Day 78 - Sorry Clowns!

"At that moment, a tumult arose ...

With the belts, one prisoner had tried to cut his wrist with razor blades; a tourniquet was wound around his wrist and the S.S. furiously told him off saying that he couldn't cut his wrist without permission and how stupid he was!  That fellow must have been Simon Wiesenthal (later, he became a famous Jewish, nazi hunter), anyway, he survived and came all the way with us - they never noticed or separated him from the rest of us.

He wasn't allowed to take his own life, what a sarcastic twist of the whole chicanery - they were going to take our lives away when they felt like it but even that had become their perrogative.  Obviously, they thought the only real authority was from the abyss, the oath they had taken said so.

Before we passed through the opposite door we received a complete immersion in a concrete trough filled to the brim with a green liquid.  The liquid must have been a kind of disinfectant, as we passed through the door somebody put a heavy, round, mop on our heads, it looked like a plunger and they dipped it in the green stuff.

It was like a baptism!  Away from this glorified treatment we found ourselves in a long draughty corridor in which we had to run it's length.  As it was night, cold and early in the year you can imagine that we were only too glad to make a good run for it - it felt near to freezing point.  Chilled to the bone now and still having that sausage with us that we couldn't eat - we had had nothing to eat now for a long time - I think that five days had passed by now since we had last eaten but we had lost track of time.

At the end of the hall we came to a room full of clothes spread out and you just quickly had to choose the ones that fitted best. These were full of bullet holes and were of a dried red colour and covered with lime and looked like they had been quickly prepared in old gas chambers.

So, we put them on looking like sorry clowns, similar to the people we had seen running around when we had arrived.  Even in our state, when looking at each other, we couldn't help to release a pitiful laugh and some poking their fingers through the holes still as in disbelief.

After what I have just reported it seems to me that in situations such as these most minds can only take so much and then it stops and you just keep on going or it snaps altogether. 

Since my release, I have met people from all walks of life telling me that as I didn't see everything with my own eyes and only heard some things from other prisoners that somehow those things didn't happen... 

I have also witnessed the aftermath on some of my fellow prisoners who came back to us with their lugubrious news of horrible and disturbing events.  As they recounted these things, it appeared to me that they themselves had a hard time comprehending or convincing themselves that such things were really happening - even though they were witnessing them with their own eyes.....! 

Day 77 - Louis Fynaut's poem about war!

Glory To War
by Louis Emanuel Fynaut

To Each His Own evolves a picture of an adverse assembly of spectres, past and present, 
sitting on a multitude of battle-ready horses with mad, drunken, hysterical staring eyes; 
guided firmly in the saddle by the terrible ghost of grim corrupt dignitaries 
cloaked in all kinds of beautiful apparel of stupendous splendour, 
rich ornaments, tiaras, uniforms and medallions. 
Covered by an eerie aura of bad stormy weather, 
darkening the pomp and glamour spectacle galore; 
wallowing in unsurpassed greediness 
with the sweet, rotten stench of death ever-present around. 
Passing by like a macabre parade; 
trampling casually on the mutilated corpses of long-suffering mankind, foe and friend alike. 
Little voices crying from beneath the holocaust, 
faintly heard by the stunned helpless survivors:
"We are next ...
Tell the world, please!"

Day 76 - Have to stop

for a while.  On one hand I feel like my dad is actually talking directly to me when I rehash his memoir but also I find that the content has an affect on me and so I have to take a breather and do something happy for a while right now!

I did set a goal to have my dad's memoir finished and rehashed by August 27, 2013,  but I think it will still take a few more days!  

I know for sure that my dad would have been supportive of me and my efforts right now as he always was nice and kind and would likely say to me,  "Just take your time girl and keep good!"

Day 75 - The monopology over what .......

'I didn't actually see the people being pushed into the death houses and gas chambers.  Our "liquidators" were masters at covering up and hiding their atrocities and murders; but the results spoke for themselves.  Because of this and other reasons, some survivors past and present, still have a hard time convincing people that the events they saw and experienced actually happened.  This seems similar to the struggle that Galileo experienced when trying to convince people that the world was round not flat!

All that happened seems fathomless and incomprehensible to most people. We will never understand the whole affair, spiritually or otherwise. Even the S.S., who were personally involved, acted as though they didn't do it themselves.  So much was never understood by those who had never been there. I do know that we were there as a result of a war that we had been forcibly pushed into!

To tell the truth as we saw it and then to be told, or near enough, that it could not have been so is hard for me to understand!  Maybe it could all be boiled down to a bad dream, after all, life and death is only a passing event. The S.S. proved that to be true because they were given backing and power which allowed them to do anything to anybody, similar to wild animals.

The belief and faith that the, "All Being", suddenly decides, at a certain point, that it's enough and that people can walk through the Red Sea, destroy their  enemies or that one individual will be saved among all the dying, like an ant that is not trodden on is a strong faith!  Such things did happen but not for the majority of people in the camps.  For the most part, everything ran like clockwork, the trains went to their destinations on time, the gas chambers worked excellently and for a long time nothing seemed to come in the way of the smooth flow of affairs put into motion.  

When near the end people seemed to accept their deaths as a matter of fact and if you didn't it made absolutely no difference!  One was not capable of doing anything else but suicide.  At the same time, soldiers and civilians were dying on all fronts.  Somehow, "The Creator", was in all this but who knows his way of working - cleaning the culmination of all the wrongs with more and better wrongs!!??

The passing of events we really do not understand but the visible things are there for the living.  It is the same for the whole universe and it's workings - you can see it. Beyond what we can see for ourselves, we do not seem to know or comprehend the infinite whole however much we try to figure it out.

The spirit challenges even it's own maker.

Everybody thinking he or she has the monopoly over what!!!!???????until ground down to nothing over and over again.........."

Day 74

"In no time our little group came out into the cold moonlight, which seemed, silvery and spooky to us, reflecting an aura of doom and gloom over our side of the globe.

We had little wooden soles with canvas on our feet and had received a little bit of what I think was a kind of bread crust.  The whole transport was pretty well intact minus the twenty five dead.  At this point, we were nearly senseless and could barely see above the atrocities and cruelty.  We had begun to notice only cold and warmth, pain and sorrow and were just barely aware of the stars at night and by day the sun and clouds.

