“People need to know what war is”: former prisoners of Auschwitz - about a concentration camp and attempts to rewrite history

- You were captured by the Nazis during the Warsaw Uprising. Tell us, please, how did this happen?

Ksenia Olkhova: We were very active in the fight against the Germans. We are war veterans of Poland. When we were children, we fought against the Nazis. Three times they threw leaflets on which it was written: “Surrender, because we will turn your entire Warsaw into ashes. And the one who comes out - we guarantee you life and a good existence. ” People went out with handkerchiefs, walked through the ruins. It was two times in two months. In the third month, they dropped the leaflets for the last time. Then they wrote: give up, because we will destroy everyone.

But people were almost gone. And my mother said: we will sit here and die. We won’t go anywhere, we have nowhere to go. And the planes flew in, there was a terrible battle upstairs.

Then, after some time, the Germans entered and drove everyone out. We had nothing left, because what was burned down and leveled to the ground. And we went out only in dresses, sandals. My legs were already damaged. When we left, the Germans began to burn with fire, so that no one would stay there. We were attached to the column that went through all these ruins. Without water, without food, sick, lame, hungry. On both sides stood the Germans with dogs. If someone falls, they shot him right there. Someone stopped - shot.

- Where did you go?

K.O .: The first camp is Proshkovo, near Warsaw. It was already dark, there was a huge hall. And there 300 people were probably from all of Warsaw, because all of Warsaw was in this convoy. And the Germans also stood, and it was impossible to leave, nothing, did not even carry water. And there were women with babies.

Mom was very worried. We children could not walk. But, when the Germans came up, they put us on the ground so that we would not be shot. How many we were in Proshkovo, we do not know. Time wasted for us.

At some point, the Germans stood at the door and began to sort people. We had no documents, nothing at all. They just looked at the look. This means that children, sick, lame, old people, with babies — those who could not work, fell to the left. Mom was simply thrown there from us. She only managed to shout ...

Lydia Turovskaya: She shouted: "Girls, hold hands all your life, never part." Everything, these were the last words of mom.

K.O .: And then they didn’t see her.

• Auschwitz Gate
• RIA News

- What happened next?

K.O .: We were all put in cattle cars - without a roof. And we were lucky, but we did not know where. Men raised the boards and dive under the wheels on the move. Whether any of them survived - I do not know. We were actually taken to destruction. Because there really were old people, sick people, children - mostly children.

“And they brought you to Auschwitz?”

K.O . : Yes. But we didn’t even know where we were. We sat waiting. Apparently they were deciding ...

L. T.: ... where to put us.

K. O.: ... what to do with us. And finally, we were dropped off, built. And we are building went to Auschwitz. Then we learned what was written on the gate that it was Auschwitz. And life in Auschwitz began, the second stage.

“How long were you at Auschwitz?”

K.O .: October, November, December. Three months.

“But you had a rare blood type, and at that time they took blood from you?” Have you been often taken to take her?

K.O .: We were not often taken because we were exhausted. A German came, and we were led to another hut, called the Red Cross. There was a wall, holes in the wall into which you had to stick your hand. How much blood was taken - we did not know.

We were built, and we again returned to the hut. Those children who remained lost consciousness, many simply did not return. If we lost consciousness, we would also simply not have returned. Others were either burned, or what was done there, for experiments. There was a large building behind Auschwitz where experiments were conducted. We didn’t know then, I already found out later.

• 11-year-old victim of Nazi medical experiments at Auschwitz
• © United Nations Archives and Records Management Section

- How did you leave Auschwitz?

K.O .: That was the end of December. They began to disassemble the crematorium at night - we heard. And they began to circle the planes. The Germans ran in, but they paid less attention to us. They began to destroy the traces of their crimes, began to burn many documents.

