Eyewitness Testimony V. S. Sinyak

• Sinâk, V. S., Questionnaire provided by the Belorussian Republican Foundation "Vzaimoponimanie i Primirenie" [Belarusian Republican Foundation "Understanding and Reconciliation"]. V. S. Sinyak – Ssinjak Sinâk, V.S. I was born in the village of Šanovka on 29.01.1927. My parents had 7 children, I myself have 6, my wife is a disabled person of the 2nd class. During the blockade (presumably referring to a encirclement operation during a German anti-partisan campaign, M.B.) I was captured in the forest on June 3, 1944, and deported to Germany. I spent two weeks in a quarantine camp, then I was taken to Kahla – Freienorla. I worked on the construction of the railway, tunnel construction. I was transported by train to Kahla and immediately put to work. I was in Freienorla the entire time but was assigned to various jobs. The conditions were very harsh; I was just 17 years old at the time. It was warm in the barracks, there was a large heating boiler. We also had warm blankets and slept in bunk beds. We had to use our own clothes; none were distributed. When my pants wore out, I helped an old German stack wood and received a pair of pants in return. At the end, shoes were also distributed. The food was poor and we were constantly hungry. There was soup and 1 kilo of bread for 4 people. Our work started early at dawn and lasted until evening. There was one day off per month. The route to work varied depending on where we worked. Sometimes it was three kilometers to work, sometimes more, sometimes we were transported somewhere else. There were no roll calls, but there were Germans who kept watch. We were constantly under supervision (at work), and they made sure we worked well. Once, when rock was being broken and the remains loaded into carts, I possibly had fewer stones than the others – for that I was beaten. I received 70 to 80 marks monthly, but due to the rationing system, there was hardly anything to buy – beer at the inn and in autumn vegetables and fruit from the gardens that the Poles had, who worked for the Germans. I was not employed in agriculture myself. We had no contact with our homeland, nor with other camps. All prisoners were equal in the camp. In our camp there were only Belarusians, and they were exclusively men and youths. Guards were Germans. Punishments, for example for stealing food, were beatings. I know nothing about informers. I am not aware of any embezzlement – the food was already too little. We made homemade carts from a stick on a string so that everyone got the same. For theft, one was whipped by the guards. That was a very brutal punishment because people were beaten until unconsciousness. One also had to pay for the number of lashes – 1 lash 1 RM. The main punishment used was the whip. The German workers and administration behaved relatively normally. Older German women in the civilian population sometimes gave us food when we asked, but they were afraid of being punished themselves. Women, especially those who had husbands or sons at the front or in captivity, helped us – perhaps hoping that the same would happen to their relatives. Sometimes one worked for food, but no one openly showed help, they were all cautious. The civilian population did not participate in punishments. I do not remember any Germans who helped us especially; everyone treated us the same. None of us tried to escape – we did not know where to go or where to hide. If someone was sick, they were sent to another camp – I do not remember which. No infirmary or the like existed in the camp. Many people died in the camp, and for a certain time I myself also buried people from my camp. We could not cope because so many died, mostly the Italians. Once we wanted to bury a countryman in a coffin, but we did not get permission, so there were only mass graves – 30 people in a row. In the last days of the war, we were all driven somewhere in the evening, but I managed to escape on the way and hid in the forest. I stayed there five days, then we wanted to return to the camp. On the way, we met Americans who told us we were free and gave us food. I then returned to the camp for one or two months. Whether people were arrested after liberation, I do not know, as I was not in the camp at that time. I was liberated on April 14, 1945, then worked in (Grachenberg, Drakenberg) or similar in a sugar factory from July to October 1945. I was also involved in the harvest. Then I returned to Belarus, but not directly home, first to the mines in the Donbass, where I stayed for almost a year. At the end of 1946, shortly before New Year, I then came home.