If you got too much out of line you were just shot or pushed or walked into the gas chamber yourself.  We moved like "Les Miserables", trying to walk with those  planks on our feet.  We had to get used to the planks immediately.  The earth was very wet and marsh like - I think this place was constructed on the moors to make it harder to endure!

Having walked outside now and passed the two Frankenstein looking buildings with their smoke stacks, I sighed and thought we were too close to them for comfort.  To our right, all the barracks looked long and dreary and did not have windows.  They put us in the two, last barracks, on our left, next to the furthest crematorium.

Strict orders were given - we were not to leave the barracks!  There was one latrine outside with a long pit alongside it with water coverage.  That was all, 
no bunks, no chairs, no tables.  Condemned people sentenced to die do not need to lie or sit down"!

Day 73 - Sullen sheep!

Suddenly, our camp had come alive!  There was a lot of movement and the short, snappy noises of shooting, mostly pistol shots were heard from all over and especially from the direction between the barracks.

Some of our group chose to explore a bit further and they didn't return apart from one who came back to  us with wild staring eyes.  He told us that the S.S. were placing infants and babies on chairs and shooting them non-stop.  I don't think we could envisage anything any worse anymore.  Our feeling and emotions at this time were of utter disbelief and non-comprehension.  Because of this I was determined to make a last stand.  When I looked around I could find no similar response from my fellow prisoners.  What was the matter with them I thought, they were not like comrades in arms at all, they were just like sullen sheep to become shot or put to the sword.

Day 72 - Have to take a break at the library again blogging!

Day 71 - Auschwitz and then Buchenwald! Tell the world please!

"Later in the evening we had our first glimpse of the new arrivals who came in two big transports similar to what ours had been. In great haste, men, women and children all Jews from Hungary were placed in the barracks opposite to us. The Eichman program had started on the Reichs declaration of the final solution - which was direct and total dissemination with no pause at all!


The fires were waiting and stoked to the full for all the human fat, hair and ashes. Everything had a use in the camp!


We were put in our barracks again, safely out of view, with a 24 hour guard. Not the slightest movement was allowed not even a quick peek near the doors was permitted - many of our deceased inmates had learned their lesson the hard way and therefore nobody disobeyed the rules now!


All though the night we heard shuffling, muffled cries and weeping, interrupted by the shouting of the S.S. here and there. Death itself was among us, it was walking the perimeter in whatever form or shape you may wish to imagine. It was all around us, you could hear it, think it, and feel it, almost see it, mostly by using your senses just like animals.


Death was ever present that night, just like a thick, dirty bog full of skeletons and there was the ever present stench of human flesh. Already the column for mass slaughter was being moved towards the fires, an endless ribbon of human misery and tragedy.


At last, after an uneasy sleep, in which nightmares were unnecessary as reality was even worse! Our guards left, their mission completed and now they walked out into the sunlight and we followed them into the blinding sunlight and "Oh my God"! we looked at the chimney stacks - they were smoking!


The stacks were belching big fires close to the top. The smoke, driven by the wind, rose high into the sky and then tailed off into a thick, fat, oily looking, ball-like formation. The shape then curled off in one direction, spreading far out over the damp landscape and dissipated into nothingness.


This is what had become of the people we had heard during the night. All that remained were ashes. Believe me, this time there were tears in our eyes! In our incapacity and feeling complete desolation we stood there watching and there was nothing we could do about it - not even one grey uniform to be seen around us now, just us!


We stood there clenched fists, lost in our own thoughts, hopeless. We looked at the empty billets and again a terrible feeling of desolation swept over us! No life at all, not the slightest sign, absolutely nothing, just us!


On the double gates of the barracks were big boards on which notices were posted indicating that there had been cholera and typhus fumigations, the great lie, and so what, we knew that the Jewish Hungarians had come in alive. The notices were for our benefit to make us believe that we had imagined things and had not seen or heard anything.


It is beyond me how this action could be explained away like that by the S.S. They must have been half mad themselves to go though with such a procedure! It aggravates ones thinking of "justice", when one has witnessed a massacre of such magnitude and injustice.


We have failed abysmally, we are not capable of running things right, the wisdom is awfully lacking if what we witnessed was made possible!


We were now moving away from this gory sight, always moving further inside the camp but separate from the Jewish sections which we could see all around us.


We still had about 30 Jewish people hidden among us, nobody had squealed or showed they noticed."

Day 70

"We were given better bunks than our Jewish inmates. We were also given one blanket and running though the centre of our barracks was a heated floor constructed with bricks - it looked like an ancient Roman drain. We also had more drips of water than in Compiegne but nevertheless our accommodation was cold and spartan. On a regular basis, the same food/brew was brought to us in barrels carried by their Hebrew slaves.


During morning and evening roll call we were made to watch how they mistreated our Jewish inmates who stood opposite and a bit further along from us. On one occasion, we saw the Commandant, Mengele and also his beautiful camp companion about fifty yards away. It was a show for our benefit! With whips in their hands they gave orders to Capa prisoners or supervisors to beat up fellow prisoners - they would point out some made-up disorderly conduct issue that they imagined to be fit for punishment with a horse whip.


They told one prisoner to lay down and expose his back. They then beat him up and gave him a final last kick to indicate that he should join the ranks again. This was the order of the day the other prisoners told us.


We were now at the eleventh day, doing nothing and not knowing what would happen to us. We had a weekend over with and were still alive. We suddenly heard music from some sort of band floating on a feeble wind - it was the music for the marching to the gas chambers by the old stables. We came to know this from other inmates.


More and more of us became very sick, very ill actually, maybe from the drinking of the dirty water and maybe other diseases were starting to take their toll. We also heard shooting further away, we couldn't see too much as we were kept well away from the scene.


I couldn't actually tell you whether we had been at the stables exactly either but we thought we had been somewhere in that area when we first arrived. So, even being there in the camp we found ourselves always in doubt at any given moment.


We were then told we were due for transport and when the moment came we were led out to the other side of the camp. There we saw more crematoriums with gas chambers which we hadn't seen before. All in all there must have been five chimneys.


As we turned the corner we saw some Jewish girls near their own circled fence.A bit further away were lots of Jewish children playing like on any other school ground or playing fields. They even started throwing bread to us and speaking in French saying they came from Lille, northern France.


Somehow, somebody put the question to them, "What do you think will happen to you?" In unison, they looked at the crematoriums and chimneys and pointed to them and said, "That's where we are going soon", shaking their heads up and down in one accord, they knew and had no doubts, even smiling in a sure way well aware of the short time that they had left to live. We looked more frightened and worried than them - as anybody would have.


