Hans Frankenthal - Internment

Internment

As the family arrived at the camp, Max Frankenthal told his two sons that he was sure that he would not survive the ordeal, and that should they get out, to go back to Schmallenberg. The Jews were then ordered to exit the train onto the ramp. The women on the left, the men on the right, and any women with children on the far left.

In the confusion the two sons lost their parents, who they later learned were sent directly to the gas chambers. When asked by the SS, Frankenthal claimed to be 18, so that he would be put to work and not with the weak and sickly. He was then ordered to enter a group where he found his three uncles and a cousin. The cousin was about one year old, and when the SS discovered that the child was not with its mother, it was beaten to death. The Jews who had been selected for work were then loaded onto trucks and transported to their respective labor camps. Frankenthal was sent to Auschwitz III Monowitz.

As they arrived, the inmates were forced to strip naked and were sent to their barracks where their bodies were shaved all over. They then had their inmate numbers tattooed onto their arms. Frankenthal became 104920 and his brother 104921. The inmates were then sorted out according to skills. The brothers both claimed to be locksmiths, although they had only begun training at the workshop in Dortmund. They were then showered and issued with their striped uniforms.

The Blockältester, or inmate block leader, then greeted the new arrivals to inform them of their current situation: that they were in an extermination camp, and that any family members, whom they could not see in this block, had probably already been gassed.

Every morning the inmates were issued with what the SS called Coffee. This appeared to be mixed up from local plant material, but was one of the few sources of moisture to which the inmates had access. The water in the showers was contaminated, and those who drank from it would become feverish and in Auschwitz, that usually meant death.

The inmates in Frankenthal’s block were composed mainly of Jews with several political prisoners as well. The prisoners were forced to work under horrendous conditions for long hours. The inmates also worked alongside civilian workers from the Polish and German populations who instructed the inmates inside the camp, but not inside the electric fence.

Most of the prisoners in Monowitz worked for IG Farben in Liquidation. During his internment at the camp, Frankenthal played a minor role in the largely unsuccessful resistance. He was also subject to dental experiments from SS doctors.

On 18 January 1945, the death march began for the prisoners of Auschwitz. On the second day of the march the group reached Gleiwitz (Gliwice), where they were loaded onto open cattle wagons and sent to Buchenwald concentration camp. Upon arrival the SS soldiers accompanying the Auschwitz inmates discovered that Buchenwald was full, and could no longer take on any inmates. From Buchenwald they were then sent to Mittelbau-Dora, the new site for the V2 production since bombing raids on the Peenemünde facility threatened to end the project.

Here the inmates were forced to build V2 rockets in an underground factory. When the inmates began the deliberate sabotage of German rockets, prisoners were systematically hung from the ceiling over the workers as a warning. During an aerial bombardment of the camp on 3 April 1945, Frankenthal, his brother, and another inmate managed to escape. In the confusion they were separated from the third fugitive and continued on their own. After three days they were recaptured by a group of Volkssturm (German militia). They were again put on transports and sent east. At some point Frankenthal lost consciousness and awoke two days after they were liberated by Russian troops.