Ernst Mitchell
Ernst Mitchell
Born: 1909
Place of Birth: Breslau
Arrived in Britain: 03/05/1948
Interview Number: 22 (S)
Interview Summary
Date of interview: 18/06/2003
Ernst Mitchell, born Ernst Schampanier in Breslau 1908 was deported in 1942 from Berlin. He worked for ‘Organisation Todt’ in Nittau (until December 1942). Then he was sent to the Ghetto hospital in Riga. From there he was sent to the Kaiserwald concentration camp and worked in a dental laboratory outside the camp. When the Russian Army came nearer prisoners were moved to Stutthof. He worked in a Stuttfof side camp, in a shipbuilding yard. He was liberated by the Russian Army and came to the UK in 1948 to join his sister. His father was a Cantor in a synagogue but all his life he was very active in the Anthroposophical Community and not at all involved with the refugee community in the UK. He was very critical of the ‘German-Jewish bourgeoisie’ and was very involved in the ‘International Friendship League’ (who sent parcels to Germany after the war) and the Red Cross.
Key Words: Breslau. Kaiserwald. Stutthof. Anthroposophy.
Place of Birth
Well, the thing was, I will never forget, I was in the customs hall, for the first time changed a border, and I was left alone with a customs officer, who wanted to know what happened now in Berlin with the air lift starting. And we talked and talked and were quite happily talking. Presently, a porter came up to me: “Sir, the train is waiting for you”. And then I knew I had come home. I didn’t have a halfpenny; literally I didn’t have a halfpenny. I had all old underclothes, but I know I had come home, I never forget that. Not just the way he had addressed me, the whole atmosphere. Not only that he addressed a beggar as ‘Sir’, but also the fact that he told me, ‘The train is waiting for you’. Imagine another country, ‘The train is waiting for you’!
being addressed politely by train guard
Just to try to work on one’s own black spots, to get one’s own black spots less black. That’s all I can say. As human beings we all have in us the angel and the devil, so we all have enough to do with ourselves, beyond any theory, religion, or whatever. And that is a battlefield in each of us, of our own angel and our own devil.
work on your own black spots
I was what they called in our language a Moselmann, that means one who couldn’t die yet, you know, one of those skeletons who hung between heaven and earth. Wasn’t quite dead yet. And again, by one of the miracles, I was allowed to be ill. Otherwise, people who were ill were killed or sent to the ovens. And I, again, one of the many miracles was that officially I was allowed to be ill. Certificated. And there the Russians came, one day, I mean I was lying there on that cot, half dead, and there the Russians came in. Unbelievable! It was Easter ‘45. Wait a minute, ja, ‘45. And another miracle was that although I was an enemy alien as a German Jew, they took me to their Russian army hospital and nursed me back to life.
Camp liberation
The Commandant arranged for us to get food, soldiers’ food from the day before, which we fetched, not very good food of course, he arranged that we got this food from the soldiers kitchen. He also arranged that we came to work in this lab on Sundays, in order that we didn’t have to work in the camp, which we would have had to do. He also arranged that we were not put to hard labour after our work, when we came back to the camp. We had the use of the soldiers’ bath, which was unheard of. And we had another privilege, a piece of paper - the prisoner so-and-so is authorised to wear his hair long; we were not shorn like prisoners. So the local Jews, who worked there, had also hidden, I suppose, their own money, from before they were transferred. They had money deposited, probably, I didn’t know, probably deposited with the boiler man. And there, on that Sunday when the soldiers were absent and officially no work, there they had an easy life, and food, all kind of food, which was available on the black market - chicken, fish, white bread, whatever you like, they had it. They were-. I was present-. They were all local men. So they lived quite comfortable on that day. But I of course, being a German Jew, didn’t have that privilege. But one day I saw the Commandant coming in, and finding an open plaster tan and found the butter in pound packages and fried fish and what have you. He also found, they had a newspaper of a later edition than the commandant had himself, so his reaction was to order his sergeant to tell our foreman to hide it better, not to be forced to notice it.
'Privileged' life as a dental mechanic for a German army dental unit, Kaiserwald
Well, we had a great surprise when we arrived. The tone was much harsher, the SS and staff, it was always ‘Quicker! Quicker!’, ‘Schneller! Schneller!’, everything at the double. And you got your number, you got your-. First, you were adorned with red oil-paint, marked across the jacket, to mark you as a prisoner, and across your back, and generous stripes along the trousers, and later you got your uniform, the usual uniform, but then that saved them the paint. Instead of that, you got your number... to sew on
arriving in camp
And then I was designated a dental mechanic by the German authorities. …although I wasn’t one. But that saved my life. First, that was a special privileged occupation, like watch makers. So, I was lucky, I was indoors, ‘til the deportation came.
being dental mechanic saved life
I was what they called in our language a Müselmann, that means one who couldn’t die yet, you know, one of those skeletons who hung between heaven and earth. Wasn’t quite dead yet. And again, by one of the miracles, I was allowed to be ill. Otherwise, people who were ill were killed or sent to the ovens. And I, again, one of the many miracles was that officially I was allowed to be ill. Certificated. And there the Russians came, one day, I mean I was lying there on that cot, half dead, and there the Russians came in. Unbelievable! It was Easter ‘45.
Liberation of Stutthof