We were shouted at to move on and quickly they cried to us hanging on with their little hands on the fence, "Tell the world, please, what happened to us".
Again, tears streamed down our faces, to what use! We rubbed our hands over our faces and took off now moved by force, departing with drooping heads.


We arrived at the rail tracks at what looked like the construction of the inside of a station. There were lots of Jewish labourers working as slaves looking at us with vacant eyes. They were on their six month reprieve, still working or labouring away whilst barely alive. This was still in the camp, one can just imagine the enormous size of it all.


Of course, selfish humans that we were, we were pleased to get away from there with the feeling of being given a hard green apple and then probably getting an apple less green later for being such good boys.


A lanky officer asked us if we were Arians and now told us that we were going to work in the most organized camp in Germany, namely, Buchenwald"!


To be continued ...

Day 69

"We noticed the smaller and cozier looking goods wagons in which we started entering now with S.S. all around us - they appeared to be in a jovial mood. The insides of the wagons were whitewashed and spread all over with disinfectant. There was also newly made, wooden latrines, neatly constructed and painted light blue. Ample rations of bread were available to us in the form of what looked like a long and consistent loaf, lots of water and lots of room to sit and lay down.


Our fellow comrades left behind were considered to be too sick to come with us. Over two hundred were now going to get the "proper treatment" and we all knew what that meant! Of course, we would never hear of them again! They were very likely, very quickly, all made to join the throngs in the gas and crematorium queues. In fact, probably right at this moment, as I am talking to you!


We were told that they would be hospitalized - that is something we didn't ever see in the camp, for sure, a hospital. Soon the oils, fat and ashes of our comrades would be mixed Arian and Semite and used for the same purposes, then to fertilization, of no difference or consequence but as a handy use for the living in an unadulterated form.


We were thinking gravely now, speaking for myself and others we had never seen mass grave pits while we were there but they were there just like everything else - we would hear about it in a similar camp.


The only thing the S.S. didn't have to do now was to use too many bullets to tire their arms. To them and their helpers, conscious or not of all that was happening, with their mind set and the continuous, drummed indoctrination the events happening were probably similar to a butcher slaughtering animals and that's all it probably felt like for them. For us, it had all become a daily routine and for the time being we all had to accept that unless some force could change it.


There were gallows and injections but we didn't see that either. Like myself and others, you have got to believe that it all happened and then make logical deductions from the facts and the whole picture. If one thing was there then the other things had to be told by the survivors.


I believe that the horror that we witnessed was mostly produced by a variety of multiple actions. The inflicting of pain and suffering in this super-imposed hatred campaign, worthy of a deep primitive background was perpetuated with a ferocity common, at that time, to the Nazi's. It was made to be so painful and quickly executed for speed's sake, the pattern plus the revenge.


Finally, our lanky S.S. announced the usual, rehearsed, "Bon Voyage", we felt very apprehensive as the wagons were softly closed. Off we went onto the next voyage into the unknown. Glad to be still alive on the eleventh day since our arrival in Auschwitz".


To be continued ...

Day 68

"We were on our way back to Weimar, the old republic of Saxony and Goethe's paradise and home region. There was no attempt at anything like escaping, it was out of the question - our brains could only absorb so much! We now wondered what Buchenwald would be like!


As usual, the railway ran on time and gradually we mounted the slope leading up to the wooded area of Eisenberg - all nicely tucked away so that nobody could see too much. Near the bottom of the hill was a massive cordon of tank corps situated at the outer circle. On top of the hill was a full, S.S. training camp and then there were the guards and the electrical fence circling the entire concentration camp. Buchenwald had started out as a rehabilitation camp for dissidents and from thereon had gone from bad to worse.


We came to the camp station just next to and outside the fence and were greeted by the usual welcome party - ferocious dogs. Some of us were bitten straight away, pieces of flesh were bitten right out of our buttocks leaving bleeding and large open wounds. In this situation one just had to run for your life.


On my left side I noticed that there were newly built factories. I was walked or rather I should say rushed around with those dogs behind me, panting and drooling and trying to get a bite. At this point it was us against the dogs. Then suddenly the human "Welcome Society", came into view - they seemed to be as obedient as the dogs. They were armed with whips and comprised of the underdog, slave drivers or camp elders and CAPO's. Everybody had badges with red triangles.


Some of the guards were Germans who had survived the rise of the Reich with Hitler as Fuhrer - they had extra Rights and Privileges because according to the Nazi's they were not considered to be, "ordinary criminals". They were mostly just a bit left-wing, communist or socialist. There were also some religious representatives - mostly protestants. In addition, there were deserters and people considered to be abnormal.


They all wore ordinary civilian suits and berets usually of typical European origin. The suits had been altered using dye or by the addition of squares that had been sewn in so one could clearly see the markings and they also had the white-blue stripes of galley prisoners. There was a number under the triangle and a stripped ribbon with block and wing marks as well as armbands with the word "Capo" on. These camp guards now took charge of us instead of the S.S. standing beside us.


I remember all the details clearly. Auschwitz had looked like a forest with dead/death trees sticking out of a bog, very bare in comparison with this camp, which in contrast, had a a superb view, similar to what I would expect to see in a holiday camp.


At a four point crossroads elevated on a green, grass patch was a pole, very much like a totem pole. The pole had planks jutting out that were being used as sign posts. On one was a clearly drawn and painted caricature of S.S. marching figures. They were drawn in groups of four in full regalia with weapons. This particular plank pointed towards the S.S. quarters which stuck out in the distance. The buildings resembled high rise flats and were of a somber grey colour.


The rest of the planks at the crossroads had the following images: an affluent Jewish capitalist with the yellow star of King David, a political prisoner with a red triangle, a criminal with a green triangle and a purple, black and blue triangle representing: religions, homosexuals, saboteurs and deserters.


Lastly, was "Gouzloff Werke", which represented factory installations. These factories were next to the thick woods by the station and on the other side of the train tracks. Gouzloff was a German capitalist or industralist and a major shareholder in the company."

Day 67

"Our files followed us everywhere and while in Buchenwald our deaths would come about by hard labour in the quarry or strassen-bau, firing squad, machine gun, hanging, injection, torture and chopping off of heads - which was the privilege of another outside department, you were specially sent for on this occasion!


