„As I became very quick in my work, I did – once I reached my quota – whatever I liked: I wrote and drew, learned poems by heart, weaved my way in between machines to visit Mara who worked with the Tri at the back of the barrack. Mara – I don’t know how – managed to save a pocket edition of the Divine Comedy and she sometimes lent it to me. It felt good to read in Italian.“
– Lidia Beccia Rolfi, * 1925, Italian; Siemens: October 1944 – April 1945, Hall 8
„You had a certain quota. If you didn’t reach it, you were punished. There were also bonus awards, but we did not accept them.“
– Barbara Zajączkowska-Rubinstein, * 1926, Polish; Start of work at Siemens unknown, hall unknown
„I could also recall that there was an argument at the beginning whether we, the office prisoners, should take the bonus awards or not. We did not have to work extra hard for it, like the machine workers had to, we kind of got these awards for free, but it disgusted us to take them.“
– Noen Beuzemaker, * unknown, Dutch
Siemens: from October 1942, Hall 2
„We made manometers and voltmeters, we did the adjusting, that means we collected the devices from all over the workshop and readied them for use. We had to work quickly, we needed to finish 30 during the night and thirty during the day; if we didn’t manage to reach the quota of thirty, we could be punished.“
– Bianca Paganini, * 1922, Italian; Siemens: November 1944 – April 1945, Hall 21