ABSTRACT
Each morning, at the appointed hour, the Kommandos marched out of the fortress, or inner camp, with their caps off and their eyes turned left as they passed the main gate, in deference to the Kommandant. By far the largest of die Kommandos was assigned to the granite quarry owned by the Deutsche Erd- und Steinwerke (DEST), which was now in the hands of the SS. This quarry (Steinbruch DEST), situated about a kilometre from the fortress, forms an enormous circle, or well, some 350 metres in diameter, pardy surrounded by walls 40-75 metres in height. In summer, the sun is reflected by the granite cliff; in winter, the cliff serves to turn the wind into a cyclone. 1 What is today the quarry base was in 1940 a hill of granite at a level with the surrounding cliff, and what is today the granite staircase was at first a ramp. Each morning, at the appointed hour, the quarry echoed to the rhythmic beat of thousands of wooden clogs on the granite steps, as the army of slaves began a new day's descent into hell. That staircase has become, more than any other single travail imposed by the Nazi system, the symbol of its martyrs' path to Calvary. 2
