Barrack Leader's Cruelty

One of those dull gray evenings, a certain Mrs. Torok (whose stepson also fell sacrifice as a volunteer going to the hospital in order to get better food) complained to the barrack leader - a Mr. Elekes from the city of Szeged - that someone keeps stealing her bread portion. There were no eyewitnesses to verify who the thief was, but the suspicion fell on nineteen-year-old Gabor Wein from the city of Bekes-Saba.

The administration of justice took place in the small empty spot in the middle of the barrack, before the many hundreds of watching eyes of the barrack inhabitants. The acknowledged punishment for stealing bread in Bergen-Belsen was shaming the thief. But Mr. Elekes disregarded this and passed a cruel decree. He took upon himself to be the judge, to pass sentence, and also to execute it. This insensitive Mr. Elekes acted like an enraged, cruel wild-beast as he attacked this completely debilitated defenseless victim - beating mercilessly on his head and face, kicking him all over his lower body. Mr. Elekes had no right even to put a hand on this unfortunate lonely boy, so weakened from starvation from living in an inhuman condition for many months. Gabor Wein seldom left his place - his bunk bed - located in a dark hole where he wallowed steadily in the filth of his own body. (Later, shortly after liberation, Gabor Wein perished of complete exhaustion.)

© David Muskal, 2001