Forum Klix.ba

The key was given to me by an Auschwitz survivor I met once. He told me about the death march in January 1945, as the SS emptied Auschwitz in the face of the Russian advance. "The Germans were shooting the stragglers at the back," he said. "I was only 19 and I was helping this old, old man to walk: he was only 35 but he was old. We got nearer and nearer to the back. Finally, one of the SS guards said: 'If you don't want to get yourself killed, get your arse up to the front of this line.' So I left the man. And I heard the shot. You have to live with that for the rest of your life but I did not shoot him and I did not start the war. "