(Authors: I S Marks, L Sandground, Vol. 70, No. 2, Rosh Hashanah 2015)
Editors’ note: Shortly after the war, the SA Jewish Board of Deputies approached various Jewish former POWs, requesting them to provide a written account of their time in captivity. These testimonies are now housed in the SAJBD’s SA Rochlin Archives, with the following two accounts having been selected, in edited form, for this special 70th anniversary issue.
Some of the players in the play ‘David and Goliath’ produced by Shmuel Stern (arm on hip) in the all-Jewish Shomberg POW camp, Germany.
Statement by No. 31449, Private L Sandground, Ex-Imperial Light Horse
I was taken prisoner at Tobruk. From there, I was taken to Benghazi, and then to Italy. I remained there until Italy’s collapse, when, together with five or six thousand other South African prisoners, I was sent to Mühlburg in Germany. From there I was posted to Brüx, where we worked in the coal mines.
Before we were sent to Brüx, we were interrogated, and cards taking information about our nationality, religion, etc. were completed. When I said my religion was Jewish, the British sergeant who was filling in the card advised me to conceal this fact, since, in his words, “they would take it out on me.” However, I refused to hide my religion.
One day the order came through to the camp commandant at Brüx that all Jews were to be sent to Teschen. Seven of us were told to prepare for the move. On arrival at Teschen, we learned that the work we would have to do was loading coal. One of the Jews with us was a corporal and he protested that by virtue of his rank, he was protected from being ordered to work. He was taken away and I never saw him again. I cannot say whether he was returned to Brüx. The Imperial POWs in Teschen had been informed that they were there because they had continued to fight in Crete after the general order of capitulation had been given by the British. The rations at Teschen were bad, and the work was very hard. We were expected to load 120 tons of coal per shift.
When I first arrived, the second-in-command entered our billets and attempted to persuade the non-Jews to ostracise us ‘Israelites’. They took no notice, however, and relations between us were always of the very best. The camp Commandant called us into his office and explained that we had been sent to his camp because we were Jews, but that provided we complied with the regulations and made no trouble, we would be treated exactly the same as other British prisoners.
In December 1944, the order came through from higher authority that all Jews were to be separated from non-Jewish prisoners, and the camp Commandant informed us that we were being sent to Teklowicz. The non-Jews were very distressed when they heard this, and showed their sympathy in many ways.
At Teklowicz, we found only Jews. There were 28 of us, including Palestinian, Moroccan, Czech and American Jews. We were put to work in a quarry. The stone was a kind of ironstone and we had to break it into small pieces with sledge hammers. It was then crushed by a steam-driven crusher, and sent off by rail. Our rations consisted of a few potatoes, a small piece of bread, some margarine and a teaspoon of jam per day. While we were there, a high official came to visit our camp and addressed us, saying that we had been sent to the ‘Straf-lager’ because we were Jews and it was the Jews who had plunged Europa into war.
The guards were elderly men and although pro-German, were definitely anti-Nazi, nor did they conceal their views. On the whole, they were quite decent to us, and for a few cigarettes we could obtain many favours from them. They were, however, definitely anti-Jewish.
When the coal supply ran out, the crusher stopped and since we could no longer work, our rations were cut still further. The guards, however, took us out into the fields and allowed us to collect thistles and nettles, with which to make soup.
We remained in Teklowicz until 8 May 1945, when the news of the German capitulation came through. The camp Commandant told us that POWs were to make for Leitmeritz, the nearest assembly point. Our guards simply disappeared and we walked out of the camp and made our way to Leitmeritz as best we could. At Leitmeritz was the Theresienstadt concentration camp, and when we arrived, we were told by the Germans that the inmates had broken loose, seized arms and were looting, raping and generally running amok. We discovered that this was quite correct and that such of the inmates as were able to, had seized arms and broken into the town. When we went to the camp itself, however, we found that most of the inmates were far too weak to do anything. They looked ‘too, too pitiful for words’.
When the Russians entered Leitmeritz, we managed to get a lift on a military lorry as far as a nearby station, where we caught a train to Prague. From there, we were taken to Pilsen, and from there to England.
