Eyewitness Testimony Ireneusz Margasinski

Mr. Ireneusz Margasinski reports the following: As a 17-year-old vocational student, I was deported in April 1941 with other peers from my Polish homeland to Bleiche, near Magdeburg. There I was placed in an aircraft factory. In 1944 we were brought to Kahla. I belonged to the first transport. Since October 1944, I was assigned to the "Stelle O" and employed as a "specialist" in the assembly of aircraft cabins. In the mine, we had to toil without any protection for 12 hours daily—from early 6 a.m. until 6 p.m. or vice versa. Many suffered from unbearable respiratory problems and indescribable hunger. Only after the shift ended were food ration cards distributed. Only those who met the quota received a portion. And if the "masters" pleased, we got half the ration. According to the menu, there was supposed to be a different soup every day, but it was always the same watery broth, with two boiled potatoes and for supper 250 g of black bread with some margarine. That was the full daily ration after 12 hours of work and a march of kilometers back to the camps in Leubengrund. The hunger repeatedly led to escape attempts. In December, I succeeded in my first escape to Magdeburg. I could not return to my homeland. I was free for only a few days. On Christmas Eve, I was arrested and interrogated festively by the Gestapo for five hours. I was kicked, beaten, then taken to a cellar. The three of us were tied together and on Christmas Day sent to a penal camp (a nice Christmas present). But I did not reveal that I had fled from REIMAHG. After two months, the Gestapo came again and repeated their Christmas torture. When the Gestapo henchman left me with only one guard to fetch new torture instruments from an adjoining room, he unwittingly left papers on the table. By chance, I learned that my mother and family had been sent to Auschwitz concentration camp in 1943 and my mother to Dachau concentration camp. Out of fear of Auschwitz, I confessed to the escape from REIMAHG, the "lesser evil," from which one might still escape again. I was immediately brought back to Walpersberg. On March 6, 1945, I was issued the second "REIMAHG identity card" with the number 006977, which I had to sign with a fingerprint. After about three weeks, I managed to escape again. I was able to survive until the end of the war and returned to my homeland in April 1946.