Chapter Seven: Vahingen Enz

Travelling several days and nights we finally arrived at Vahingen, twenty one km from Stuttgart, Germany. We were put to work blasting a quarry in order to build a munitions factory underground. I was assigned to night shift work, my two brothers were working the day shift. My job was to load the rocks that had been blasted by the dynamite into wagonettes on rails, and then dump them into a pit. The only time we could relax was when there was an air raid.

I became acquainted with a Belgian slave labourer, who worked as a mechanic on compressors. He was not an inmate in the concentration camp, however, he was a forced slave labourer. The food and living conditions were far superior to ours. From time to time he brought me some food. I could pick it up only when there was an air raid, (when all the lights were out).

The only time I could see my brothers was when we (our night shift) went to work and met the day shift going back to camp, and vice-versa. One day I developed diarrhea, I was very weak, morally depressed, and seeing no end in sight, contemplated committing suicide. I mentioned this to my Belgian friend, he immediately left the compressor room in the dark, and came back a few minutes later with a half a glass of sugar and forced me to swallow it in his presence, - which in fact stopped the diarrhea.

I had not seen sugar for several years, I wanted to share it with my brothers, but my Belgian friend was adamant in his decision. He gave me a dressing down; he said, "did you consider what your suicide would do to your brothers, and what about your girlfriend you spoke so highly of? Your life is not only yours, you are connected with the lives of many others, so forget about suicide and one day you will be a free man."

Several weeks later, returning to camp from the night shift, I saw a column of inmates lined up five abreast, ready to leave the camp, my two brothers among them. They were being transferred to another camp. I had to think fast to find a solution as to how to join my brothers, I knew that should we separate, none of us would survive. With the slice of bread I received for the day, I bribed a Kapo to allow me to join my brothers.

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