There were also a number of on-demand applications performed by the S.S. doctors such as garotting! with piano wires or meat hooks and dissecting, as well as other medicinal and scientific experiments. The human guinea pigs were there in ample supply and always available at any time.


There was a tower too, the Bismarck Tower, I could now faintly see the silhouette of the tower though the mist. Under this tower were the broken bodies of so many buried in mass graves.


Towards the direction of Weimer, beyond the work places, was Goethe's tree house. This stood near to a double gate with more fences. Goethe wrote many of his best works here and spent many hours relaxing at this spot. We couldn't see the tree house as we were walking but could see an indictor/sign that pointed to Wiemar.


The road for the prisoners in the camp was nicely captioned too and was written in Russian and read as, "Caracho Weg", meaning the Good Road or Paradise Way - so Buchenwald might as well have been called Shangri-la too! The sarcasm of it all had just begun!


At this point, we were just reaching two guard houses, one on each side of the road when we encountered two representatives from this "mock paradise", with weapons pointed they ordered us to; Mutzen ab" (caps off).


Perched on a pillar, in the middle of the road was an enormous eagle, carved in stone, hewn from the quarry.


On a wooden board, above the guardhouse entrance was inscribed, in Goethe script, "Recht oder Unrecht mein Vaterland" , meaning, "Right or Wrong my Country".

Day 66

Have go finish this tomorrow going to got logged out again and could only use my friend's computer for a few minutes - will carry on tomorrow!

Day 65

"Recht oder Unrecht mein Vaterland", Right or Wrong my Country.


"To commit wrongness in the name of patriotism is certainly not the right thing to do! It brings to mind the saying "Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel".


We now came to the habitat of the Commandant, at "half way house". It was on the left of us and well constructed with a garden and in front of it were two soixante-quinze guns. You could call him the son of a gun then!
The house was in the Cararcho Weg/Way and was quite nice. No formal greeting here that would be coming.


On our right, we could see the electrical fence and some of the camp site sloping downwards and there was also a lane of tree coverage between us. The setting and decor was ideal and grand and it would get better. As we proceeded we walked as if to eternity, getting one surprise after another. Continually, moving towards the sunset now or in the morning to the sunrise, heads bobbing up and down.


We came to what looked like part of an actual zoo. These animals had come from the Berlin Tiergarden Zoo to be put in a safe place away from the bombing and under the protection of the camp. There was, of course, the rock garden with baboons showing their bald bottoms to us. There was also a black bear present who we guessed was being better fed than we were.
Behind the animals was a dug out space with a ramp of soil.


This space was there to receive the impact of the machine gun bullets from the ripped in half victims who were placed on the wooden stakes - more often to be replaced than not. I suppose the barking of the dog baboons assisted in muffling up the noise that was made. One can comprehend how the nerves of these animals must have become agitated every time executions were carried out.


With our "dimmed view", we now had to wait on the spot. Looking over the camp and on a short curve to the right, we could now see a big center tower. It had cellular constructions extending from the base, these were the execution or torture cells which were located on each side of the tower. They also used these constructions for quick interrogations and for firing squad and guillotine transports.


The "Mutzen ab", order was given again and then we had the "privilege" of hearing the best band in Germany performing or beating time for our benefit.
They were dressed in the most colourful uniforms taken from the nineteenth century orchestra or military capelle. They looked like real clowns or a circus band. By the way, these people were originally musicians from the Philharmonic Orchestra of Prague, they were taken as hostages for some disturbances that had occurred in Czechoslavakia at that time. Only the best were good enough for this.


Around the camp were many "Miradors", as the French called them, or Watch Towers - these were manned by a machine gunner with a search light and two more soldiers. On the center tower were several search lights placed on the balcony. From this point, the Administration could watch the crowds, who were to be counted, as well as see the entirety of the whole camp which was in the shape of a nearly perfect pentagon and on a slope.


On a clear day we could see the statue of Barberossa which was an enormous obelisk in the distance. Barberossa was a Swedish, Field Marshal and conqueror of renown. More often than not, in the late season, as we stood for roll call, we were covered with a mist or rather low passing clouds.


Turning in from the corner end our band stood, the Commandant in the company of his wife of a certain fame, named Ilse Koch and his S.S. Handlangers! with their whips ready.


We were now faced with the gate in wrought iron! On the bars in letters about the width and height of a man were the words, "Jedem Das Seine" or "To Each his Own".


The gates opened for us and we would enter now! It was like the entrance of hell on the way to heaven, guarded by the devil and his demons. Only Saint Peter was absent".....

Day 64

"We were now greeted by a big open space. We then saw the confines of the wooden billets. For the next mile or so, after the billets, were row after row of two story, stone buildings. Below were more buildings, which included a brothel and an indoctrination hall for propaganda films and picture taking, no lectures.


A quarantine camp was situated in between the junior and senior camps which appeared to be two to four rows in depth and length. On your left was a small first aid station or hospital. To the right was the crematorium but no gas chambers. The crematorium was smaller than a single building in Auschwitz but similar to the building we had last seen with the little girls.
We then entered the shaving block area and finally came to a large kitchen. The kitchen struck us as not very big for the camp size!


The hanging tree of Goethe was in front of us It was a big, thick oak tree and was just coming into bloom. In the center were concrete trenches used to dangle victims after being hung. Goethe used to sit at that tree writing and looking at the landscape, very likely in serene meditation not realizing what would become of his special place in the coming years.


In all of this horror there had to be some salvation for the international prisoners represented at Buchenwald. This presented itself in the form of, "The Ark. "The Ark", was an underground resistance movement which gave, some of us, the strength to float above the atrocities and survive.


We now entered the sorting and shearing rooms again, as we passed through we just had enough time to gather more information about the camp from senior prisoners. It was the 14th of May, 1944 and we were facing a new period of detention albeit with a diminished group. The CAPO's and helpers guiding us through the process under the surveillance of a single S.S.


The inmates warned us that we needed to be on our best behavior at all times - which meant orders had to be followed promptly. We were also instructed to be subservient, to the extreme of what one could bear and at the same time be unobtrusive!


Lastly, they said it was better not to be covered in or show beautiful tattoos. They said, "keep those fellow/fellows out of view". The reason being that the wife of the Commandant had a peculiar hobby of picking those bodies out for the purpose of covering lampshades!


