“Finnish women in German concentration camps” (1960)
“德国集中营中的芬兰妇女”（1960）
Excerpt from Huomenen tiellä: Suomen työläisnaisliikkeen 60-vuotisjuhlakirja [“On the road to the future: 60th jubilee book of the Finnish worker women’s movement”] edited by a team lead by Elli Stenberg, pp. 159-166. Translated by ML-theory blog.
摘自 Huomenen tiellä： Suomen työläisnaisliikkeen 60-vuotisjuhlakirja [“通往未来的道路：芬兰工人妇女运动的 60周年纪念书”]，由 Elli Stenberg 领导的团队编辑，第 159-166 页。由 ML-theory 博客翻译。
In the spring of 1942 two Finnish women, Hilda Nevalainen and Norma Laivo were transferred from the Hämeenlinna central prison and regional prison to the Helsinki regional prison. That marked the beginning of their time of suffering and terrible experiences, requiring superhuman endurance and will, their road from one German fascist death camp to another. After the end of the war they moved to the Soviet Union. In their letters sent from there they told their old prison comrades about their experiences in the death camps. We publish excerpts from them:
1942 年春天，两名芬兰妇女希尔达· 内瓦莱宁和诺玛·莱沃从海门林纳中央监狱和地区监狱转移到赫尔辛基地区监狱。这标志着他们痛苦和可怕经历的时代的开始，需要超人的耐力和意志，他们从一个德国法西斯死亡集中营到另一个德国法西斯死亡集中营。战争结束后，他们搬到了苏联。在从那里寄来的信中，他们向监狱的老战友讲述了他们在死亡集中营的经历。我们发布了它们的摘录：
On the morning of August 25th, 1942, four women and twenty men were taken onto a ship in the Helsinki Harbor.
1942 年 8 月 25 日上午，四名妇女和 20 名男子在赫尔辛基港被带上一艘船。
“The men were taken in first and put into the hold like cargo. The women were left on the deck. Slowly the ship left the pier and turned South . . . The destination was apparently Tallinn.
“这些人首先被带进货舱，像货物一样被关进货舱。这些妇女被留在甲板上。慢慢地，船离开码头，转向南方......目的地显然是塔林。
In the evening the ship arrived at shore and the prisoners were taken to the famous Patarei. There awaited a German reception; all the money and gold belongings of the prisoners were taken, they were demanded to give an autobiography, a body search was carried out and they were taken to the “chamber”. There we spent two weeks. We were told that we were in quarantine.”
晚上，船到达岸边，囚犯被带到著名的帕塔雷。在那里等待着德国人的招待会;囚犯的所有金钱和金币都被拿走，要求他们写自传，进行搜身，然后被带到“密室”。我们在那里呆了两个星期。我们被告知我们正在隔离中。
After the ending of the quarantine the prisoners were put to work in the workshop: “In the workshop the Finns were first told to repair clothes taken from Russian war prisoners or front line casualties. The clothes had bullet holes and blood stains that were still fresh, occasionally the clothes were completely bloody. Sometimes in a pocket of the clothes there was some piece of paper identifying who the clothes had belonged to, a photo of a fiancée or a sister.”
隔离结束后，囚犯们被安排在车间工作：“在车间里，芬兰人首先被告知要修理从俄罗斯战俘或前线伤员身上拿走的衣服。衣服上有弹孔和血迹，还很新鲜，偶尔衣服上完全是血迹。有时在衣服的口袋里会有一些纸，上面写着衣服属于谁，还有未婚妻或姐妹的照片。
“In the first months the food was still tolerable for prison food, but soon it began to change. In the evenings we got unpeeled potatoes that were green with mold, the lunch soup became mere water where at the bottom there were flakes resembling saw dust, or the soup was made of spoiled cabbage. After eating it you got severe stomach pains”. “During the day we got to go outside for 15-20 minutes, and when walking past the waste bucket, we sometimes found there some cold and half rotted potato, a fish bone, or on some rare instance a rarity such as a piece of meat for our dinner . . . Hunger forced us to find new sources of food. When the Estonians, who received packages from home, ate potatoes, the Finns ate the peels of their potatoes. It was a treat since the peels had been washed and boiled . . . Despite of everything one’s head “went circles”, as the Estonians said. We were constantly dizzy. Body temperatures fell below 36 celsius. If you went to the medic to complain, he advised to eat more eggs, butter and fat.”
