“At times, lightning decisions had to be made, decisions which spelled
life or death. The prisoner would have preferred to let fate make the
choice for him. This escape from commitment was most apparent when
a prisoner had to make the decision for or against an escape attempt. In
those minutes in which he had to make up his mind—and it was
always a question of minutes—he suffered the tortures of Hell.”
“We were grateful for the smallest of mercies. We were glad when
there was time to delouse before going to bed, although this in itself
was no pleasure, as it meant standing naked in an unheated hut where
icicles hung from the ceiling.”
“If someone had seen our faces on the journey from Auschwitz to a
Bavarian camp as we beheld the mountains of Salzburg with their summits
glowing in the sunset, through the little barred windows of the
prison carriage, he would never have believed that those were the faces
of men who had given up all hope of life and liberty. Despite that
factor—or maybe because of it—we were carried away by nature’s
beauty, which we had missed for so long.”