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1945, Prisoners Awaiting Evacuation to a Field Hospital, Wöbbelin, Germany
Yad Vashem Archives 217/7
From the Testimony of Elie Wiesel:
“Our first act as free men was to throw ourselves onto the provisions. We thought only of that. Not of revenge, not of our families. Nothing but bread. And even when we were no longer hungry, there was still no one who thought of revenge. On the following day, some of the young men went to Weimar to get some potatoes and clothes [..]
Three days after the liberation of Buchenwald I became very ill with food poisoning. I was transferred to the hospital and spent two weeks between life and death. One day I was able to get up, after gathering all my strength. I wanted to see myself in the mirror hanging on the opposite wall. I had not seen myself since the ghetto.
From the depths of the mirror, a corpse gazed back at me. The look in his eyes, as they stared into mine, has never left me.”(Wiesel, Elie, Night, Discus Books, 1958/1960 [translated by Stella Rodway].)
From the memoirs of Yaakov Lahat:
“I cannot describe the joy. People were going wild. The food storerooms [..] were broken into, and people stocked up on bread, sausages and various canned goods. So long as there was still a crush to get into the food storerooms I didn’t dare go in, because I might have gotten trampled. When the place had somewhat emptied out, I entered one of the sheds and looked for flour. I found a bag [..] of flour and I took some margarine as well. Nothing else. I knew that after prolonged hunger, one shouldn’t pounce of food that is difficult to digest. Nighttime came. In addition to food, each person took a blanket.”
(Israel Ring (Ed.), How Embers Survived [Hebrew], Moreshet and Ein Hamifratz Kibbutz 1995, p. 130.)
- In the photograph, we see liberated prisoners awaiting medical assistance. We can see that healthier prisoners assisted those who were worse off. Notice their worried expressions.
- Both testimonies by Elie Wiesel and Yaakov Lahat describe the chaos that immediately followed liberation, when survivors could eat more than starvation rations for the first time. Thousands grew ill and died from overeating, after having survived the concentration camps.
- The first days of liberation were a form of transformative period between the world of the prisoners to the world of survivors. What was the significance of mutual assistance in the first days of liberation?
- In Elie Wiesel’s testimony, he describes his severe physical condition. He tells of the first time he looked at a mirror, and how that moment haunted him for years after liberation: “From the depths of the mirror, a corpse gazed back at me. The look in his eyes, as they stared into mine, has never left me.” What is the “corpse” Wiesel is talking about? What role does this corpse play in Elie Wiesel’s life?