Eyewitness of Theresienstadt

In this video, the late Mr. Ernst Zündel interviews Mr. Alexander McClelland, a non-Jewish Australian Prisoner of War (POW) who was an inmate at the Theresienstadt concentration camp during WWII.

After being captured and interned in a POW camp, Mr. Alexander McClelland became a prolific escape artist. After his seventh escape, (which the Germans believed to be his tenth due to a clerical error,) the Germans moved him to the Theresienstadt concentration camp. The Theresienstadt concentration camp had been constructed inside an old 18th century fortress and, as a result, had much better security than the POW camps. Inside Theresienstadt was a section known as the "small fortress" which had even tougher security, again, as it had been built for use as a prison by the Gestapo. Mr. McClelland was imprisoned by the Germans inside the "small fortress" to prevent further escape attempts.

In this video he describes how he ended up in Theresienstadt, living conditions there during the war, his treatment by the German guards (including members of the Waffen SS), a rather sadistic (Jewish) Kapo who mistreated both him as well as the Jewish prisoners and his escapes from various other labour camps. Also discussed are the factual errors that somehow entered into the documentary "Where Death Wears a Smile" (1985) that told his story. When Mr. McClelland learned that the producers of the film had fabricated his story and inserted, in his words, "deliberate lies" into the film, he made an unsuccessful attempt to prevent its release.

The newspaper held up by Mr. Zündel at around two minutes bears the headline "Concentration-camp digger fights on for his mates". In this headline, the word "digger" is used, which is an Australian slang term meaning "soldier".