Camp Majdanek

Chapter 3: No Reasons Why

     It all happened so quickly, too quick to even think. One moment I was lying in bed, then the next I was being shoved into the back of a truck with several other exhausted and confused people. With a snap of someone's finger, your fate could change. I tried to figure out what was going on. Where were we going? What would happen to us? What will happen to my family and friends? A million questions ran through my head as I sat in the back of the rickety truck, driving towards our uncertain destination.

My brother, sitting next to me, is not an emotional person but I could see him fretting and felt his shivering body against mine. Because the truck was so bumpy it was hard to see faces but I could make out a few that I recognized. A girl about my age was sitting in the corner with what looked like her younger sister on her lap. Messy, light brown hair tied in twin braids with blue ribbon at the end. She wore a silk gown with small flowers of assorted colors on it. She was thin and short just as you would expect. The girl looked about seven years old. Fear filled the little girl's eyes for she had not a clue as to why this was happening and was too young to understand.

With effort, I finally made out the girl's face. In fact, she went to my school. Like her sister, she had brown hair but it was darker, neater, and all in one braid that reached just past her shoulders. Her face was the perfect shape like that of a movie star. She too had on a gown that matched her sister with the same small flowers of many colors cascading down the silk material. She was in the grade below me and I had heard by reputation that she wasn't the most pleasant to be around. One of the snotty, rich people in the town. Her family felt as if they had some authority among us.

Just then, we made a harsh stop at another house. This time the Nazis rammed the door to get it open. Two of them went around the back to get them from escaping. I heard a scream from a kid as they finally managed to break in. It was terrible. There was yelling and yelps of terror from the family. Soon enough they were shoved in back with the same confused and timid faces as the rest of us.

Again, we continued to bump down the road. Lights started coming on in houses due to the noise. They knew what it was, but there was no place to go now.

***

I think I had fallen asleep because when I opened my eyes, dawn was breaking and I felt the truck come to a halt. We were in a field and other cars were pulling up around us. The Nazis ordered us to get out and put our hands up.

With angry expressions and loaded guns in their hands, we could do nothing but obey. They yelled, commanding us to lay on the ground. My hands were still up and my whole body was shaking I collapsed to the ground. They walked around us, looked in our bags, and emptied out our pockets.

"Our memories were stripped of us" as I put it poetically. Most everyone's valuables were family treasures, wedding rings, gems that had meaning and memory to them, all taken away without consent. They were successful in finding several pieces of jewelry and coins among the mass of people. People had kept them for safekeeping but only later have them taken away. It seemed the act reversed itself on us. We were in the wrong again, but we didn't know. Nobody knew. Our future, one hour or day ahead of us was covered in a thick, blinding fog.

We were now standing in a mass in the damp morning air. Dawn had just come and I figured it was around six-thirty. Due to the absence of a watch, I had to use the sun. Guards were standing around with guns, not letting anyone escape. We sat in the cool air for hours, watching, waiting for something to happen. I had become so exhausted that I drifted off to sleep on the hard ground.