The Stone Crusher
Page 45
18. The kapo system was invented in the early days of Dachau. In Himmler’s words, the kapo’s task “is to see that the work gets done . . . As soon as we are no lon‑
ger satisfied with him, he is no longer a kapo and returns to the other inmates.
He knows that they will beat him to death his first night back” (quoted in Rees, Holocaust, p. 79).
19. The word used by Gustav for their assignment is Lorefahrer. A Lore was a dump wagon used for hauling stone from the quarry (Stein, Buchenwald, p. 96). The weight of the wagon is estimated as follows: 4.9 short tons (US) = 4.4 long tons = 4.5 metric tonnes. Based on size of wagon and density of broken limestone = 1,554 kg/m3.
Different sources give the number of men assigned to pull each wagon as between sixteen and twenty‑six.
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20. Gustav refers to this place as the Todes-Holzbaracke (death barrack), probably a nick‑
name for a building used for sick Jews after they were barred from the prisoners’
infirmary (block 2, in the southwest corner of the camp facing onto the roll‑call square) in September 1939 (see Emil Carlebach in Hackett, Buchenwald Report, p. 162).
21. Stein, Buchenwald, p. 96.
22. Stefan Heymann in Hackett, Buchenwald Report, p. 253.
23. The putsch (coup) began on November 8, 1923, when Hitler and his followers crashed a meeting of the Bavarian State Commissioner in the Bürgerbräukeller. The next day they marched through Munich; they were shot at by police, and sixteen were killed. Hitler was imprisoned for treason, with a very lenient sentence from a sympathetic judge. While in prison, he wrote Mein Kampf.
24. Jones, Countdown, pp. 103–5.
25. Hitler, who saw it as an opportunity for war propaganda, alleged that the plot had been concocted with the cooperation of British intelligence agents. Georg Elser was eventually murdered in Dachau in April 1945.
26. Wachsmann, KL, p. 220.
27. Hackett, Buchenwald Report, p. 51; Stein, Buchenwald, p. 119.
28. Hackett, Buchenwald Report, pp. 231, 252–3; Wachsmann, KL, p. 220.
29. Fritz Kleinmann, quoted in Horsky, Man muß darüber reden, pp. 48–9, reproduced in Gärtner and Kleinmann, Doch der Hund, p. 16n.
30. Stein, Buchenwald, pp. 52, 108–9; Testimony B.192, AWK.
31. Born in 1914, Paul Heller had qualified not long before his arrest. He later served as a doctor in Auschwitz. He survived the Holocaust and immigrated to the United States. “He was a very decent man. If he could help a person, he would,” recalled one of his fellow prisoners (obituary, Chicago Tribune, September 29, 2001).
32. Burkett, Buchenwald Report, pp. 60–4.
33. Prisoner Walter Pol er, quoted in Pukrop, “Die SS‑Karrieren von Dr. Wilhelm Berndt,” p. 79.
34. In his account of this episode ( Doch der Hund, p. 48), Fritz seems to imply that his “weeping and desperate” ( weinender und verzweifelter) voice was an act.
35. Gustav’s diary is hard to interpret here: “[Am] nächsten Tag kriege [ich] einen Posten als Reiniger im Klosett, habe 4 Öfen zu heizen . . .” The Klosett might have been the latrine in the little camp, or perhaps in the main camp barrack blocks, which had earlier been out of order due to a water shortage (Stein, Buchenwald, p. 86). The Öfen (ovens or furnaces) are harder to pinpoint; most likely they were part of the kitchens or the shower block. They were not crematorium ovens, which Buchenwald did not acquire until summer 1942 (ibid., p. 141).
36. Gärtner and Kleinmann, Doch der Hund, pp. 47, 49. Fritz gives his height at this time as 145 cm (about 4 feet 9 inches). But in the 1938 family photograph, when he was fourteen, he is measurably only slightly shorter than the adult Edith (who 294265XGB_STONE_CS6_PC.indd 342
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was 5 feet 2 inches according to her passport: DPP). He must have grown a little in the following eighteen months, so must have been over five feet tall (over 152 cm) by late 1939.
Chapter 4: The Stone Crusher
1. Note of employment, undated, LJL; England and Wales census, 1911; description and details in passenger list, SS Carinthia, October 2, 1936, PNY; General Regis‑
ter Office 1939 Register, National Archives, Kew, London. Morris and Rebecca Brostoff were born in Białystok (now in Poland) around 1878 and immigrated to Britain prior to 1911. In 1939 they lived at 373 Street Lane.
2. Record card 46/01063‑4, HOI. No record card for Richard Paltenhoffer from this time has been found, but he was presumably also put in Category C at this time.
