A French Slave in Nazi Germany by Elie Poulard Jean V. Poulard

Author:Elie Poulard, Jean V. Poulard [Elie Poulard, Jean V. Poulard]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Nonfiction, History, Jewish, Holocaust, Biography & Memoir
ISBN: 9780268100803
Publisher: University of Notre Dame Press
Published: 2016-08-26T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 10

Life at the Boeler Heide Camp

When I was reassigned to work at the Dortmund-South station in July 1944, I still lived in the Boeler Heide camp where the “infamous” Jan, the Dutch aide to the camp’s Lagerführer, became my personal enemy. While I worked for the Telegraphenamt, I was often alone with German workers and thus was obliged to speak their language all day. That led me to make great progress in German. I was able to express myself without an accent and with a decent vocabulary. Such proficiency in the language turned out to be very useful for me and permitted me to help my comrades. Every time there was a complaint to be made, naturally it was I that was put in charge to make it. My buddies would tell me: “You speak the lingo, go do it!” Even though I was not very bold, I did it. Every time, it was Jan that I faced. Since, in general, he would receive me badly, I would lose my temper and that gave me courage. The discussion would end up being rather hot, but I would win the case. I remember in particular one complaint about our sugar ration that we had not been getting for several weeks.

I ended up being quite disliked by this Jan, so much so that, every time that he was mad at us, it was I whom he addressed. For example, during an air raid, at the moment the Allied planes were passing over us, there was always some joker who put something to burn in the stove. Of course, that made sparks going up the chimney. Then, Jan would rush into our barrack, and I was the one bawled out with curse words. He would pour any liquid he could find into the stove. In the fall of 1944, some buddies warned me that he had said that before the Allies arrived he would kill some of us. They added: “Be careful; you are likely to be among them!” Luckily for me, at the end of the war, I was in another camp.

There is no doubt that this Jan had me in his sights. The anecdote below proves that he took advantage of any occasion to vex me. As I already mentioned, since I was in Hagen, I did not have to work on Sundays. As long as I worked for the Telegraphenamt, this was normal for me. However, on the Todt construction sites, people worked seven days a week. But many of my buddies also took Sunday off, more or less regularly, without asking anyone’s permission!

In August 1944, Hitler declared the Total Einsatz, that is, the total effort for the war. This new policy affected us doubly because, from that day on, our salaries were no longer sent to our families. We were told that they were frozen at the Deutsche Bank. Obviously, when we heard this news, we did not harbor any illusions. In fact, these salaries are apparently still frozen since that time.

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