“在最初的几个月里，监狱的食物仍然可以忍受，但很快它开始发生变化。晚上，我们得到了未去皮的土豆，这些土豆是绿色的，发霉了，午餐汤变成了水，底部有类似锯末的薄片，或者汤是用变质的卷心菜制成的。吃完后，你胃痛很厉害“。“白天，我们得到外面去 15-20 分钟，当走过垃圾桶时，我们有时会发现那里有一些冰冷的、半腐烂的土豆、一根鱼骨，或者在极少数情况下，一些稀有的东西，比如一块肉作为我们的晚餐......饥饿迫使我们寻找新的食物来源。当从家里收到包裹的爱沙尼亚人吃土豆时，芬兰人吃土豆皮。这是一种享受，因为果皮已经洗净并煮沸了......尽管如此，正如爱沙尼亚人所说，一个人的头还是“转了圈”。我们经常头晕目眩。体温降至 36 摄氏度以下。如果你去找医生投诉，他建议多吃鸡蛋、黄油和脂肪。
Alongside hunger there was a constant nervous tension. Every week someone from the group was taken to be killed. The letters mention a “sky-pole”, which was the final destination of those to be killed. Before the German retreat began, “they usually took people to the ‘sky-pole’ only on Tuesday evenings, but once the rapid retreat of the German fascist forces from the Soviet country began, they started taking people to the ‘sky-pole’ more frequently. One time they took two communists, a medic who had been sympathetic to us, and another man, I don’t remember what kind of man he was – to be hanged. Every workshop was ordered to send a representative to watch . . . So they ordered columns of 600 persons in front of the gallows and guards were placed around them. Outside they organized the prisoners into square formations around the gallows and even ordered us to stand straight. Then they brought four persons, one was wearing a white doctor’s apron, arms tied behind the back. They were taken under the noose onto stools and the noose was put around their neck. Two prisoners were allowed to say their final words, the communists were not. One of them said in Estonian: ‘Hang me if you want. I haven’t done anything wrong’, kicked the stool from under his feet and turned himself around. The stools were removed from the others too. A shudder went through their bodies, they were dead. But the show wasn’t over yet, the climax was yet to come. Now began a body search of the hanged men. They had sat in isolated cells for months already. Before being brought to be hanged they had surely already been searched according to procedure. Now, in this search, small boxes were found from the pockets of the communists. To everyone’s great amazement, the boxes were full of lice. By this the nazis wanted to show why they were hanged; the communists supposedly spread lice to the people on purpose to spread typhoid fever.”
除了饥饿之外，还有一种持续的神经紧张。每周，该组织中都有人被带去杀害。信中提到了一个“天极”，这是被杀害者的最终目的地。在德国撤退开始之前，“他们通常只在星期二晚上才把人带到'天极'，但一旦德国法西斯军队开始从苏联国家迅速撤退，他们就开始更频繁地把人们带到'天极'。有一次，他们带走了两个共产党员，一个是同情我们的医务人员，还有另一个人，我不记得他是什么样的人——被绞死。每个研讨会都被命令派一名代表观看......因此，他们下令在绞刑架前列起 600 人的纵队，并在绞刑架周围放置了警卫。在外面，他们把囚犯们围在绞刑架周围排成方阵，甚至命令我们站直。然后他们带了四个人，一个穿着白色的医生围裙，双臂被绑在背后。他们被带到绞索下的凳子上，绞索被套在他们的脖子上。两名囚犯被允许说出最后的话，而共产党人却没有。其中一个人用爱沙尼亚语说：'如果你愿意，就绞死我。我没有做错什么“，踢开脚下的凳子，转过身来。凳子也从其他人身上移走了。他们的身体一阵颤抖，他们已经死了。但演出还没有结束，高潮还在后头。现在开始对被绞死的人进行搜身。他们已经在隔离的牢房里呆了几个月了。在被带到绞刑之前，他们肯定已经按照程序进行了搜查。现在，在这次搜查中，从共产党人的口袋里发现了小盒子。令所有人大吃一惊的是，箱子里装满了虱子。 纳粹想通过这说明他们被绞死的原因;据称，共产党人故意向人民传播虱子以传播伤寒。
“Many prisoners believed this story and that the medic had stolen gold teeth from the dead. That is when we began agitation against this story. In reality the fascists waged bacteriological warfare against the communists, and not the communists against the population . . . The enemy’s situation was a mess on the Eastern front and started thinning the prisoners’ ranks by lice and diseases. Many prisoners died of typhoid fever, from the Finns among others the healthiest and strongest man, Waltter Karttu. He was sick with typhoid fever and was starting to get better but died all of a sudden to the great surprise of everyone.”
