The Wartime Memories Project - The Second War

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246616 Vassily Rodionovitch "George" Bunelik Civilian Crosspark from:Lviv My Grandfather, Vassily Bunelik was taken prisoner after escaping from Mauthausen concentration camp (Leibnitz) in April or May 1944. He had no documents but called himself George Platonenko so as not to be returned to Mauthausen. As he believed he'd been found out he escaped from Maribor in June 1944 end fled to Hungary where he was interred yet again until the end of the war, when he returned to Lviv in Ukraine and picked up life again as a teacher. He wrote an account of his escape which I have translated as best as I can and put on his website. Vasily Rodionovich Bunelik was a Ukrainian educator who was politically active during the second world war and wrote about the horrors of Mauthausen Concentration Camp where he was imprisoned and from where he escaped. The book is in Ukrainian, but he wrote a Russian version in manuscript which has been translated here by his daughter and grandson.... "I and several other prisoners were taken to the railway station to unload boxes of machines for the factory. The boxes were so heavy that they could not even be budged. Enraged, the Fascist beat us, but it did not help. Then he took out a pistol from his holster and began to beat each of us with the handle, at random and I got a blow in the stomach I groaned, but recovered from the blow and asked the beast pleadingly:Believe me, I want to do it, but I don't have the strength. There's no point in beating me, nothing will help, when there is no strength .. Nearby some Germans were working. One of them came up and said something to the SS. He nodded. We went quiet. What was awaiting us? Three metres away from us lay a half-rotten swede. I asked the SS guard permission to take it. Take it! he agreed. I instantly grabbed the swede and began to eat. "Stop! Vek Lassen!" cried suddenly the SS., infection! "He hit my hand and knocked down the swede, but in an instant it was in the hands of another famished prisoner. The SS lashed him with a whip. A third hungry inmate swallowed the remnants of the completely rotten swede. The SS hit him hard with his whip on the head. Leslie Thompson Add to this record.  Related Content: Mauthausen Concentration Camp Can you help us to add to our records? Add a record to our website. The names and stories on this website have been submitted by their relatives and friends. If your relations are not listed please add their names so that others can read about them Did you or your relatives live through the Second World War? Do you have any photos, newspaper clippings, postcards or letters from that period? Have you researched the names on your local or war memorial? Were you or your relative evacuated? Did an air raid affect your area? If so please let us know. Help us to build a database of information on those who served both at home and abroad so that future generations may learn of their sacrifice. Contact us. Celebrate your own Family History Celebrate by honouring members of your family who served in the Secomd World War both in the forces and at home. We love to hear about the soldiers, but also remember the many who served in support roles, nurses, doctors, land army, muntions workers etc. Please use our Family History resources to find out more about your relatives. Then please send in a short article, with a photo if possible, so that they can be remembered on these pages.

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