The Commandant's wife was, Ilse Koch. She would spy on potential candidates from secret holes and compartments and look for anything that appealed to her morbid sense of satisfaction, which included making lampshades from human skin.


Once again, we were shaved all over our bodies and bathed too. Our clothes, from Auschwitz, were exchanged for striped ones with red triangles on that had numbers for this camp.


We were ever reminded of the nightmare that we were still involved in as the cruel stories continually reached our ears from the other prisoners".

Day 63

There was also an unemployment bureau within the camp. This bureau would determine which task we were was best suited to perform. Behind the S.S. buildings was a quarry which supplied stones for the roads and camp and even contracts further afield.


In a place called "Valkenhof", falcon house, there were more animals and a fenced park for deer and boar which was tended to by prisoners. There was also Villa's for the V.I.P.'s - between 1944 to 1945 the camp was closely associated with the einsatz groups of the S.S who very likely stayed in these villas.


We had arrived at a good time to join the international resistance within the camp, which, at that time was growing stronger and stronger by the day. The camp resistance group had originally been started by Germans, of which eighty percent had now disappeared.


Personalities who had been at the camp prior to their release in 1940 were; Richard Thalmann, Hood and Walter Poller. From our side were people like; Blum, the Brussels redactor!, from the newspaper, "Le Peuple", Dewever, a dentist from Antwerp and many other representatives with diverse political opinions - not just from the left, as implied by the press and other sources. To our dismay and to the merriment of the Nazi's rivalry, chauvinism, bias and small mindedness were always rife and present within our ranks,.


We now moved slowly to the lower camp, a quarantine camp. Here we could verify most of the things we had recently heard from the other prisoners. The atmosphere and environment we now found ourselves in was very similar to Auschwitz. A dirty, little quagmire with closed barracks, one blanket, open pit toilets and outside washing pipes with troughs. We were separated from the upper or senior camp by a fence. We were also kept separate from the brothel and indoctrination hall below us.


For the next three weeks we received so many injections that we were warned to try and dodge them by passing them through the skin pressed between our fingers, inside one way and out the other if possible. The injections were administered by the Capo's and camp helpers and an S.S., who couldn't always be everywhere - so this was the method to employ while he was distracted.


During the quiet spells there we searched for lost friends and at other transports for news of friends and acquaintances back home. We were also taken to the indoctrination block to be photographed, measured and receive more new numbers. Then we were shown an S.S. film about their superior qualities in training and fighting - which we had to watch. Nothing about cruelty as they had enough experience of that with the prisoners and for us to look at within the camp!


After that our new numbers were sewn on the coats and trousers which were striped.

Day 62

We discovered that there was camp money in circulation - marks that could be changed. We would receive camp money for our first work commando which was the quarry for sure - a touch of the hardest labour to begin with!
The quarry was called "Steinbuck", and was on the southern side of the hill overlooking the forested undulations of Franconia and Bavaria - the nearest town being Eisenach.


"Steinbuck", would have been a good point to have escaped from had it not been for a close chain of guards. When it was misty and if there were low cloud they doubled the guard - the grey uniforms, Totenkaphen, which consisted of four, foreign S.S., entwining Ukranians! They had formed their own international too which was in the style of the Nazi's of course.


On one off our "off duty", days we followed a black marketeer who convinced us how to get rid of our money. He led us to the rear end of the quarantine camp where we encountered two, poor desolate figures huddled together in a corner. So that's what the money exchange was for - for those "Miserables" still speculating.


One turned out to be grandfather, Michelin and the other an Armenian millionaire. They had both sold crucifixes and other paraphenalia at Lourdes before having received their wages for sin here! This practice was looked at with distaste by the other prisoners. In no time, our black marketeer was spotted and chased and we were warned not to take any heed of him.


On our way back we noticed a prisoner with two buckets full of stones and sand standing fixed on a wooden box. This prisoner had stolen food from his comrades - we now realized what severe punishment could happen if caught in such as act and we quickly learned our lesson.

Day 61

Am at the library again!  The computer will not allow me to copy and and repaste any more blogs right now!  So I am taking a break and will try to to continue on friend's computer later on today!

Day 60

The food was deficient in nourishment and our hard labour in the quarry extremely heavy. This was another weeding out process to identify the toughest prisoners. There was no respite; the "round the clock" S.S. bullies were on our backs all the time! The whips wound around their wrists ready for the first prisoner they could catch, especially those who were trying to hide in the crevices.


Luckily, all of us were capable of being actors when necessary - sometimes we would allow our picks to go up and down breaking next to nothing, this was the only way to last out and to survive a bit longer! Sometimes, they would harness from six to a dozen of us and with a stick placed across our chests we would have to pull slabs of stone up the slope.


One day, at about noon, I dropped down and fell onto the only patch of clover I had ever seen in this place. I picked out a four leaf clover which I put into my small religious book. For a long time after that I kept this book, together with my meticulously written in diary and when I left the camp these two books and the four leaf clover left with me!


One day, I was wounded when my ankle got knocked when I slipped among the rocks on the cliff. The old prisoners had told us that the stones were poisonous and to make sure that we didn't get scratched. My wound never did heal up properly but I managed - as I had to: -


"To Never Give Up and Persevere At All Times - through thick and thin".


The fleas and lice on our block were a terrible nuisance. I had big holes in the same leg as the wounded ankle due to the fleas and lice. Some of the holes in our flesh were big enough to enable a person to insert their little finger. Our wounded flesh looked like we had beri-beri - that is likely because of the lack of nourishment and Vitamin C, which would have assisted the healing process.


If a flea bite could do that much harm you can imagine how other wounds fared! The people who had been badly bitten by the dogs, when we arrived, died in agony shortly afterwards, mostly from tetanus. People still kept dying and transports were in the offing again! I stayed on and I do not know why. Puzzle.!!!


Eventually, I passed through the labour exchange and was consigned to Gouzloff Werke and to the Upper Camp or rather Senior Camp now, the luck of the draw or maybe picked, I don't know!!! After the stripes another suite with squares on instead of indelible dye, it seemed as if I had been chosen! My haircut was pretty normal too, not in the Iroquois style of cocks comb!


I had a cross-interrogation by an elder from my new block. He appeared to be a well-trained Belgian who came from somewhere around Poperinge. He had been in Moscow and had also belonged to a Belgian resistance group.


In other words, he was a communist agent and commissar - another foreign power's intelligence too. He was likely chosen for the job because he could verify many of my home regions, recognition points as well as my immediate background in Ostend - my place of origin.


