The Theory and Practice of Hell (51 page)

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E U G E N KO G O N

On October 6—the day the
S S
twice came to take Captain Peuleve to his death—the officers wrote us about 2:30
p
.
m
.:

You can imagine how we feel! D. [Dietzsch] remarked this morning it might be best if he infected us with typhus at once so that we would really be sick if they called us up. Later he proposed that he exchange usfor two Frenchmen who are about to die, according to his statement. This proposal did not apply to P. Could not methods one or two be applied to him, to make sure that he is safe? I should regard one as the better.

I f we could only talk to you for at least five minutes! It would mean a great deal to us to see the situation more clearly and to avoid tactical errors toward D. [All three men lacked camp experience and knowledge o f the per sonalities involved, which immensely complicated the situation, since the slightest mis-step could mean the im mediate end o f all o f us. ]

Have you any accurate information about our comrades? Does the fact that those who were shipped out are being recalled mean that they too are to be shot? What a mess the whole thing is. . . . Your fighting spirit and tenacity are amazing. You know what they mean to us!

S
t e p h a n e
.

I should like to thank you from the bottom o f my heart for everything you are doingfor us. I f I must go, it will not be because you have failed to do everything possible to save me.

With sincerest gratitude, your
H.P.

Like Stephane, I should be only too happy to talk to you for a few minutes. We should be clearer on a few im portant points, and it just isn't possible this way. Many, many thanks for all your efforts. There's no point at all in my even beginning to tell you how grateful we are.

D.
[Dodkin].

The next day the Peuleve switch was carried off.

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217

Dearfriends!

I can
7
hope to find theproper wordsfor telling you how grateful I am to you for your magnificent achievement.. . . I only hope that the day may come on which I can repay at least a smallpart o f the debt I owe you.

Forever your

M
a r c e l
S
e i g n e u r
.

On October 13, Hessel wrote:

Well
,
D. [Dodkin] died today, which was a great relief to all o f us. My turn will be next Monday, if all goes well. However, if the execution order should arrive before then (things happen so quickly that we must be prepared for such an eventuality any day), I ask myself whether it would not be more sensible to organize my escape, to take place at the moment the execution order arrives. Such a solution would, o f course, be even more difficult, but at least it would hold an added element o f safety for all o f us, for there wouldn't be two simultaneous cases o f sudden death just before execution under such suspicious circumstances. I leave the decision entirely up to you. Please give me in structions what to do. I place myself in your steady hands with complete confidence.

S
t e p h a n e
.

Two days later:

Since it is quite likely that we shall shortly be shipped out, it is essential that we learn certain details o f our new identities. Can you try to get them for us? [This request crossed our message that the data had already been ob tained.
]
The names are: Marcel Seigneur, No. 76,635; and Maurice Chouquet, No. 81,642. We must know where they came from and where they lived. Where did they work before they got to Buchenwald? Were they admitted with a large or small group? What was their work assignment at earlier detention places? When and where were they arrested? Why? What was their profession, religion, birth date and birth place? Whatever you can find out about

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their private and public lives will be o f the greatest value to us.

I myself am still waiting to see what will happen to me. [Since no suitable Frenchman diedfrom natural causes and since, in agreement with Hessel, we refused to have anyone killed for purposes o f effecting the exchange, an alarming number o f days elapsed, during which we considered one plan after another to save Hessel.
]
You can imagine the ef fect on me o f every announcement over the public-address system.

Some three days later it appeared as though the Frenchman who had figured in our exchange plans and who had been hovering between life and death would recover. Dr. Ding-Schuler, moreover, had had enough excitement and began to lose interest in assuming any further risk. He was satisfied with having helped to save the two Britons. He had less liking for Hessel as a Frenchman, and wanted to drop him. I fought tenaciously against this trend in Schuler’s mind during the brief periods in which I could talk to him without attracting the attention of the prisoners’ intelligence service in Building 50, which was always distrustful of non-Communists, no matter how loyal they had proved themselves to be.