“许多囚犯相信这个故事，相信医生从死人那里偷走了金牙。从那时起，我们开始鼓动反对这个故事。实际上，法西斯主义者对共产党人发动了细菌战，而不是共产党人对人民发动了细菌战......敌人的局势在东线一团糟，并开始因虱子和疾病而削弱囚犯队伍。许多囚犯死于伤寒，其中最健康、最强壮的芬兰人沃尔特·卡尔图 （Waltter Karttu） 死于伤寒。他得了伤寒，开始好转，但突然去世了，这让所有人都大吃一惊。
“On 25th of August 1943 we were ordered to prepare for a journey . . . We were put onto three ships . . . In Danzig we were put into small river ships and taken around sixty kilometers up the river, followed by 7 kilometers of walking.”
“1943 年 8 月 25 日，我们奉命准备旅行......我们被送上三艘船......在但泽，我们被送上小河船，沿河而上约 60 公里，然后步行 7 公里。
Again they were put into quarantine and then moved to the Stutthoff death camp, where prisoners became thoroughly familiar with fascist methods of rehabilitation.
他们再次被隔离，然后被转移到斯图特霍夫死亡集中营，在那里囚犯们彻底熟悉了法西斯的改造方法。
“Immediately on the first morning we were ordered into a line. An Estonian woman, who had gone insane from the punches and tortures, did not understand the guard’s command. The guard jumped on the woman and started beating her. The woman fell down from the strikes, but this only made the “führer” more excited. Pushed his boot into her face and stomach, and beat her with all his Aryan might, until she lost consciousness. Then he tore her clothes into shreds, and when she somewhat regained consciousness, ordered her to crawl into the barrack. We were forbidden to talk to her, to go within two meters of her, to give her food or water, or otherwise we would get the same treatment. Thus the woman laid bloody in the same spot for three days. She didn’t look like a human at all, she was so mauled: her face was so swollen that her eyes couldn’t be seen and through the tattered clothes you could see her black and blue body.”
“第一天早上，我们立即被命令排成一列。一名爱沙尼亚妇女因拳打脚踢和酷刑而发疯，她听不懂警卫的命令。警卫跳到这名女子身上，开始殴打她。这名妇女在罢工中摔倒了，但这只会让“元首”更加兴奋。把靴子塞进她的脸和肚子里，用尽雅利安人的力气殴打她，直到她失去知觉。然后他把她的衣服撕成碎片，等她稍微恢复了知觉，命令她爬进营房。我们被禁止与她交谈，禁止走到离她两米以内的地方，禁止给她食物或水，否则我们将得到同样的待遇。就这样，女人在同一个地方流血地躺了三天。她看起来一点也不像人，她被打得很厉害：她的脸肿得看不见她的眼睛，透过破烂的衣服你可以看到她黑蓝相间的身体。
“Although the prison was for political prisoners the prison elder was a German murderer. The elders of the blocks i.e. barracks were German thieves and prostitutes. They had limitless power to beat or do what ever they wanted to the prisoners . . . even the slightest contrary word could get the prisoner many strikes from a rubber baton.”
“虽然监狱是关押政治犯的，但监狱长老却是一名德国杀人犯。街区（即军营）的长老是德国小偷和。他们有无限的权力来殴打囚犯或为所欲为......即使是最轻微的相反的话，也会让囚犯用橡皮棍打很多次。
“The closer the Soviet army approached, the greater became the hurry of the Germans to annihilate and destroy their prisoners. They started taking old people and children to the crematorium. What to do? The Russians neared by giant strides. They had to hurry.
