PIEPEL (German) Errand boy, although in the K.L., it also implied a juvenile prostitute.
PITCHI Poi A legendary village in Yiddish song, used by Jews and other inmates of Drancy as the name of the secret destination the Nazis were shipping them to.
PUFF (German/slang) Bordello, whorehouse.
RAVENSBRÜCK The Nazi’s only major women’s camp, located 56 miles north of Berlin. The camp was built in 1938, and was liberated by the Soviets on April 30, 1945. About 92,000 women died at Ravensbrück.
REICHSFLUCHTSTEUER A German “flight” tax that was established on December 8, 1931. For anti-Semitic reasons, the Nazis perverted the laws passed before the Seizure of Power, which were originally designed to prevent large amounts of capital from leaving the country during the Great Depression. By 1933, there were a number of laws with the sole purpose of eliminating the Jews from the German economy.
ROMANI An ethnic group, commonly known as Gypsies, whose roots can be traced to India. About 23,000 Romani from eleven countries were shipped to Birkenau, where a special Romani family camp had been built. About 21,000 were either gassed or died from malnutrition, disease (especially typhus), or mistreatment. It is estimated that between 20 and 50 percent of European Romani were murdered by the Nazis. Gypsy is a pejorative term.
SCHREIBSTUBE (German) Administration office.
SELECTION Euphemism (Selektion in German) for being chosen for work or, more commonly, death.
SONDERKOMMANDO (German) Special work team. In Auschwitz, the Sonderkommando was responsible for leading people into the gas chambers, extracting their bodies, and burning them in the crematoriums. Members of the Sonderkommando usually worked in the crematoriums for a few months before being sent to their deaths, as part of the Nazis’ attempts to leave no witnesses to their crimes.
SPECKJÄGER (German/slang) Bacon hunter, or someone who chases lard, a scavenger.
SS (SCHUTZSTAFFEL) (German) Security Detail. Originally formed to protect Hitler and other Nazi officials. Under Heinrich Himmler, the SS became military units, the Waffen-SS. By 1944, nearly 40,000 SS were assigned to concentration camps.
STEHBUNKER (German) Standing bunker, or very small cell. One of the Nazis’ forms of punishment for Häftlinge who broke their arbitrary rules and regulations. A narrow cell, 90 cm by 90 cm, in which a man couldn’t turn around or move his hands. Häftlinge were kept in these cells from 10 to over 24 hours at a time.
STUBENDIENST/E (German) Barracks foreman/men.
SUDETENDEUTSCH, SUDETEN GERMAN (German) A German national living in the Sudetenland, which became part of Czechoslovakia after World War I. There were 3,2 million Germans living in this area, which bordered Germany (11,000 square miles). In September 1938, the Munich Agreement, which was signed by Hitler, Britain’s Neville Chamberlin, France’s Edouard Daladier, and Italy’s Mussolini, permitted Germany’s annexation of the Sudetenland. Czechoslovakia was given no say in the matter. In March 1939, Germany annexed the rest of the country.
UNTERMENSCH/UNTERMENSCHEN (German) Subhuman/s, used generally to refer to prisoners and Jews.
VERBOTEN (German) Forbidden.
VORARBEITER (German) Foreman.
WEHRMACHT German Armed Forces.
ZYKLON-B Crystalline hydrogen cyanide, used in the Nazi gas chambers. Originally developed as a pesticide, and first used in September 1941 on Soviet POWs.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Berg, Pierre.
Scheisshaus luck : surviving the unspeakable in Auschwitz and Dora / Pierre Berg with Brian Brock.—1st ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-0-8144-1299-2
1. Berg, Pierre. 2. Auschwitz (Concentration camp) 3. Political prisoners—France—Biography. 4. World War, 1939–1945—Personal narratives, French. I. Brock, Brian. II. Title.
D805.5.A96B465
2008
940.53’18092—dc22
[B]
2008003779
© 2008 Pierre Berg.
All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America.
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