THE EXECUTION OF TJE 50 PRISONERS OF MUTINY, FOR ESCAPE ATTEMPT
On June 10, 1942, the mutiny of prisoners from the penal company took place. They were employed digging the main draining ditch in Auschwitz II-Birkenau, so-called Königsgraben [king’s ditch].
According to the plan prepared in advance, the escape was supposed to happen after the whistle signalizing the end of the working day. However, due to heavy rainfall, on that day the work was finished earlier, which left the majority of prisoners disoriented.
At the sound of the whistle only about 50 of them began the escape in the course of which the SS men shot 13 prisoners. On the next day, in reprisal for the escape, they shot the next 20 prisoners and about 320 were murdered in the gas chamber. Initially, only nine prisoners managed to flee the pursuit, but the majority of them were shot or captured after some time.
The beginning I remember as if it was a slow motion film. I approached the clothing without any anxiety, put on my trousers, shirt and an overcoat. I had earlier ripped off the rags with my number on them in order to keep the escape anonymous. I approached the previously prepared shovel , put it on my shoulder, took a few steps towards the SS man, took aim and lunged, but he sprang to his feet as if he were really on a spring.
My mates fled. I dropped the shovel on the ground and tried to get out of the SS man’s field of view. I saw Mietek Kawecki running in front of me, but he was already wounded, slowing down the run, until he dropped to the ground. The neighbouring group was to escape as well, but ‘their’ SS man didn’t know about it and our flight started first.
That’s why he focused on me and tried to cross my path. He shot… 10 metres, 8, 6… He whacked me with the gun barrel on the shoulders. I turned back. Another fugitive emerged, the SS man followed him, I turned again, and with two other mates we ran into the bushes and went on running. I started the ‘striptease’ I had planned earlier.
One boot went one way, the other-the other way. I put on the running shoes that I had managed to take from one of the German Kapos. The idea was to deceive the police dogs that the SS used.
The jacket, the shirt, and the trousers followed the boots-I tossed them all the way into the bushes. I was only in my boxer shorts and the trainers. The bushes ended, we had about 40 m of meadow ahead, followed by another patch of scrub. My mates were running.
The SS man shot twice-he missed. I ducked into a bush and saw him begin reloading. I thought that I would have managed to cover the distance by the time he had finished. My reasoning was correct, but the execution failed, as he reloaded and cocked the gun, and I was still in the bush.
He must have seen me, because he took aim… Then, as I went flying across that meadow, I must have broken the 60 m world record for running. He shot twice and missed, I made it into the bushes, then across an old bed of the River Vistula. I lost one of the trainers in the marshes, threw the other one away, jumped into the water, went about 200 m down the river with the current, and left on the other bank.
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