IV: At the beginning of the story, maybe you tell us a little bit where you're born, where you grow up, a little bit about your family?
SB: Right. My name is Salek Benedikt. I was born in 1925.
I had a - my parents owned a restaurant and a delicatessen shop in the town of Łódź, in Poland. We were fairly well-off.
And my - I had an older sister and a brother. My sister was still in school and my brother worked for a silk manufactory as a trainee manager.
I was at school, too, before the war started.
I did not go back to school in this particular year 1939, because war was looming.
And usually we will be in holiday, but not in the, in 1939.
The German army entered Łódź in September of 1939.
Within days, there was order for a curfew.
Jews were not allowed to leave their home. Eh.. No So...
No earlier than 8 o'clock in the morning till 5 o'clock in the evening, everything had to be locked up.
The main gate into the, I lived in an appartment, and the main gate had to be closed at 5 o'clock.
But there was an entrance by the side, of the inside the building into the restaurant, so most of the neighbours after dinner came down.
And they were sitting there, having coffee, playing cards, dominos, discussing the events of the day and so on.
Now, one day, or rather one evening there was a rap on the door, a loud knock on the door.
A man walked in, in civilian clothing.
And he stood in the middle of the room, raised his arm in the Hitler salute.
But before he actually said 'Heil Hitler' he dropped his arm, looked around the room, he saw my father, he begged my father.
My father went up to him. They exchanged a few words, and then my father unlocked the door into the delicatessen shop.
They went in there. As soon as they went in, everybody disappeared.
My mother was sitting there very worried, watching the door.
I joined my mother, after, about I don't know how long, it seemed a very long time, I'm sure it wasn't that long, they came out.
My father shook hands with the man.
He left.
And my father was very upset. He sat down with us. My mother cooked him a coffee.
And he told us who the man was.
Now it goes back, more than a year before the war.
A man came into the restaurant and he wanted to order breakfast but he couldn't speak Polish well, and the waitress couldn't understand him. So she called my father.
My father immediately recognized his accent. He was German.
My father spoke German very well. He was serving in the Austrian army during the First World War.
So he ordered the breakfast.
And from then on, this man whenever came in, he would, he would wait for my father patiently to take the order.
Then my father, if time permitted, sat down and they were talking.
And after a few months they were good friends.
Now, then he stopped coming.
My father was very worried. Maybe he's ill, you know his friend. But he didn't know where he lived.
And so busy, the war getting closer. He forgot.
This man came in.
He came in with the occupying forces.
Not far from us was the headquarters of the Nazi-party.
We could see it from the shop.
And he could see my father. And he said, he had to come in to warn him.
He came in to warn him, it's going to be very bad for Jewish people in Łódź.
And asked him he should leave.
He said, for your sake and for mine.
So of course after this, my father got very worried.
He decided, now we will move out of town.
He had a standing invitation from a friend, in a small town near the city of Kielce.
He had a big house. He was a merchant.
So my father decided, he will move there. But also around the corner from us lived my grandfather who had a fruiter, he was in fruit, fruit-business.
And also an uncle of mine, who was a butcher. They had shops around the corner from us.
My father went around to tell them, you know, what's going to happen.
So they decided, my uncle, the butcher, he came from a small town.
A village, from a little village, somewhere far away.
And they decided to move there, and my grandmother and grandfather also. And my father decided to take up the invitation from his friend.
So they loaded up ever.. but he would not leave Łódź.
Because my brother left Łódź soon after the Germans entered, he went for the Russian border which was by then opened.
You know the Russians occupied part of Poland like the Germans.
So he went with a friend of his to the Russian part of Poland.
So my father said he will wait till he comes back, because he had a letter from my brother that he is coming back because his friend became ill.
And he can't let him travel by himself.
He wants to go back home, so he will join him. So my father said, he will wait there with my sister.
When the brother is back, they will all come and join us there.
So I left with all the goods and stayed there.
After a week or so my father arrived.
He said he was worried what's happening here and after a few days he said, you know, I have to go back.
He went to see some people he knew in town.
And, eh.. before he left, he took off his watch and tried to give it to me. I wouldn't take it, I felt, you know, it's like a last..
I said, "No, nothing will happen. You will get back ok."
So he went back, and then he sent me an letter, I should join my grandparents and my uncle, the butcher, in the little village.
By then it was very cold in Poland.
I remember, we travelled on the slay, you know.
And I had to, we travelled at night.
I had to get down from the top and around because otherwise I get frozen.
