“Esteemed Mr Mayer!
Very many thanks or your letter dated 16 July this year. I am happy to hear from you after long time and only wish to hope that you keep well in every respect. All the very best to you for the future!
From the enclosed letter, you will see the situation as it meanwhile evolved and that we have just reached a kind of culmination point. I am firmly convinced that you will do your utmost to help as fast as you can. Given that each minute of delay may destroy the hope to save lives, may I ask you most humbly to overcome all technical difficulties and related complications to make sure the aid arrives in time. The saying “Who gives fast, gives twice” applies twice as much here, for only immediate aid makes sense and has a purpose. I am convinced that you accept my plea with greatest understanding. I wholeheartedly thank you in both my name and on behalf of our community.
(…)
Repeating my appeal for the fastest possible implementation of your undertakings related to the aid, I thank you, most worthy Mr Mayer and remain, with highest personal esteem,
Yours,
G.
(…)
Re: Labour camps
(…)
On this occasion, I should also like to mention that relevant authorities have permitted me to carry out international work, which is particularly related to the labour camps. From this you can already see the significance that is attached to the matter. That is why I am also writing to you officially and am asking you to kindly reply to me in respective form by mail. In no case, please, do not rely upon postal services, but do act immediately, for we are awaiting your approval with utmost impatience.
In your last letter, you asked us to provide you draft budget. Yet I still can’t offer you a detailed proposal. The means, purpose form and extent can only be decided by us here, and each decision has to be made instantly, unless it is all to turn to the contrary. Alas, we cannot consult beforehand and, particularly, cannot wait. Do trust us! I do not act as autocrat, but have excellent colleagues who bravely and determinedly strive against all dangers to carry out this vital work. Just like me, they feel responsible both to our local friends, as well as to you, for we know that, if we create conditions for the rescue of 20 Alafim (thousand), it will be especially you to thank.
(…) The mortal fear of thousands of people gives us the strength and courage to turn the impossible into possible. We ask you to stand by us with your aid. We are convinced that you will give your share without reservation. (…)
Case study I
Jewish labour camps in Slovakia
The fundamental constructive task that Jewry in Slovakia has to complete, lays in the systematic completion of the existing Jewish labour camos in Sereď, Nováky and Vyhne.
The completion entails:
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Construction and technical aspects, the completion of the existing and development of additional accommodation facilities;
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Completion of the existing and construction of new workshops;
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Equipment of the workshops with tools and machinery;
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Depending on possibilities, procurement of raw and other materials required for processing, which cannot be supplied from Slovakia.
Contemporary situation in the camps:
Qualified as well as unqualified labourers fit to work were concentrated in the labour camps. The people included not only wives and children, but also parents, in-laws and even siblings. That thus kept the families united. (I emphasise it because otherwise – given the free market economy – it was possible to secure parental protection only on the basis of a special decision of the relevant government department, and that only in most exceptional cases.)
The people in the camps are placed in accommodation facilities (part solid – part wooden dwellings) that were refurbished or newly built by the first groups of labourers and specialist staff led and funded by The Jewish Council.
Life and work in the camps is organised on collective basis. It should be noted, however, that the immediate management and administration of individual camps … [editorial note: illegible text] … also for the remaining Slovak Jewish community.
Given the current international clearing system and compensation trade, the support for the Slovak economic life means import of free currencies and, moreover, capital to establish and complete the Jewish labour camps
The secondary role of the aid also gives rise to the major significance of support to Slovak Jews.
The Slovak Jewish community understands well that even further stay in this country means the following: to engage in productive labour, eliminate the remaining aspects of the hitherto economic and social stratification of Jews, if permitted by the national interest and that of economic life.
There is also a consideration of the following scenario: the Jews who are indispensable for the economic life, will be included in the labour camps. The foundations have already been laid here. Sereď, Nováky and Vyhne already operate as productive labour centres. Development there is satisfactory in every respect. The labour camps have to be built and completed, whilst foreign aid would prove useful. We do not intend to use the aid to offer unproductive social benefits. We intend to use the funds thus raised to build new manufacturing centres, where every individual supports themselves and their relatives through honest work, and is of the benefit for the entire national economy.
