“The 6th of July came. It was Thursday, a nice sunny day. Dr. Joseph Mengele visited our block. He was a handsome well-built man. On every occasion he was wearing uniform and white gloves.”
Toman Brod was born on 18th January in 1929 in a Jewish Prague family. In July 1942 he was deported to Terezin with his mother and brother. In December 1943 all were assigned to a transport heading to Auschwitz. He survived there in a so called "child's block" B2b until June 1944 when he luckily passed trough a selection performed by Mengele. Then he was put in a so called "man's block". In November 1944 Brod passed trough another selection and was send to Reich to forced labor into a labor camp Gross-Rosen. There were even worse living conditions than in the "man's bloc" of Auschwitz. Both, his brother and his mother didn't survive the holocaust. After the liberation Brod fell ill with typhus. After he had arrived home to Prague he f ell ill with tuberculosis. Brod became a member of communist party before 1948. His complicated destiny is marked with his cooperation with The State Security between years 1959 and 1965. Unlike others he doesn't deny nor downplays his role. At the end of 60's Brod changed his mined and defied the totalitarian regime. He was fired from work and expelled from communist party. He made his living as a drawer of water and a taxi driver. He put his signature to Charta 77. Brod is a well known Czech historian. He wrote a book about his life called "Ještě že člověk neví, co ho čeká" (Better not to know what lies ahead).
