To Theresienstadt

In northern Czechoslovakia lay a town called Theresienstadt in German. The Germans had turned it into a Jewish ghetto with Jews of many different nationalities, including about 450 Danes and Norwegians. The city limits were, of course, cordoned off and guarded by Germans, but inside the town the people lived in ordinary urban housing.

Due to overcrowding, most people lived in very cramped conditions. All activities were managed by the inhabitants themselves, and they even had their own currency, the Krone. On one side of the banknotes was Moses with the stone tablets, and on the other, the Star of David. Everything was, of course, overseen by the Germans’ SS. It was claimed that the Germans had set up this ghetto to show the world how well they treated the Jews.

About a week into April, we received orders to pick up the Danish and Norwegian Jews and transport them all the way to the ferry to Sweden in Copenhagen. One of the problems was that both the Eastern and Western fronts were advancing rapidly. If the fronts were to meet while we were down there, we would try to make our way to Switzerland. The personnel were assembled in Friedrichsruh and informed of the risks, and those who for various reasons felt they could not participate were given full freedom to abstain—but none did.

It was urgent, so the expedition was organized in great haste. Over twenty buses, several trucks with various functions, a few cars, and motorcycles set out on the long and uncertain journey. The route first took us to Neuengamme, where we were to pick up 400 French prisoners who were to be delivered to the Flossenbürg concentration camp in southern Germany for further transport to Switzerland under the auspices of the International Red Cross.

They were in better condition than those we had picked up there earlier. We traveled along the Berliner Ring and southward toward Dresden. We spent the night in the vehicles in some forest when darkness made further travel impossible. Air activity was very intense, so we had to be extremely careful with the slightest glimmer of light.