RS Assessment – Holocaust Diary Entry.
January 27th 1945. I thought I’d experienced the worst any man could experience, being shot at day in and day out, seeing my friends killed alongside me, people I had known for years, just gone like that, being forced to camp on boggy, cold fields with just a mug of coffee to keep the harsh winter away. But no, I was wrong, oh so very wrong. Today has shocked me; I am speechless to say the least. I have seen things that have made me physically sick. Things that would be expected in hell even.
This morning at 08:00 hours we stormed the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, situated in Northern Poland. The German Schutzstaffel (SS), some of the most feared, ruthless and cold blooded killers in the German military on guard were simply overwhelmed by the surge. This was just like a normal day for us, until we entered the camp. Nothing had prepared us for the sights and the things we were about to experience. Standing on the mushy, boggy, soaking wet, muddy ground, I looked around me, the commotion had settled down and for the first time I realised the sheer size of the camp. It was bordered by a double layered barb wire fence, blood stained pieces of torn cotton (from the inmates striped pyjamas) that were attached to the barbed wire fluttered gently in the ice cold winter breeze. The intimidating guard towers stood tall and strong as if watching over the camp, then the large, thin wooden cabins drew my attention. I advanced to the thick door at the side of the first cabin, and after a swift blow to the lock with the butt of my rifle, it swung open. Immediately I was almost taken off my feet by the smell that greeted me. It was like I’d been punched in the face by this repulsive gust of air. I instantly recognised some of the smells, like the overwhelming stench of sweat, and the rotting remains of rodents. The only light was that seeping in from the cracks in the walls and floorboards, so it took my eyes a few seconds to adjust, finally I could see properly, but it was not something I welcomed with open arms. I opened my eyes to be acquainted with a horrific sight. Hundreds of men, children and women sat cramped and huddled together before me, most with disfigured bodies and faces, reminders of the daily violence and punishments they had been put through. Most of them sat half naked, all happiness drained from their limp, almost lifeless bodies. I thought to myself, how could someone bring themselves to treat another human being, whose only crime was being a little different, in this unnatural, vicious, heartless way? I mean, there wasn’t even any reason for the murder, the torture, the pain... They were no different from anyone else, all this horror because one demonic man was in power. I preceded down the walkway, men, women, children of all ages, reached out from the hollow boxes they were forced to sleep in with their bony arms using all their remaining strength and effort to grasp at us, whimpering ‘Help...’ over and over again, with looks of despair on their defeated, pale faces. They looked like skeletons they were that thin from starvation. The rest of us that had entered this cabin decided it was for the best to evacuate everyone from the cabins, we couldn’t stand one more second in this hellish environment, it was beyond us how they had lasted the best part of 4 years. As we emerged back out into the courtyard that seemed to be the centre of the camp, we were greeted by other soldiers with blankets and coats they were offering to the inmates that had followed us out. They took them with much appreciation and shared them out with those around them, they smiled for probably the first time in years as they saw food trucks pulling up. It felt weird, how these people that had lost everything, their families, their friends, their possessions, their dignity, everything. But still held on and pulled through, how they could express the same emotion as if all your Christmases came at once, all because we had given them a little warmth and food. I grinned to myself, but the grin turned to an expression of amazement as I glanced down the rows of buildings, hundred upon thousands of people, flooding out into the courtyard. Weeping and rejoicing, all wearing the same tattered old pyjama’s some bloodstained, some covered in vomit, all beyond dirty. It was horrific to see another person that had been treated this way. I wandered down the first row, smiling at whoever I could, shaking hands with any that came near, I could hear them thanking their god in prayer, everything was so loud and busy, then everything seemed to stop as I saw what I had hoped was just a rumour. The shower block. The last thing the Jewish, the blacks, the homosexuals, any of the inmates saw. As I entered, i could hear the gentle tip – tap of water echoing as it hit the hard, cold concrete floor. I looked around me, it looked like any normal shower room, with rows of hangers where the clueless victims had hung up their clothes for the last time. I walked cautiously into the showering room instantly being hit by a sick feeling, disfigured human bodies lay crippled on the hard ground, killed horrifically by the gas. I backed out, covering my mouth with disgust, not being able to take anymore. I fell backwards out of another doorway, landing on a soft pile, I jumped up and examined what I had fallen on. It was a pile of clothes and any valuable items the Germans had claimed and stolen from their Jewish victims. At least, that is what it once had been, now it was a smouldering pile of ashes from the burnt clothes.
Never again will I let this happen.