‘What was it like to be a woman in the camps?’

When it came to the treatment of prisoners, little difference was made between women and men. Women were not spared the heavy work and we were punished just as harshly. To the SS men, we were not women; we were objects who would carry out their orders.

Women, especially the young, tried to keep their womanliness, even in insufferable conditions. When we came to the labour camp and met French prisoners-of-war on the same worksite, we searched among the ruins for lipstick or creams. Our vanity was awoken, and we wanted to make ourselves attractive to these handsome young men. Innocent little romances flared up, soon every girl had ‘her own’ Frenchman.

We were strictly prohibited from communicating with each other, but in unsupervised moments the Frenchman would ‘drop’ a small gift before ‘his’ girl as she passed by, who, in turn, ‘dropped’ a letter with a few words of thanks. We had to be careful that no SS soldier was nearby when it happened; such things would lead to harsh punishments. Harsh punishments would also be the consequence if women and men were caught together, but from what I remember it never happened in any of the labour camps I was in. It did happen in Auschwitz, however.

In Auschwitz, we lived in large barracks, around 500 in each. We were supervised by a Polish girl, Itka, who was the block elder. As help, she had her sister, Elsa. These girls came from Poland, had already been in Auschwitz for a couple of years, and were beautiful and well fed. As extra perks, they were allowed to keep their lovely hair, they wore civilian clothes, and they were given more food.

One day, we could not find Elsa, and when she appeared she was shaven and puffy-eyed. We wondered what had happened, and eventually we got it out of her. A man who worked in the task force at the crematoriums visited the girls in secret, and provided them with some extra necessities. Naturally, sexual feelings also arose; Elsa fell in love. I do not know how long it went on for, but one day they were caught by an SS soldier. She was beaten, her hair was shaved off, and she was stripped of all her perks. The man was beaten too, and most likely did not survive.