Testimony of
Krystyna Czyż, a former political prisoner (no. 7708)
in Ravensbrück concentration camp
| Name and surname | Krystyna Czyż |
| Date and place of birth | 11 October 1923, Lublin |
| Parents’ names | Maria, Tomasz |
| Occupation | schoolgirl |
| Place of residence | Lublin, Weteranów Street 34, flat 4 |
I was arrested on 4 March 1941 at 6.30 p.m. in my own flat by one Gestapo officer (he later acted as interpreter during my interrogations) dressed in civilian clothes. He did not carry out a search at the flat. He behaved calmly. He warned me not to run, as he would shoot me. I covered the road to the Gestapo building on foot. He let my mother see me off.
At the Gestapo building I underwent five interrogations, each lasting a few hours. During two of the examinations I was beaten with a riding crop. In the course of the first interrogation I was beaten while standing or lying down, hanging over the desk. During the second they placed my hands, cuffed, over my knees, while between my arms and knees they inserted a cane, the ends of which were placed on two chairs. While I was thus suspended, they beat me, as before, on the buttocks, and also on the soles of my feet. In the course of the other interrogations they used persuasion and threats in order to convince me that I should start telling the truth. After three days and nights I was taken to the prison in a covered truck, together with a dozen or so men and two women.
I remained in the prison until 21 September. The cells were full to overflowing. For example, 30 women would be crowded into a three-man cell. The cells were located on the ground floor and in the basements. For a few months they kept me in a ground-floor cell and then transferred me to the basement. I was locked up with the most horrid female criminal offenders, who looked upon political prisoners with particular envy and disgust. The cells were infested with lice and bugs. We were allowed to use the toilet once a day. It was then possible to pour out the contents of the so-called parasz [a bucket-cum-chamber pot; translator’s note], which spoiled the air in the cell throughout the day. The food was unsatisfactory. 25 decagrams of dry bread, unsweetened coffee, and a liter of watery barley soup. I received parcels from home, so for me this was not an overriding problem. Once, the women from a few of the cells had disciplinary physical exercises in the prison courtyard, which were conducted by a Gestapo man. The exercises consisted of running around the courtyard and doing frog leaps. The reason for the penalty was the purported disorder in the cells, which had been noticed by the Gestapo man.
On 21 September 1941 I left with the entire transport for the camp in Ravensbrück. We were taken on a slow train. There was a Gestapo man in each cell box. During the journey we were not allowed to take water from people.
On 23 September I arrived in Ravensbrück. All of my personal belongings were seized and I was bathed and dressed in prison garb. The quarantine lasted three weeks, whereafter I wrote my first card home, only giving the address.
Until winter I worked at sifting sand, digging up turf (already covered with snow), and carrying earth and stones. In the winter season I would sew straw boots for the guards (we worked day and night shifts). When spring came, the working day was extended to 12 hours; we would sew enormous paper boots, sleeves and hoods and also special types of bags for transporting wounded soldiers. Later on I was allocated to the columns that were driven to work on local estates. I worked in the orchards, and then at digging potatoes and carrots. In late autumn I was sent to the tailoring room, where I repaired camp clothing.
It was at this time that I was taken for an operation (21 November 1942) together with ten companions. We were all anaesthetized and received injections in our right legs, whereafter we experienced fevers in excess of 40°. My leg swelled from the knee to the toes, it was reddish-blue and hurt so much that in the evenings I – and my companions – would receive morphine (the Germans made no secret of the fact that it was morphine). Over the next few days six of our group had their legs incised, while the four (I among them) whose legs were best suited to the administration of injections were treated with injections, without incising their legs.
I do not know what kind of shots we were given. Some were lemon yellow in color, while others were crimson. The syringes were brought already filled. I would be administered 70 cm3 at one go. Thereafter the number of shots gradually decreased, while when the fever subsided I stopped receiving them altogether. The third injection was small (2 cm3), and the liquid was transparent. Friends of mine who had previously been given these same shots informed me that this one was intended to strengthen the heart.
A few days after the operation (for that is what I call the injection given under anesthetic) I observed pink blotches on my body, slightly swollen and itching. Two of my friends who, like me, had not been incised, had the same after-effects, only theirs were more intense. Later on, after I had returned to my block, I experienced the same rash once again. After two weeks I was discharged from hospital, even though I was completely unable to walk. My leg was still swollen and the tendons so contracted that my heel could not touch the floor, and I was also unable to move my ankle joint – I felt pain whenever I moved my leg.
Usually, we would be taken for these operations by deceit and without warning, frequently under false pretenses. We thought that the operations exempted us from the death sentence, for one of the operatees – Aniela Okoniewska – was read out an act of pardon. In February 1943, however, a few of the operatees were shot dead.
In March of that year the women summoned for operations declared that they would not go. All of the operatees, myself amongst them, protested against the procedures and submitted the appropriate letter to the camp commandant, whereupon we all went (some on crutches, and some carried by their healthier colleagues) to hear an explanation. The letter remained unanswered, while we were brushed off with a lie – namely, it was declared that the women who had been summoned would not be taken for an operation.
