The tribulations of Moses Abram are virtually identical to those of Leo Aussen, except that Moses Abram only succumbed on 25 January 1945 during the so-called death march from Blechhammer to Gross-Rosen.
Like many transports during that period, the train stopped at Cosel shortly before arriving at Auschwitz. Leon Aussen (and also Moses Abram) were among the men who were taken from the train here. A survivor of this group stated after the war: “Cosel was not a station, it was an embankment on which the train rode. Completely unexpectedly, people of a certain age had to get out. We were thrown off the train. Suddenly a lieutenant came to me and told me not to be afraid. It would only be for three days and then we would go back to the women and children. After we got out we had to kneel and then an inspection was made by Lindner, who walked around with a large whip in his left hand and a revolver in his right. 15 people were selected to retrieve backpacks from a wagon. And of course all the wrong ones came out. Lindner and others then started a superficial selection. People were then sent back onto the train and others were also taken out. While we were still there the train continued. After about ten minutes, trailers arrived.”
From Cosel the men went directly to the Niederkirch camp and in October to Seibersdorf. Seibersdorf was a terrible camp. One survivor described the work the prisoners had to do: “We had to use wheelbarrows to transport stones to build roads, from early morning until late at night. We started in the rainy season and stood in mud and loam. Then the frost started and we had to dig out the ground and the stones. The hardest part was carrying the rails that we had to lay. In addition, we also got very little to eat. Beatings were common both at work and in the camp. You had to lie down on a trolley and then you were given a portion and it was determined how many strokes you received. (…) There was strict discipline. The slightest offense was met with violence, which regularly resulted in fatalities. They then went into a hole, two or three on top of each other.”
And another survivor: “During the day we had to work on the railway and in the evening we had to build the camp. There was hardly any water. People died like rats.”
In March 1943, the surviving men were taken to Blechhammer. Leon Aussen was no longer there and must therefore have died in Seibersdorf before then. His date of death was determined after the war as 31 March 1943. Leon probably did not reach his 29th birthday. His wife and children were murdered immediately after arriving in Auschwitz on 10 September 1942. (but Moses Abram had survived until now).
Addition from the Jewish Monument editors:
The above story is almost identical to the experiences of Moses Abram, who was also among the 110 boys and men taken from the train in Cosel. His wife Rebecca de Paauw, together with many others, was sent to Auschwitz and immediately murdered upon arrival there on 10 September 1942.
Moses Abram, on the other hand, survived the above camps. From Blechhammer he was “evacuated” on foot to Gross-Rosen on 21 January 1945 with a so-called “evacuation march” (death march). This evacuation march, with the route via Neustadt, Frankenstein, Stansee, Schweidnitz, Reichnau to Gross-Rosen, finally arrived on 2 February 1945. Moses Abram was no longer able to experience that. On the way, somewhere in Poland, Moses Abram weakened due to the hardships on 25 January 1945, succumbed or was shot dead. His death certificate, drawn up on behalf of the Ministry of Justice in Amsterdam on 28 November 1952 from A-register 98-folio 22, indicates that he died in Poland on 25 January 1945.
Source of the above addition: the archives of the Red Cross/from the Publication "Auschwitz III - the Cosel period -edited October 1952