Anyway, we arrived in this village.
It was a small village, you wouldn't know there was a war.
You couldn't see a policeman or a German uniform.
Nothing, you know. But was very basic living, you know, in a small village.
We lived in a house made from logs, you know.
And then in March of 193..., yes, it must have been 1940, at night a knock on the door.
Open the door, a Polish officer in full uniform, you know.
You know, he said, where, where is the... eh, what is it called, the... where they keep horses, the peasant, he thought. We said, we are refugees, we don't have it.
He said, come show me.
So I had to put on my coat, and he was standing '...'
I came out, showed them. He said, he left.
When I came back my grandfather called me, he said, look out of the window! Look out of the window!
A whole Polish army crossing, with artillery, horse and artillery, in 1940!
Several months after the war.
Now these Polish partisans, the Polish army, hiding in the woods.
And they were crossing from one wood to another.
On... this was a friday night, they left sunday night.
Monday morning the Gestapo with the SS. And I was taken to fill sacks with straw for the SS who was there.
I came in, eh ... this was... it was a cooperative.
And the building was a cooperative.
The priest was standing against the wall.
The catholic priest. Beaten by an SS man.
We had to stuff. You know, some other young people.. this.
Then after a few days, it was high up in the mountain, we could see villages being burned.
And the rumour was, that the Germans were.. rather the Nazis, were burning down the villages where they crossed.
So we got together, and my uncle said "That's bad, they are not burning down this village, because they have their headquarters here. But eventually they'll probably burn down.."
So one evening we escaped.
We escaped to a nearby town.
In this town, by April on a saturday morning, two gendarms came to the door, called the names of my uncle, myself, two uncles... two uncles and myself.
And there was another man living somwhere else, and took us to the townhall.
There was a gendarm sitting at the table.
And he said, we left the village without permission. Jews are not allowed to leave without permission from the German authorities.
So we were arrested and taken to another town.
We went to this town, handed over the Polish policeman, taken to prison.
While we were imprisoned there, we had nothing, all there was in this prison were two rooms, a bucket, and banks to sleep.
Anyway, we stayed there. No food, no one came in, no facilities, except the bucket.
But there was a little window, a small window.
We saw a small boy passing by. We called him.
And we told him, we asked him to go to the Jewish authorities, and tell them about it.
Soon a woman arrived of the Jewish authorities.
And through the window she gave us some food, and cigarettes, you know.
And after a week, we were released.
Two policeman came in, called us, we were released. But before we were released, they were grabbing people from the street, and putting in the prison.
There were lot of, I think these prisoners, these people were sent to Treblinka.
Anyway, we were released and we went back to the town.
And the town was called Szydłowiec.
My mother died in the.. my grandmother died in the meantime.
My grandfather died before we left the village.
So they were dead.
So when we went back it was terrible, at night Latvians came and grabbing people, you know, from the beds and drag them away.
You didn't see see them again.
So it was terrible.
One morning a friend of my, of one of my uncles came and said, he heard, in a small town nearby, there is ammunition factory.
If you go there, you work in the ammunition factory, you have a Pass, so they won't touch you.
You know, you show the Pass, you work for the ammunition factory, so...
And he asked, the friend asked my uncle whether he would like to come with him.
My uncle said, no, he will stay with the family.
Because my married uncle, he had children, two children. He said he will stay with the rest of the family.
He asked me whether I would like to go.
I said yes! You know, I was always willing to try anything!
So, I went.
And we were worked in the ammunition factory. I was working the machine breaking steel to make antiaicraft, the... eh... it was called, ammunition, the shells, the shells on..
I breaking piece of steel, went into a (???) to heat and in a press to press it and so on.
In 1943, there was the most terrible camp you can imagine.
And the work was very hard.
We worked twelve-hour-shift.
And sometimes we had to work 24 hours.
The food was (???). Very bad.
In 1943 an epidemic of typhus broke out.
Some of my workers, you know, fell ill, and died.
And I was.. had an easy job.
The reason been that I spoke Polish better than the others you know and I was dressed for the job.
The Meister, it was a Polish Meister there, he gave me the job.
"Just pull the handles hinter the machine, pull the handle to brake."
Then I, I volunteered to take over the difficult job.
I gave my job to an older man. I.. I wanted he should work there, but the Meister wouldn't.
He insisted I do it, not the old man.
Anyway, soon after this, I caught typhus, too.
In the beginning I was still dragging myself to work. I didn't know.