A portion of the aid should be used for the upkeep of social facilities (Jewish hospitals in Sereď, etc.), particularly in the camps themselves.
Based on these considerations, we expect agreement on the following proposal to be given by the relevant officials in international social work organisations:
The Jewish Council requests the Swiss Jewish social work organisations to provide aid to the Slovak Jews based in Slovakia and are concentrated in the Jewish labour camps by wiring the corresponding amount of funds in regular intervals to the Slovak National Bank in free currencies. The Slovak National Bank would then pay the counter-value to make it directly available to The Jewish Council. The latter will use the funds to build and complete the Jewish labour centres and for the upkeep of the Jewish social institutions.
Case study II
The international Jewish charitable organisations have also helped The Jewish Council to support it social work by providing in-kind support.
The support from the international sources was recently halted, as it turned out that the hitherto spending method couldn’t be applied because of shortage of local Jewish funds.
The funds provided by the international committees have been used so far by transfers in a way that the Jewish bidders paid counter-value of the foreign currency to benefit The Jewish Council and also paid surcharges in Slovak crowns set out by the Slovak National Council in agreement with the Ministry of Interior. By such means, however, the currencies did not reach the Slovak National Bank.
It is still possible to request the aid and the Swiss Jewish charitable organisations are in principle prepared to provide the aid in foreign currency to the Jews who still remain in Slovakia. The Swiss organisations have a qualification for the aid by saying that it is aimed to enable those Jews to remain in Slovakia and that it would be possible for a Slovak Jewish organisation, i.e. The Jewish Council, to use the counter-value in Slovak crowns paid to match the aid provided.
Community life benefits from the services of the central canteen, bakery, hospital, school, kindergarten, bathroom and laundry, as well as all repair shops, such as tailor, shoemaker, barber and hairdresser, that are necessary for the life in the camp.
After the expropriation of Jewish hospitals in Slovakia, only a single central hospital opened in one of the camps (Sereď). It ought to be noted that the supervisory authorities are benevolent in their support to the equipment for the hospital that reflects the time and purpose.
The principle of these labour camps is that all their residents fit to work, regardless their qualification and age, are involved in labour. Thus, naturally, both qualified and unqualified workers are inevitably employed in the labour camps.
The qualified labour force is concentrated in workshops. Three major and core production branches are:
Labour camp Sereď: Large-scale construction and furniture carpentry with 164 carpenters. It is now one of the largest and most productive carpentries in Slovakia.
Labour camp Nováky: Large clothing workshops. They particularly make uniforms for gendarmerie and the army, but also gentlemen’s clothing for selected department stores.
Labour camp Vyhne: Leather and textile waste processing workshops.
In addition to the main branches, individual labour camps have workshops that produce side products, such as toys, locksmith, plumbing, painting workshop, concrete pipelines, nets, hats, stamps, engraving, as well as agricultural activities and husbandry to meet own needs of the camp, and eventually also construction teams that are used for work outside the camps. In addition to the qualified staff, there is also unqualified labour in all workshops. The latter, along with school graduates, undergo vocational training. Thus, in addition to the labour valuable for the state, there is also the productive vocational training for youth and camp residents who had been removed from their previous professions. A proportion of the unqualified labour, however, find jobs in construction jobs completing the camps.
(…)
Completing the camps
The capacity of the camps could be, in principle, raised by placing there, in the shortest possible time, up to 5,000 Jews. That would require major investment and vital aid from the international organisations.
Investment in construction to build new accommodation facilities
and workshops according to the presented plans ………..…Slovak crowns 5,800,000.00
Equipment of workshops with required
machinery and tools ……………………………………….. Slovak crowns 4,300,000.00
Procurement of raw and other material ……………………. Slovak crowns 1,000,000.00
into the concentration camps. It is impossible to describe how diverse our work has become. I think I can say that we consult both about Wilhelm and his brothers, as well as Joseph and his family. The often four-week-long intermission in the supply of goods can only be explained by the fact that our work got successfully off the ground.”
Letter to Nathan Schwalb, 27 August 1942