Because the year was 1944, and not 1943 or 1942, the Gestapo was more careful in its treatment of non-Jewish prisoners. It was evident by then that the Nazis would lose the war, and so, instead of treating them strictly and sending them to one of the death camps, they were treated more leniently. Mr. Kraler, like Mr. Koophuis, did not attempt to defend himself; he remained silent, and the officials obviously did not think it worthwhile to force them to talk.
Mr. Kraler was sent to a camp near Amersfort in Holland, and from there to a forced-labor camp in Zwolle. In March 1945, the inmates of the Zwolle camp were supposed to be removed to Germany. Four hundred men were marched under guard along the highway from Arnhem to Zevenaar. During the march, the column was strafed by planes, and in the confusion Kraler and another man managed to escape. They crawled off into the underbrush, and when the firing stopped, they slipped into a house. After an hour, they ventured out again and hid with a farmer for two days. Traveling by night over back roads, Kraler made his way to Hilversum, where his relatives lived. After the war, he moved to Canada.
