A Piece of Charcoal

As a prisoner of war, Ivan asked to speak with the officer-in-charge. Knowing that death was an imminent certainty, he requested a piece of charcoal. The officer granted his request, and upon receiving the charcoal, Ivan proceeded to draw a large portrait of Christ on his cell wall. The officer was so impressed with Ivan’s drawing that he assigned him to a compulsory labor factory in Krems, Austria, rather than to be shipped off to a concentration camp where sure death was waiting.

Suddenly without warning, Ivan was deported to Krems to for the purpose of forced labor. He spent the next four years of his life there as a captive prisoner. He was then sent to the infamous Mausthausen concentration camp where Franz Siereis was in charge. Those close to Ivan say that this evil man was the model for some of Ivan’s darker work.

In March of 1945, Ivan escaped his captors and took a job in a tobacco factory in Sankt Valentin (Lower Austria). This stay was to be short-lived also. Imminent occupation by the Soviet army into Sankt Valentin and vivid memories of his life in the Soviet Union forced him to flee to Salzburg, Austria. Salzburg was occupied by the United States. There he could quite possibly find freedom.

...more to follow...