Maurerschule - Auschwitz I - memories

The camp authorities favoured young prisoners so much that in exceptional cases they were left out of the extermination, although the program assumption was to kill anybody incapable of work. (…) The adolescents were prepared for their future jobs in the bricklayer schools established. The critical issue in those cases was the lack of bricklayers. The prisoners take credit for the establishment of the bricklayer school. However, the fact that such young boys were moved to the camp, not to the gas chambers, was definitely beyond the capabilities of even the most influential prisoners.

Hermann Langbein (no. 60355)

January 1945… I enter the barracks looking for something useful, but find nothing. I open the reception of the final barrack and look inside but I can see nothing precious. Everything has already been taken or destroyed. I am leaving when I notice out of the corner of my eye something grey protruding from under the trash. I grab it and clear away the dirt. It turns out to be a school notebook. (…) It is something interesting. I cover the notebook in old paper and bind it tightly with string, so that it is difficult to open. I will tell nobody what I’ve found.

That is the story of my find, which I kept for years of course, until I gave it to the Center [the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles].

Louis Posner (no. 117657)

Several dozen shy young boys, with anxiety in their faces, walk up the stairs to the first floor of block 7. (…) We knew it was about making a good impression. (…) A little hesitantly we enter the attic. The adolescent prisoners are standing or sitting around a pile of chipped off and damp bricks and mortar buckets. They build a wall, and then demolish it brick by brick, clean the mortar thoroughly and throw the mortar back to the buckets. Some professional teaches them the secret of building arches, another one shows the art of plastering. We are at the bricklayer school. (…)

Our task was to build a women's camp, namely 20 blocks similar to those we lived in… The work consisted mainly in concreting, building walls and plastering. We had to “meet” the daily standard. We ran with cement bags. The concrete mixer imposed the pace of work. Accidents were so frequent we barely noticed.

Thomas Geve

I was also transferred to the Maurerschule kommando. In connection with this I was moved to block 7a in winter 1943. The work in that new kommando consisted in learning and teaching the profession of bricklayer. The classes took place in the attic of block 7. We were shown various activities related to building, such as building brick walls, plastering, etc. Besides theory we also had practical classes on the wall which was being built in the attic for that purpose. (…) Our kommando consisted of several hundred prisoners, namely all those living in block 7a, mostly adolescents, and mostly Jewish.

Marian Stykowski (no. 131550)

I had 2 younger brothers: Szlomo and Lajb. When the war started I was 14, Szlomo was 9, and Lajb was 7. At first my family was deported to the ghetto in Maków Mazowiecki, and then to the Mława ghetto. But we spent only a few days in the latter. My parents and my youngest brother were taken with other people one night around midnight. I haven’t seen them since. The next day me and my brother Szlomo were transported to Auschwitz. Selection started: left or right. Nobody knew what was better. We had to say our names and age. I decided to tell that I am older than in reality. I wanted to do the same thing for my brother Szlomo. But an SS officer took Szlomo away from me by force. I haven’t seen him since. (…)

I was tattooed with the number 80388 and placed in Birkenau. I had to load the bodies of dead camp prisoners into a vehicle taking them to the crematorium. (…) One day all young men under 20 were selected. We were taken to Auschwitz to block 7a. That’s how we became Maurerschule students. The block-leader of block 7a was a Reichsdeutsch. One night he made us squat for many hours. He additionally poured cold water over us. It was freezing. Many of us were then taken to the camp hospital.

Dawid Fiszerung (no. 80388)

At the turn of July and August 1940 and upon the request of the 2nd camp manager Franz Maier (called “Laluś” [“Fop”]) adolescent prisoners were placed in a dedicated block.

In one of the block rooms there was a class room with school desks, a blackboard and a teacher’s lectern. The adolescent prisoners selected by camp managers learned the profession of bricklayer, German, and studied military drill.

After the morning assembly, when the kommandos went to work, we went to block 5. We sat at the desks and our “professor” Bernard taught us German words and phrases. He asked questions which we had to answer in German. Lagerführer Maier often kept watch over us during classes. In such situations the “professor” asked questions to more advanced students. He sometimes made us recite German rhymes he had taught us earlier. (…)

I was incorporated into the group under Bednarski. We were made into a group of three, each of the group had the task of building a clay and brick furnace. We built those furnaces only to destroy them the next day and build new ones. Having built several furnaces we brought branches and wooden pieces and while burning them we checked whether the chimneys were correctly designed. We sometimes secretly baked potatoes stuck on wires in those furnaces. We shared baked potatoes with all the adolescents fairly …   

Stanisław Białas (no. 311)