There was a pause in the operations, although I do not know what exactly brought it about. I do not think it was caused by the protest, as on 15 August 1943 – knowing our stance – they did not hesitate to take ten new women for operations. A second protest was then held, following which the ten summoned women were locked up in the gaol and five of them were operated on there. The procedure was carried out with the use of force and everything was rushed; the women were dressed in skirts and even their legs were not washed. As punishment, the whole block was locked down for three days without access to food and fresh air (the shutters were closed). These were the final operations.
Initially after the operation I was unfit for work, but later I was employed knitting stockings, while finally I stated working in the reloading column and subsequently in the forestry column. In 1944 I was tasked with guarding the air-raid shelters in the camp.
On 4 February 1945 our entire group, as living evidence of the crime, was earmarked for execution. However, we decided to hold out for as long as possible, counting on the rapid approach of the front. I hid in the camp for a week, whereafter together with some girlfriends, using assumed names and numbers, presenting ourselves as inmates of Oświęcim, we joined a transport from that camp that was headed to a small subcamp of Ravensbrück, located in Neustadt-Glewe (13 February 1945). I remained there until 2 May 1945, when the American army arrived.
The conditions in Neustadt-Glewe were horrendous. We lived in barrack cells the size of a normal room, crammed 60 – 75 to each. We slept on the floor, with no blankets. After some time we were forced to throw out the straw that had been spread on floor, for it became infested with vermin. The bread portions became smaller and smaller, until finally we would receive 1/10 of a loaf, in effect a slice 2 cm thick. They gave us half a liter of unsalted soup with rutabaga and unwashed, unpeeled potatoes for the entire day. Although I did not work, towards the end of my period of detention I was completely exhausted, having frequently fallen ill because of the food I ate. When we returned to a normal diet, many of the women died, and every single one was sick.
Some general information about the camp in Ravensbrück:
When I arrived in Ravensbrück, the camp had 23 living blocks, including 16 blocks housing 300 women each and seven with 180 women each. In February 1945 the camp had 32 living blocks. The smaller blocks would have up to 900 prisoners, while the larger ones up to 1,200. All of the newly built blocks were large.
During the six months from my arrival the working day was extended from 8 hours to 12 hours.
Work at night, on three shifts, was first introduced when we started sewing straw boots. The extension of the working day was accompanied by the implementation of a two-shift system; each of the shifts – day and night – lasted 12 hours.
Labor conditions were deplorable, both in the camp and outside its premises. The women, laboring in columns near the camp, were guarded by female SS overseers, who would beat them on their faces and kick them as an incentive to work. There were instances of dogs being set on prisoners. The Germans paid no attention to the fact that some women, due to their inadequate physical strength, were unable to perform specific types of work. Everyone had to work just as efficiently as the strongest person in the column. If someone was unable to cope with her work, she would not only receive corporeal punishment on the spot, meted out by the overseer, but frequently also be reported for Arbeitsverweigerung (refusal to work), the punishment for which was forced standing, food deprivation, or a term in the gaol.
In the event of a more severe transgression, the offender would be locked up in gaol for a few weeks, spending the time in a dark and often damp cell, receiving only bread and coffee daily and lunch every four days. This punishment was frequently supplemented with beatings. Usually, 25 lashes would be administered using an electric machine. The worst riffraff from amongst the prisoners would also be used for this purpose; they received additional food for their assistance. Not infrequently, the camp commandant or some female SS guard, wanting to vent their sadistic instincts, would inflict the punishment in person.
Yet another penalty was detention in the so-called Strafblock (penal block), to which one would be sent directly, or after having first served a length of time in prison. The shortest term for those sent to the penal block was three months. The maximum time one could spend there was unlimited, for there were instances of people being kept in the Strafblock right until the end of their detention in the camp. The women in the penal block had no contact with the rest of the camp; their facility was fenced with barbed wire and closely guarded. They were used for the heaviest work and received the strictest treatment. The penal block was home to the worst imaginable camp scum (thieves, brawlers, lesbians), and thus, for a decent person, being forced to coexist with that filth was the greatest punishment.
Work inside the camp was organized in so-called Betriebs, that is workshops, in which – first and foremost – we made all sorts of clothing for the army. During work we were guarded by female and male SS guards. As a matter of fact, the required quotas exceeded our strength. Nevertheless, they were demanded unconditionally (failure to perform prescribed work was punishable by a beating, meted out on the spot, and also by being reported) and would be increased from time to time, resulting in unthinkable exploitation of the labor force. There were instances where the SS-men beat someone up so severely that the victim had to be taken to the hospital. If anyone fell asleep – from acute exhaustion – while working at night, she would have cold water poured over her. Work group managers were intentionally chosen from amongst the worst riffraff – criminals, informers (Germans, Gypsies), who derived great satisfaction from tormenting the Polish “politicals”. Before and after work we would frequently be held outdoors for a few hours, for no particular cause and irrespective of the weather and season.