Rather they, they didn't know that, that I had typhus. But later on I just had to give up.
I couldn't.. one day I just couldn't get up.
So I was taken to hospital. Hospital was just a barrack.
And with banks.
Whoever was ill was put on the barrack was given one Aspirin. That's all they had.
And after... if you lived, you lived.
You know, you would wake up and ask for water.
If not, you died.
Anyway, it happened to me, they gave me an Aspirin, I don't know for how long I was out.
When I woke up, they said, you are alright.
Back you go.. You have to go back to work.
So I left. Of course I was terribly, terribly weak.
And other people, too.
Then the Nazis decided it's not safe.
They noticed that some of the people came out they were weak.
They still might be infecting because they were very scared that the soldiers, the guards should not catch, you know.
So the commandant gave an order, that everybody who was in hospital has to gather there and has to run.
And whoever couldn't run, they shot him.
Two, two officers, Gestapo-Officers were standing, and they were shooting people.
And I was so weak that I was running with half... you know I was so weak, you know, I couldn't keep my eyes open.
I just looked down, I should jump over the bodies.
The next thing I knew, I bumped into somebody.
I opened my eyes and I heard shooting.
Opened eyes, I saw two officers standing smoking cigarettes.
And the one, the commandant of the camp, said to the other one "Shoot him!"
I was the only one left.
So he went for his gun. Pull, Pull, Pull, Pull. Couldn't get out take the gun.
He went again. Pull. Couldn't. Kicked me in the stomach.
So I turned around, started running, knowing he's going to shoot me in the back.
But I... he didn't. So I survived this.
After... Not very long afterwards they decided to evacuate the camp.
At first we moved to another camp.
Also in the same part, woodland I remember.
And people were breaking out at night.
They brought tools from the factory and the guards were shooting, and they were still running, and I watched it.
They were still running. They broke open the fence.
It was a wooden fence.
And - but I didn't run. I stayed.
And I was taken by.. eh, by lorry. They took us to the, eh.. station.
There were waggons waiting, took us into, you know these closed waggons, 80 to a waggon and took us to Auschwitz.
And we were travelling for several days, no food at all, no water.
It was suffocating.
Anyway, I arrived in Treblinka.
And there, I stayed in Birkenau...
For a few weeks. I don't know exactly. I know you heard about Birkenau. There were very bad people. Selection, I went through the selection.
And I was sent to work to a nearby camp, which was called Buna.
Buna because they were making artificial petrol - artificial (???).
It was called Buna.
In Buna I was working, building, we were building an underground shelter.
Again, it was terrible work, we had, you know, the thin, you know, clothing, you know, like pyjamas.
Nothing - we work in the - when it was raining or blowing. It does not matter.
The - and then the snow came.
In the autumn, Buna was being bombed.
Buna was separately from the camp.
The camp was three kilometers away.
Buna was the place where we worked, was like industrial estate.
There were lots, lots of factories. Not only the (???) they were making.
All kinds of chemicals. Lots.
Now, something happened.
While I was in, in, in, in Buna.
Oh, oh - sorry, I get a cramp.
Something happened in Buna. When I was, they called on a sunday.
We had every second sunday free.
But on this particular sunday the Kapo went around "Out, out, out! You are going to work because the camp has been bombed."
And we have to clear it up.
And this was a (???), in this thin, you know, uniform.
And I marched to the Buna on a sunday, a whole commando, I don't know how many they were or fast.
We marched. As I marched in, somebody was calling my name. Salek! Salek!
I looked, I saw a boy standing by the side of the road. I didn't recognize him.
I thought there must be other people with my name. I'm not the only one. So we marched on.
And they started bombing. Uhh. I'm terrible at the moment. Sorry, I have a... Can we stop for a moment...
IV: Okay.
SB: In the after - In the after - ... you know, while when they where bombing, there was a shelter, high, about three storeys high.
And the top was about three meters of- of- eh concrete iron. You know, it was- it was a shelter.
Now, that's very funny, I think.
We've been nearby, so I thought we were taking shelter from the bombing. I went in.
There were three SS-men sitting there.
The one said "You cannot stay here, out! It's not allowed, it's not for you! For Häftlings."
So I said "We are not going anyway." So I said.
"I will tell you what", he say, "you go up to the top, so if it hit a bomb, you will be the first one to go."
We didn't go. We just went up about three stairs, and we stayed there.
And the building was shaking like this, you know. Such heavy bombing. We came out. Everything was destroyed!
From the previous, in the pipes, running pipes, you know, smoldering little fires all over the place.
