Friday, September 7, I94t

DETROIT JEWISH CHRONICLE and The Legal Chronicle

Page Twelve

PIONEERS ON LAND AND SEA IN PALESTINE -1

overheard me say a few words to
a friend during working hours, he
jotted down my number-26,760
—and in the evening, instead of
a supper, I got a one hour's les-
son in genuflection. For another
(Continued from Page 5)
"minor sin" I was compelled to
year-old Justizrat from the Rhine- bury my head in a heap of snow,
land, whose dignity and upright- for ten minutes or longer—after-
ness impressed even our rough wards I felt as though my ears,
Elite Guards. There were also nose, and lips were completely
quite a few youngsters of fifteen numb. .. .
and sixteen, who occupied a but
Indeed, no gas chambers were
of their own and whose dark, sad
eyes mirrored all the misery and necessary to reduce the number
despair of this worst of all pos- of prisoners; blood poisoning and
sible worlds. Our main occupa- inflamation of the lungs were the
tion changed from week to week, most common causes of death.
or even from day to day. At Perhaps as many as one hundred
times it consisted of endless prisoners died on January 23 and
marching and drilling, at other 24, 1939, when all prisoners—
times we had to carry building possibly as many as 20.000 men,
materials from one part of the of half whom were Jewish—were
large camp to another, or to re- forced to stand "at attention"
move the snow in wheel-barrows for 24 hours, after, miraculously.
and dump it in the above-men- a prisoner had escaped. Many
tioned moat. Everything had to prisoners preferred to die peace-
be done fast and skillfully—I saw fully in their hut, instead of
more than once some middle-aged being "treated" at the camp hos-
professional man being heavily pital by the Nazi "doctors," many
beaten by an SS-hoodlum, be- of whom were only medical stu-
cause he, the Jew, could not run dents.
fast enough with his heavy load
There was only one bright spot
in this man-made hell: the spirit
of lumber .
Much worse than the labor was of comradeship, of solidarity that
another feature of the camp-life: Prevailed among us. Special praise
"Appell-Stehen." Camp regula- should be given to the doctors in
tions required us to stand in our ranks who, through good ad-
"military formation," upright, vice. prevented the spread of epi-
without moving a muscle, three demics and who performed sur-
times a day, from six to eight in gical operations with little more
the morning, from one to three in than a primitive knife. Admirable
the afternoon, and from six to was also the attitude of the or-
eight in the evening. The official thodox Jews among us who never
purpose of these "parades" in neglected their prayers. Once I
Jewish National Home — hove ini.
which even the crippled and sick heard an SS man who visited our
The homeless Jews of yesterday, 'transferred from re settlement of the
had to participate, was to take hut, ask one of them, an elderly
devastated Et'irope to the Jewish homeland, are becoming tinted a number of villages where the settlers combine
the roll-call, to send the danger- little tailor: "Well, Jew, what's
Pioneers on land and sea in Palestine, where they are fishing with agricultural pursuits. The Jewish Agency
ously ill to the hospital and to the matter with your God now?
pushing back the frontiers of every phase of kgriCultural has sent instructors to the villages, assisted in the con.
announce the discharge of prison- Seems we have liquidated him,
mild industrial development with the aid of the United struction of homes and fishing vessels, aided in the
ers who were to leave. During too, haven't we?" Whereupon the
Palestine Appeal. The develop;nent of Jewish fisheries reclamation and cultivation of the soil, planted trees as
these parades also new regula- little Jew answered calmly and
In Palestine provides work and food for increasing num- a protection against wind and shifting sands. The Pioneers
tions were announced by the deliberately: "One can kill men.
bete of Jewish men and women. United Palestine Appeal in these fishing centers have launched a highly promising
cernmander through the loud- But not the God who lives in
liencies— which require $35,300,000 in 1945 to meet
speaker, regulations always in- them." The Nazi, stupefied, mur-
their budgetary requirements for the reconstructi6n and phase of colonization in the Jewish National
volving an aggravation of our sit- mured a curse and went away. I
uation. All this business, of saw many eyes that were filled
course, could have been com- with tears.
to the heark'ning soul:
pleted in less than an hour. But
Our only connection with the Who, though he grimly stopped That justice could, at last, break
the parades had another pur- outside world were the letters
our hearts' deep sigh,
through our cell,
pose. They had been invented as from our beloved ones which we Couldn't bar you from that sullen
Some heavenly power set the
Rosh Hashonah Greetings
a very subtle kind of torture. were permitted to receive every
citadel,
guiltless free—
For us, there was little that could
fortnight or so. And then— Built by the victim for the vic- I won't forget you, wind-blown
be worse than standing without there
tim's doom.
was the church-bell of the
evening bell. . . ."
any movement for hours in rain
There was a world outside—so
little
"gemuetlich"
city
of
Dachau
and snow and icy cold, wearing
you
did
tell—
neither cans nor gloves; quite fre- which we could hear occasionally. With women and with children,
us of the outer and
quently Herr Gruenewald would reminding
bright and gay,
the upper world. The bell of
A Happy New Year to All
extend our evening "parade" for
Far from the helpless convict's
Dachau
inspired
me
to
conceive
a
an hour or longer, merely to poem which later, in the freedom
CORSELETTES
dying yell—
shorten our time for "supper" and of an English internment camp, When would we see our homes,
GIRDLES
sleep.
our folks again?
I wrote down in German. In my
The Penal Code at Dachau had inadequate English translation it Sometimes your ringing seemed a
BRASSIERES
been worked out with typical Ger- runs as follows:
last farewell.
Mrs. Leshman, Proprietress
Made to Order
man "Gruendlichkeit." You would
And still, some comfort gave you
be punished for urinating during "I won't forget you, wind-blown
11724 DEXTER BLVD.
the working-hours (many of us
bell
207 Metropolitan Bldg.
suffered terribly from cystic Which once has sounded into our
Greetings!
Rosh Hashonah
TO. 8-7797
catarrahs). for not making your
hell.
CH. 2633 33 John R. St.
bee properly (to satisfy our Nazi Where thousands stood at atten-
•
tion, wretched slaves!
overseers, we had to spend all
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our spare time on keeping our To many a people you were but
rooms and beds in the best pos-
a knell,
sible order), for failure to salute Though coming from a peaceful
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dreamy town.
an SS man (even when you were
820
W. BALTIMORE AVE.
short-sighted or had not noticed A breeze would bring you hither
MA. 1780
from the far,
his presence), for collapsing dur-
ing your work, etc. One punish- Unhindered by the brutal entinel,
ment required that the prisoner
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to 24 hours under the camp com-
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mander's window. For certain
Le Shono Tovo Tikosevu
'ins you were beaten with whips.
For others, you were tied to the
"tree." Most dreaded of all tor-
Rosh Hashonah Greetings
tures was solitary confinement in
the "Bunker," a totally dark un-
derground cell, where men were
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As for myself, I experienced
No American wants this
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the
of punishment, for, once having
to go one minute beyond
a vic-
been a Boy Scout, I had acquired
time we can bring it to
a certain skill in manual work.
that
end.
To
hasten
But on one occasion an SS man
torious
victory—to save possibly the

I Was in
a Death Camp

KAY
CQRSETIERE

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DE TROI T