Karel Hýbek

"There were also some Jewish houses. The Jews were not together with the rest of us. They were held in separate houses. Their houses looked completely the same as the others, but they were isolated. No one was allowed to go inside of the Jewish houses. If someone would have gone there it could be fatal. I have to tell you honestly - but not as something brave - I used to go there. I wasn’t the only one...Of course I had to be very careful...Why? - Because there were Czech Jewish people. I met them during work, where it was hard to keep the people separated. So the Jews were working there just like we were. The Jews were commanded by different people though. Their commanders were often killers. As much as 20 or 30 people died every day during the so-called work. We were not guarded by such commanders, although ours were also though, but not as bad as the Jew’s. They were called ´Vermietungskomando´ - which means destroying commando, they were supposed to physically destroy the Jews."

"I already had a program schedule for each day. They asked me to participate in this and this. We arrived there on Thursday afternoon and that evening there was a big round up at 7pm. It took place in the former prison kitchen where there was a beautiful big hall. Our Czech ambassador from Berlin was also invited, so the Ministry of Foreign Affairs participated too. The other participants were the Government of the Federal republic of Germany; Brandenburg federal republic, which was in charge of Sachsenhausen camp with all the rights and duties of it. That’s the way they organized it. And I received a daily schedule including my tasks for the day. They assumed that I was there for the first time after a long time (in 2005); it was the 60th anniversary. I received a preliminary invitation with the conditions and reasons why I should go there, whether I speak German or not etc. They were concerned if I will be able to talk with Germans in public... I told them I feel confident enough to manage the German language. So back then in 2005 I was in permanent contact (during the 6 day event) with the German staff that was taking care of the Monument. There were several discussion meetings organized with high school students from around the Sachsenhausen and other places. I spent hours and hours talking to them... It wasn’t just me talking to them, but these German students were able to ask any questions and I was supposed to give them the answers. Part of the reason why they chose me for this event was that I have participated in the November 17th event, when 1200 students from Prague, Brno and Příbram came there. Even though Sachsenhausen was a Nazi concentration camp, this event was really significant and very unusual. So this even still has its own place in the history of the camp."

"So he was actually fighting on Italian front, in the Italian Alps, where the offensive battles occurred, right?" "I just went through some old pictures from that time - they’re authentic. The soldiers were taking pictures of themselves in firing positions in Dolomites - the high rocky mountains - they tried to use the canons there...So he was there in 1917 and 1918... The situation there was getting complicated, because Italy left the triple alliance and joined the Triple entente. So yes, my father fought against Italy, against Italians." "And the front went as far as the Po River and Piave River right?" "It is written on the pictures that it is right there on Piave River. My father made precise notes on the pictures, he always wrote the date and the place." "So he was among the first troops coming back in 1918 and right after that he was enlisted to Slovakia?" "No, none of the four brothers went to Slovakia. The legionnaires were mostly sent to Slovakia. My father almost went there, but he was still by the striker’s troop. If he would have been in the infantry, he would have been probably sent to Slovakia too."

"There used to be one house where no one lived. It was used as storage of clothes of all the prisoners who came to the camp. Each pack of clothes had the prisoner’s number on it and it was put on the hangers or hooks etc. The house was full of them. There were fifteen thousand packs of clothes. In the case of someone’s death (there were deaths of course) the staff responsible for the clothes received some kind of death certificate and then they had to find the clothes matching the number of the prisoner. Then they handed them over to the military HQ which decided what to do with the clothes - if they send it to the parents or the wife etc. That’s how it worked. But if some prisoner was supposed to be released, that was something else. They called it ´Effektenkammer´ which means storage facilities for personal effects confiscated from arriving prisoners in German. So this house was used only for storing the clothes of all 15 -20 thousand of prisoners. If the military HQ received an order from Prague’s Gestapo (they had a list of all prisoners’ names and their numbers) to release some prisoners, they agreed on some date of release together. The list of the prisoners to be released was passed to this storage house and the staff there had to find all the clothes matching the numbers on the list. They then had to check the clothes carefully, clean it, brush it etc. All of this procedure was supposed to stay confidential of course. But you know how rumors work... I used to have some friends there who told me that they received the list of people who are supposed to be released. But since there was still quarantine, we didn’t know the date of the release yet. We only knew some people will be released, but didn’t know when. They had to repeal the quarantine first. About two weeks later an order to repeal the quarantine came. I knew it in advance, because I used to have some German friends there in the house that took care of the clothes and they told me about it. I gave them my number and the next day we met and they told me: ´You’re on the list of people who will be released too.´ That’s how I found out about my release. Of course, it wasn’t hundred percent sure, but maybe ninety percent. The main thing was not to lose your mind over it. You had to stay calm and think that with the God’s help there is a hope... We had to hope that everything will be fine again. Otherwise you couldn’t think about it much. Not in the concentration camp. Anyway, this friend of mine told me that I’m the next to be released."