Stephen Shooster
against the black rocks. During the chaos of the bombing raids, three prisoners attempted to escape. They were caught and quickly hanged with all of us in attendance. Regardless of the crumbling status of the factory, the SS was still intent on maintaining strict control of the prisoners. The three men stood by the gallows. Each wore a noose around his neck, their heads were uncovered. You could see their eyes. They were already in bad shape from beatings. It was Sunday. We were called to the appelplatz for a formal roll call. I knew it would not be good. We lined up block-by-block behind our blockleiter. I was with all the teens. Everyone was present and accounted for as SS Rokacz ad- dressed the prisoners. He was wearing his best uniform and a helmet with a spike on the top. I was not too far away. Everyone had to face forward. I had no choice but to watch. Rokacz was standing on a specially made platform that had a few stairs. He spoke with a big megaphone. An entire platoon of SS men was there to create the maxi- mum effect. He wanted to make sure everyone witnessed. They were facing us with their machine guns ready. There must have been over one hundred Gestapo perfect- ly dressed as he spoke. I could only hear parts of it. “By order of the Reich Fuhrer, Diamond, Weissman, and unknown, are to be hanged for the crime of attempting to escape and foster an insurrection.” Years later, I found a book with a monument for those men. It lists the names I accurately remembered with the correct spelling and the third I didn’t: Grossfeld. The gallows were very close to my barracks. They were built for this event. It was made by tilting a few poles and securing them with support on the sides. It was all set upon a platform, and there was a small stair to step up onto the flat surface. Three ropes were set up for the three victims. They were evenly separated from each other. The ropes were looped through a pulley. It was designed so the ropes would extend on both sides of the platform. Fellow prisoners were lined up on both sides holding the ropes. The condemned stood on stools. Right before the order was given one of them shouted, “We are the last.” Everyone could see the camp was falling apart and our liberation or destruction was imminent; it was an ugly scene. As soon as the man shouted in defiance, SS Rokacz gave the word to the prisoners holding the rope, and they pulled. The stools fell onto the platform, and the men fell quickly, snapping their necks. Their bodies quivered a little and then remained still. As soon as this was over, they hung there for a few hours until they were removed. The message was received loud and clear. No escape would be tolerated.
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