We drove cattle cars, but with roofs. Planted. Adults were driven on foot. Almost no one survived from this "death march." And they put us, pushed into this car. Winter, we were in dresses, without stockings. On his feet were shoes (shoes. - RT ) wooden. When we were taken, we already realized that there was not Polish speech, but German. In our carriage people began to die. There were children, mothers with babies. And, you know, who was dying - they began to be stacked in piles to close the gaps, so as not to blow. Finally, they brought us. The guys entered the car in a striped uniform. First they pulled out all the dead.

L. T.: They considered them.

K.O .: They counted, pulled out all the dead. Then those who could walk were kicked out quickly and quickly. Then we were carried in our arms already - those who could not walk. It turned out they were prisoners of a concentration camp ...

“Is this the new camp you were brought to?”

K.O . : Yes. We could not practically move independently. There were black cars, they pushed us there, drove us there. This was the territory of Hamburg. There were many such camps.

“How did the war end for you?”

K.O .: When the British released us, they offered to send us to England. We said: no, we're going to look for mom. We hardly got to Warsaw. We were looking for our street. Found, but there was nothing there. We thought mom would come, but we didn’t find her. I wanted to eat. We began to look for what to eat. There was already a group of guys as homeless as we were. Gathered what to eat. They saw that the soldiers were sitting, they were eating from bowlers. They gave us bread and some sugar. And we already knew where to go (for food. - RT ).

Every time we came, they fed us. They were already waiting for us, apparently. Slavic speech, many words are similar. There were Belarusians. They told us something, we partially understood. Some of their boss came and said that we would collect you, you should be treated, you are all sick, ragged, hungry, and do not study, but you need to study. We will take you to a place where you will be treated first and then taught. They put us in cars — one car was ours, for children. They brought, but unloaded not all at once, but little by little.

- Is this already in the Soviet Union?

K.O . : Yes. The two of us in Bobruisk were dropped off. We went to church. A father came out, one with a beard. And he immediately understood everything, put him in a room. Says: "Tell me everything in detail." We told everything that was with us, what we want in the warmth. And he says: "We have heat in the Caucasus." So, we want to the Caucasus. He wrote: Krasnodar. He explained that this is the capital of the Kuban. And, you know, he wrote on a piece of paper: Krasnodar, contact the district executive committee. We did not even know what it was. We arrived at the station. The father said: such are the girls, the sick, the unfortunate orphans, they need to collect something for food. Well, good people are everywhere. We showed a piece of paper - here we need it.

• The liberation on January 19, 1945 by the troops of the 1st Belorussian Front of the Polish city of Lodz (Warsaw-Poznan operation). Meeting of Soviet soldiers by the inhabitants of Lodz.
• © Sergey Loskutov / RIA News

- And everything worked out?

K. O .: In general, yes. In Krasnodar, in the district executive committee, we were assigned to the female school of communications, where they taught girls to the front. We had military discipline. The overcoats were given to us. That’s it, we were dressed in military uniforms. We graduated with honors.

L. T.: The USSR has become our home for us. I entered the Institute of Communications, the hardest. If it were not for our Russia, not Sochi - we were in Sochi - I would never have gone to college in my life. We studied the Russian language day and night. Oh, how hard the Russian language was ...

- What do you think about the fact that now in Europe such voices are increasingly heard, in the same Poland, for example, which accuse the USSR of starting a war and attribute the war atrocities to those who actually liberated Europe?

K.O .: When we entered Warsaw, the first people we saw were not Americans, not English, we saw Russian soldiers who fed us.

L. T.: They saved us.

K.O .: The Red Army first entered Warsaw. This is what we know. You know, when we go to Poland, the Poles, those who remember, really appreciate it. They are very kind to Russia, to Russians. This is all politics.

I believe that those who are thinking of rewriting this story, they should raise the archives, read. And listen more to those who went through this war. And in Poland there are still many people who participated in the Second World War. They know this story. I believe that in general this is unacceptable - to rewrite history.

“Thank you for bringing the truth to people.”

K.O .: This is so that everyone knows, especially young people. Because fascism is developing now - this is a terrible thing. We have already passed 46 schools in Moscow, institutes. People need to know what war is.

See the full version of the interview on the RTD website.