EXCERPT FROM THE LONG NIGHT
“Schachtmeister (pitmaster) Greguletz, a Silesian, drove the strong ones among us to load the trucks even more quickly; those who could not keep up were beaten sadistically and prodded with a spade handle. I used all my strength to fill my truck as quickly as the others but I managed only poorly. The shovel waved in every direction when I lifted it up to the truck and sometimes I could not stop it overturning. Greguletz was watching me. Occasionally he even picked up a spade to help me because he saw that even with the best will in the world I could not completely fill the truck.”
Group portrait of Jewish forced laborers who worked on the construction of the autobahn in Geppersdorf, Germany. November 1940 {United States Holocaust Memorial Museum]
