Dachau: a lifesaving promise

Jack Adler: And I remember, about a month before the war was coming to an end-- and of course the Germans realized that the end is coming-- they allowed the Swiss Red Cross to come into the main camp of Dachau to distribute food packages similar to, like, a care package. So first they handed them out to the non-Jews. And they had some leftover, so they decided to give those to the young prisoners. And I received one of those packages.

And immediately, you opened it up, took out all of its contents, and put it around your waistband, so no one-- because people would steal your food. And it had-- it had sardines, crackers, a candy bar, I remember. That, I ate up immediately. It had all kinds of non-perishables.

And when we-- we marched to work, five across. Approximately, I would say, about 2,000 people, to and from work. We marched for about an hour and marched for an hour back.

The daily routine, even before going to the main camp of Dachau was that we would wake up around 5:00 in the morning, clean up the barracks. We had to fall out in front for the appell, to be counted. And at 6:00, as we marched out to go to work, we were given a half of our daily food ration, which was a slice of bread. And we marched for an hour. 7 o'clock, we started work.

At noon, we got a bowl of soup. And at 7:00 at night, we marched back to work for another hour. And they always found in camp to do something, some-- something ridiculous, so we don't go to sleep till about, oh, before midnight. 5:00 in the morning, the same routine. They'll--

Interviewer: What kind of soup? What was in the soup?

Jack Adler: Very thin. Water, sometimes vegetables, maybe potatoes in there. Sometimes meat. [PAUSES FOR 3 SECONDS] So and this was the daily routine. And of course, those who were too weak or got sick never got the food, because we got the ration. They had it so worked out that you got a ration as you left and at work. So, people who did not go to work died within a few days. [PAUSES FOR 3 SECONDS]

So, they distributed those packages as we were marching to work, five across. One of our SS guards approached me. And he asked me if I received a food package. I said, “Yes, I did.” He said, “Was there any sugar in it?” And there was a bag, maybe of about two, three pounds. I don't recall exactly.

And so, he opened-- he carried a little duffel bag. He opened it up. He took out what appeared to be like a half a loaf of bread. He said, “If you give me your sugar, every day, I'll give you this much bread.” And boy, this was like Thanksgiving, Christmas, all the holidays. I gladly turned it over to him. And he gave me the bread.

So, the next day, as I said, we marched five across. I made sure I'm on the side that he was guarding us, so he could see me. So, as he passed me by, he looked at me. I looked at him. And he asked me in German, [NON-ENGLISH]. “What do you want?” I said, “You promised me bread every day. I gave you sugar yesterday.”

And he-- instead, he took off the rifle he was carrying, and with the rifle butt, he hit me as hard as he could in my rib cage, and I collapsed. So, two people helped me get to work. And I-- when I went to perform my duties in the commanding officer's office, I bent down to empty out the ashes, and I was in such pain, I couldn't get up. [PAUSES FOR 3 SECONDS]

And I started to cry. And the commanding officer got up from behind the desk, walked up to me. And he said in German, [NON-ENGLISH], “What's wrong with you, young boy, my boy?” And that's the first time in maybe five years that German would address me as a human being. And at that point, even though I realized what could happen to a Jew informing on an SS guard to a superior officer, I didn't care about that. And I told him.

And he said, what? He said, when we fall in-- we had fall in again into appell to be counted before we marched back to camp--he says, “Point the guard out to me.” So, I said to myself, it's like signing my death certificate.

So, I hid to the rear of the group of the prisoners. And we were counted. Everything was in order, and we were ready to march. He said, “Halt.” ‘Hold it.’ And I-- he went row by row, and he was looking for me. He spotted me. He called me out front.

He says, “Show me the guard. Point him out to me.” Reluctantly, I did so. So marching back to camp, I hid in the middle of the group, so the guard doesn't see me. Nothing happened.

The next day, the same thing. I'm hiding in the middle there as we were marching. And I could see out of the corner of my eye this guard is looking, row after row. He spotted me. He called me out. I said, “Oh, boy. Here comes another beating or maybe even-- even worse.” And instead, he opened his duffel bag and handed me like a half a loaf of bread. I couldn't believe it.

And when I got to work, I was so happy. You know. I went into the commanding officer's office. Before I even closed the door, he got up from behind the desk. He said, “Did you get any bread today from this guard?” I said, “Yes, sir.” He said, “If you still have it, show me how much.” And I did. So I showed it to him.

He says, “Every day, he is to give you at least this much bread. If he fails to do so even one day, you tell me, and I'll deal with him.”

And this is very important. Because you know, as you well know, I speak to so many children, thousands each year. I don't want them to believe in collective guilt. There is good and bad in all of us. And he, in his small way, did what was right, as far as I was concerned. He saved my life. Because I would have-- I would have never survived without his help.