13
13 In September the SS took command of the camp operation. Oberscharf ührer Oester became the commander, and a troop of Ukrainians was brought in to serve as guards. Oester was the former deputy to Schupke, the German commander of the Rzeszów ghetto. Oester inspected the prisoners, barracks, and washroom at random. He carried a heavy truncheon and struck at anyone within in his reach. He would punish an entire barracks for the slightest reason. He denied us our meals and made us stand in roll call for hours in the worst weather. He liked to point his pistol at our heads and threaten to shoot us. He instructed the orderlies to mistreat us, or they would be replaced. Oester had a sick fascination with animals. He had a large vicious dog that he treated with care and affection. He brought six large geese into the camp and kept them in a small shack that the prisoners built next to the washroom. Every afternoon some Jewish men were sent to clean the goose shack and feed the geese by stuffing chunks of dough down their throats. The wild geese fought being force-fed. They bit at our hands. Oester and the guards loved to watch us feed the geese and especially to see us bitten and pecked at. He had prisoners plant a large vegetable garden just inside the factory gate. We grew tomatoes and other vegetables for the kitchen to use for the Germans’ meals. What torture for us prisoners to tend to the tender tomato plants that we were forbidden to eat under threat of execution. One afternoon I was picked with two other prisoners to clean the goose shack and feed the geese. Oester came by to inspect our cleaning and watch us feed his animals. He left after a few minutes, and we were spared his antics. Not long after, I heard two gunshots. I looked toward the sound of the shots, which came from the entry to the camp. Four prisoners were carrying a limp body toward the washroom. I saw that 115 the dead man was Katzenfliegel. I was told that Oester had killed him in the tomato garden. Oester claimed that he saw Katzenfliegel urinating there. Katzenfliegel tried to deny that he done such a thing. Oester stepped around him and shot him twice in the back of the head. The Ukrainians were happy to be our guards. They were often drunk, which made them eager to shoot at the Jewish prisoners. It was dangerous to be outside the barracks after dark, even though we were permitted to walk to the latrine. I had to go to the latrine one night. It was between the barracks and the double barbed wire fence. I was running toward the latrine when a drunken voice called out for me to halt. The guard yelled at me to fall to the ground. I dropped down, hoping he could not see me in the dark. “Fall down! Stand up! Fall down! Stay there, your mother is a whore, you Jewish swine!” The Ukrainian was shouting. “Trying to escape, you filthy Jew! But I caught you!” I heard the click of his rifle bolt. I jumped up and ran into the black night toward the rows of barracks. He fired his rifle. I kept running from the shouting and gunshots and made it to my barracks. The camp lights were flashed on, and soon the guards were shouting and firing more rifle shots. I climbed onto my shelf and covered myself with my blanket. The other prisoners were awakened by the commotion. No guards came into our barracks, and after a while the shouting stopped and I went to sleep. At roll call the next morning Oester announced that the guards had stopped an escape attempt. He told us that from then on, he would shoot prisoners if anyone managed to escape or even attempted to. In our barracks Oester instituted a new system to prevent escape attempts . Two prisoners were assigned to a two-hour shift during which they had to stand by the door and make sure that all the prisoners were accounted for. At the end of each two-hour shift the next shift would count all the prisoners in the barracks to make sure that they were all there before they took over. If any prisoners were missing from the barracks , the shift that had been on guard would be shot. The prisoners lay...
OR
