Mistress of Life and Death by Susan J. Eischeid

Author:Susan J. Eischeid [Eischeid, Susan J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Citadel Press
Published: 2023-11-07T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 66

Montelupich

I have felt the same with my own imprisonment which has lasted two years. I have now lived through everything the prisoners complained about during my years of service.

—MARIA MANDL

AFTER ARRIVING IN KRAKOW, MARIA was held in Montelupich Prison, where she would remain for the rest of her life. There she awaited the trial that would determine her fate. SS Untersturmführer Hans Münch, imprisoned at Montelupich the same time as Maria, remembered that the rough times at Auschwitz—“strange as it may sound”—were easier to bear than the times immediately after war’s end. “When I finally ended up in a Polish prison, things got really bad—to be confined in a very small space, in a narrow cell with many Auschwitz guards and leaders,” all of them loudly proclaiming and discussing their innocence. “We suffered some severe emotional stresses.”

As German prisoners, both Mandl and Münch received better than average treatment, although both were also subject to various indignities by fellow inmates who were survivors of Auschwitz and the camps.

Montelupich, present day. The large prison dominates its neighborhood. Surrounding streets are very busy, congested. We are admitted to the prison ahead of a long line of civilians waiting for visiting hours—our official visit request categorized as high security. Escorted to the director’s office, we discover a tall, high-walled corner room, filmed for the movie Schindler’s List. The guard confides that everyone finds the décor ugly but it must be retained “because it’s famous.”

The director is in his late forties, tall and good-looking. Keen brown eyes appraise us. He wears an open-necked shirt and talks with his hands; his manner is gracious, accommodating, charming, urbane.

We sit around a table, drinking tea. A PR man also sits in, offering information. He is younger, chatty, and very observant. We evidently make a good impression because all doors open for us. The translator urges the author to “drink in the experience.” She does.

The director has a sense of humor. “I must call ahead to make sure they don’t shoot me!” He, in contrast to everyone else we see, does not carry a gun. We are given a tour with few restrictions. We are allowed to take photos.

The corridors are long and dark, with black-and-maroon floor tiles dating from Maria’s time. We pass through heavy security. The cell block has no interior windows; there are visible pipes on the top of the corridors, some thick, some thin, with intermittent dim lights and peeling paint near the ceiling.

The smell overwhelms, a combination of musty bodies, confined spaces, nervous perspiration, despair.

Our guide shows us a cell currently occupied by two men. It seems impossibly small—the same size as in Mandl’s day. These prisoners are kept here twenty-three hours a day. The translator apologizes to them for our intrusion and the author is ashamed she has been oblivious to their discomfort—distracted by the drinking in of this experience.

There is a fairly large courtyard not currently used by prisoners, who are now consigned to a rooftop exercise area. Some executions were

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