Efroim Münzer Testimony (doc.
301/203)
Original, manuscript, 4 pages, 150 x 210 mm, Polish language
insert_drive_file
Text from page 1
Efroim
Münzer, born 1. 1. 1928 in
Gdów, a town in
Wieliczka district
Occupation: baker
Residence: 66/17 Starowiślna
[Street] in Cracow
Description of the camp and life in
Stalowa Wola
He stayed in the camp from 1942 to 1944. In August 1942, during a deportation in Wieliczka, they were loaded onto cattle
cars, 100 people in each. He rode on a train
for 24 hours during a very hot period and nobody was allowed to approach them with something
to drink. Only in Dębica a Pole
gave them a bucket of water at the charge
of 100 złotys. On the arrival in camp,
they were received by the camp guards consisting of Belorussians with whips.
There were 3 barracks for the laborers. In August 1942 there were 80 Jews from
Sieniawa there.
Since August, there were already 680 (600 from Wieliczka). The bunks in
the barrack had no paillasses, so that the laborers slept on the boards. On the first day the workers
stood in front of the barrack
from five in the morning till the evening. During that time they were thoroughly searched
and deprived of
insert_drive_file
Text from page 2
everything, from
money
and valuables down to a simple leather belt. In the evening the
SS
Scharführer
Schwamberg (known as the
liquidator of the
Przemyśl
ghetto) and the Unterscharführer
Brzdok (probably
Bardok) came to them.
Schwamberg
gave a speech: They have to give away all the valuables. Whoever should go near the fence
will automatically be
shot. Whichever of the Jews talks to a civilian during work, be it
about the sale of
bread or anything
else, will be
shot. Whoever pauses at work, will be
shot.
Directly after this speech, the majority threw away the money or valuables they were hiding. In the meantime, as a warning, they beat
several people till blood was drawn, supposedly because they hadn’t given away everything.
There was a reveille at two in the night. They marched out to work at
6; till then they were kept standing. They were taken away their caps and jackets to prevent
them from escaping. On the way to work in
a factory distant by 4 km they were driven
insert_drive_file
Text from page 3
with
whips.
They had to run all the way. They
worked
from 7 am to 6 pm with one 20-minute break at 3 pm for a
soup.
They
worked in a steelworks. Vorarbeiters
1Note 1:
Vorarbeiter (German) – foreman. at
work
were
Volksdeutsche. The greatest sadist among them was
Piosik (rumored to come from
Poznań). He
murdered the Jews with a
piece
of iron. He once
burned a Jew alive. Most Jews
died
because of the said
Piosik. Almost 8-10 Jews
escaped everyday from the workplace. Because of that almost every day they had to
stand 2-3 hours at
roll
call. In the evening they were given ab[out]
20dkg
of
bread and a
soup, in which there
were
dirty and unpeeled
potatoes. At the head
of a
barrack stood an Ordnungsdienstmann.
1Note 1:
Ordnungsdienstmann (German) – member of the Ordnungsdienst (Order
Service) Almost everyday 10-15 of the
sick,
who lay in the so called Krankenstube,
1Note 1:
Krankenstube (German) - sickroomwere
shot.
These
murders were committed by an
SS-Sturmmann. In December
1942, 121 or 123 Jews were
shot as
unfit for
work. Apart from that, 10-15
people
died every day (
dysentery and the like). (Since September there were already
1100
Jews).
insert_drive_file
Text from page 4
At the head of the
OD
1Note 1:
OD - Ordnungsdienst there stood a
German Jew,
Goldstein-Lindenmann, a
pervert, an
SS-Sturmmann’s favorite (He is
rumored to be under
arrest now). At the
end of 1942 only 300 Jews remained, who
worked
already under the
Wehrmacht’s supervision. After 80 Jews from
Przemyśl
arrived (in December 1942), there were already 380
Jews. This situation didn’t change until
the
end. Once, when two Jews accused the said
Goldstein-Lindenmann of
beating
the Jews, he
denounced their
supposed intention of
escape. They were
shot.
In March 1943 he prepared a list of 56 Jews who, as he claimed,
were unable to
work. They were
shot.
In July 1944, during the
Soviet
offensive, most people wanted to
escape,
but were prevented by
Goldstein.
And yet 85 Jews pulled out the fences, cut the barbed wire with scissors and
ran
away into the
forest. They
stayed
there for 2 weeks (until August 2). They were
liberated by the
Soviets.