3. Wachsmann, KL, pp. 147–51; Cesarani, Final Solution, pp. 164‑5; Wünschmann, Before Auschwitz, p. 186.
4. Arriving in Dachau on June 24, 1938, Richard Paltenhoffer was prisoner num‑
ber 16865 (prisoner records, PGD). He was transferred to Buchenwald on Sep‑
tember 23, 1938, where he was assigned prisoner number 9520 and placed first in block 16, then block 14 (prisoner record, PGB).
5. Wachsmann, KL, pp. 181–4.
6. Ibid., p. 186.
7. A. R. Samuel, letter to David Makovski, May 25, 1939, LJW; marriage certificate, GRO; Motague Burton, letter to D. Makovski, February 26, 1940, LJL; Burkitt, British Society, p. 108. The company was Rakusen Ltd, which still exists. Richard’s first lodgings were at 9 Brunswick Terrace. There was no universal health care in the UK until 1948.
8. Biographical history, LJW; Grenville, “Anglo‑Jewry.”
9. B. Neuwirth, letter to Richard Paltenhoffer, February 16, 1940; Control Committee, letter to Registrar of Marriages, February 20, 1940, LJL.
10. Gustav recorded all these imprecations in his poem, “Quarry Kaleidoscope”
(see later in this chapter).
11. Altogether, 1,235 prisoners died in Buchenwald in 1939, the majority of them in the last quarter of the year (Hackett, Buchenwald Report, p. 114).
12. The sequence of events at this period (including the precise assignments to bar‑
racks) differs somewhat between Gustav’s diary and Fritz’s recollections. The account given here reconciles the two.
13. The Goethe Oak was damaged by an Allied bomb in 1944 and was felled. However, its stump is still there.
14. Fritz Kleinmann, 1997 interview. Jewishness in itself was not sufficient cause to be sent to the camps until much later; at this time, the Nazi regime was focused 294265XGB_STONE_CS6_PC.indd 343
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on forcing Jews to emigrate, including those being held in the camps, who were released if they obtained the necessary emigration papers.
15. From “Quarry Kaleidoscope” by Gustav Kleinmann. I have translated Gustav’s German as faithfully as possible:
Klick-klack Hammerschlag,
klick-klack Jammertag.
Sklavenseelen, Elendsknochen,
dalli und den Stein gebrochen.
16. Gustav’s original:
Klick-klack Hammerschlag,
klick-klack Jammertag.
Sieh nur diesen Jammerlappen
winselnd um die Steine tappen.
17. Gustav and Fritz both record Herzog’s first name as “Hans” but according to Stein ( Buchenwald, p. 299) it was Johann. For other eyewitness accounts of Her‑
zog’s character and behavior, see statements given in Hackett, Buchenwald Report, pp. 159, 174–5, 234. Although rumored to have later been murdered by a former prisoner, Herzog went on to have a long criminal career.
18. Gustav’s original:
Klatsch – er liegt auf allen Vieren,
doch der Hund will nicht krepieren!
19. Gustav’s original is much more perfectly structured than my translation: Es rattert der Brecher tagaus und tagein,
er rattert und rattert und bricht das Gestein,
zermalt es zu Schotter und Stunde a
uf Stund’
frißt Schaufel um Schaufel sein gieriger Mund.
Und die, die ihn füttern mit Müh und mit Fleiß,
sie wissen er frißt nur – doch satt wird er nie.
Erst frißt er die Steine und dann frißt er sie.
Chapter 5: The Road to Life
1. Kurzweil, Nazi Laws, p. 153.
2. Report in Arad, Documents, pp. 143–4.
3. Rabinovici, Eichmann’s Jews, p. 87ff.
4. Fritz and Gustav never understood where Tini got the money from, as she wasn’t allowed to work. In fact she did get occasional jobs (letters to Kurt, 1941, DKK), and otherwise presumably depended on charity and better‑off relatives.
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5. Passenger list, SS Veendam, January 24, 1940, PNY; United States census, 1940, NARA. Bettina’s mother, Netti, who was Hungarian‑born, appears to have been a sister of Tini’s mother, Eva née Schwarz (Bettina Bienenwald, birth record, Octo‑
ber 20, 1899, Geburtsbuch and Geburtsanziegen, IKA).
6. Transport list, Vienna/Nisko, October 10, 1939, DOW.
7. Alfred Bienenwald, US passport application, 1919, NARA. Bettina and Alfred were born il egitimately, their father being Emmanuel Bienenwald from Lemberg (a.k.a.
Lwów, Lviv).
