Miroslav Knol

* 1925

  • "They bombed all of Germany and the factories there, including the Kustellwerke in Weimar. In February 1945 (1944 in the audio recording was a mistake, ed.´s note). Later they bombed the smaller aircraft and arms factories. Our wooden barracks stood right next to the production hall, and it hit us. I worked the other shift, and so I was inside the barracks at that time. I got hit here in my spine. Partially fractured my spine. They transported me to a hospital in Buchenwald, where I survived till the end of the war. General Patton took control of the area as the front advanced. They wanted to move the hospital, but luckily they later dropped the idea, and those of us who were wounded remained there."

  • "They cooked a good lunch, but they shouldn't have done it. Everybody got diarrhea. The food was good, but it was greasy, and they probably forgot that we were so weak. We suffered from terrible diarrhea, and they had to stop it quickly. It was good, but we couldn't eat it. We had to eat slowly, because we were weak and not used to these good and fatty meals."

  • "I felt very sick. My legs were swollen. In the old camp in Auschwitz they separated us. I was sent to another camp, to the labour camp in Birkenau. My father remained there and I never saw him again. They probably exterminated him. He was not afraid of anything because he could speak German perfectly. His father came from Střelná, and although his parents were not Germans, they could speak German perfectly. When they asked him something, he would answer in German… But I never saw him again."

  • Full recordings
  • 1

    Velká Bystřice, 25.10.2007

    (audio)
    duration: 01:14:48
    media recorded in project Stories of 20th Century
Full recordings are available only for logged users.

My father remained in the old camp and I have never seen him again

IMG_9418.JPG (historic)
Miroslav Knol
photo: Pamětník

Miroslav Knol was born on January 1, 1925, in Velká Bystřice. His father was a factory worker and his mother worked in agriculture. He grew up together with his three siblings. The decision of one of his brothers later proved fateful for him. After completing higher elementary school, Miroslav learnt the carpenter’s trade. On September 18, 1942, he was suddenly arrested. It turned out that he was arrested because of the activities of his brother, who had reached England via Poland and France, and served in the No. 311 Bomber Squadron. The family was completely unaware of this. Miroslav and his parents were taken to prison. Together they were sent to Brno, and Miroslav and his father were later transported to Auschwitz while his mother went to the internment camp in Svatobořice. When they arrived to Auschwitz Miroslav saw his father for last time. He was placed in the Birkenau camp where he worked on the construction of other wooden barracks. A large transport of prisoners was dispatched from Auschwitz to Buchenwald eight months later, and Miroslav was included in it. Conditions in the concentration camp Buchenwald were better. Czechs were usually assigned to work in Weimar in a factory which produced quick-firing guns. The Allied air raids became increasingly frequent towards the end of the war. Miroslav suffered a serious injury during one of them, so he witnessed the liberation while he was in hospital. After his return to Czechoslovakia he suffered from persisting illness, which evolved into tuberculosis. He eventually recovered and married in 1948. He worked in the factory, Moravia, just like his father.