They already knew of some of my exploits through other prisoners, like my escape, reliability and knowledge. It seemed that I fitted the needs of their organization and pattern of operations. Having contacts on the outside was also very important too! I was in their hands now and I am convinced I was also in other people's hands too!!!

Day 59

My new block was now next to the fence in the Guinea Pig block or experimental block. It was also the center for the combined operations of the camp resistance, we were the main group. The rest of the resistance network was spread out evenly in all the blocks. At this point, the biggest threat to us were the German Greens, they were the rascals. They were still patriots and used as "Ferrets" - so we had to replace them as quickly as possible - we got rid of them through concessions given to us by the S.S. - due to our status as political prisoners.


The S.S. still needed us to fulfill their programs for the delivery of new weapons. The war was now beginning, more and more to take a turn against the Germans and so our rights as political prisoners had to be considered more carefully now. This balance was achieved through a transition that sent the worst elements into oblivion!


Due to this new perspective, we were now supplied with a bit more food, this only lasted for a very short time. The extra food was in the form of a thin porridge in the morning and Austrian cigarettes supplied by the S.S., later in the day. However, we were soon back to Magorka cigarettes , which consisted of chopped stems from Russian tobacco plants - made from the bottom dregs of Russia's country vineyards at Moselle. We could buy these with our Marks - these small pauses, in our daily routine, gave us a bit of a breather.


By June or July the heat was pretty constant now - so our small slice of bread, with a finger of margarine, was now supplied in the evening. This was before the watery soup round, which sometimes had the addition of a small amount of salami or jam. The allocation of food was all experimental stuff or at least most of it. They were always figuring out what was the minimum amount of food/rations that we could eat while still being of use to them.


The bread consisted of a lot of potato flour with straw in it and other local products - only some of the wheat was present as far as we saw and knew, the remainder consisted of birch nut flour and lots of chestnuts. The margarine and jam were all concoctions and produced by the coal industry.


The meat or salami - unknown to us in its consistency - was about one half an inch thick and one inch wide - it didn't last long either with its meager supply. Sometimes, they made our rations smaller to suit themselves and then the ravages of hunger after that were terrible for us!


If you are wondering whether cannibalism had taken place - yes, we had heard of it. One night, a body was laying outside in the quarantine area, waiting to be collected and in the morning the body was missing a foot.


Nobody saw what happened! New arrivals were constantly coming in via transports on an ongoing basis, usually from worse conditions, very likely coming over to die, which was more usual than unusual near the end...

Day 58

In August 1944, I was assigned to Middle or Mi-bau, the Eastern part of the center building still under construction for Gouzloff; there were trenches that had to be made for strong, thick cables, roads and small annexes. The roadworks were called strassen bau Entw - short for Entwalterung).


All this work was performed under the close scrutiny and control of a patrolling S.S. We were located near the last guard fence with the gate end towards Weimer. The work force was supplemented by Ukranian, S.S. blackshirts - somehow, they would try to socialize with us and share their small cobs or sweet corn, which were the results of the latest experiments by the German food specialists.


This fraternization was becoming dangerously close to a catastrophe for all of us. There was a particular S.S. guard who was continually sneaking up on us -trying to catch somebody - the prisoners by preference! This was to obtain his three day vacation bonus which could be obtained by finding reasons to punish a victim for some form of disobedience.


By now, we had all been getting over-confident about using our hiding place to eat the rations we had saved to absolve our hunger pangs. Somehow, we may have been given away or by using a signal the S.S. guard might have been informed! The blackshirts had a victim ready in the trap.


So, it happened when my turn came - I tasted that coal tar jam and suddenly as if from nowhere bees appeared. I had never seen or noticed them in that place before. Just as surprising to me, a bad product from the S.S. popped up in the unfinished doorway. Giving me a grin of satisfaction now with his sadistic nature being worked up to a peak.


I hardened myself for what was to come but also knew that I had to contain my violent strength, to be used, if necessary, at the end as a last resort - similar to what I had done before. Slowly, he came to stand in front of me, his legs wide apart, studying my badges and in the meantime putting on his gloves. He gave another strange, close look to my red triangle with my nationality and he was now ready, so was I!


All in strict orders, he then told me to stand straight to attention and not to move. With his full strength and weight behind it he swung his fist in a right hook and then told me to stand to attention again, giving me a left punch now, on both occasions right on the jaw.


I went halfway down on every swing but straightened up again for the next. He knew I was tough and hard and I saw amazement in his eyes now, more in admiration than a further challenge - probably he was hurt too and tired out. As a last resort, he picked up a plank which was laying nearby. The plank was about arms length and about two inches thick.


Grinning again, probably with self-gratification and facing me full frontal again he indicated towards the entrance opening that was to be for the door. He told me to make a run for it as soon as he gave the order. I had to by-pass him of course - the obstruction would make my run more difficult.


His game was worse than cat and mouse play and all the dice were on his side but I persevered. There was no choice but to endure what I was about to receive. So, on his yelling, I started on my way, not bumping into him but with the awful result of my ducking to the right - I got the full impact of the plank in the center of my back.


By now, my sense of feeling had gone numb as on previous occasions during my escapes and also because of my state of being, which was as hard as the plank itself by now. The instrument of my torture had snapped without him having to throw it at all. When he applied the following six beats they came to be only half as hard as the first one.


He appeared to be astonished and told me to get on with my job in the trench at the same time taking a long last look at me. I picked up my pick again and worked strenuously as if nothing had happened until he was very well out of sight.


Then suddenly the reactions were setting in and I could feel the pain in my jaws and could hardly move them after a while - my back was not too bad. A boiling anger for revenge was the next thing that swelled up in me - I never did meet up with him again until he was killed at liberation time.


For myself, I came to the conclusion that if I had to, with more toughening up I could probably walk through a wall. The sores gave me trouble for a couple more days. That incident taught me not to trust anybody, not even for a few seconds - that was the best alternative/attitude I could take.


In the dawn of the next morning, while waiting our turn to get out of the gate and with our solemn heads bobbing up and down we were marched until we were facing the sunrise. At the same time, being watched for the slightest mistake by the angels of death - the music driving us by might or force!


"Today, I found the following quote and thought it was very relevant to some parts of my Dad's Memoirs. In particular, I was very touched by my Dad's recollection of the little girls at Auschwitz, they knew they were going to die and threw bread over the fence towards my Dad's group.


