Small Riga Ghetto

262
as it had come. Less than an hour later a whole column of Red Cross trucks
arrived. We were very excited, for we didn't know what was going on. We
were told that the Americans had heard about us and were sending us food.
How they could do this in the middle of Germany was a riddle to us, but without
their help we would surely have died. We were happy not only about the
packages but also about the fact that people cared about our fate, that we were
no longer alone. Until then we hadn't known what they would do with the
Jews and whether there was a plan to save us too. But the Americans made no
exceptions, so each of us got a package. They distributed the packages themselves,
for they didn't trust the SS people. And for our part, we made sure the
SS people got nothing.
We opened our presents, and I couldn't believe my eyes. Everything was
there, from chocolate and various canned goods to dried milk powder. But the
thing we were most interested in, bread, was missing; there were only some
cookies. I hadn't seen such delicious things for years, and for years I hadn't
felt so satisfied. Once again I was ahead of the others with my optimism. No,
we would surely survive! I lay there all night chewing and, unlike my comrades,
once again I saved nothing for later.
In the meantime some Red Cross ambulances had also arrived, and they
gathered up the weak people. On my shoulders I carried my comrade Stameskin
from Riga, who was in a very bad condition, to the place for the sick
people. In the forest I met the notorious murderer and prisoner from the Kaiserwald
concentration camp in Riga, Bolek, who had killed the Riga police
chief Haar and murdered various people in the recuperation block (Block No.
2). There I also saw our tormentors from Magdeburg, the sadists Hoffmann
and Schuller, again. They were always together. Even the Viennese Scharführer
of the "long tour" work crew in Magdeburg turned up.
Suddenly an order was given: Everyone line up as before in closed columns
for the onward march! Wrapped in my rags, with a scarf and a blanket on my
head, I dragged myself forward. I looked like a real Moslem. We passed villages
and small towns. There was panic and destruction everywhere. We were
told that the inhabitants were running toward the Americans; people were also
saying that the Russians were already pressing on Berlin. In the forest we even
saw the evacuated Berlin Fire Department with all its equipment. Everything
was moving in blind confusion. A column of Russians wearing German SS
uniforms also marched past us. These were the notorious traitors, the wlasowcy.
They offered us cigarettes but we didn't accept them, for we wanted