The Six Escapes - Finding Lost Civilizations

Warden / Camp Director's office. Ourdocuments were handed over, then wewere uncuffed and the two policemen left.The Director asked us, "What is yourreason for coming to Austria? Did theCommunists send you? Who else camewith you? Where are the Yugoslav armyinstallations? What country would you liketo go to? Do you have any close relativesin Austria or other Western country?” Andmany other similar questions. Afterquestioning, we were taken to one of the10 wooden barracks, allocated a doublebunk bed, a towel with soap, a dish, spoon,knife and fork. Then we learned the rules ofthe camp, for example, stay away from thefence; there will be three meals a day,served in the courtyard; wash your owndishes afterward; to leave this camp for anyreason, you'll need a permit from the CampDirector.Most of the 200 or so refugees wereyoung men, with some young women and afew children. Most of them were fromYugoslavia, some from Hungary, othersfrom Bulgaria and Romania. The rumorsamong the refugees were that many werebeing deported lately, but a disturbing bit ofinformation was that everyone under age18 would be deported, according to recentregulations. The daily life at the camp wasquite jovial, but occasionally, ratherannoying. Sometimes not only arguments,but actual fights occurred mainly betweenthe Croats and Serbs — carrying on the olddisputes and animosity. We, theSlovenians, were trying to keep neutral, butthe Bosnians and Macedonians were not