine?

Every morning they woke us up very early and we had to go outside. We were given something brown in a bowl that was supposed to be like tea. We were told that it was not healthy for us to drink too much of it. In the evening they gave us a piece of bread. We were always hungry. We spoke a lot about food and cooking — what we would cook when we were reunited with our parents, and how good it would be.

In the mornings there was tzel appell, which was roll-call. It took about two or three hours. We had to stand the whole time in the lines. Again and again they counted us.

After this everyone had to go take care of their needs. All the toilets were in a long room. Everything was in the open. There were no tissues or any sort of paper. All the while the Germans would stand and watch. They would scream, “Dirty, dirty!” They would hit us on the head and scream, “Verfluchte Juden!” And what could we do? Nothing.

to be continued…

These survivors’ memoirs are being compiled by Project Witness.