The Camp People

Life in the Skalat Camp was moving towards extermination. As in all concentration camps, after several weeks people were hardly recognizable: spiritually broken and physically exhausted, with no will or reason to live. The fetid camp atmosphere eroded one's humanity and people's behavior at times was wild, almost beastly. After their awful experiences: the 'actions,' the slaughters, the ghetto and the constant fear of death, they were now forced to wear the camp clothes with numbers and yellow badges, while being fed a diet almost totally devoid of nutrition, and to have a decent meal was the dream of every camp Jew. To avoid a beating was to experience a miracle. The camp inmates were in a constant struggle between opposing forces: fear and hope, apathy and strength, powerlessness and a desire for vengeance. They also experienced profound pessimism and a strong desire to survive. All of these contrasts commingled and affected their emotional balance. Often, this inner turmoil resulted in fatalistic approaches toward vital matters, indifference toward one's surroundings and obliviousness toward their common fate. Thoughts and concerns about the future did not go beyond the next day. Further plans were beyond the realm of possibility. The mere thought of what would happen after tomorrow was terrifying. Yet, such evil visions were driven off with all the strength at their command.

At the same time, there was a noteworthy phenomenon among the Jews under German rule, both in general and particularly within the concentration camps, where, despite all their bodily and mental suffering, some sick people actually recovered suddenly. What secret power might have blown the breath of life back into those shriveled limbs? Would it have been possible, under normal circumstances, for bodies and souls to withstand such trials? Typhus victims with raging fevers were known to work and survive. Badly clothed and shod, Jews managed to live through floods and bitter cold. Perhaps someday science will be able to explain the puzzle of this biological anomaly.

Inmates in the camps were not regarded as human. The camp population was considered a sort of imprisoned band of criminal slaves who had been condemned to death. For the sake of a few extra weeks or months of life, they would give up their humanity. The camp people were considered creatures without feelings, without will and without reason. Anyone who wished could beat and belittle them, while they were forbidden even to react. They were forced to endure both spiritual and physical pain with superhuman patience. Camp people regarded their own personal tragedies coldly: their pain had hardened them and left them with obdurate hearts. They could witness bloody and horrible scenes while chewing their bread. They learned of the deaths of close relatives and friends thinking resignedly the same fate awaits me, too -sooner or later. Their tear ducts had long since dried up.

In the camps, the population was separated into two groups: the oppressors and the oppressed. The first included the camp leaders, the brigade leaders and other oppressors. In other camps, membership in that 'upper stratum' was the privilege of the Gentiles: either of the SS-men or of Gentile inmates. In the case of the Skalat Camp, the conditions were different. All of the authorities here were Jewish. The SS-men, as indicated, only came to check up every few days. That was sufficient, however, to last until the next visit.

The authorities of the Skalat Camp earned their infamy by the brutality toward their own brothers. Here, most of the people in the upper stratum came from the corrupt Judenrat, which the German machine had converted into an institution of demoralization and betrayal. Within the framework of a locked labor camp, they had a fruitful ground for their vile and beastly acts. They became appropriate tools in the hands of the Germans for the execution of their plans and wishes. Robbery, extortion and womanizing made up their days. Usually drunk, or exhausted by their carousing, as well as tense, unruly and violent, they brandished whips over the heads and backs of fellow Jews, while berating and cursing them. The clothing of the camp official gave him the appearance of an underworld dandy or pimp: grey-green riding breeches, shiny black new-looking boots, a brown leather jacket with a stiff collar, like that of a boulevardier,

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smelling of eau de cologne, with a cigarette between his lips. The camp people trembled in fear before such 'big shots. 'In their after-hours, they ate and drank the best available. They would stay up to all hours, often until dawn, playing cards and drinking. Money had lost all value to them. They used bank notes to light their cigarettes and the amounts they wagered were staggering. They obtained sexual favors from the women and girls in the camp, who were terrorized into acceding to the slightest whim of these rulers. All the authorities lived in the camp building, together with the inmates, and it was under the same roof that the orgies and festivities took place.

The administrators and oppressors of the camp were a specific type of person. If everything was lost, then one should savor that which life yet had to offer. Trapped in a diabolic snare, one could live befitting the devil; beyond the corpses, beyond the abyss of sin and crime, beyond filth and self-loathing. They eked out the last bit of life, even at the cost of other lives. “A few Jews will have the right to remain alive under Hitler and I intend to be one of them,” Kommandant Rus would say - and he did survive.

After the “Sobbing Graves” 'action,' the entire Judenrat fell apart. The main leaders, Nirler, Zimmer, Lempert and Schoenberg, had managed to escape along with their families. All of them were now in the camp, from which they continued to direct the lives of the last remnants of the hopeless Jews who still wandered among the ruins of the ghetto. This handful of Jews knew quite well that the end was near and inevitable. It seemed to them that now the danger of death would be less in the camp, therefore everyone strived to get into the camp. This privilege came at a high price. The camp management explained that the money was needed to bribe the Gestapo. Actually, most of the money disappeared into the deep pockets of the camp officials. The corrupt life of the camp gentry grew ever more expensive. Those Jews who had no money were not accepted into the camp. It was ironic that while previously people had to pay to be saved from the camp, now they had to pay to be admitted.

In this way, the camp population grew by a few dozen, including women and children. These dealings for places in the 'Life Saving Skalat Camp' went on until the final liquidation of the ghetto. With the liquidation of the ghetto, there was no longer a Judenrat.

Nirler, having lost his kingdom now became the 'prime minister' to the camp-leader, Rus. Now it was Nirler who, every morning at 5:00, would call the roll of the inmates. He too, like his superior, was dressed in pajamas and carried a riding crop. In so brief a time, he managed to create around himself an aura of fear and 'respect.' All who entered the camp office had to stand and take off their caps If some newcomer failed to follow this custom, even if out of ignorance, he was brutally beaten and confined for several days. Other former leaders of the ghetto (Zimmer, Lempert, Schoenberg, Dr. Brif, etc.) gained infamy by their evil acts. They took charge of the work details and, following the German example, lorded over everyone. Decency and justice simply did not exist for them, even with reference to former friends and acquaintances. The Jewish ghetto police, which had been transferred to the service of the camp authorities, also wrote a bloody page in the painful history of the Skalat Camp.

There were, however, exceptions. As reported earlier, the policeman Shikale-ganif, known in town as a depraved petty thief, when confronted with situations involving life and death showed more humanity and decency in carrying out his orders than the proclaimed intellectua1s with diplomas to their credit Shikale-ganif felt the need to give alms to the poor. His thief's conscience would at times awaken as he was carrying out some injustice. He was known to have let dozens of poor people escape certain death by letting them out through a back door, while others of the 'intelligentsia' accepted money to trade the lives of the poor for the rich. The morality of someone like Rus, the camp-leader, or Lempert and others of that ilk, was buried in a far deeper swamp.

In other cases, the common woe cemented a sort of solidarity of spirit among ordinary camp inmates. They huddled together during free time, sharing stories, consoling each other with reports of 'good news' and visualizing images of the future “after this is all over.”

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Often, people would share bits of bread while they debated how to accommodate the latest decrees. Jews also conducted trade among themselves and with the world outside, mostly in the form of barter. There was an urgent need to trade, to earn something which could facilitate the path to survival. Widespread commerce was conducted behind the backs of the camp authorities, especially in regard to obtaining bread. In the beginning, the “surplus” from such transactions was earmarked for the camp Jews in Kamionka. This secret operation was led by Nissen Klein of Mikulince, who weekly sent bread to the brothers in the nearby Kamionka extermination camp, where things were much worse.

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