THE GOALKEEPER OF AUSCHWITZ

John Greeves spoke to Ron Jones, a survivor of Auschwitz and an 800-mile death march, shortly before he died aged 102

- John Greeves

Sometimes the most extraordinary things happen to everyday people. Had it not been for a clerical error, Ron Jones from Bassaleg, Newport would have encountered a completely different war. Ron worked in a reserved occupation as a wire drawer and was surprised when (unlike his 41 fellow wire drawers) he was suddenly conscripted. Apparently, a typist had made a mistake and put his form in the incoming mail instead of the outgoing mail and so Ron found himself enlisted into the South Wales Borders in 1940.

After serving in Crete, he was later captured outside Benghazi, Libya. From there, Ron was transported along with other British prisoners to PoW camp 65 near Altamura in southern Italy. “Italy was a terrible place,” said Ron. “The amount of food allocated pitiful. If it wasn’t for the Red Cross parcels that came now and then, I don’t think I’d make it.” Ron was later moved to a camp just outside Rome in July or August 1943.

One day, the prisoners were told the Italians needed workers for their car factory in Milan and were asked if any of them were engineers. Many put their hands up tempted by the prospect of better food. The prisoners soon discovered they weren't going to Milan when 280 PoWs were crammed 40 to each cattle truck and sent across Europe without water or latrines for several days. “Just imagine how humiliating it was in those trucks with no toilets – nothing... we used one of the corners as a toilet.”