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Kasriel K. Eilender, M.D.

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THE BARBER OF GOERLITZ - A MEMOIR

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He took me

off the 

Execution

List!

As a member of the "camp elite," Rosenthal was meeting other heads of shops and work details for drinks or cards. Little did he know that some of them were former Soviet officers, who belonged to the under ground group. They were the people who used my translated reports from German newspapers.

Later, I found out that during one of these meetings, my former boss mentioned that he had included me in the list of prisoners to be shot the next Sunday. One of the officers remarked: "Lipa, if this happens, you will re-main alive only 24 to 48 hrs thereafter. Therefore, you are being warned." 

He did take me off the execution list. It was obvious that he wanted to get rid of me in the fastest and surest way. However, it did not work out for him. It certainly did for me.

Shortly before the end of my career as a soapmaker, a German police officer joined the administration of the camp. His name was Loeffel, which basically in German means a spoon. He was a middle-aged individual, heavyset with a red face. He was not a cruel one. Occasionally, he used to come into our shop and used to kind of strike me on my cheek and say: "How is the Seifenmacher?" What it means in German I really do not know even today.

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