“苏军越靠近，德国人就越急于歼灭和摧毁他们的俘虏。他们开始带老人和儿童去火葬场。怎么办？俄罗斯人大步逼近。他们必须快点。
After a few days a new phenomena was seen. In the mornings they started throwing out hundreds of bodies from the Jewish barracks. They formed big piles next to every barrack. What had happened? Why did people suddenly start dying en masse?
几天后，出现了一种新的现象。早上，他们开始从犹太军营中扔出数百具尸体。他们在每个营房旁边形成了大堆。发生了什么？为什么人们突然开始集体死亡？
We asked the Jews and they said people began complaining about headaches and after a couple of hours they were dead. – The Germans had invented a fast and cheap death to replace the crematorium – food poisoning.”
我们问了犹太人，他们说人们开始抱怨头痛，几个小时后他们就死了。——德国人发明了一种快速而廉价的死亡方法来取代火葬场——食物中毒。
Hunger had reduced the prisoners to skeletons, who could move only with difficulty.
饥饿使囚犯变成了骷髅，他们只能艰难地移动。
“Hungry, hungry, hungry, always hungry. In the mornings I walked outside looking for food, and one time a corpse lay near the trash heap. There was a dirty piece of saw dust bread, probably dropped by the dead person. I took it. I considered myself lucky for having found this morsel of bread.”
“饥饿，饥饿，饥饿，总是在饥饿。早上我走到外面寻找食物，有一次一具尸体躺在垃圾堆附近。有一块脏兮兮的锯末面包，可能是死人掉下来的。我接受了。我认为自己很幸运能找到这块面包。
After a change in the situation at the front and the entry of the Soviet troops into Poland, the columns of prisoners are once again put on the move. Sometime during this period the paths of Norma and Hilda separate. Norma says that a large part of the voyage had to be done on foot, which was hard for the starved people, and many were left on this voyage for the rest of their lives. “On this trip too, the Germans used their own corrective methods. Anyone who didn’t have the strength to keep walking, was beaten mercilessly with a rubber baton. So was I left on the road. My feet no longer could support me. I fell down once, and a second time, and each time I was hit with the baton. When I fell down the third time they hit me so hard I lost consciousness. But a certain muscular young Russian woman prisoner picked me up like a sack of flour and carried me to the first resting stop. Approximately 60 of us fell behind from the main group. We dragged ourselves forward mere 5-6 kilometers per day.”
在前线局势发生变化，苏联军队进入波兰后，俘虏纵队再次上行动。在此期间的某个时候，诺玛和希尔达的道路分开了。诺玛说，大部分航程必须步行完成，这对饥饿的人们来说很困难，许多人在这次航行中度过了余生。“在这次旅行中，德国人也使用了他们自己的纠正方法。任何没有力气继续走路的人，都会被橡皮棍无情地殴打。我也被留在了路上。我的脚再也支撑不住了。我摔倒了一次，第二次，每次都被警棍击中。当我第三次摔倒时，他们狠狠地打了我，我失去了知觉。但一个肌肉发达的年轻俄罗斯女囚犯像一袋面粉一样把我抱起来，把我带到了第一个休息站。我们中大约有 60 人落后于主要小组。我们每天只拖着自己前进 5-6 公里。
Thus the prisoners ended up on the other side of Danzig to Burgraben, which had been a work camp for Italian and Romanian prisoners. The journey continued, but the sick people refused to move, and so Norma also stayed. However, the situation at the front had developed so far that the entire staff of this camp ran away, feeding of the prisoners stopped, the Germans took as much food with them as they could, and left only an old peasant to guard the prisoners, but on the third day he disappeared too.
因此，囚犯们最终来到了但泽的另一边的布尔格拉本，那里曾是意大利和罗马尼亚囚犯的工作营。旅程继续进行，但病人不肯动，所以诺玛也留下来了。然而，前线的局势已经发展到如此地步，这个集中营的全体工作人员都逃跑了，停止了给俘虏喂食，德国人尽可能多地带走食物，只留下一个老农民看守囚犯，但第三天他也消失了。
“Those who could move even a little, went to look for food from the nearby villages and camp area. Two weeks passed like this and then early in the morning of March 23rd, 1945, a red army man arrived. Our joy became ecstatic . . . around midday a whole division arrived at our camp, it turned out to be the 21st Smolensk division. The meeting was joyous, but also sad, because the liberation had such a deep impact on many of the sick that they died.”
