Daily Life in Auschwitz and Other Health Resorts
Object numberM2006/108:004
TitleDaily Life in Auschwitz and Other Health Resorts
Creator Dr. Margaret Kernegg
DescriptionTestimony, 25 pages, titled “Daily Life in Auschwitz and other Health Resorts” by Margaret Kernegg.
Stimulated by the TV series Holocaust (1978), Margarethe (Grete) Kernegg (nee Wolfram), born Vienna in December 1900, set out to detail her experiences of daily life in Auschwitz. Captured with her husband Hans in Nice, France they were transported to the Drancy assembly camp before being transferred to Auschwitz in April 1944. Hans was killed on the day he arrived, but Margaret survived and was sent to the women’s’ camp of Birkenau. Kernegg describes the clothing they were given, the shoes (“No stockings or socks, but one high heeled lady’s shoe 2 sizes too small and one man’s shoe 3 sizes too big for me and without shoe laces.”) the rationed food served from old kerosene cans, the cramped sleeping arrangements where twenty women share a bunk with just two blankets, the toileting and lack of sanitation, her tattooing (number 78677), the hierarchies among both officers and prisoners, corruption and stealing, prolonged standing roll-calls coming after long work days, and the meaningless and futile work activities such as unloading boulders from a truck only to then have to re-load the truck with the same boulders.
While “In times of great distress we often felt an end with horror may be better than a horror without end,” Kernegg maintained her resolve “to escape alive” and survive the threats, humiliations and deprivations she experienced. After enduring gruelling physical labour she, along with a handful of other inmates, was transferred to House 7, the camp’s office, officer food stores and telephone centre, where she worked for six months. Of the six women who shared a bunk there, three were re-united many years later in Sydney.
As Russian troops took Krakow and advanced on Auschwitz, Margaret and the remaining women inmates were forcibly evacuated, being marched for days in rain and snow to Pless in Silesia where they were loaded onto trains for the long journey to Ravensbruck not far from Berlin. In February 1945, after three weeks in Ravensbruck they were again put onto a train this time to Neustadt-Glewe, which by now was accommodating twice the number of people it was built for. The Americans commenced their bombardment of the nearby Junkers aircraft factory and the soldiers’ section of the camp causing the German troops to flee. For three days the prisoners waited unsupervised in the camp before Margaret walked across the spring heath into the town. On May 1st 1945 the camp was liberated. Her ordeal had lasted thirteen months.
Stimulated by the TV series Holocaust (1978), Margarethe (Grete) Kernegg (nee Wolfram), born Vienna in December 1900, set out to detail her experiences of daily life in Auschwitz. Captured with her husband Hans in Nice, France they were transported to the Drancy assembly camp before being transferred to Auschwitz in April 1944. Hans was killed on the day he arrived, but Margaret survived and was sent to the women’s’ camp of Birkenau. Kernegg describes the clothing they were given, the shoes (“No stockings or socks, but one high heeled lady’s shoe 2 sizes too small and one man’s shoe 3 sizes too big for me and without shoe laces.”) the rationed food served from old kerosene cans, the cramped sleeping arrangements where twenty women share a bunk with just two blankets, the toileting and lack of sanitation, her tattooing (number 78677), the hierarchies among both officers and prisoners, corruption and stealing, prolonged standing roll-calls coming after long work days, and the meaningless and futile work activities such as unloading boulders from a truck only to then have to re-load the truck with the same boulders.
While “In times of great distress we often felt an end with horror may be better than a horror without end,” Kernegg maintained her resolve “to escape alive” and survive the threats, humiliations and deprivations she experienced. After enduring gruelling physical labour she, along with a handful of other inmates, was transferred to House 7, the camp’s office, officer food stores and telephone centre, where she worked for six months. Of the six women who shared a bunk there, three were re-united many years later in Sydney.
As Russian troops took Krakow and advanced on Auschwitz, Margaret and the remaining women inmates were forcibly evacuated, being marched for days in rain and snow to Pless in Silesia where they were loaded onto trains for the long journey to Ravensbruck not far from Berlin. In February 1945, after three weeks in Ravensbruck they were again put onto a train this time to Neustadt-Glewe, which by now was accommodating twice the number of people it was built for. The Americans commenced their bombardment of the nearby Junkers aircraft factory and the soldiers’ section of the camp causing the German troops to flee. For three days the prisoners waited unsupervised in the camp before Margaret walked across the spring heath into the town. On May 1st 1945 the camp was liberated. Her ordeal had lasted thirteen months.
Production placeAustralia
Production date 1978
Object nametestimonies
Materialpaper
Dimensions
- width: 200.00 mm
height: 330.00 mm
Language
- English