Milan Sirotić

„And then we continued our journey, we didn't know where we were headed to, they just told us that we were going to work in Germany. We could tell that we were across the border by the telephone poles which were a lot higher than ours. We travelled four, five days to Mathausen. The wagon did not open at any time. You know what was it like, it smelled badly because people had to use the tolilets, but there were none. Forty people in the wagon for cattle and just a small window to look outside. The wagon opened at a small station with a Mathausen sign. There we were awaited by the soldiers with dogs – Raus, raus, loss! – the 900 of us were aligned and there were civilians by each side who were travelling as well. There was a group of Hitler's youth who was yelling at us- „Banditen!“ Now we realized where we were going to. „Banditen!- they were shouting and spitting on us. They were leading us three kilometers on foot, there was rain water draining by the sides of the road. One Slovenian man asked the guardsman if he could take some water. The guardsman replied- „Ja, ja!“ and shot him from the back... He shot him from the back, and the man just fell down with his head in the drain... Nobody asked anything.... „Then, we understood where we were going to.“

"They used to wake us up during the night, every night. Outside, by the door, a man used to wait with a “karabač”. Do you know what is it? It’s a whip. If one was of small stature, he could get away with beating, but the big ones... There was a man with me, from Lupoglav. He was a cook in that Italian camp. He got beaten. They used to beat for no reason. If one didn’t make his bed, then he got 25 whips. And then, there was a three legged stool. You had to hold it by the legs and jump and crouch, all by punishment. There were bunk beds. They were 60 cm wide, but two men had to sleep in it. Two men up, and 2 down. The beds were stuffed with maybe a kilo of straw. We had one cover up and one below us. It stunk. The straw seemed like it was ground. During the nights, they used to take us, by 2s or 3s to the showers. They were 200- 300 m away. It was next to the crematorium. We had to walk naked back and forth. Sometimes the water was burning hot, and sometimes freezing cold. On the way to the showers, we had to rush, but on the way back, we had to go slowly to get frozen. One time, I noticed my shoulder got frozen. It was happening every 2 or 3 nights. One time, after 40 days of quarantine, the Gestapos arrived to the camp and took us, the minors, not only the ones from Buzet, but everyone, and the Slovenians, all between 18 and 20 years of age. They shaved us, gave us clothes, and the sacks which were left behind and told us like this: “You are going to a factory, and you shall not tell anyone where you were, what you did and what it was like.”