Shoah Page #23

of Gestapo men and police,

and we went forward.

There were even traitors,

the Recanati brothers, Athens Jews.

After the war they were sentenced

to life imprisonment.

But they're already free.

We were ordered to go forward.

- [ Lanzmann, In French] By the street?

- Yes, by this street.

- How many of you were there?

- Exactly 1,650.

[Speaking Greek]

- Quite a crowd?

- A lot of people.

Christians stopped there.

Christians, that's right.

And they saw.

- Where were the Christians?

- La'.

[ Greek ]

- At the street corner?

- Yes.

And on the balconies.

After we gathered here,

Gestapo men with machine-guns

came up behind us.

What time was it?

- It was 6 A.M.

- [ In French] In the morning.

- A fine day?

- Yes, the day was fine.

6 o'clock in the morning.

1 ,600.

That's a lot of people in the street.

People gathered.

The Christians heard the Jews

were being rounded up.

- Why'd they come?

- To see the show.

Let's hope it never happens again.

- Were you scared?

- Very scared.

There were young people,

sick people, little children,

the old, the crazy, and so on.

When we saw

they'd even brought the insane,

even the sick from the hospital,

we were frightened

for the survival

of the whole community.

What were you told?

That we were

to appear here at the fort

to be taken to work in Germany.

- [Greek] Poland.

- [ French] Poland, that's right.

The Germans had put up

a proclamation on all the walls in Corfu.

It said all Jews had to report.

And once we were all rounded up,

life would be better

without us in Greece.

It was signed by the police chiefs,

by officials and by the mayors.

- That it's better without Jews?

- Yes.

We found out after we came back.

Was Corfu anti-Semitic?

Corfu's always had anti-Semitism?

It existed, sure,

but it wasn't so strong

in the years just before that.

Why not?

Because they didn't

think like that against the Jews.

ARMANDO AARON:

President of the Corfu Jewish community

- And now?

- Now we're free.

- How do you get on with the Christians now?

- Very well.

- [ Man Speaking Greek]

-Hmm?

[ Greek ]

Trs bonnes.

- What'd he say?

- He asked me what you said.

He agrees our relations

with the Christians are very good.

[ Man #2 Speaking Greek]

- Did all the Jews live in the ghetto?

- Most of them.

What happened after the Jews left?

They took all our possessions,

all the gold we had with us.

They took the keys to our houses

and stole everything.

To whom was all this given?

Who stole it all?

By law, it was to go

to the Greek government.

But the state got only a small part of it.

The rest was stolen, usurped.

- By whom?

- By everybody, and by the Germans.

[ Lanzmann ]

Of the 1,700 people deported...

[Aaron ]

Around 122 were saved.

95% of them died.

Was it a long trip

from Corfu to Auschwitz?

We were arrested here on June 9,

and finally arrived June 29.

Most were burned on the night of the 29th.

It lasted from June 9 to 29?

[ Greek ]

[ In French]

We stayed here for around 5 days.

Here in the fort.

No one dared escape

and leave his father, mother, brothers.

Our solidarity was

on religious and family grounds.

The first group left on June 11.

[ Boat Motor Humming ]

I went with the 2nd convoy, on June 15.

What kind of a boat were you on?

A zattera.

That's a boat made of barrels and planks.

It was towed by a small boat

with Germans in it.

On our boat there were 1, 2 or 3 guards,

not many Germans, but we were terrified.

You can understand,

terror is the best of guards.

- What was the journey like?

- Terrible! Terrible!

- No water, nothing to eat.

- [ Men Chattering In Greek]

90 cars that were good

for only 20 animals,

all of us standing up.

A lot of us died.

Later they put the dead

in another car in quicklime.

- [ Men Chattering In Greek]

- They burned them in Auschwitz, too.

[Whistle Blows]

Next figure:
WALTER STIER

Ex-member of the Nazi party

Former head, Reich Railways, Bureau 33

(Railroads of the Reich)

[ Lanzmann, In German]

You never saw a train?

[ Stier, In German]

No, never.

We had so much work,

I never left my desk.

We worked day and night.

[ Lanzmann ]

G.E.D.O.B.

GEDOB means Head office of Eastbound Traffic.

- [ Stier Repeats Phrase, Agrees ]

In January 1940,

I was assigned to GEDOB Krakow.

In mid-1943, I was moved to Warsaw.

I was made chief traffic planner.

Chief of the traffic planning office.

But your duties were the same

before and after 1943?

The only change:

I was promoted to head of the department.

What were your specific duties

at GEDOB in Poland during the war?

The work was barely different

from the work in Germany:

preparing timetables,

coordinating the movement

of special trains with regular trains.

- There were several departments?

- Yes.

Department 33 was in charge

of special trains

and regular trains.

The special trains

were handled by Department 33.

You were always

in the Department of Special Trains?

Yes.

What's the difierence between

a special and a regular train ?

A regular train may be used

by anyone

who purchases a ticket.

Say from Krakow to Warsaw.

Or from Krakow to Lemberg.

A special train has to be ordered.

The train is specially put together

and people PaY---

group fares.

- [ Lanzmann Repeats Phrase]

Are there still special trains now?

- Of course.

- Ja?

Just as there were then.

For group vacations

you can organize a special train?

Yes, for instance,

for immigrant workers

returning home for the holidays...

[ Clears Throat]

Special trains are scheduled.

Or else one couldn't handle the traffic.

- Ja.

You said after the war you handled

trains for visiting dignitaries.

- After the war, yes.

- [ Repeats Phrase]

If a king visits Germany by train...

- Ja.

That's a special train?

- That's a special train. Mm-hmm.

- Ja.

But the procedure isn't the same

as for special trains

for group tours, and so on.

State visits are handled by the Foreign Service.

- Right.

May I ask you another question?

- Hmm?

- Why were there more special trains

during the war, than before or after?

- Ja.

I see what you're getting at.

You're referring to

the so-called Resettlement trains.

- Resettlement. That's it.

- That's what they were called.

Those trains were ordered

by the Ministry of Transport of the Reich.

You needed an order from the Ministry

of Transport of the Reich...

[ Both Repeat Phrase]

- In Berlin?

- Correct.

As for the implementation of those orders,

the Head Office of Eastbound Traffic

in Berlin dealt with it.

[ Lanzmann ]

Yes, Iunderstand.

- [ Stier ] Is that clear?

- Perfectly.

But mostly, at that time,

who was being resettled?

No! We didn't know that.

Only when we were fleeing

from Warsaw ourselves,

did we learn

that they could have been Jews

or criminals, or similar people.

- Jews, criminals?

- Criminals. All kinds.

Special trains for criminals?

No, that was just an expression.

You couldn't talk about that.

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