“那些能动一点点的人，就去附近的村庄和营地寻找食物。就这样两个星期过去了，然后在 1945 年 3 月 23 日清晨，一名红军人员到达了。我们的喜悦变得欣喜若狂......中午左右，整个师到达了我们的营地，原来是斯摩棱斯克第 21 师。这次会议是快乐的，但也是悲伤的，因为解放对许多病人产生了如此深远的影响，以至于他们死了。
What kind of picture awaited the soldiers?
等待着士兵们的是什么样的画面？
“On the way here from Stutthoff many had frozen their feet, some so badly that their toes rotted and fell off. Now the rotten wounds spread a horrible smell. Many had died during these two weeks of their wounds, some of hunger. The barracks were full of the dead, dirt, lice and misery. Many of the sick couldn’t even make it outside when relieving themselves. The healthier ones lacked the strength to carry the bodies outside. The red army men were greatly horrified when they saw all this. Doctors and medics began working immediately.”
“在从斯图特霍夫来这里的路上，许多人的脚都冻僵了，有些人的脚趾腐烂脱落。现在腐烂的伤口散发着可怕的气味。许多人在这两周内因受伤而死亡，有些人死于饥饿。军营里到处都是死人、泥土、虱子和痛苦。许多病人在大小便时甚至无法出门。更健康的人缺乏将尸体抬到外面的力量。红军们看到这一切，大为震惊。医生和医务人员立即开始工作。
Hilda’s journey from the Stutthoff death camp took her to a barn, about 50 meters long, 20 km from the city of Lauenburg.
希尔达从斯图特霍夫死亡集中营出发，来到一个谷仓，长约50米，距离劳恩堡市20公里。
About the journey from Stutthoff Hilda says: “We marched in wooden shoes in terribly strong snow fall and cold, sometimes more than 20 km per day. We march a day, another, a third – a week, a second, a third towards inner Germany. Finally my strength gave out.” Someone had deliberately put a milk canister on the side of the road, and the prisoners immediately rushed to it. Hilda says that she also hobbled to it, but couldn’t get away as fast as the others. “I was hit on the head. I regained consciousness under the window of a house and noticed I was laying in a pool of blood. Someone tells me to get up or they’ll shoot. I’m incapable of speaking. I point to my chest to signify they can shoot here. Suddenly a German woman runs to me and asks permission to bandage my wounds and give me food. Then the carridge arrives. I was grabbed by my hands and feet, and thrown onto the carridge, on top of a pile of dead and half dead people, wretches like me.” In this state Hilda was put into the barn, where “it was so crammed that we couldn’t move. The weakest ones were on the left side. Many had frozen their feet so badly that their toes rotted and fell off. These frequently died of sepsis. Can you imagine the cries of suffering, when a crowd of a hundred moans day and night in terrible agony. Prisoners died constantly, even as many as fifteen per day. A large grave had been dug near the barn. Every morning a rope was tied around the feet of the dead people, and they were dragged outside over those still living.”
关于从斯图托夫出发的旅程，希尔达说：“我们穿着木鞋在大雪和寒冷中行军，有时每天超过 20 公里。我们一天、第三天——一周、第二周、第三天向德国内陆进军。最后我的力量消失了。有人故意在路边放了一个牛奶罐，犯人们立刻冲向了它。希尔达说，她也一瘸一拐地走到那里，但没能像其他人那样快地逃脱。“我的头被击中了。我在一栋房子的窗户下恢复了意识，并注意到我躺在血泊中。有人叫我站起来，否则他们会开枪。我无法说话。我指着我的胸膛，示意他们可以在这里射击。突然，一个德国女人跑到我身边，请求允许我包扎伤口并给我食物。然后卡里奇到了。我的手脚被抓住，扔到车架上，放在一堆死人和半死人身上，像我一样的可怜人。在这种状态下，希尔达被关进了谷仓，“那里挤得我们动弹不得。最弱的在左侧。许多人的脚冻得很厉害，脚趾腐烂脱落。这些人经常死于败血症。你能想象当一百人日夜在可怕的痛苦中呻吟时，痛苦的呼喊声吗？囚犯不断死亡，甚至每天多达十五人。谷仓附近挖了一个大坟墓。每天早上，死人的脚上都系着一根绳子，然后把他们拖到外面，压在那些还活着的人身上。
More and more prisoners were brought to the barn. They told good news, which were proven true in early March. “And then, one day, 9th of March, 1945, we noticed the armed men were gone”, Hilda wrote. “A couple brave girls went out on reconnaissance and brought the good news ‘our guys are coming!’ What joy, what exertion . . .
