The view from the watch tower at Birkenau. Prisoner 71572...that was Bill Glied. He was one of as many as 400 prisoners kept in one of 300 barracks that does not meet modern day standards for keeping poultry on a farm. Luckily, Bill's stay at Birkenau (one of forty "satellite" camps of Auschwitz) was only for three weeks.
Bill was known by a number, but he was not tattooed. He said the only reason for tattooing prisoners there was so that corpses could be identified after they were removed from the gas chambers; people destined for work camps did not receive a tattoo. It is no wonder that 800 people attempted to escape the horror of Auschwitz, but only 200 were successful.
As the sign explains, there were "special" cells where prisoners were sent to die of starvation, or suffocation. In addition, there were "standing cells," where prisoners were forced to stand all night, several nights at a time, then work the next day.
This shows a "standing cell"--prisoners were confined there, as many as 4 at a time.
These 2 pictures show the outside and inside of the gas chamber at Auschwitz. Not far from this site, Rudolf Hoss, first commandant of Auschwitz, was hanged on April 16, 1947.
Birkenau was much smaller than Auschwitz, set up mainly to house political prisoners. Bill vividly remembers his arrival here.
"I remember jumping off the train on a beautiful day when the sun was shining. We were immediately separated by the guards. My mom and 8 year old sister went one way, and my dad and I went the other. I hung onto my dad's hand until a soldier yelled at me that I was not allowed to do that."
Bill was emphatic about how quickly the Nazis worked to separate people once they got off the trains, so that there was no time for emotion.
"I remember that everything was done with tremendous speed," Bill said. "It was a busy scene, but there was not much noise..a baby crying, maybe, but nothing else. There were no hugs or kisses...no goodbyes. The speed was intentional-- people had no time to think. Other prisoners at Birkenau were dressed in pajamas, telling the new arrivals they were going to get showers. People were actually excited about this at first, they were happy to get moving. But the sick and elderly didn't make it that far--they were directed behind the boxcars where they were shot. Again, this was the Nazis' way of avoiding panic amongst the other prisoners."
The pebbles placed on this boxcar are placed by visitors to the site, in memory of all the victims at Birkenau. I was disappointed to see the sign "Canada" at these camps. Several hundred people, many of whom were prisoners, worked here. This was where prisoners were removed of any valuables, including jewellery, or gold fillings, which soldiers said represented the wealth and prosperity people associated with Canada at the time.
"I was told to undress when I got here," Bill quietly explained. They cut all our hair, all our body hair. We were then herded by men in pajamas to the shower room, then pushed out into the open to tables piled high with blue and grey pants, jackets and wooden shoes. We were given one of each. It was the only clothing we had because we weren't allowed to bring luggage here--there was no room."
From here, Bill and the others were taken to a barracks, but there was no room.
"On the first night, we were forced to stay in the toilet until the next day. Then when we moved into the barracks, we were forced to sit with our backs against the wall, legs outstretched, so that one person would sit in front of the other in the same way. This was so they could get the maximum number of people in a small space."
It wasn't until he got back to the barracks that Bill learned the fate of his mother and sister.
"I saw a cleaner and asked him where I was. He said, 'You're in Poland.' I asked him where my mom and sister were. He pointed to the building with the smoke coming from the chimney with a horrible smell."
Bill paused at this point.
"I never got to say goodbye to my mom, or my sister. But when I told my dad what I heard, he told me not to believe it, that it wasn't true.....and I didn't know it to be true until I was freed from Dachau."
The day we visited Birkenau, we were warmed by the sunshine and surrounded by green grass, but in 1944, Bill doesn't remember a blade of green grass anywhere.
"We wore prison issued wooden shoes on our feet, and they always used to sink in the mud. We would run in order to get to the washrooms, or make it to roll call, but we would often have to stop to pull our shoes out of the mud."
For me, this put a whole new perspective on the decorative wooden shoes we see in Holland.....
Bill stayed in the camp for 3 weeks, but did not work.
