MME. VAILLANT-COUTURIER: In the morning at 3:30 the whole camp was
awakened and sent out on the plain, whereas normally the roll call was
at 3:30 but inside the camp. We remained out in front of the camp until
5 in the afternoon, in the snow, without any food. Then when the signal
was given we had to go through the door one by one, and we were struck
in the back with a cudgel, each one of us, in order to make us run.
Those who could not run, either because they were too old or too ill
were caught by a hook and taken to Block 25, “waiting block” for the gas
chamber. On that day 10 of the French women of our convoy were thus
caught and taken to Block 25.
When all the internees were back in the camp, a party to which I
belonged was organized to go and pick up the bodies of the dead which
were scattered over the plain as on a battlefield. We carried to the
yard of Block 25 the dead and the dying without distinction, and they
remained there stacked up in a pile.
This Block 25, which was the anteroom of the gas chamber, if one may
express it so, is well known to me because at that time we had been
transferred to Block 26 and our windows opened on the yard of Number 25.
One saw stacks of corpses piled up in the courtyard, and from time to
time a hand or a head would stir among the bodies, trying to free
itself. It was a dying woman attempting to get free and live. The rate
of mortality in that block was even more terrible than elsewhere
because, having been condemned to death, they received food or drink
only if there was something left in the cans in the kitchen; which means
that very often they went for several days without a drop of water.
One of our companions, Annette Épaux, a fine young woman of 30, passing
the block one day, was overcome with pity for those women who moaned
from morning till night in all languages, “Drink. Drink. Water!” She
came back to our block to get a little herbal tea, but as she was
passing it through the bars of the window she was seen by the
Aufseherin, who took her by the neck and threw her into Block 25. All my
life I will remember Annette Épaux. Two days later I saw her on the
truck which was taking the internees to the gas chamber. She had her
arms around another French woman, old Line Porcher, and when the truck
started moving she cried, “Think of my little boy, if you ever get back
to France.” Then they started singing “The Marseillaise.”
In Block 25, in the courtyard, there were rats as big as cats running
about and gnawing the corpses and even attacking the dying who had not
enough strength left to chase them away.
Another cause of mortality and epidemics was the fact that we were given
food in large red mess tins, which were merely rinsed in cold water
after each meal. As all the women were ill and had not the strength
during the night to go to the trench which was used as a lavatory, the
access to which was beyond description, they used these containers for a
purpose for which they were not meant. The next day the mess tins were
collected and taken to a refuse heap. During the day another team would
come and collect them, wash them in cold water, and put them in use
again.
Another cause of death was the problem of shoes. In the snow and mud of
Poland leather shoes were completely destroyed at the end of a week or
two. Therefore our feet were frozen and covered with sores. We had to
sleep with our muddy shoes on, lest they be stolen, and when the time
came to get up for roll call cries of anguish could be heard: “My shoes
have been stolen.” Then one had to wait until the whole block had been
emptied to look under the bunks for odd shoes. Sometimes one found two
shoes for the same foot, or one shoe and one sabot. One could go to roll
call like that but it was an additional torture for work, because sores
formed on our feet which quickly became infected for lack of care. Many
of our companions went to the Revier for sores on their feet and legs
and never came back.
M. DUBOST: What did they do to the internees who came to roll call
without shoes?
MME. VAILLANT-COUTURIER: The Jewish internees who came without shoes
were immediately taken to Block 25.