Why grandma was always bitter
Holocaust survivors reveal unusual Nazi cruelty
Updated 12:54 AM PT February 15, 2011
By Anastasio Philemon, World News Service, Los Angeles (WNS-LA)
Revelations continue to emerge of Hitlerite brutality against Jewish
concentration camp prisoners. Reports surfacing in recent former
prisoner associations' statements reveal a hitherto unreported fact
that during their World War 2 incarceration at Auschwitz, Ravensbruck,
and Chelmno, prisoners were routinely denied the use of toilet paper.
Further cruelty by the Nazi SS guards was demonstrated when prisoners
were forced to use sand paper in place of regular issue toilet tissue.
Those SS beasts forced me to use it, described Anna Rosenstein, a
former Auschwitz survivor. They even had Kapos (selected Jewish
prisoners acting as collaborative overseers for the SS over other
prisoners) checking to make sure we used the sand paper, doing spot
checks when they suspected we werent following regulations. Some of
us were beaten, whipped, or spanked when the sand paper was found to
be unused. It was terrible!
Another prisoner described a public humiliation he was forced to
endure by a particularly sadistic SS guard. During the morning
roll-call, the SS sergeant made me step forward and loudly announce to
my fellow prisoners that I sometimes didn't use the sand paper
properly, said Saul Lewitzky, now a resident of Newport Beach,
California. I had to hold up that day's issue of sand paper and shout
out that I would use it faithfully and properly. I hated them for
that. Even to this day I can't see sand paper without feeling ill,
humiliated, degraded, or break out into a fearful sweat.
One former Kapo who pleaded to not be identified admitted the claims
were true. I had to oversee the use of the sand paper, I had no
choice! he lamented. If I didn't do as the SS told me, then they
would have forced me to use the sand paper too instead of the toilet
tissue which I was privileged to use. But, when the SS wasn't
watching, I sometimes slipped regular toilet tissue to my fellow
prisoners in the latrines. I probably saved many Jewish lives that
way!
Many prisoners developed serious rashes to their private parts as a
result of the forced use of the sand paper, but when seeking medical
treatment they were often laughed at by SS medical orderlies. I could
hardly even sit down, and the daily trip to the latrine was sheer
torture, remembered Leon Aritzky, who now lives in Eilat, Israel. My
rash sometimes bled but when asking for medicine, the orderlies always
burst into laughter and cracked jokes. They sometimes even dangled
clean toilet paper in front of us which they were allowed to use,
but not us to further humiliate and torture us.
Thousands of prisoners are reported to have died from the use of the
sand paper.
Researchers in Germany have produced wartime photographs of piles of
industrial sand paper, often shown loaded onto boxcars before shipment
to concentration camps. Other photographs show empty boxcars prior to
the loading of the sand paper.
Documentation recently viewed by the Simon Wiesenthal Center affirms
that the sand paper manufacturer of Sweden which filled Nazi German
orders and which is a subsidiary of the American Company
International Industrial Paper Suppliers knew what the paper was
being used for but continued to supply it anyway. A SWC spokesman
announced that it, in conjunction with the World Jewish Congress and
the International Federation of Jewish Deputies, would be launching
lawsuits against both the subsidiary and its parent corporation for
complicity in the Holocaust. Early reports project a seeking of
damages in the region of US$18 Billion.
An IIPS representative made a terse comment about the revelations: We
are deeply shocked and saddened to learn of this lamentable wartime
activity by our company, stated Thomas Harkins. A recent company
board meeting has already authorized meetings with Jewish
representatives and Holocaust survivor associations to work out
appropriate compensations. We cannot express our guilt and regrets
sufficiently. We feel morally indebted to Jewish people for bringing
these facts to our attention, and we pray that this will never happen
again.
2011 World News Service.
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