"The guards here wanted to ensure that there was no disease among the people. It was extremely crowded, and there was no opportunity to lie down, but you could sit and sleep. We had breakfasts of coffee and bread, with soup in the evening. If the person giving out the soup liked you, he would scrape the bottom of the pot and give you a few vegetables with the broth."
After 3 weeks at Birkenau, Bill, his dad, and his uncle were marched out to a cattle car to begin their trip to Dachau, where they would remain until the end of the war.
"Again we were taken to showers. We were told to undress and were given fresh uniforms...a shirt, a pair of pants (no underwear), a round hat, a jacket, and two pieces of cloth, which we could use as a sock. Then we lined up in front of desks where other prisoners sat. We were given numbers, and asked detailed questions such as our mother's maiden name, our eye color, hair color, last address. I didn't understand why they wanted this information...we were there under the idea of murder by work, you worked until you died." (our guide told us these records from Dachau are now available.)
From Dachau, Bill traveled about 40 km to a large area surrounded by double barbed wire, electrified fence and guard towers. Inside, he said, were large military tents. People who couldn't fit inside the tents slept outside.
"After a few days," Bill explained, "we were instructed to build barracks. From here, we were moved to another area where we were told to build an underground factory for production of war materials. They were built for Messerschmitt and BMW."
Prisoners were woken at 4:30 every morning.
"We marched out to the job site, which took an hour each way, then we worked 12 hours. The road to the site went right through the village, and sometimes we were forced to sing Nazi songs. Imagine, 3,000 prisoners marching through the village singing these songs. It was absurd."
Bill explained that they had to dig into a nearby mountain to get gravel in order to make concrete for the factory. People would use a pick axe to get the gravel, then climb 80-90 steps to get the gravel out....4 people shoveled it onto first step, then 2 people shoveled onto the next step, and so on.
"You could not stop. If the capo could see you weren't working, he hit you until you fell down, then put you back into line. We did this for 12 hours a day."
Bill continued to explain that they had to add the gravel to the cement which arrived in boxcars.
"50 kg bags of cement were carried to me. I had the "easy" job of splitting the bag open and pouring it into the funnel where they added the gravel. They brought me 300 bags per 12 hour shift, 6 days a week."
There aren't many boys of 13 1/2 that I know who could keep up with this kind of schedule....
In March,1945, food rations changed.
"We went from having 4 people sharing a loaf of bread to 12 people per loaf. Then there was the crucial decision about what to do with your slice of bread....save it or eat up. In this camp, nobody was your friend...everyone was out for one thing...to eat. The soup we had here, unlike Birkenau, was made of potato peels. There was a large German military camp nearby, so they brought the peelings to the camp."
In the middle of April, 1945, Bill's dad got typhoid fever.
"To see your dad suffering is a horrible thing. Dysentery was also rampant. I didn't know if I should give him water or not. It's awful when there is no one to hold your hand to tell you what to do. I couldn't do anything to help my dad."
Every second Sunday, Bill explained the selection process at this camp.
"We had to do the "chair test." Every prisoner was called forward and had to be jump onto the seat of the chair. Those who couldn't, were separated and sent to "sick camp," camp #4."
Bill's father had developed typhoid fever and couldn't do the chair test. Sadly, only 9 days before liberation, Bill's dad died from typhoid fever. He is buried in a mass grave.
"There was complete indifference or apathy on the part of the soldiers when it came to burying bodies, so I never went there (where my dad was buried)--I couldn't do it."
A few days later, Bill heard an announcement from the speakers saying that the camp would be burned.
"Those who could walk could get on the coal train to be taken somewhere safe. We were liberated on the afternoon of April 29, 1945, but there was still a final roll call of prisoners that morning. 32,000 people still remained in Dachau."
Without any family beside him, Bill remained in hospital with typhoid fever until June of 1945.
I am continually amazed by this man's courage and strength, both physical and mental. He truly is an inspiration, and I am privileged to have been able to hear his story.
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