"We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms -- to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way." -- Viktor Frankl

Day 57

I sometimes wondered about the first Commando's, the ones now guarded by dogs. They had grotesque, big targets displayed on their clothes. Everyday, the number of escapees from this group was diminishing. I could easily have been one of them! I had to keep silent and not talk too much to others. I understood the importance of accepting my position - not wondering too much!

The Russian prisoners, some of which, were soldiers and others were suspected of being commissars, wore drab, green uniforms with pointed hats like Mongolian and Tartar Huns. The Russians were now leading the column ahead of us, marching in rhythm, their heads bobbing up and down, passing the Caracho Weg, the guards, the eagle and away!

We were like robots, moving silently along, hardly aware of the music that was fading into the distance as we marched to the same rhythm. The woods and trees around us seemed to be weeping with crystal dew drops, all in array ready for another nice morning.

Not for us though - deep in thought! We were always aware that on one command from the eternal Mutzen ab, we could be poked with a bayonet or even worse could happen as we continued to march. The baboons and bear must have still been asleep, too cold for them. Anyway, what was the use of them watching the suffering of boring mankind!

A short while after this daily performance, I landed up in Gouzloff-Werke. I believe that my trade school background together with the assistance of the camp, "Underground Movement", were the auspicious symbols that had helped me get there!

We were all well acquainted with Gouzloff-Werke but it was still a big and great unknown for us!

Day 56

"Auspicious symbols had helped get me a better placement within the camp. For a short time I earned extra porridge and was supplied with some dregs of wine and cigarettes. The work was easier and more refined than hard labor in the quarry. The Ukranians now smoked their Margorka from newspapers that had been thrown away by the S.S. - they looked like flaming torches in big clouds of bellowing smoke.


My first placement was also in the first department of the workshop. There was an assembly of small electrical components on benches with drilling for bakelite flat panels. These panels fitted together with a terminal hole for an antenna in the middle - it was a guide system, for what? There were also milling and drilling machines.


One civil engineer and two female assistants worked with us as silent partners. They were the first women we had seen in a long time, so it was a renewed experienced for us. They showed us the ropes and the intricacies of the job. I managed to have a convivial short chat with them while standing back with the technicians - the women kept well away from us.


The technician knew Ostend very well and was very casual and jovial. He talked about how he had enjoyed going to the coast at Ostend before the war. At that point, we had to stop the conversation because Tom Mix came along on a patrol! He was an older, S.S. guard, assigned to keep an eye on us - so, we were good boys now!


He noticed the numbers on our arms were from Auschwitz and was curious as to how we had landed up at Buchanwald. I suppose, he was probably wondering how the upper command had let us out - it was unheard of before our enchanted trip! Everybody now watched Tom Mix closely until he was out of sight.


As soon as he was gone, the first thing that surprised me was the senior, a Frenchman. He was cracking the panels in front of him and throwing most of them away. After watching him pushing the drills down very hard he instructed me to do the same. If that was the play!, I was game, of course. Somehow, it seemed alright. The sabotage was on in full swing now.


All the panels that now passed us included invisible cracks, those that were too bad were thrown away for scrap. These panels certainly must have been guides for something, but what? Was it submarines, planes or a new system altogether? It seemed to be a closed secret and a closed shop for us too.


The civilian supervisor, seemed to be a very clever man - he looked like a space age scientist, A Werner Von Braun type, tall, blond, thin and full of intense energy. On the other hand, he could also have been the arche type for the ideal S.S. man, portrayed in the typical Germanic, Aryan specimens they so much desired to back breed.


Sunday was our day off! On Sunday morning, I was busy walking around to the wooden barracks, we were allowed to do this, they were near to the appeal or gathering place and I was eagerly looking for recognizable faces. This was one of the few times, for a long time, that I had decided to be more up front instead of keeping out of sight and in the background.


As this moment, the tragic prophesy that had been predicted at that table in Fort Du-ha came true - I now bumped into Janeck again and as foretold we were meeting on a hill in Germany!


Janeck was already well established with the Polish patriots in his block and already knew the score in regards to the underground activities. By the sound of it he knew more than I did! He didn't have much to say except on the issue of Guzloff - it was definitely a secret project and most likely involved a top secret weapon. He had to go now, but our next meeting would bring us close together again to see if we could be of help to each other.


At this point, it was very probable that I would be brought into line for courier preparation for underground activities. I had to be told everything by my own section in the block I was in. There was a more mature, indentured courier launched well before me - I was put on the reserve. In case of his failure, only then would I be activated for sure. My full acknowledgement, until the appropriate time, was not all that much desired in case of complications!

Day 55 - In memory of my dad and his buddies from Aushwitz and Buchenwald!

My dad died 24 years ago on this day so I think it is fitting that I have finally got to arranging his blog into a more logical order today!

"A lot of dust whirled up and obscured the sunlight but more planes were still coming on and suddenly long shining sticks (about one man in length) were thickly falling now and dropping among us - impaling quite a few unfortunate prisoners on the forest floor and then instantly exploding all over the place.


Some of us started running wildly only to be splattered by the immense fire bits from exploding incendiary bombs, that's the objects we were being hit by now! Those infernal things being so light got blown or rather sucked backwards towards us in a vacuum created by the former explosions and by a counter wind that blew them off target.


Besides dust there was also smoke and fire and more cries from victims all intermingled like Hell Fire. Also, a rush was on - the guardian S.S. had retreated down the slope and a bit more and they were in the bushes ready for the next onslaught of men that would go in that direction - which I could say was going to happen at any moment now! Better to stay put, this was no time for a mass outbreak - unless we had already prepared for it and had known it would happen like this - even the pilots did not envisage this turn of events!


As I was pondering the events before me I suddenly heard short bursts of machine gun fire, rifles and pistol salvo's resounding from the direction of the massive rush and then more screams. The rest of the crowd came running back towards us now, they got no further than that! The S.S. following on their heels, luckily with the shooting stopping now and the S.S. saying to us, "that's what your friends did to you all - "!Now pointing to the victims and deaths before us. All of us looking in disbelief at our friends, some of whom had their intestines hanging out of their bellies as they had been ripped open.