Some general observations:
- The great rank and file of the German people, so far as I could see, believed that the Jews were something inferior and diabolical, and had started the war. I recall meeting only one German who expressed disbelief regarding Nazi stories about the Jews.
- The non-Jewish prisoners were not at all responsive to Nazi propaganda and relations between them and the Jews were excellent.
- As late as the first months of 1945, many Germans still believed that Britain and America would cease their onslaught against the Reich and link up with the Germans against the Russians.
- The Germans were absolutely terrified of the Russians and I can recall that the day before the Russians entered Leitmaritz, I found two German women crying in fear. They believed all the atrocity stories they had heard about the Russians.
- One final observation: When I arrived in Britain, I travelled from Brighton to London and scrawled across the compartment I saw the words, “This is the Jews’ war. Why fight it?”
Statement by No. 87708 Warrant Officer I S Marks, 1st SA Irish
I was captured at Sidi Rezegh and removed to a POW camp in Italy, where I remained until Italy’s collapse. Then we were moved to Spittal in Austria en route to Germany. There were 29 South Africans. Col. Page placed me in charge. When I was taken prisoner I was a private but was promoted to sergeant by Col. Page. In September 1943, we left for Germany. I was in charge of about 1600 men at our new camp, about 20% of them South Africans.
We found our new camp in a terrible condition. It had been evacuated the previous day by 2000 Russian prisoners and had not been cleaned. I got in touch with the German Company Captain and then with the Stalag Captain. They were regular army officers, and with their assistance we had the place cleaned up and beds installed. They did not know they were dealing with a Jew but took me to be an Irishman. I have always taken a keen interest in sport and I obtained many recreational facilities for the men in the camp. We had football, hiking, swimming and boxing concerts over week-ends and two or three times a week we were allowed to attend cinema performances in the village cinema.
After I had the camp rebuilt and in ship-shape order, I resigned as camp leader and invited the men to elect a successor. As only about 20% of the men in the camp were South Africans – the rest were Imperials – I felt that the Imperials might want to elect their own camp leader. However, I was unanimously re-elected.
I thought it in the best interests of all concerned to conceal my Jewishness. In Italy it was different. There, I actually ran services. For this purpose, I was allowed to use the Catholic chapel.
I estimate that there were more than 100 Jews in my camp. There was no antisemitism at all and relations between Jew and Gentile were excellent. The German authorities often approached me for names of Jewish personnel, but I insisted that there were no Jews in the camp. They brought with them lists of personnel who bore typically Jewish names but I stuck to my story. On one occasion, I had to sign an affidavit that there were no Jews in the camp. I was often handed anti-Jewish propaganda for distribution but invariably I burned it all. About 40 to 200 copies of ‘Camp’ were sent to me, and these I also burned.
The Germans never interfered with the internal administration of the camp. I used to play off one authority against another. I did all the staff work myself. If any of the guards gave trouble, I entered his name in a little book which I kept for that purpose and more often than not was able to have him removed. I even had unter offisiers moved for abusing or ill-treating prisoners. I used to visit all the working parties and satisfy myself that the men were in good health and receiving their due treatment.
There were two captains in the camp, but they asked me to carry on. One of them was a member of the Australian Medical Corp, Captain Mayerhofer, and when hostilities were over he promoted me to Warrant Officer 1 for my services in the camp. When I arrived in England, I was sent to Buckingham Palace and introduced there as the South African soldier who was promoted WO 1 by the Australian Army for his services to POWs.
The camp Commandant was not a Nazi. He had had 24 years service in the regular army and was very good to the prisoners. He never punished anyone while he was with us, that is, for a period of twelve months. He was replaced by a Nazi who was very strict but very just. This Commandant was with us until peace, when he made off for his life.
While in camp, I used to listen to the BBC news. A Czech operator at the cinema had a wireless set and on this we listened to London. I was then able to tell the men the latest news.
Through the operator, I met a woman who was then passing as a non-Aryan [sic] although she was actually a Jewess. The authorities wanted to send her to the Eastern front to work on fortifications, but the [first] camp Commandant helped me to evade the order. I contrived to protect her until peace came and finally I married her and brought her with me to South Africa.