Anyway, in the afternoon, back we go.
We were not allowed to work, when it was dark.
In the afternoon the chap was again standing there. This time he ran up to me and he told me who he was.
He was an orphan.
Before the war, he was working - uh, sorry.
He was working in a, in a barber shop, near the other side of the entrance to the block, was a barber shop.
And he had no where to live. And he was sleeping there and we were living there.
That's what he told me. I didn't know this.
Because he asked me to come to his barrack.
He gave me the number of the barrack, and I went alone this evening, and he told me he was sleeping there.
And unbeknown for him, the owner of the shop went to Russia with the whole family.
And he was left without money, without heating, no clothing, winter was closer then.
He would have died.
He didn't know where to go.
So he went to my parents and told them.
He said my parents took him in.
They gave him warm clothing.
They gave him food.
Without them, he would have died.
Now. I wanted to know about my brother. What happened to my brother? Because I already guessed that something is wrong.
Because in Buna in the camp, in the camp, I met a lot of people from Łódź. Right.
And I wondered, maybe I know he was in a place called (???). This I remembered.
Because he wrote a letter to me when I was still in Poland in the small town, that he is going to work, he volunteered, from Łódź.
So I knew this.
And the people, they said, yes. They were in the camp. They knew my brother.
But they don't know what happened to him.
So I could do nothing.
So, but I have an idea that he might have been with my brother.
So I said to him, look. He said to me, I want to help you.
Every wednesday, I'm the barber for the barrack, so I get extra soup, two liter soup. I share it with you.
So I said to him, look. I don't want your soup.
I want, tell me, what happened to my brother?
Just like this. He said, I don't know. I said, I think you do know.
Please, tell me. I said, alright.
He said, he was with my brother.
He had an accident at work and he was shot. Tja. I knew about my brother.
Now I missed out to tell you the other things happened before the war.
About two years before the war.
A merchant from the small town in Poland came to my parents and told them that the neighbour of his died and left a widow.
He was a tailor, a poor tailor, left a widow with two children, a girl of 16 and a boy of about 15.
And they are starving.
They can't get work in the small town. Have you got a.. a.. you know, a place for somebody in the restaurant? You know she'll wash up, she'll do anything.
So my parents said, alright. Next time you come, bring her.
She came along with the most beautiful girl and such a nice person.
My parents loved her from the moment she came. To us she was sister.
You know, and my parents looked after her.
They treated her not like a worker, but like one of the family.
And when the holiday came, she went back to town. The whole town.. she was dressed like a lady.
With lots of food she took home, you know.
And she had a brother.
Now. While I was in quarantine in Buna, people were coming up, we were in a special barrack for quarantine for two weeks.
We were not allowed to go out.
But the people were coming back, stopped and asked, where are you from? You know, so.
And one chap I asked. He said, he is from the small town, where the girl came.
So I said, do you know this family?
He said, why? I said, this girl worked for us. Her name was Lonja. Lonja was very conf.... he said, you're in luck.
I said, what do you mean? You're luck? Her brother is the Stubendienst in a big Zelt. They had a Zelt, a big, thousand people, in the Zelt.
Go to see him, when you come out. So.
After two weeks I was assigned a barrack and work.
I did not yet go to work, so I went along.
I went... we were not allowed to go in, so somebody coming out I said "Do you know Moniek Finkelstein?"
He said, yes.
"Could you tell him, that someone wants to see him?" I said. He went in. He came out. You know, he is a big man, you know.
Stubendienst was a big position. Privileged.
"What do you want?"
I said "Are you Moniek Finkelstein?" He said, yes.
I said "I'm Salek Benedikt." Oh! He grabbed me! Kissed me and hugged me.
He said, I will help you.
Everyday at twelve o'clock, I'm outside dishing guard food.
He was... "You join with the biggest Schüssel, you know."
You can get, which I did.
And every day he took from the bottom, you know. He gave me good food.
And this put me right.
And when I went to the barrack where I was assigned to, another person recognized me.
And he was a Kapo of a Kommando.
He was a customer in our restaurant. I didn't know him. He recognized me.
And he said, that if I wash his jacket every sunday when I'm not working, you know, every second sunday, he will give me some soup.
And so I was very lucky there. And another one.
This wasn't the only one.
Another one that worked in the camp, a chap comes up to me, a man.
He said, you are Benedikt. I said, yes. He said, do you recognize me? I said, no.
He said, remember the Easter before the war. You had suits made.