Throughout this time, the food in the camp was unsatisfactory. During the period when we were not allowed to receive food parcels, all of the women looked like skeletons with skin pulled over them. Even when some of us did receive parcels, there were whole groups of Ukrainians who would dig out potato peels and moldy leftovers from the rubbish bins in order to satiate their terrible hunger.
When the number of women in the camp exceeded the planned maximum, hygienic conditions deteriorated rapidly. In the final year the situation was such that three women would sleep in one bed, on a bare pallet. Many blocks did not have duvet covers or pillowcases, while those that did had them changed once every six – eight months. Underwear was changed irregularly, but very infrequently. The underwear that we received from the storeroom, supposedly clean, was nearly as dirty as that which we had returned as used.
Once a month we were given a piece of clayey soap, which we would use up over a week. Baths became ever more infrequent, and in the end were ceased altogether due to a lack of fuel. In itself, bathing in winter was a nightmare. The bath would be very brief and the water excruciatingly hot. Next, we would be taken outside with uncovered (strict prohibition), wet hair, waiting in the freezing cold until all the women from the block got dressed and arranged themselves. We could return to the block only when the column was in required order. Lice multiplied at an alarming rate.
Only the eating rooms in the barracks, fitted with tiny iron stoves, were heated. The sleeping rooms were not, so that in winter gray frost formed on the ceilings, walls, and the blankets with which we covered ourselves. The clothes that we were given for winter provided insufficient protection against the frost. Because of the biting winter cold, the roll-calls – lasting a few hours each – were so much harder to endure than in summer.
On the Sundays that were free from work (the so-called free hours), when we were allowed to move around the camp unfettered, the authorities would pepper us with small prohibitions, for example not allowing us to walk hand in hand, or ordering us to keep our hands in our pockets. Basically, we were not allowed to laugh, although such a prohibition was not issued. But when the warden entrusted with keeping order saw a smiling woman, she would usually hit her in the face, or at the very least kick up a tremendous row, using plenty of foul language.
In 1942, we had to walk barefoot throughout the spring and summer, and also partially through autumn. We suffered exceptional cold during the morning roll-calls, which commenced at sunrise. At this time of day in spring there would frequently be hoar frost on rooftops. The policewomen (German inmates) would walk between the rows and tear out the paper that we were standing on in order to insulate ourselves from the frozen ground from under our feet. Because of the enormous number of illnesses and leg ailments that had to be treated in the hospital, the experiment was not repeated in the next year – it simply was not worth it.
The attitude towards patients lying in the hospital depended on the SS physician in charge. There were a number of them, and each became infamous for his cruelty. The first, Sonntag, would literally kick sick women out of the hospital. He was followed by Schiedlausky and Rosenthal. The latter was a degenerate, who together with his lover – a German prisoner – finished off the seriously ill with injections. This woman, acting with his knowledge, would suffocate and throw into the furnace all the babies born in the camp if both their parents were not Germans. Only women running a temperature above 38° were admitted to the hospital. If it was overcrowded, you would have to have had a fever in excess of 39°. Overpopulation was a chronic condition.
Every once in a while the Germans organized transports of the seriously ill, the mentally ill, and elderly women who were unfit for work. These women were finished off. The first such transport left in the first half of February 1942 – one hundred people, and the second in March 1942 – 73 people. I do not remember when the next transports were organized.
Towards the end, the mental patients would be locked up in one room in the block for the sick. They were left without any care. Raving madwomen would be kept together with melancholics. One night they scalped one of their companions, while on a separate occasion, also at night, they drowned another by plunging her head into the bucket which they used as a toilet. Transports of patients included first and foremost tuberculosis patients and the mentally ill.
The main victims of executions in the camp were Poles and Yugoslavians (from the partisans). There was a time (in 1942) when executions took place generally once every four weeks. Then, they were held during roll-call, near the camp, so that the shots could be heard perfectly. The clothes of the victims would be sent to the laundry room, bloodied at the back, near the collar.
On 20 February 1944 the Polish “politicals” were summoned before the camp authorities and informed that they were to voluntarily report to the brothel for soldiers. The one who did report (for the “politicals” also included those who were detained for having German lovers) was greeted with shouts and whistles, and we started to disperse. However, some of us walked up to the commandant, and the one who told him: – We are Polish political prisoners and we request that in future we do not receive similar proposals! – was locked up in the gaol immediately. Our entire block was punished with the confiscation of parcels for two weeks and also the deprivation of lunches for three days (after the block was cleaned of the food that was gathered there).
Political prisoners also included women who engaged in forbidden trade, who were thugs or relatives of thugs, had anything to do with weaponry, prostitutes who had infected or beaten up a German, and women deported to Germany for labor who had infringed any prohibitions. All of these elements were attached to the idealistic women and carried the same red triangle, being known as “Political Poles”.
Nevertheless, Polish women of a higher level of morality strove to improve their compatriots, and the Poles as a whole, thanks to their solidarity, energy, organizational flair, abilities and cleanliness gained the recognition not only of their co-prisoners, but also of the hostilely inclined camp authorities.