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Kasriel K. Eilender, M.D.

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THE BARBER OF GOERLITZ - A MEMOIR

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_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Alfred MeTzneR  

"In my view,

I did participate 

in these actions

because I thought

that a human life

is worthless."

                -- Alfred 

                 Metzner

"In my view, I did participate in these mass actions because I thought that a human life is worthless. I had to do my part in these actions; otherwise, maybe I would have been shot myself.

"These statements that I have signed between pages one and seven, as well as this statement here, was without any pressure or without promises to me, and to my best knowledge, encompasses everything without withholding anything."  

Signed:  Alfred Metzner

Signed:  Verve F. Hotzfield

            Capt. DC,    

            Special Branch Officer

Signed:  S.S. Siskind

            US Civ. WDE,    

            OMG US chief inspector 

            of Bavaria

Signed: Alfred Strauss

            US Civ. WDE Ci Officer

XII. Interrogated by:

Signed: Alfred Strauss

Alfred Strauss

US Civ. WDE Ci Officer

        A certified true copy

_______________________________________

A general rule of practice by the Nazis and their helpers was that the people who been brought to the pits and graves were ordered to undress. Since some of the graves were not able to absorb so many corpses, it was then practical to take the additional load in the form of clothing. Sometimes they searched the clothing, but it usually did not yield too much in valuables. There are many testimonies from people who survived and who watched the carnage. The screams of horror and agony were unbelievable. Many who refused to get into the trucks or were unable to walk were shot in their houses in beds or shelters.

Next day they attacked all the area outside of the ghetto. All houses in and out of the ghetto were searched repeatedly, at which time some remaining victims were murdered.

People who were not found escaped to the woods, according to the testimony of the lady survivor of Dereczyn, who ran to the forest and survived. Her father refused to go with her. On Sunday the 26th of July, a man was walking on the street holding under his arm a loaf of bread and was going apparently to visit a sick neighbor. 

The policeman met him. He was Polish and brought up since childhood among Jews; his name was Albin. Before the war, he worked for many years in a mill run by the Jews. He was very, very cruel and basically shot anybody with whom he’d had contact before. 

He asked this old Jewish man Mr. Bialostocki, "Where are you going?" He answered: "I’m bringing some food to a friend who is hungry and weak." Without any word, Albin shot him. 

It is unlikely that any psychologist or psychiatrist and other professional expert on the human mind and brain function will be able to explain the anger or the cruelty of this kind of hate. This is another of many confirmations that power corrupts and motivates humans at any level of intelligence and education.

There have been instances in Dereczyn and elsewhere, when some of the local poor neighbors children had been practically brought up by Jewish people, and yet when they grew up to become auxiliary policemen, without hesitation they killed their former benefactors.

By interviewing surviving partisans from Dereczyn, we could not establish very exact figures on how many people ran to the forests to join the various partisans groups. But the consensus is that it was about 300 to 350 people, including some elderly, children and teenagers.

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