Luxembourg's last Auschwitz survivor dies

The last remaining Luxembourg survivor of notorious concentration camp Auschwitz has died aged 89.

Josy Schlang, who passed away on Sunday, was taken to Auschwitz aged 17 years old when he was caught returning to Luxembourg after previously fleeing the country.

He lived at the camp for four and a half years, an experience which he described to the "Luxemburger Wort" in an interview given in 2005.

Terrifying existence

After suffering 14 days of beatings at the hands of the Gestapo in Luxembourg, Mr Schlang was initially sent to Lodz, in Poland.

He said: “I remember before I left, my father told me: 'Maybe everything will be okay , do not worry. Maybe we'll get by.' That was the last time I saw my parents and my sister. They were killed.”

He remained there for a year, living a terrified existence as escapees were hanged in front of him.

Mr Schlang was then transported to Auschwitz in cattle wagons. He said that around 65 people were crammed into each wagon with only a piece of bread to feed them during the two-day journey. At Auschwitz, he was put to work, though many of the people with which he had travelled were gassed straight away, he said.

In the camp, each day began at 4.45am after which detainees were expected to work 12-hour days. Those who were too weak to work were killed, he said. Food was rationed and speaking amongst themselves was strictly forbidden on penalty of death.

Good Samaritan

Mr Schlang began doing earthworks but was moved to the workshop by a kind Samaritan, who was a fellow inmate working for the guards and noticed how weak he was.

He recalled how one day he broke a machine in the workshop and was caned. “I had to count the strokes. At the penultimate, the guard told me that I had miscounted. And so I received 10 more lashes. It was even worse that we were undernourished. At the time, I weighed 38 kilos.”

The survivor said that fighting the urge to end his life was hard. Some inmates threw themselves against the electric fence to commit suicide. Thankfully, he never fell sick. Mr Schlang explained that patients were transported to a sick booth where they were injected with poison.

Mr Schlang was then sent on a two-day “death march” in the snow. The weakest who fell were shot by the guards. They arrived at Mauthausen in January 1945 where Mr Schlang remained until May. He said the work was harder and food even more scarce than at Auschwitz.

Escape

Escape finally came in May 1945, when the detainees realised the guards had abandoned the camp.“Finally we fled. At one point, we reached a road. Military vehicles passed. Suddenly one of them stopped. The driver of a jeep said: 'Hey you, come here'. At first he thought we were Nazis and that the tattoos on our arms were for our blood group.”

When the soldiers realised the men had been detained in a camp, they took them to a former German army camp.

“There I ate my first meal. I cried with joy, it was so good. I arrived in Luxembourg on July 13, 1945. I survived. But I will never forget,” Mr Schlang said.

Interview excerpts from Ralph di Marco