Testimony

Paul Baert – Eichenberg / Walpersberg

You will work until you die "On the outer meadow where we stood, Camp E was to be set up. When we arrived, there was not a single barrack yet. During the first days, we slept under the open sky. Although it was quite cold that night, we were glad that it was such a beautiful autumn." "The next day, we all had to line up on command and they assigned us to different companies that participated in the construction of one of the largest underground factories for secret weapons in Germany. Some of us were assigned to the camp column and we were used for the construction of the barracks and other facilities; so after a few days we had a shelter, although it was miserable for the approximately 1500 prisoners. The camp column had to tear down the barracks in Hermsdorf and rebuild them in Kahla." "On the first day of work, we had to line up on the parade ground on command. A high SS officer gave a speech and explained to us that we had landed in a re-education camp because we had harmed the Reich and under the current circumstances - the Reich was engaged in a fight for life and death with its enemies - we were to work until the day we die. At that moment - we were all young and healthy - we thought this man was crazy and was just talking nonsense. However, for many of us, these words would become true." In cooperation with the Gustloff-Werke-Weimar, the command of the Nazi army ordered 95 companies to set up a plan which they had to execute very strictly. The foremen, all German citizens, all specialists in their work, were exempted from military service. They were pressured by the Reimahg management: if they did not achieve the required work standards, they would be deployed on the Eastern Front. This was one of the reasons to force prisoners to high work performance. The supreme goal of the Reimahg operation was to establish a productive aviation industry at all costs, with the order to stop the Russian and Allied forces and to still win the war with the means of new secret weapons. "At first, I was employed by the construction company 'Ernst Linss' from Gerstungen, for which we had to drill tunnels. With a heavy drilling press, we drilled holes into the rock surface. We stuffed these holes with dynamite, which blasted parts of the rock away. It was inhumanly hard work." "From February, I was employed by the 'Tagmann' company from Leipzig. Our work consisted of removing the top of the Walpersberg for the construction of the runway. The rubble was taken away by dump trucks, the so-called 'Berliners'. One day I fell under such a truck; it tipped to one side and I ended up underneath it. They wriggled me out from under it. My hand was injured, but the Germans ordered me to continue my work." Paul Baert You will work until you die Despite the severe winter - the thermometer reached 20 degrees Celsius below zero and the landscape was covered by half a meter of snow - they had to work day and night and day after day. At the top of the mountain, the workers endured the worst effort. Trees were uprooted and the top of the mountain was excavated for the construction of the runway. The Italian prisoners who were employed there and were not used to such harsh weather conditions died one after another. These poor souls were replaced by Russians, Dutch, and Belgians, who tolerated the cold temperatures better. "Since the food supply for the hard work was insufficient (3/a liters of kohlrabi soup, beetroot and beetroot leaves, and 150 grams of bread with a spoonful of fat or jam), the wooden barracks were almost uninhabitable, there were no washing facilities, and there was a lice epidemic; especially the people who could not endure this inhuman life died first." "The winter of 1944 - 1945 was very cold. Poor clothing and malnutrition took their toll: diarrhea followed by typhus, long tuberculosis and dysentery, as well as starving to death were the main causes of death." "Days and months passed; comrades in the barracks died. Malnutrition and diseases ate away the exhausted bodies. However, the hellish work continued." "Those who could not meet the work requirements received only half of the food ration card and perished." Due to the high mortality rate in Camp E, the Germans regularly brought prisoners from Buchenwald. Buchenwald was a concentration camp in the neighborhood of Weimar. On December 20, some French prisoners from Buchenwald arrived again at Camp E. When they found out that the living conditions in Camp E were worse than in Buchenwald, they demanded to be sent back to Buchenwald. As punishment and as an example for other potential unwilling workers, they had to stand outside on the parade ground all night under strict SS guard. Most men did not survive that night; they froze to death. "In the meantime, the first Me262 was finished. With a deafening noise and incredible speed, the plane took off, flew over Camp E, and disappeared into the atmosphere. The German army command had high expectations for this jet, which reached a speed of 850 km/h." "Towards the end of March 1945, we heard the roar of cannons, a sign that our liberators were approaching." Paul Baert You will work until you die "On April 1, it was Easter and work came to a standstill. The camp was sealed off by the SS. Because we no longer worked, each prisoner received only half a ration per day." "On April 10, Camp E had to assemble on the parade ground. Everyone who could still walk somehow was driven out of the barracks and had to stop at the kitchen. Everyone received a food ration and would be taken by the SS to an unknown destination. Julies Saeless, Belgian champion in running (100 meters), was also in the line. He made a wrong move and was shot in the back. He died on the spot." "After this incident, the column was set in motion under strict SS guard. After a few days of wandering around in the collapsed Germany, they were liberated by the arriving American army." "For me and my comrades, each of our stories had a different ending. Because I was too weak to walk alone, I hid with some others during the deportation order, hoping that we would be liberated in the camp itself." "Early the next morning, the camp was combed through by the SS, who brutally drove everyone they found to the gate. At the gate, the SS nervously loaded all seriously ill and dying people onto two rickety carts that had been confiscated from farmers. The march began immediately. I dragged myself on with two crutches because I was too far down the slope. The others who were part of this misfortune also went through truly inhuman moments. It was a fight against death. Those who could not follow and stayed behind were mercilessly killed by the SS accompanying us." "After a march of three hours, the survivors reached a camp, which I was later told was Camp 7. At this place, they had gathered all the sick and dying people from the other Reimahg camps. In Camp E, I had already realized that a human life meant nothing in the eyes of the SS, but what I saw in Camp 7 was incredible: hundreds of people lay on the ground and were dead or dying. It was April and it was slowly getting warm, which brought a smell of decay over the camp. The men from Camp E disappeared into the mass. Most of them died." "On April 14, we were liberated by the army of General Patton. Every help was offered by the American Red Cross." "They took me to the castle of Hummelshain, which had been converted by the Americans into a hospital. Upon my arrival, I and the other survivors were cared for by nurses and after a general examination, it looked as if I weighed only 32 kilos. I was like a living skeleton." Paul Baert