8. United States census, 1940, NARA.
9. US State Department memo, June 26, 1940, in Wyman, America and the Holocaust, vol. 4, p. 1; also ibid., p. v.
10. Bertha Rothenstein birth record, April 29, 1887, Geburtsbuch, IKA; Lehmann’s Adressbuch for Vienna for 1938, WLO; casualty reports, Illustrierte Kronen Zeitung, June 4, 1915, p. 6; K.u.k. Kriegsministerium, Verlustliste 209, p. 54.
11. Gärtner and Kleinmann, Doch der Hund, p. 69; Buchenwald personal record card 1.1.5.3/6283376, ITS. For consistency, Jeanette’s surname is spelled Rottenstein here. In fact it was always spelled Rothenstein, whereas Tini’s was Rottenstein.
Jeanette was born in 1890 (Jeanette Rothenstein birth record, July 13, 1890, Geburtsbuch, IKA).
12. Fritz transferred into the garden detail on April 5, 1940 (prisoner record card, 1.1.5.3/6283377, ITS).
13. Hackmann was appointed adjutant in 1939 and served until 1941 (Stein, Buchenwald, pp. 44–5, 307; Hackett, Buchenwald Report, p. 34). His first name is variously given as Hermann and Heinrich. He was later convicted by the SS for embezzle‑
ment.
14. Fritz ( Doch der Hund, p. 50) refers to Oranienburg and Lichtenburg as if they were a single camp. In fact, the former was north of Berlin and the latter was between Berlin and Dresden. Oranienburg closed in 1934—presumably occasioning Moses’s transfer to Lichtenburg, which became an all‑women’s camp in 1937 and closed altogether in 1939 (Wachsmann, KL, pp. 38–88).
15. Gustav Herzog was born in Vienna, January 12, 1908 (entry for Gustav Herzog, 68485, AMP).
16. Wünschmann, Before Auschwitz, p. 220.
17. Stefan Heymann was born in Mannheim, Germany, March 14, 1896 (entry for Stefan Heymann, 68488, AMP).
18. Anton Makarenko, Road to Life: An Epic of Education (A Pedagogical Poem), vol. 2, ch. 1. Translation available online at www.marxistsfr.org/reference/archive/
makarenko/works/road2/ch01.html (retrieved May 2, 2017).
19. Fritz Kleinmann, in Gärtner and Kleinmann, Doch der Hund, p. 54.
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20. Hackett, Buchenwald Report, pp. 42, 336; Gärtner and Kleinmann, Doch der Hund, p. 55.
21. Stein, Buchenwald (German edition), p. 78.
22. Stein, Buchenwald, pp. 78–9.
23. Ibid., p. 90.
24. Gärtner and Kleinmann, Doch der Hund, p. 57. Schmidt’s general temperament and habits are documented by many witnesses quoted in Hackett, Buchenwald Report.
Chapter 6: A Favorable Decision
1. Gillman, Collar the Lot, pp. 78–9. The term “fifth column” originated during the Spanish Civil War (1936–39), when a general told the press that he had four columns of troops plus a “fifth column” within the enemy camp.
2. Kershaw, “Collar the lot.”
3. Gillman, Collar the Lot, p. 153; Kershaw, “Collar the lot.”
4. Gillman, Collar the Lot, pp. 167ff, 173ff; Kershaw, “Collar the lot.”
5. Winston Churchill, House of Commons, June 4, 1940, Hansard vol. 364 c. 794.
6. Wasserstein, Britain and the Jews, p. 108.
7. Quoted in Wasserstein, Britain and the Jews, p. 83.
8. The address was 15 Reginald Terrace (various letters, LJL). At the time of their marriage, Richard had had lodgings at number 4 (marriage certificate, GRO). The Victorian houses in Reginald Terrace were demolished in the 1980s.
9. Leeds JRC, letter to Home Office, March 18, 1940, LJL. Mrs. Green lived at 57
St. Martin’s Garden.
10. Wasserstein, Britain and the Jews, p. 83.
11. JRC, letters, June 7 and 13, 1940, LJL.
12. Gillman, Collar the Lot, pp. 113, 133. Six months in, Edith would have been visibly pregnant, but she also happened to be armed with a certificate from her physician, Dr. Rummelsberg (April 24, 1940, LJL), presumably obtained for some purpose connected with her work or emigration application.
13. London, Whitehall, p. 171.
14. There is no record of where Richard Paltenhoffer was interned. His case file appears to have been among the majority that were later routinely destroyed by the Home Office (discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C9246: retrieved September 30, 2017).
