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Peter van Pels imprisoned in Melk

A few days after arriving in Mauthausen, Peter was transferred to Melk subcamp to perform forced labour. In April 1945, he was brought back to Mauthausen, very ill.

Event

Jan. 29, 1945 - April 11, 1945

48.22225 N 15.325917 E

Melk

Oostenrijk

Peter van Pels, Häftlingnummer 119162, arrived at Mauthausen on 25 January 1945.[1]

The card from the Mauthausen camp administration shows Peter's details and lists his physical characteristics.[2] Erroneously, the date of birth is given as 6 November 1926. The front of the card reads: Tischler (furniture maker). It also states that he was 1.73 metres tall and had a slim build. His face was oval, he had green eyes, flattened ears, a straight nose, full mouth, good teeth and black hair. According to the card, he spoke Dutch, English and German. It also states as a 'special feature' that he had a tattoo: his Auschwitz number.[3]

After arrival, Peter was placed in a quarantine hut until 29 January 1945. In these there were no beds, the inmates lay side by side on the ground.[4] Then Peter was transferred to the Melk subcamp.[5] They were transported to Camp Melk, about seventy kilometres east of Mauthausen, in freight wagons. After a journey of about seven hours, the prisoners had to walk from the train station to the camp through a fierce snowstorm.[6]

Melk was set up on 21 April 1944 as a concentration camp for male prisoners, who were to work as forced labourers on a project code-named Quarz: the construction in a mountain of an underground factory for the production of machine parts for tanks and aircraft.[7] The Quarz project lasted from 20 March 1944 to 15 April 1945. The work, working conditions and treatment were extremely harsh and inhumane. There was no medical care whatsoever. The camp was overcrowded. With the arrival of the 29 January 1945 transport from Mauthausen, there were 10,314 prisoners at Melk. Between January and April 1945, 3106 people died here due to illness, accidents, beatings, or being shot.[8] In one year, about 5,000 of the approximately 15,000 prisoners in Melk camp died.[9]

Between 11 and 15 April 1945, prisoners from the Aussenlager Melk were evacuated to Ebensee. The sick returned to Mauthausen.[10] Peter van Pels was also sent back to the Sanitätslager of the Mauthausen main camp, deathly ill, on 11 April 1945.[11]

According to the Netherlands Red Cross, which relied on a list prepared by the US Army, Peter van Pels died on the day of the liberation of Mauthausen, 5 May 1945.[12] According to another list prepared by the US 3rd Army, Peter died after the liberation of Mauthausen on 10 May 1945 .[13]

Footnotes

  1. ^ Archiv der Gedenkstätte KZ-Gedenkstätte Mauthausen, BM.I, Abteilung IV/7,  Häftlingszugangsbuch der Politischen Abteilung (Y/36), Namenlisten E/13/8/1.
  2. ^ Het Nederlandse Rode Kruis (NRK), Den Haag, dossier 135177-3: Kampkaart Mauthausen. Foutief staat als geboortedatum 6 november 1926 vermeld. Als lichamelijke kenmerken worden genoemd: 1m73 lang, slank postuur, ovaal gezicht, groene ogen, ronde of rechte neus, volle mond, tegen het hoofdliggende oren, goed gebit, zwart haar. Verder kent Peter van Pels Hollands, Engels en Duits en is hij getatoeëerd (zijn nummer uit Auschwitz)
  3. ^ Doorslag registratie Peter van Pels Mauthausen, kopie bij afs. In het verhaaltje ‘Mijn eerste interview’ schrijft Anne Frank dat hij blauwgrijze ogen had. Anne Frank, Verhalen en gebeurenissen ui het Achterhuis, ‘Mijn eerste interview’, 22 februari 1944, in: Verzameld werk, Amsterdam: Prometheus, 2012.
  4. ^ KZ-Gedenkstätte Mauthausen, amm oh/zp1/299, Interview Jakob Maestro, 17 juni 2002. Maestro noemt verschillende aantallen: met 1000 in een barak bedoeld voor 100 personen en met 500 in een barak voor 80.
  5. ^ Arolsen Archives 5792, Deportationsliste Mauthausen – Melk; Schimmer noemt wel acht meubelmakers bij deze selectie, dus het is mogelijk dat ook voor de selectie voor Melk gevangenen met hetzelfde beroep samen werden geselecteerd. niod, 250d, inv.nr. 827, verklaring C. Schimmer, 28.
  6. ^ Moshe Ha-Elion, The straits of hell: the chronicles of a Salonikan Jew in the Nazi extermination camps Auschwitz, Mauthausen, Melk, Ebensee, Mannheim: Bibliopolis, 2005, p. 58-59.
  7. ^ Wapenfabriek van Steyr-Daimler-Puch ag was de grootste producent van kogellagers in het Duitse Rijk en verplaatste zijn kogellagerfabriek van Steyr-Münichholz naar Melk om veilig te zijn voor de geallieerde luchtaanvallen.
  8. ^ KZ-Gedenkstätte Mauthausen, B/30/13, Melk, 3.
  9. ^ 5000 gevangenen zijn in Melk gestorven, door ongelukken om het leven gekomen of doodgeschoten. In totaal 14.357 gevangenen. Totaal aantal gevangenen april 1944-april 1945: 14.387 (Eingange) – 8928 (teruggestuurd) = 5459. Gestorven 4873 en gevlucht 85.
  10. ^ Zie KZ-Gedenkstätte Mauthausen en Bertrand Perz, Das Projekt "Quarz". Der Bau einer unterirdischer Fabrik durch Häftlinge des KZ Melk für die  Steyr-Daimler-Puch AG 1944-1945, Innsbruck: StudienVerlag, 2014.
  11. ^ NRK, dossier 135177-3: Kampkaart Mauthausen; Republik Österreich Bundesministerium für inneres aan Frau Juffinger, 1 april 1999.
  12. ^ NRK, Mauthausen Kl. Doss. 21826, map II.
  13. ^ Archiv der Gedenkstätte KZ-Gedenkstätte Mauthausen, BM.I, Abteilung IV/7,  Hospital Mauth. Abgangsbuch (Tote) 5.5.45-18.5.45.