Difference between revisions of "Concentration Camps"
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==Errand Boys== | ==Errand Boys== | ||
Self-disciplined children who could speak German (and other language), could serve the Germans or the Kapos as errand boys. In the language of the camp they were called ''Piepel''. | Self-disciplined children who could speak German (and other language), could serve the Germans or the Kapos as errand boys. In the language of the camp they were called ''Pipel / Piepel''. | ||
The way they were treated depended on their protector. In order to do their job they were generally well fed and well dressed. Some were relatively well-treated, others were badly abused, physically and/or sexually. At any moment, if their protector was displeased, they could be sent to the gas chamber. | |||
The reputation of these children in the camp depended largely on the reputation of their protectors. Some of these children were hated by the other inmates since in order to please their protectors they behaved badly with the other inmates. Some were pitied as innocent victims and the other inmates understood their suffering. Some were loved as they tried their best to help as much as they could. | |||
The | ==== The testimony of Elie Wiesel ==== | ||
"At the camp the pipels were hated: they often showed themselves to be more cruel than the adults. One day I saw one of them, thirteen years old, beat his father." | |||
However, in chapter 4 of The Night, in one of the most famous passages of the book, Elie Wiesel recalls witnessing the horrific hanging of a young pipel, who was beloved by the prisoners in the camp. Elie describes the boy as being angelic and beautiful. After a stash of weapons is found in the Oberkapo's block, the pipel is tortured before being sentenced to death by hanging. During the hanging, the pipel's body is too light, and he continues to breathe as he hangs from the rope. For a half an hour, the pipel dangles from the rope, "lingering between life and death." The prisoners are forced to watch the delicate, beautiful child hang to death in the middle of the prison. Elie mentions that the pipel was still alive when he walked past him. When one prisoner begins to ask where God is, Elie silently answers, | |||
Where He is? This is where—hanging here from this gallows . . . (90) | |||
====Survivors==== | |||
Among the children who survived as Pipel were [[Thomas Buergenthal]], [[Luigi Ferri]], [[Beni Virtzberg]], [[Hellmuth Szprycer]], [[Michal Kraus]], and many others. | |||
Revision as of 07:21, 18 March 2020
Children survived in concentration camps, essentially
(1) Pretending to be older and being treated as adults and slave workers.
(2) Being employed as errand boys.
(3) In some family camps (Theresienstadt, Bergen-Belsen).
(4) Being selected for medical experiments (at Auschwitz and elsewhere).
Errand Boys
Self-disciplined children who could speak German (and other language), could serve the Germans or the Kapos as errand boys. In the language of the camp they were called Pipel / Piepel.
The way they were treated depended on their protector. In order to do their job they were generally well fed and well dressed. Some were relatively well-treated, others were badly abused, physically and/or sexually. At any moment, if their protector was displeased, they could be sent to the gas chamber.
The reputation of these children in the camp depended largely on the reputation of their protectors. Some of these children were hated by the other inmates since in order to please their protectors they behaved badly with the other inmates. Some were pitied as innocent victims and the other inmates understood their suffering. Some were loved as they tried their best to help as much as they could.
The testimony of Elie Wiesel
"At the camp the pipels were hated: they often showed themselves to be more cruel than the adults. One day I saw one of them, thirteen years old, beat his father."
However, in chapter 4 of The Night, in one of the most famous passages of the book, Elie Wiesel recalls witnessing the horrific hanging of a young pipel, who was beloved by the prisoners in the camp. Elie describes the boy as being angelic and beautiful. After a stash of weapons is found in the Oberkapo's block, the pipel is tortured before being sentenced to death by hanging. During the hanging, the pipel's body is too light, and he continues to breathe as he hangs from the rope. For a half an hour, the pipel dangles from the rope, "lingering between life and death." The prisoners are forced to watch the delicate, beautiful child hang to death in the middle of the prison. Elie mentions that the pipel was still alive when he walked past him. When one prisoner begins to ask where God is, Elie silently answers,
Where He is? This is where—hanging here from this gallows . . . (90)
Survivors
Among the children who survived as Pipel were Thomas Buergenthal, Luigi Ferri, Beni Virtzberg, Hellmuth Szprycer, Michal Kraus, and many others.