Peter Zuckerman and about 600 other Jews from the Stutthof, Auschwitz, and Natzweiler concentration camps were transferred to Hailfingen camp, an auxiliary of the Natzweiler-Struthof concentration camp. It had opened in September of 1944 and was last mentioned in the records in April of 1945. Hailfinger was a labor camp where the prisoners were assigned to building a runway, a road, a railroad track, and barracks and a hall. The camp had been an airfield and the prisoners were housed in a hanger without sanitary facilities or medical care.
Peter was assigned as one of four helpers in the kitchen where a French prisoner was in charge. The only ingredients available for food were potatoes, cabbage, and some sugar beets. Peter was lucky as he was able to obtain some extra food. Even better perhaps, he was able to stay out of the cold winter weather. The exposure, short rations, and lack of medical care resulted in the majority of the prisoners dying, probably 400 of the 600 that started in the camp.
Here it was possible to see that many of the Germans who oversaw the operation were very unhappy. Many of them had served in the air force and this type of work did not appeal to them. When about half of the prisoners had died, the kitchen help was cut back to two people and Peter was assigned to collect wood outside. He saw little chance of surviving under these conditions so he decided to feign illness and he stayed in the infirmary, which was merely one end of the hanger, for several weeks. The purpose of the infirmary was to provide a place for the prisoners to die. The camp became infected with lice. Malnutrition, typhus, pneumonia, and other infections took the heaviest toll.
Hailfinger was closed down and the remaining prisoners were transferred to Vaihingen, another labor camp. At this time, Peter was given a whole loaf of bread which helped him to regain some of his strength. The new camp was working to construct an underground factory to build jet fighters.
By luck, a German woman who had some political influence requisitioned prisoners to work on the family farm. Peter was lucky to be assigned here, as the work was easier and there was extra food. With some warmer weather, Peter regained strength. At this time, he found that many Germans hated Hitler and that some of them could show kindness to Jews.
The war was obviously coming closer. The artillery could be heard. Peter, though, caught typhus and he wondered if he would live to see the end of the war. This was a very low point for him. One morning he woke up and he found that the Germans had disappeared in the night. Now could he regain his health?
(06 Oct 06)
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.