War Diaries (July 16) (nonfiction)
Diaries
Reina Spiegel: July 16, 1942
You probably want to know what a closed-off ghetto looks like. Pretty ordinary. Barbed wire all around, with guards watching the gates (a German policeman and Jewish police). Leaving the ghetto without a pass is punishable by death. Inside, there are only our people, close ones, dear ones. Outside, there are strangers. My soul is so very sad. My heart is seized with terror.
I missed Zygus so much today. I thought about him all the time. I’ve longed so much for his caresses, nobody knows how much. After all, we face such a terrible situation. You will help me, Bulus and God.
—Renia Spiegel, civilian (diary)
George Beck: July 16, 1943
Today our guard left us and was replaced by a civilian instead of a soldier, what are things coming to in this country. He says that he’s come from Wilhelmshaven, where he was in a punishment camp consisting of English prisoners. The guards had to walk about with grenades, pistols and rifles, and three or four of our lads have been shot daily. It appears one of the Englishmen said "Its better to die with a bullet where they are than on the job they’re on". The work they are set to do is "rendering mines inactive when they are swept up by the sea". Dangerous job and this is defiantly contrary to the Geneva Convention.
—George Beck,1st Battalion The Duke of Wellington's Regiment, prisoner of war (diary)
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Fiction cross-reference
Nonfiction cross-reference
External links
- Excerpts from the Diaries of Renia Spiegel @ Smithsonian Magazine
- http://www.pegasusarchive.org/pow/george_beck.htm