Eyewitness Testimony François Van der Borght

In the year 1952 on the fourth of March at 10 o'clock State Commissioner: BONNE WILLY Court Clerk: BROEKAER Antoine Before the court appeared Mr. VAN DER BORGHT Francois Born in: Guivry in France on 2.4.1922 Occupation: Bricklayer Resident: in the Netherlands He declares in French. In the year 1940, like most young people aged 18 to 35, I went to work. Also abroad, all over Europe. I then returned to the Netherlands in August 1940. Here I worked until September 1940 in my father's coal business. At the end of September, I went to Germany for work with a comrade from the Netherlands. There we worked in Zehlendorf near Berlin for about three months. From there we went back to Belgium. There we worked for a month in a coal mine of the Marimont-Bascoup mine. Afterwards, labor was sought by the Organization Todt, so I went to France. Here we were engaged in road construction. One day the road construction company no longer took me and I was sent to an airfield near Calais. Runways were built in three shifts. From there we went to Brest. In Brest, the large silos for the submarines were built. Here I was employed by a French company that carried out contracts on behalf of the German Navy and the Organization Todt. Many French prisoners had to work on this construction site. After a short stay at home, that was in May 1942, I went back to Germany for work. Here I then received a work contract. We were housed in the civilian labor camp "Jigerlust" at Achterwehr near Kiel. That was a civilian labor camp in Rendsburg of the Kiel Hovaltwerke Deutsche Werft AG. Here I worked for 10 months in submarine construction. At the beginning of 1943, I went home for a few days again. Then I took up work in France, here I was in a factory in Chateau-dain. Afterwards, I took up work in the Marimont-Basscoup coal mine. I worked in this mine until March 1943. Then we were assigned again to airfield construction. After a month we went to Monte-Max, which is a few kilometers from Bordeaux. Here too we worked for the airfield. At the beginning of 1943, I was briefly home for a few days. From 22.03.1943 I went to work at Train Te Quevy. But that was inconvenient for me with reporting to the police administration of the Reich Guard Brigade Ninove. The constant surveillance by the Wehrmacht as well as the police did not please me. On 24.10.1943 I was taken away from here. The new workplace was in the Krupp factory in Magdeburg, in this factory I had to work everywhere. But at that time I was not yet in the internment camp in Magdeburg. Here I only worked 16 days. I ran away to look for another job, but did not find anything immediately. Afterwards I lived for a short time from smuggling chocolate, cocoa, tea, cigarettes. I then went home again to look for work in Belgium. On 16.04.1944 I was stopped by a police patrol because I had no valid work papers, I was immediately taken to a labor camp. Here we were locked up and employed in a cleanup plant. We received no money for this work. Afterwards we were taken back to Magdeburg, to the company I had run away from. It was bad work in the foundry, very dirty. Here I escaped again and ran away. I intended to get to Belgium via Switzerland to avoid the Gestapo. On 22.10.1944 I ran into a Wehrmacht patrol in front of the Gera station. Here I was taken to the Gestapo prison in Gera. The worst thoughts came to me here, because one had already heard so much about the Gestapo. After two days I was taken to Erfurt and also after two days we were taken to the labor camp Römhild. We were not allowed to leave the camp, there was no pay for the work. Our identity papers were taken from us. We had to work in a stone quarry, every day we had to go down, even on Sundays. We were guarded day and night by security men. There were about 200 to 250 prisoners of all nationalities locked up in the camp. The camp consisted of three barracks for sleeping and around us was barbed wire fence. There were two rings and whether there was electricity on it, I did not try. There was also a watchtower on which an armed guard always stood. Many boys were mistreated daily by the guards. Why? Everyone knew the war was lost. Many sick people lay in the barracks, I also saw many people die there. We could not take care of the people, we had to live ourselves. I had to stay here until 28.03.1945 then I was taken to Kahla, here we got our identity papers back. From Kahla there was a collective transport to Magdeburg, where we arrived on 1.04.1945. There I was free again. Without Krupp factory. On 15.04.1945 I had to leave the city, before that we were liberated by the Russians. The last journey home we imagine. Read aloud by the state official State Commissioner Bonne Willy both sign the document. As confirmation of the statement of Mr. Francois Van der BORGHT Signature. Signature. Bonne Willy Van der Borght