De Gaulle’s officer wrote us:

The man with whom I was to change place seems to be coming through
,
thank God for him. There is no other dying Frenchman in prospect. I therefore believe that we can’t lose any more time. I must take advantage of the next chance to stage an escape, even if that doesn
7
seem as safe and useful as the new solution you are contemplating
,
which surely sounds splendid. [By extremely devious means we proposed to smuggle Hessel into Building 50 and to conceal him for the duration of the war in a certain spot in the attic, while officially pretending that he had escaped and taking part in the search in camp and all the other con sequences. ]

Today is Wednesday and there is a strong likelihood that the execution order will arrive tomorrow (unless we are "lucky” enough to get it today). Please make all the necessary arrangements for having me assigned to an

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outgoing shipment for tomorrow. [Only a doomed man could have made such a proposal on twenty-four hours9 notice, ignoring the enormous internal difficulties it in volved!] And give me a good address on the outside! Anything else you can do for me over and above this would, o f course, be o f the greatest value. But even so I fear I must simply take my chances. It would be utterfolly to wait any longer.

I am deeply indebted to you and have full confidence in you.
_

S. H. The nerve-wracking ordeal had to be endured all the same.

Two days later the Frenchman who was to figure in the ex

change died after all. On October 21, Hessel was able to write:

Your good instincts did not deceive you. [During a night visit to the three I had expressed the conviction that the af fair would come to a good conclusion, that God would not abandon those who put their trust in His mysterious workings; who maintained vigilance o f heart and mind without doing wrong; who tried to serve a good and im portant cause with every ounce o f human intelligence and devotion.] Thanks to your care, everything has come out all right. My feelings are those o f a man who has been saved in the nick o f time. What relief!

Now, on the question o f shipping out. Cologne seems very good to us, because we might escape from there
—
in deed, even en route—to establish contact with the Allies as soon as possible. This might hasten matters for Buchen wald as well. Our plan would be to headfor thefront from there. It would be less than one hundred miles from there. If we could "beat it" from anywhere near Hamm, it would be only a little more thanfifty.

Of course the whole escape plan would become much more airtight, if we had some money, civilian clothing and an address in the Ruhr region or the Rhineland. Can you get this for us? If the escape plan is abandoned, one ship ment would be as good as the other, in my opinion. In

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deed', because o f the air raids it would be better not to head for Cologne. O f course we are very strongly for Cologne, for a whole series o f obvious reasons which are not all merely selfish!

We are still awaiting further details about Maurice Chouquet and Michel Boitel [Hessel*s new name], God, how happy I was when I learned that he wasn *tmarried!

There are ten Royal Air Force men in the hospital at the present time. If one o f them should die, please consider the possibility o f another switch! This would open the way to write to England by way o f the Red Cross, which likewise might advance the cause considerably. Of course the decision lies with you.

All three o f us are now in fine shape and very opti mistic—in view o f the newsfrom thefront and the German speeches that augur wellfor the speedy victory o f our side!

Forever yours,

S. H.

The rescue succeeded. Yeo-Thomas and Peuleve are today in London, Stephane Hessel in New York with the United Nations. >

In the second half of October another member of the group, a Frenchman and the father of four children, was led off to be executed. As in the case of the others, there simply was no possibility of rescue under the prevailing cir cumstances, especially if the men who had already assumed new identities were not to be further endangered. Week after week the three remaining men lived in fear of the arrival of the execution order from Berlin—it usually came on Wednesday and was complied with on Thursday. Fortunately the order never did arrive. In this way the British Major Southgate sur vived. The two surviving Frenchmen were assigned to outside labor details. One of them, by the name of Guillot, escaped early in April 1945, but was recaptured and incarcerated in the Buchenwald prison, where he was liberated.

Suddenly, on April 5, 1945, an execution order for Dodkin was received from Gestapo headquarters! Evidently the report of his execution the preceding October had not reached the appropriate central office. In the evening the Roll Call Officer