en: lucien-ducastel: chapter-5: c: 5 title: "Deportation to Compiègne and Auschwitz-Birkenau" subtitles: sequence-1: s: 1 from: "00:00:00,12" to: "00:00:06,17" text: "I had been under observation by the police for some time." sequence-2: s: 2 from: "00:00:06,17" to: "00:00:14,23" text: "When the Communist Party and leftist organizations were banned and had to go underground," sequence-3: s: 3 from: "00:00:14,23" to: "00:00:20,24" text: "I was known to the police and was being watched." sequence-4: s: 4 from: "00:00:20,24" to: "00:00:23,23" text: ~ sequence-5: s: 5 from: "00:00:23,23" to: "00:00:38,01" text: "On October 21st, 1941, they knocked on my door at four o’clock in the morning and I was arrested bay French and German police." sequence-6: s: 6 from: "00:00:38,01" to: "00:00:54,27" text: "I was taken to Rouen, along with another 100 resistance fighters from the who had been arrested the same night." sequence-7: s: 7 from: "00:00:54,27" to: "00:01:09,09" text: "We were interrogated, but not too harshly. We were not obliged to talk about things we didn’t want to." sequence-8: s: 8 from: "00:01:09,09" to: "00:01:18,16" text: "Then we were taken to the camp of Compiègne and from there to Auschwitz-Birkenau." sequence-9: s: 9 from: "00:01:18,16" to: "00:01:23,07" text: "In Compiègne we were treated as hostages." sequence-10: s: 10 from: "00:01:23,07" to: "00:01:33,05" text: "It happened several times that comrades were taken away to be executed for attacks that had happened." sequence-11: s: 11 from: "00:01:33,05" to: "00:01:41,25" text: "On July 6th, 1942 we were taken to a destination unknown." sequence-12: s: 12 from: "00:01:41,25" to: "00:01:42,17" text: ~ sequence-13: s: 13 from: "00:01:42,17" to: "00:01:48,13" text: "We stayed in Compiègne for about 8 months. We were arrested on October 21st, 1941." sequence-14: s: 14 from: "00:01:48,13" to: "00:01:55,01" text: "Then they took us to Auschwitz-Birkenau. In Compiègne we were already hostages." sequence-15: s: 15 from: "00:01:55,01" to: "00:02:04,05" text: "That means when an attack had been, they would come and take some of our comrades." sequence-16: s: 16 from: "00:02:04,05" to: "00:02:14,13" text: "I escaped this fate like another few - but they would come and take some of our comrades to be executed," sequence-17: s: 17 from: "00:02:14,13" to: "00:02:23,03" text: "as there had been this attack the night or the day before." sequence-18: s: 18 from: "00:02:23,03" to: "00:02:25,26" text: ~ sequence-19: s: 19 from: "00:02:25,26" to: "00:02:33,16" text: "The following morning, at four o’clock, we were called up by buildings, as usual." sequence-20: s: 20 from: "00:02:33,16" to: "00:02:43,00" text: "We were loaded up into the trains and we left to a destination unknown." sequence-21: s: 21 from: "00:02:43,00" to: "00:02:47,05" text: ~ sequence-22: s: 22 from: "00:02:47,05" to: "00:03:02,05" text: "What we felt was a certain fear, because we didn’t know where we were taken to." sequence-23: s: 23 from: "00:03:02,05" to: "00:03:12,08" text: "We were led away in groups of ten. Ten people could easily be shot half an hour later." sequence-24: s: 24 from: "00:03:12,08" to: "00:03:22,19" text: "They loaded us up in the animal wagons and we were taken to Auschwitz-Birkenau." sequence-25: s: 25 from: "00:03:22,19" to: "00:03:23,06" text: ~ sequence-26: s: 26 from: "00:03:23,06" to: "00:03:33,15" text: "You know, we arrived in Auschwitz. Auschwitz consisted of old barracks, big buildings." sequence-27: s: 27 from: "00:03:33,15" to: "00:03:45,17" text: "We realized we were somewhere foreign, but it was almost more comfortable than what we had left behind in Compiègne." sequence-28: s: 28 from: "00:03:45,17" to: "00:03:56,20" text: "The following day we were taken to Birkenau, 4 or 5 km away and there it was totally different." sequence-29: s: 29 from: "00:03:56,20" to: "00:04:11,13" text: "Birkenau is a camp that was built on marshlands. There were old barracks. It made quiet an unsettling impression." sequence-30: s: 30 from: "00:04:11,13" to: "00:04:12,13" text: ~ sequence-31: s: 31 from: "00:04:12,13" to: "00:04:21,04" text: "They gave us striped uniforms and took pictures of us." sequence-32: s: 32 from: "00:04:21,04" to: "00:04:26,05" text: "They tattooed our registration numbers onto us." sequence-33: s: 33 from: "00:04:26,05" to: "00:04:26,16" text: ~ sequence-34: s: 34 from: "00:04:26,16" to: "00:04:28,13" text: "They tattooed this number." sequence-35: s: 35 from: "00:04:28,13" to: "00:04:29,02" text: "Of course that had a big effect on us." sequence-36: s: 36 from: "00:04:29,02" to: "00:04:39,22" text: "We were no longer called so-and-so. We had this number and were supposed to respond to this number." sequence-37: s: 37 from: "00:04:39,22" to: "00:04:48,00" text: "We had to learn it in German and in Polish, not easy. But we had to learn it quickly."