It was all still a blur to me. Hours upon hours were spent in a cramped, musty boxcar filled to the brim with decaying souls. Life is Auschwitz was difficult, there was no forgiveness, from anyone. I heard by word of mouth from a chain of prisoners that my parents had been gassed upon their arrival.
We were separated in seconds with no goodbyes. I cried every day after for weeks. Life was near meaningless for me now.
Despite not feeding us adequately, we were used for harcad labor and other war related jobs. Luckily, I got one of the easier jobs. I was put to work in an electrical components factory, sorting parts. During my work I liked to look up through the dingy windows and gaze at the light gray sky. It never seemed to change. I spent months of my life like this. My life was not easy but by behaving and working hard, the Kapos came to appreciate me. They cared enough to direct their brutality towards other prisoners instead of me.
I saw group after group come through this camp and witnessed many inspections. At these inspections they would separate those who were "unfit for work" and would have them cremated before the next meal. These were not humans that came through the camp, they were machines.
I became so used to the pattern and routine of Auschwitz that I could immediately sense a difference in the guards as a result of U.S. troops gaining ground. The next night I heard bombs in the distance, this war certainly must be close to over.
January 27, 194,
At 5 am roll call was started and prisoners were told we would be evacuating as soon as possible. The weak and sick would be left behind at the camp because they would not be able to keep up. From the entrance of the camp we began to march. SS officers were on all sides of our about 500 people group. The still gray sky had a faint light and snow was slowly drifting to the ground. It was always snowing. Many of the camp veterans had several layers of clothes on, mostly acquired from deceased prisoners. Even with proper clothing the wind chilled us to the core and the cold overcame our desire to live. 30 minutes into the march the first from our group began to fall behind pace. After one fateful step he stumbled and fell. Without words the nearest SS officer shot him and hurled the body into the snow. His body disappeared completely, forgotten. Behind us, echoes of gunshots rang in our ice cold ears. Faint shouting could be heard from behind us. "Schneller!", we heard the guards shout. But none of us could bear the weight anymore. We began collapsing in droves, just lying there in the frost ridden dirt. The shouting was louder and before you knew it we saw cars coming towards us, cars with soldiers! They didn't look like Germans, they certainly must be Allies. Once our German escorts realized we would not escape they began shooting, letting bullets fly without forethought. I was one of the lucky ones, They Allies reached our group and forced the German guards to surrender. A few from my group were still standing but, many more lay on the ground, discarded.
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