15. Joint Secretary, letter to Edith Paltenhoffer, August 30, 1940, LJL.
16. Joint Secretary, letter to Edith Paltenhoffer, September 4, 1940, LJL.
17. Home Office, letter to Leeds JRC, September 16, 1940, LJL.
18. Home Office, letter to Leeds JRC, September 23, 1940, LJL. Richard’s release had been approved on September 16 (Record card 270/00271, HOI).
19. Victor Cazalet, House of Commons, August 22, 1940, Hansard vol. 364 c. 1534.
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20. Rhys Davies, House of Commons, August 22, 1940, Hansard vol. 364 c. 1529.
21. Quoted in Silverman, Undying Flame, p. 15.
22. Quoted in Silverman, Undying Flame, p. 15.
23. Manfred Langer, in Hackett, Buchenwald Report, pp. 169–70.
24. Quoted in Silverman, Undying Flame, p. 15. Leopoldi survived the Holocaust, but Löhner‑Beda was murdered in Auschwitz in 1942.
25. This grove was later the site of a special enclosure whose inmates were isolated and kept secret from the rest of the camp. They included many VIP prisoners who were enemies of the Nazi regime.
26. Hackett, Buchenwald Report, p. 42.
27. Fritz appears to have been transferred to the construction detail on August 20, 1940, after four months in the garden (prisoner record card, 1.1.5.3/6283377, ITS).
He does not specify which garages he worked on. There were two: a smaller one with a gas station close to the admin block and the main camp, and a larger complex further southeast near the officers’ housing and the main construction yard. It was probably the latter.
28. In Gärtner and Kleinmann, Doch der Hund, p. 72.
29. Fritz refers to this as the Heizwerk Nord; it was probably attached to the SS bath facility.
30. Many years later, Fritz learned the name of the friendly Styrian; he was Othmar Wanke (Gärtner and Kleinmann, Doch der Hund, p. 76).
31. The Prominenten of block 17 were of middling status. The Nazi regime kept its highest ranking political prisoners—former prime ministers, presidents, and mon‑
archs of conquered countries—in isolation, often in special secret compounds within concentration camps. Buchenwald’s was a walled compound in the spruce grove in front
of the SS barracks.
32. Gedenkstätte Buchenwald, www.buchenwald.de/en/1218 (retrieved May 14, 2017); Ulrich Weinzierl, Die Welt, April 1, 2005. Transferred to Dachau in October 1940, Fritz Grünbaum died there on January 14, 1941, from cardiac paralysis, accord‑
ing to the death certificate (ibid.), although in fact his death was caused by abuse and starvation.
33. Plänkers, Ernst Federn, p. 158. Ernst Federn survived in Buchenwald until libera‑
tion in 1945; he continued his career in psychoanalysis and died in 2007.
34. In Gärtner and Kleinmann, Doch der Hund, p. 59.
35. His motivation is unclear. Fellow prisoner Emil Carlebach (in Hackett, Buchenwald Report, p. 164) states that Hans Kunke was killed “on the first day of work” in the quarry, whereas Fritz Kleimann ( Doch der Hund, p. 64) states that Kunke was transferred to the quarry in mid‑April, but is vague about his date of death. Stein ( Buchenwald, p. 300) gives it as October 31, 1940. For further 294265XGB_STONE_CS6_PC.indd 347
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information about Hans Kunke and his wife, Stefanie, see the online resource Steine der Erinnerung in Liesing, www.steine23.at (retrieved May 15, 2017).
36. Gärtner and Kleinmann, Doch der Hund, p. 64; Stein, Buchenwald, pp. 131, 293.
37. Wachsmann, KL, pp. 224–5.
38. Ibid., p. 225. Cremation is forbidden in Jewish law, and cremated remains are prohibited from cemeteries. However, exceptions are made for those cremated against their will, and ashes sent back from the concentration camps were permit‑
ted into Jewish cemeteries from the start.
39. Tini Kleinmann, letter to German Jewish Aid Committee, New York, March 1941, DKK.
40. Margaret E. Jones, letter to AFSC, November 1940, in Wyman, America and the Holocaust, vol. 4, p. 3.
41. The consuls themselves, who didn’t have to face the applicants, were generally callous and even supported anti‑Semitic immigration restrictions despite speaking publicly against Nazi anti‑Semitism (Zucker, In Search, pp. 172–4). The Vienna consulate was more sympathetic than most and willing to bend the rules a little (ibid., p. 167).
42. Tini Kleinmann, letter to German Jewish Aid Committee, New York, March 1941, DKK.
Chapter 7: The New World
1. This episode is based in part on interviews with Kurt Kleinmann, accounts writ‑