Johann Janos “John” Awender Sr.

Born at Stefansfeld, Torontal-Banat, Austria-Hungary. Married: Katharina Klupp, 1892 at Stefansfeld. Nine (9) children born to their union. Shot in his leg while trying to escape on a horse pulled wagon. Died at Rudolfsgnad (now Knićanin, Vojvodina, Serbia) concentration camp, Hungary. Cause of death: starvation in the concentration camp. Buried in mass grave at Teletschka Hill, abt. 2km south of Rudolfsgnad (now Knićanin, Vojvodina, Serbia) concentration camp, Hungary. Related links: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knicanin http://www.dvhh.org/community/memorials/ http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/BANAT/2002-07/1025738906 http://www.dvhh.org/banat/history/1940/yugoslavian_banat/ http://donauschwaben-usa.org/Human%20Misery_Life%20in%20a%20Death%20Camp.htm For Awender/Anwender ged see: http://awender.org/genealogy/index.php?ctype=gedcom NOTES: Rudolfsgnad/Banat Rudolfsgnad is located in the Yugoslavian-Banat; you will find it at; " http://www.rootsweb.com/~romban/map/bigmap.htlm " "K-3" Rudolfsnag was a concentration camp for central and southern part of the Yugoslavia, Banat. The population of the village itself was 3,200. Total people in camp from 17,200 up to 20,500. Camp was build on October 10, 1945 and in use until March 1948, 29 months, (880days.) Total of deaths; ca. 11,000 plus. Some deaths caused by: Typhus, Malaria, and starvation. From the 3,200 local inhabitants, 900 did not leave their home. The camp was built for all German people from Yugoslavian Banat, children, women, and elderly men who still were at home. At the end, people from Germany who were War Prisoners, Romania, Czechoslovakia and Austria, were also in camp. In March 1948, it was discovered some of German Yugoslavian people had been transferred to southern Serbia and Kosovo but never returned nor are there any records showing of their disappearance. Shortage of doctors and facilities for the sick, also was one of the death causes. At the end of November in 1945, the camp reached its peak; it had 20,500 persons in camp. The total deaths reached 11,000, the highest of all the camps. On December 27, 1944, - 47 girls and women and 20 men from Rudolfsgnade had to leave their homes behind and were deported to Russia to work in the coalmines. On April 14, 1945, the local inhabitants had to evacuated their homes. Where the women and children were put into the school building and the boys from 14 up and men were put into the Kindergarten quarters. In the fall all the local bricklayers were forced to build eight high towers overlooking the concentration camp. The towers became the observation point for the "State Police" (Miliz) who used machine guns if needed. On October 10, 1945, the Tito regimes brought thousands and thousands of German civilians, children, elderly people, women, and men to Rudolfsgnad and were put in empty houses and the concentration camp. They all were from Banater villages. The contingencies were from: Karlsdorf, Ernsthausen, St. George a.d. (by the) Bega, Elemir, Jabuka, Modosch, Kathreinfeld, Klek, Kubin, Franzfeld, Lazarfeld, Zichydorf, Signmundfeld, Mramorak, Nakodorf, Pantschowa, Ploschitz, Sartscha, Setschanfeld, Sanddorf, Tschestereg and Stefansfeld. The strongest contingencies were: Mramorak, Banat-Brestowatz, Jabuka, Nakodorf, and Ernsthausen, over 1000 persons were from those villages. The concentration camp guarded by "Miliz" where "Partisans" watched the local houses. Straw was put into rooms to sleep on, no blankets were provided. The women and children were forced to work everyday, cutting down dead trees and dead branches from trees to make firewood for the "Miliz" and Partisans. They were not allowed to take any wood home to the concentration camp for cooking. The women also had to dig holes in the fields, in a rectangle shape, which they thought may be used as bunkers later on, or as out houses. At the beginning the food was shared amongst the people in the camp, but when food was getting scarce, everybody was for themselves. It came to the point where people had to sneak out of camp at nighttimes to steal something to eat. Heating and cooking supplies was short, so they resorted to the wood from the fences. There were twenty to thirty people in one room, and the straw which was used for sleeping, was never changed until the camp closed in 1948. The people were dying of starvation due to the shortage of food supply. They were so hungry, they even ate all scraps of food even what was slop for the pigs. The people even resorted to slaughtering any moving animals, (such as cats, dogs, even mice, rats and gophers.) In the concentration camp, blindness mental illness was caused due to starvation, which was brought on by the Tito Regime. Some prisoners took their own risk leaving camp at nighttime to go begging to the local Serbian residence. A man (not mentioning his name) left camp during the night to get some food for his four grandchildren, who were starving, he was caught by the Partisans. He was asked to kneel down, two shots were heard through the camp, the man fell over and was dead. "Grandma, grandma, .when is grandfather coming with the food, because we are hungry?" When grandmother heard the gunshots, she was wondering if it wasn't her husband who got shot. Two hours had passed, her husband still hadn't returned. Finally the Partisans threw a body in front of the entrance door and said; "Here, this one is one of your people, look after him!" Grandmother's lips started to quiver, faster and faster. Finally the tears from her eyes ran down her cheeks, (just like the Danube River) .she let out a yell. . "You bastards, you Serbian rotten bastards, .the only thing he wanted to do, find food for the little children." The next day her husband was buried, he was thrown into the out-house. His wife not able to take the agony any longer, she committed suicide and jumped into the out-house to join her husband. As one man put it, who was in charge burying the dead in the cemetery. The men were shot and the women were stabbed to death. The women were gathered in the courtyard and left there for starvation. The Partisans approached the women saying to them,"Whoever goes to bed with me, will not starve!" All the women shouted in anger, ." A Schwaben woman rather starve to death before she goes to bed with a Partisan Pig like you, I will not betray my marriage vowels." Children up to 14 years old, whose father was in the war and their mother was deported to Russia to work in the coalmines, were put in a separate room from the adults. Some of them left the camp at nighttime looking for food, some returned safely but some were caught. Two young girls the ages of 12-13 were caught while returning to the camp. The Partisans locked them into a room and asked them to remove their cloths, which they refused. The Partisans ripped their cloths off them, before being sexually abused they used their cigarette lighter and burned their whole body, spot by spot. The two girls died two hours afterwards. After the Partisan's take over in October of 1944, the name Rudolfsgnad has changed to Knicanin (Banat). Death total; by February 1946, the death total was 1,346, On February 4, 1946, the maximum deaths per day was 72. The first 15 months between 1700-20,000 German Schwaben died at Rudolfsgnad, by illness, starvation and murdered by the Partisans. I hope this will give you more information on the Rudolfsgnad Concentration Camp. Alex. "REMEMBER WHERE YOU CAME FROM." http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/BANAT/2000-08/0965940409