Daša Drndić - Trieste

What is your name? Haya asks the woman sitting next to her.

Aurelia.

And just now, on Tuesday, a boy was attacked by a pack of dogs. The boy was on his way to kindergarten, the police reported, says Aurelia. Three dogs attacked the boy not far from the house where he lives, where he lived, and there wasn’t anyone on the street to help him, so the police say , says Aurelia, and the boy died. The police say it still isn’t clear why the dogs attacked the boy, says Aurelia, and now the spokesperson for the police is saying, We locked up the dogs, and we’ll speak to the owners, because, so the spokesperson says, in this region alone dogs bite at least thirteen thousand people every year. Do you have a dog? Aurelia asks Haya. One should have a dog, she says. Dogs protect us from rats and loneliness, says Aurelia. My dog died recently. I had a nice dog, a golden retriever, she says.

The dog was called Barry.

Barry was a nice dog. A black-and-white dog. A big one.

Barry belonged to Kurt Franz.

Kurt Franz was called Lalka. In Polish “Lalka” means “doll”. Kurt Franz was a handsome man, tall, big and strong. A blond man, blue-eyed.

The dog Barry was a trained dog. The dog Barry was trained to attack camp inmates, especially their genitals.

The dog Barry attacked inmates when ordered: Man, grab that dog!

The dog Barry lived at Treblinka.

What is your name?

Ya’akov Wiernik

When were you deported to Treblinka?

23 August, 1942.

How long did you stay at Treblinka?

Until 2 August, 1943.

How old are you?

I’m dead.

Do you recognize the person in this photograph?

Even if I were on my deathbed Kurt Franz’s name would make me tremble.

You said that Franz amused himself with the prisoners. How did Kurt Franz amuse himself?

He had a big dog he called Barry. When Franz ordered, Mensch, schnapp den Hund! the dog would attack people and tear off pieces of their flesh.

You are Kalman Teigman?

Yes.

You live in Israel?

Yes.

How old are you?

Eighty-four.

You were deported to Treblinka from the Warsaw Ghetto. When?

4 September, 1942.

Do you remember the late Dr Chorazycki?

Yes, very well.

Who was Dr Chorazycki?

A physician from Warsaw. At Treblinka he treated the Ukrainians and Germans. Once the deputy camp commander Kurt Franz searched him. I don’t know why. Maybe someone snitched on Dr Chorazycki. Maybe it was a routine search. I don’t know. And Kurt Franz discovered that Chorazycki was hiding money in his clothing. Chorazycki knew what would happen to him. People were hanged or shot for that.

Why was Chorazycki hoarding money?

He belonged to a group that was planning an armed revolt. Chorazycki didn’t hesitate. He rushed at Franz. He was already old, while Kurt Franz was young, tall and strong. Then he spun around and ran towards his barracks. He didn’t get far. After a few metres he dropped suddenly to the ground. Clearly he had taken poison of some kind. Then they called us to the scene, prisoners and personnel alike, to watch how they pumped Chorazycki’s stomach to revive and torture him. Franz’s faithful assistant Rogozo, a Ukrainian who had worked for the railways, grabbed a hook and with it drew out Chorazycki’s tongue. Franz poured water from a filthy bucket in to the man’s mouth, and then like a madman he began to jump all over him. Then the guards turned Chorazycki upside down, but nothing. By then completely and utterly dead, Chorazycki was stripped and beaten savagely with thick poles. Later they carried him off to the Lazarett on a stretcher.

Who is in this photograph?

Kurt Franz and his dog Barry.

What do you know about Barry?

Barry arrived at Treblinka in late 1942. He was as big as a calf. He was white with dark spots. He was a mongrel, a lot like a St Bernard. Whenever Franz went out to tour Treblinka 1 and Treblinka 2, Barry went along. Without any reason whatsoever, Franz would order Barry to attack prisoners. Go, man, bite that dog! he’d howl: Mensch, beiss den Hund! But Barry didn’t have to wait for the order. He’d pounce on the inmates as soon as Franz raised his voice. Barry was so big that his head came up to a persons thighs, so the first thing he went for were a man’s privates. He’d bite like crazy. He managed to bite the penis off several inmates; blood gushed everywhere. Barry knocked others over on to the ground and mutilated them. Until they were unrecognizable.

You are?

Henryk Poswolski. I watched S.S.-Hauptscharführer Küttner toss a live infant into the air as if it were a clay pigeon, and Kurt Franz “picked it off ” with two bullets. Then they went for a beer at the zoo.

What is it, Zabecki?

Once, when Kurt Franz was making the rounds at camp, Barry drew him off into some bushes. We were standing to the side. Franz parted the branches and saw a woman on the ground with a very small baby, only a few months old, lying on its mother’s breast. Apparently the woman was dead. Barry yanked free of the leash, went over to the baby and lay down next to it. Then the dog began to whimper and lick the baby’s hands and face. Franz went over to Barry and held his gun to the dog’s head. Barry looked up at his master and wagged his tail. Just then Franz, cursing loudly, whacked Barry on the back with a pole. Barry fled. Franz kicked the dead woman several times, then he started kicking the child and stomping on its head until it died. Then he continued his walk through the woods, calling the dog, but the dog played deaf, though he was nearby. We saw Barry lurking in the bushes and whining softly, as if searching for someone. After a while Franz went out on to the road and Barry came trotting over to him, but Franz started beating him with such violence that it was as if he’d lost his mind. Barry snarled and barked, and he even lunged at Franz’s chest, we thought he’d gone mad, but when Franz ordered him to sit, Barry sat. Then Franz shouted, Lie down! and Barry lay down. Then Franz shouted, Stand! and the dog stood and began licking his master’s boots, splattered with the baby’s blood. Franz fired several shots into the air and sent Barry after some Jews who were trying to escape from the railway station.

I heard that after the war Barry ended up with a family, and that he became a docile, tame household dog. That he adored children.

I don’t know how he was with children, but he was docile. After Treblinka closed, Barry was taken in by a Nazi physician and in 1944 the doctor sent Barry to his wife in northern Germany. Several years later they put Barry down, because he was old and feeble. Later, in 1965, veterinarians and psychologists from Düsseldorf asked the famous behavioural scientist Konrad Lorenz to shed some light on the dog’s behaviour. Lorenz told them that such behaviour in a dog is altogether plausible; that a dog’s behaviour expresses the subconscious of the dog’s master, as Lorenz put it. If he has an aggressive master, the dog will probably attack other people, Lorenz said, and if the behaviour of his master changes, the dog’s behaviour will change as well, Lorenz said, and Lorenz can be believed, because during the war he was a loyal Nazi who “changed masters” after the war and was given the Nobel Prize in 1973 for his research into animal and human behaviour.