Gene Klein Holocaust Survivor - A German Civilian Saved My Life

sometimes late 1944 one morning when we are standing in attention to be counted young prisoners are always in the front row ss sergeant stops two meters in front of me and says who amongst young prisoners speak german i took it in gymnasium in high school i had one of those things when your brain is like a computer and you try to in a split-second way the consequences okay why should they take one person one prisoner out if they can kill a hundred so maybe there must be something good sure enough he takes me to the gate of the camp there is a man in civilian clothing i stand in attention take off my head and tell him my prisoner number and he actually introduces himself he says i am here so and so i'm a civilian engineer i'm attached to this camp and i'm going to be surveying the future roads for two weeks i need somebody to carry some of my equipment because i can do it by myself you are going to be carrying the wooden plank with the numbers on it and he has the tripod with his instrument and his books and he tells me stand over here i stand there with the wooden plank i'm on vacation beautiful area it reminded me when i was a boy scout going to jamborees in areas like this i could escape for a couple minutes and then he beckons me when he makes his notes and i stand there and we do this great no slave labor next morning the first thing he says to me is i know what terrible situation you people are in what is he talking about he's a german he is one of the people that put me in this terrible situation is he killing me is he trying to be smart or whatever but then the next thing he says i am going to bring you back to join your work party excuse me because i usually break down a half hour early to join up your work party to march back to the camp i'm going to point to the left there's a barracks this is where the ss guards and civilian german engineers and so on have their lunch this is going to be way past lunchtime you don't have to worry go in go to the far corner look under the bench piece of meat piece of cheese a real piece of bread a little cup of milk i drink the milk i put the rest in my pocket to take it back to share with i always hooked up with some young prisoners for moral support and i thank him and this one for two weeks i credit this maybe saved my life against all odds this men a real human being decided that he's going to help another human being in their need if the guard would have seen him and ss god would have seen him he could have wound up in the same camp where i was yet he did this for two weeks and this was really not only fantastic that i was able to replenish my system because i was always a skinny kid but now i was a healthy skinny kid and i was able to continue i had no idea that i'm going to be in the camps for two months or two years or whatever but not only was that fantastic physically but mentally it was such a lift to know that they are good people on this earth what a chance he took

Channel: Jill Klein

Views: 1,446,636

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Id: 5bENHE2Fw5A

Length: 4min 47sec (287 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 23 2014