Grocher, Mietek

Mietek Grocher was a Polish Jew who claims to have been incarcerated at the Majdanek Camp during the war. After the war, he immigrated to Sweden. After he had retired, he went on a mission to tell his wartime memories to school children. According to an interview published on 8 December 2004 in the Swedish local newspaper Östgöta-Correspondenten, Grocher managed to sneak out of a gas chamber at Majdanek:

“When I was in there, I understood what was awaiting me and the others inside that space. Instinctively, I started to move a little backwards, without really thinking that I would manage to escape. By chance, I managed to do it. An officer started talking to another officer and moved away a few steps. During that moment, I managed to sneak away and reunite with my parents in the camp.”

According to another article about Grocher published in the local Katrineholms-Kuriren on 15 May 1998, the guard discovered young Mietek sneaking out of the chamber and fired all six shots of his revolver at him, missing the escapee but hitting six other Majdanek martyrs. So much for German marksmanship! Mr. Grocher remarked about this:

“I would say I’m the only one who managed to do that.”

There are others, however, who have experienced a similar good luck, see the entry on Escapes, from Gas Chamber.