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Kasriel K. Eilender, M.D.

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THE BARBER OF GOERLITZ - A MEMOIR

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Chapter Nine

"Herr Polizeimeister, 

I’m reporting 

two million 

bugs dead 

and four million 

wounded bugs."

Shortly after being dismissed from the soapmaking shop, we were lined up for a head count and a general assessment of the prisoner situation, including new orders, as well as instructions and the explanation of all kinds of penalties that could be enforced. This was conducted by Polizeimeister Loeffel. 

We stood lined up according to our employment and the certain shops we belonged to. I still was lined up with the soapmakers. At this point when he reached us, the police officer said to my boss: "How come I do not see this little soapmaker in your shop? What is happening?" The boss answered: "We do not have enough material and therefore he is working in the wood chopping establishment." The German looked at him with kind of an incredible gaze and said to me: 

"You still working there, it is so cold and so horrible. Tell me, is there anything else you could do?" 

I replied: "Herr Polizeimeister, I have one idea. Bedbugs inundate us here. I could try to stop the invasion by exterminating them." 

So he asked me: "How are you going to do it?" I said, "With a sulphuric acid sprayer. Besides this, I am going to take some burning wooden sticks, and then stuff them in between the cracks of the wooden bunks and hit the bedbugs where they live most of the time. When they start running out, I will use the sulphuric acid spray." He said, "This is a splendid idea and from now on this is going to be your job. Get out of the wood chopping shop immediately."

So I started. He provided me with everything I needed. All the prisoners watched with curiosity and approved of what I was doing. The results were pretty good. The officer was coming almost every day to check how I was doing. I used to say to him: "Herr Polizeimeister, I’m reporting two million bugs dead and four million wounded bugs." He laughed almost hysterically.

This improved my situation since I did not have to work so hard in a very cold environment, and also I was getting more food. As I proceeded with this new endeavor, I was promoted and asked to do the same in the barracks of the SS and other guards. Still, I was getting weaker and thinner. One day a load of potatoes was brought to the camp. They were stocked up in a hall with a fence.

Polizeimeister Loeffel came in. He was dressed in a clean beautiful uniform. He told me to pick up a bucket and climb over the fence to take some potatoes for myself. I tried to get over the fence, but I was too weak to do it. To my surprise, the officer did it for me, filled up the pail with potatoes and carried them to my lodging. On the way, he was saying to me: "You know, I am going to talk to Hitler and Stalin to stop this horrible war."

It is interesting that despite being oppressed and isolated, there were many rumors that reached us and some of them proved to be true. For example, for some time we had heard that 22 German divisions had been surrounded at Stalingrad. Of course, the underground army knew much more, because when the battle was over, I reported promptly what had happened. The guerillas in the forests knew even more because they had radio connections with Moscow and other parts of the Russian front.

The plot to break out and escape was finally implemented. Our camp had two sections: a smaller one, which contained the administrative buildings, some of which faced the street. The larger part contained the shops and the prisoner’s dwellings. At each corner of this section were towers with guards. There was an inner fence between this two section. To get to the administrative section, one needed the permission of a person known to the administration and only under certain circumstances.

On Sunday the 17th of February 1943, the camp was supervised by a noncom who worked in the administrative office. He was a nice person; occasionally, he gave some cigarettes or a piece of candy to prisoners.

Apparently on Sunday the inner fence was not guarded. The advance party of conspirators walked into the office and killed him. It is still not clear to me why they were not able to come back for the rest of us and just ran to the street where they were picked up by the underground people. It probably took several hours till the assassination and the escape was discovered.

In the middle of the night, the entire camp was awakened by the guards who came into each barrack with whips. They pushed us and made us line up in the camp court where usual daily lineups took place. We were surrounded by many soldiers and SS troops in battle gear, many with machine guns placed on the roofs and behind us. 

The commandant of the camp immediately appeared on the scene, as well as other Nazi officers. Among them was a middle-aged individual, with a little mustache and wearing a uniform of a special security officer.

 Such people could be seen after the war in trains and streetcars all over Germany. They looked very harmless and polite. He happened to be the chief of the SD (security service), which usually was run by very vicious and cruel people.

He screamed to the commandant: "Let’s wipe out the entire crowd of Schweine" (pigs).

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