EXCERPT FROM THE LONG NIGHT
Mühldorf
Ernst was assigned to the building commando joining Chaim Goldstein from his hometown
“So I began my first working day in this camp with confidence. I worked in a column that had to carry bricks. Most inmates had to carry three bricks, but because of Goldstein’s earlier input I had to carry only two. I soon realised that the foreman took no notice of me so occasionally I was able to avoid this work. I soon resorted to a long-established camp “trick” and asked for permission to visit the latrine. No one expected me to return quickly because I was the weakest member of our group. Until lunchtime I was able to relax lying on wide planks, and the warm April sun also helped to lighten our mood. Goldstein, who worked a few hundred metres away from me at the building site, brought me some potatoes boiled in their skins – I ate them with great relish. That afternoon I was able to carry bricks with a strength I had not felt for some time. In the evening when I returned to camp my father’s former pupil Stützky looked me up after supper and brought me a bowl of soup.”
Prisoners constructing Mühldorf camp [Stadtarchiv Mühldorf am Inn]