越来越多的囚犯被带到谷仓。他们告诉了好消息，这在三月初被证明是真的。“然后，1945 年 3 月 9 日的一天，我们注意到武装人员不见了”，希尔达写道。“几个勇敢的女孩出去侦察，带来了好消息，'我们的家伙来了！'多么快乐，多么努力......
By combining our little strength we were able to tear boards loose from the wall of the barn. Through this opening we tried to get out, some being able to walk, others crawling. I also got out. I scarcely walked ten meters before I fell down. I was dizzy, but the strong faith in our rescue gave me a strange power. I got up and fell again, got up and fell . . . That is how I moved forward. I saw Soviet troops approaching on the road. I sat down on the side of the road with my comrade in suffering, a Russian named Liisa. The Soviet soldiers approached. They came to us. Some of them, seeing our wretched condition, burst into tears. I was without a hat. Hair had fallen out around the scar on my head. A comb had not touched my hair in over two months. I had occasionally tried to wash my face a little bit with snow. A thin dress, a wooden shoe in one leg and a broken man’s shoe in the other. I had received it from a Latvian who stayed in the barn. He said: “Go! I don’t have the strength. I’ll stay here to die.” We told the Soviet soldiers about our comrades in the barn. Afterwards I heard from a Soviet officer that everyone in the barn was taken to a hospital.”
通过结合我们一点力量，我们能够从谷仓的墙上撕下木板。我们试图通过这个开口出去，有些人能够走路，有些人可以爬行。我也出去了。我走了不到十米就摔倒了。我头晕目眩，但对我们营救的坚定信念给了我一种奇怪的力量。我站起来又摔倒了，爬起来摔倒了......这就是我前进的方式。我看到苏联军队在路上逼近。我和我的受苦战友，一个名叫莉莎的俄罗斯人坐在路边。苏联士兵走近了。他们来找我们。他们中的一些人看到我们悲惨的处境，泪流满面。我没有戴帽子。我头上的疤痕周围的头发都掉了下来。梳子已经两个多月没有碰过我的头发了。我偶尔会试着用雪洗一点脸。一件薄裙子，一条腿穿木鞋，另一条腿穿破鞋。我是从一个住在谷仓里的拉脱维亚人那里收到的。他说：“走吧！我没有力气。我会留在这里死去。我们告诉苏联士兵我们在谷仓里的战友。事后我从一名苏联军官那里听说，谷仓里的每个人都被送往医院。
“Those who have experienced the horrors of the death camp, can value life. Someone who has been the target of that savagery and barbarism, hates, hates from the bottom of their heart, fascism and war, and can truly value their savior, the army of the Soviet Union, and peace.”
“那些经历过死亡集中营恐怖的人，可以珍惜生命。一个曾经成为野蛮和野蛮行为的目标，从心底里仇恨、仇恨法西斯主义和战争的人，能够真正珍视他们的救世主、苏联军队和和平。
“Tell everyone, tell people you know and people you don’t know, to all people about my horrible experiences, so that people’s eyes would open to hate fascism, to hate war, so that people’s eyes would open for peace, so that nobody would instigate war between nations, because everything that happened to me during the war years, can happen to anyone. Peace and only peace, can secure life for the people.”
“告诉所有人，告诉所有人你认识的人和你不认识的人，告诉所有人我可怕的经历，这样人们就会睁开眼睛，憎恨法西斯主义，憎恨战争，让人们睁开眼睛，看到和平，这样就没有人会煽动国家之间的战争，因为战争年代发生在我身上的一切， 可能发生在任何人身上。和平，只有和平，才能确保人民的生活。
