The Camps of the Holocaust — David

Abstract

From Septfonds all the disabled soldiers were moved to a castle on the River Tarn near Montauban and in charge of us was a former Spanish university rector called Martin. He tried to impose a strict discipline on us and threatened to send us back to the camps if we got out of line. But one day Antonio, the former commander of the disabled soldiers at Vich, turned up. He was in charge of a small villa for severely disabled soldiers, all those who really could not look after themselves because they had lost both legs, both arms, were blind or paraplegic. He was a good friend of mine and he said, ‘I know what, why don’t you come to the “Residence for the Disabled” and work as my secretary?’ Antonio had lost one hand in the war and on the other he only had two fingers so he couldn’t do the paperwork. Martin was glad to see the back of me because I had gone off to Montauban when it was out of bounds. So off I went with Antonio to the villa in a village called Albe Feuille la Garde near Montauban. There life was really cosy and the League for the Disabled supplied the residence with some 60 000 francs a month to pay for rent, food and staff.