This was the fruits of war and the accidents with it - nobody knew which was the worst, but one provoked the other. There was no safe course in between the battling opposites. The poor chaps who had run had gone from the frying pan into the fire - from being torn to pieces one minute to the piercing bullets in the other minute. I don't know of any battle that is worse or better, it is, all "To Each His Own" over and over again.


The theme would return till it was over and done with. The ultimate price we all had to pay, friend and foe alike with the relentless march of the conquerors and their war horses!


I noticed now that the S.S. were not brandishing their pistols as much and one of them said he was in just as much a state of shock as we were, which was good to observe on them. He let us walk back unmolested to pick up our wounded, who cared about the dead at that moment, nobody!


One of my unfortunate friends was totally disemboweled and we felt like putting his entrails back for him but he was far beyond the point of pain and just smiled peacefully at us - still having presence of mind. He expired quickly after that with us both holding his hands. He was the one who told us about keeping a stick or twig in our mouths during the impact of the explosions!


We were now holding and helping to support a couple of prisoners who had been shot in their legs. We came to an open clearing, near the entrance of the forest and while avoiding the big, gaping, open craters in the ground we looked back, on our left side, at what had been Guzloff Werke.


As far as we could see, at that moment, there was nothing remaining apart from a few walls and ruins with pits. Total destruction had been achieved and beyond that nothing much, a few more walls here and there were now breaking into view, a grandiose view of almost complete devastation.


That was only a quick glance because we now hurried to get back into the camp, struggling with the wounded hopping in between us.....".




 

Day 54

"An eerie and dusty atmosphere now prevailed - souls had departed but their sacrifice had not been in vain. A peculiar rushing noise was now heard over the scene similar to the one that had been heard over the field at "The Battle of Waterloo" - maybe it was just the wind!


The high rise, S.S. building, appeared to be untouched. For a moment, the injustice of it all overwhelmed us but this feeling did not last long. We could now see that all their shelters had been destroyed without exception - all plowed over just like after a harvester that had just plowed the land in preparation for seed sowing but at the same time destroying all the vermin sheltering within the earth.


To escape the shrapnel, the S.S. had run as one man from the buildings and vicinity into their quickly covered gangways and mazes. The waves of judgement rolling overhead had released their heavy loads onto the buildings so that the main carpet bombing had come down exactly in the right area.
There must have been a good bit of planning and preparation put into this bombing and the rest was The Lord's. Only the best pilots were good enough for this kind of operation.


The S.S. who were in training were killed en masse - in what I would say they would have liked to inflict upon us and our people. Justice or retribution had now taken place on a grand scale. The carnage among the S.S. must have been tenfold to ours. We will never know the exact figures but it was satisfying to know that the score was being evened out. Their bodies wouldn't be burned with ours - they would stay buried where they became entombed.


The remarkable, outstanding occurrences we now noticed on the Gothic signs which had previously read, " Right or Wrong My Country", were now being covered by small flames that licked up the beams giving the slogans the illusion of crawling upwards snake wise in their finality - like the saying itself!


The guards weren't there and we never looked for them either. They had probably been in the shelters too which were only twenty yards away from us now. No "Mutzen ab", or "hats off" now, "Versekwunden". The top heavy eagle had been taken up and blown fifty yards away from its spot now laying on it's side as if thrown by a giant. The totem pole was in a hundred splinters with a "voltreffer" close by which had landed right by its side. We were in total amazement as we now walked passed!


At this time, we were caring for our wounded and transporting them in batches. We were sorrowful and amazed at it all but still more intact and with a new glow of hope burning inside us - we pulled ourselves together quicker than the S.S.


We had our heads raised high and didn't see one S.S. for a while. It was if the earth had swallowed them up, which it really had done with only the worms having a laid out feast. The fate of some of the S.S. now was in sharp contrast to the sarcastic poem and inscription that they had written, for our benefit, above the crematorium, which read as:




Nicht onhele Wurme soll mein Leib erndhren,
Die reine flamme, die soll ihn verzehren,
Ich liebe slets die Warme und das light,
Denn verbrennt und begrabt mich night.




***My Dad was not sure if his spelling or translation of the above poem
are entirely correct. His translation is as follows:


Not one worm shall my life approach
the pure flame shall I make sure of
I love the state of the heat and light
Then don't burn and bury me.




That evening we burned our dead and the flames from the ovens in Buchenwald would go as high as those in Auschwitz but not to the glory of the murderous S.S. and the Nazi hierarchy but to our salvation.


This would be our epitaph, "To Each his Own", as we stood looking into the flames in memory of so many good and absent friends and some brethren as if in a last farewell to our misery in arms.

Day 53 - Louis Fynaut - Personal-Karte Buchenwald

Day 52

Yikes am on the library computer and posting to this blog is proving ot be awkward I may have to abandon and continue later today!
The tree of Goethe was blown over in the blast and was laying on its side. Prisoners were now cutting pieces of wood from the tree to make souvenirs.
Another prophecy and revelation had come to pass which was that when the foliage starts to die that the thousand year Reich would be close to its downfall. This had come to pass and was happening now.


God only helps those who help themselves. This saying and others were coming into action and fulfillment at this moment!


The S.S. left us pretty much alone for three days. We burned our dead and they tried to give their few, important, fallen figureheads a silent luguber ceremonial re-burial, a demonic Te Deum. Substandard and with weird, funeral music that we could now hear over the distant vibrations of the purified air. It seemed quasi mystical, more like black magic rites and very unpleasant to the ears. From their preoccupation with the occult they were burying their insanity, void of light, understanding and pity.


We took advantage of these days of rest to augment our supply of arms. The arms came in with the provision carts on the goods run from Weimer, which passed by the ruins. This process was helped along by the total destruction and temporary set back to the S.S.' iron oaths and crumbling discipline - having received a lot of hard punches right on and in full face.


In Weimar, we heard that the people had heard the noise from the bombardment better than us - this gave them a prelude to what was in store for them. After the third day, the S.S. monster came back into its own but something was lost forever. They pulled themselves together but they never had the same stature and bearing as before the bombing.


Regarding the hiding of arms, hardly anybody knew, not even myself. That was the sole responsibility of the elders of the camp as was the radio. Eight prisoners had given their life for the radio, they were taken at random after the raid, taken to Weimer for interrogation, torture and then vanished from the scene - without talking.


We still had our secret to be used, as a last resort, at the appropriate time. Nobody was able to interfere with that, for himself or his buddies, this rule was for the benefit of the whole camp and a divine rule.




To be continued ...