Ludwig Wörl
Germany
From the Testimony of Kopel Boiman
Kopel Boiman was born in Wolanow, in the Radom district of Poland. In June 1944 he was deported to Auschwitz and placed in Guntergrube, one of its sub-camps, where the prisoners had to work down a mine. Boiman became very sick, and tried to hide it for fear of being gassed.
“At 5 in the morning we went out to work. Before leaving we all stood at roll-call. Suddenly Woerl arrived with the Scharfuehrer. As they were counting us, he said ‘2098 – out’. I knew this was my name – it wasn’t a number any longer because we had already gotten used to these being our names. In the camp there were no names. I had forgotten my name. I stepped forward. I was certain that this was the end, and had come to accept it. Everybody went out to work and I was left standing….
Then Ludwig came to fetch me… And he brought me to Brockner’s Block, and Brockner registered me in his card-file of workers, and they put me in the hospital… The rule in the hospital was that no one was to be left more than ten days – except those who were wounded at work. Since there were people who were sick for over ten days, Ludwig Woerl made sure that they would not be put on the list of those to be gassed. Only when he learned of the visit of German doctors in that part of the camp would he rush to the hospital and move the patients out – sometimes he had to beat them to make them leave for work. This is how he saved the sick inmates from being put on the doctors’ list….And Ludwig ordered that they bring me food and medicine…..I stayed in the sick bay until January 1945 – until the end. I was there for three entire months. Now imagine, every ten days there was an inspection from Auschwitz, and whoever had been there for more than ten days would be taken away. But Ludwig would move the people out...