Our Prisoners

Early in the morning, we drove into the concentration camp, where we had to line up the buses in a large open area. Our leadership had name lists of the people—Danes and Norwegians—we were to take with us from there.

We had to wait quite a while for the prisoners, who came out gradually in smaller groups and were lined up by the Germans, according to German order and precision. Everyone stood with their cap in hand; no prisoner was allowed to wear headgear when an SS officer or other superior was nearby. Eventually, everyone was apparently gathered and was formally handed over by a German officer to our Swedish commanding officer.

The first thing he did was greet them in Swedish and then ask them to put their caps on. Both the Germans and the prisoners looked surprised, but the caps were then hesitantly placed on their heads, and the Germans’ expressions likely shifted to something more contemptuous. The loading was carried out quickly and efficiently, and the return journey began. Our passengers were not in particularly poor condition. Some had poorly treated wounds, injuries, and boils, which our Red Cross nurses tended to and cared for during the trip.

Most of them wore prisoner uniforms made of fabric with longitudinal light and dark stripes—worn and dirty. On their backs were large white crosses, painted on with a few strokes of a broad brush. These were said to make them more visible in the dark if they tried to escape and to serve as aiming points for gunfire. Most wore regular, often very worn and tattered shoes, but some had wooden sole-shaped planks with a leather strap fastened across with nails.