But the Germans played with human bodies.
They would order people into the death zone
that surrounded Buchenwald.
There was a huge, all around the outer
perimeter there was a huge electric fence.
It was electrified and people would throw
themselves into this fence.
They would literally run in to it to
terminate their life because
they couldn't take it anymore because
they saw, there was no possibility to escape
out of Buchenwald and everyday was
another day of agony, of torture,
of witnessing people dying all around you and
so people gave up.
And we would have given up too except
that we were 168 allied airmen and
mind you, once I got in the infirmary,
I lost contact with all the boys but
the rest of them would stay together and
try to keep the morale up.
They would try to bolster somebody who is
starting to fade, don't give up, and
so it was a good thing because
it brought you out of the depths of desperation
because there was no way you could see
of ever getting out of there alive.
You were surrounded by death.
You were surrounded by the smell of death.
You were witnessing death
every second of the day or night
while you were in Buchenwald.
They played with your life
like you play with a toy.
They had no respect for human life at all.
You were less than an animal.