Camp Majdanek

Chapter 4: For Animals, Not Humans

     Someone was yelling at me in my dream, but it wasn't a dream. I slowly awoke to find a soldier yelling and kicking at me to get up. As my vision cleared, I looked at the open pocket watch hanging from the soldier's belt. It read eleven fifteen. I looked to see where my family was. They were being taken away by other soldiers. I got up to run after them, but as soon as I did the soldier grabbed me and took me along with them. I fought with him, but the harder I tried the tighter his grip became.

Around the corner of the barn were cattle cars. They weren't there the day before. Hundreds of other cars were lined up down the road. We were being forced into the cars and stripped of our valuables before we got in. I had nothing they could take so they didn't do anything with me. I climbed in and found my family. Julia was crying, so I comforted her.

"Jess, " mother said. "I think they are sending us to concentration camps. Let's try to stay together at all costs, "

"Ok, " I choked, holding back tears.

We kept getting squished into the corner of the car. The soldiers shoved people in until there was no more room. I started to feel claustrophobic. They slammed the door shut before anyone could think of escaping.

Within a few minutes, the car started to move. We were probably going to be in there for a long time, so I wrote down everything I had experienced.

My stomach growled, That's when I realized I hadn't eaten since Monday night. It was now Wednesday.

"Mother, are they going to feed us? " Julia asked.

"I don't know. I hope so, "she replied with little faith in her eyes.

And so the long journey began with only a journal and a book to keep me occupied.

After a while, the car started to reek of body odors. I kept my nose in my shirt to filter out the smell. There was no way to use the bathroom because we were all standing up.

I heard a little girl crying as she came through the crowd of people. I took her hand.

"What's wrong? " I asked. The girl looked like she was five.

"They took my mommy, " she cried.

"It's going to be ok. I don't know where my daddy is but I will find him, " I said trying to sound promising.

"Are you sure? " she asked with tears in her eyes.

"Yes, Do you have any other family with you?" I asked.

She pointed to a little boy who looked about nine years old.

"Is he your brother? " I asked.

She nodded.

"If you guys want to come here with us we can keep you safe, " I said.

"Ok," she said.

"What's your name?" I asked.

"Jannie," She replied. "And that is Markus," She pointed to a boy sitting down on a bench on the other side of the room.

"Markus, come over here," she said.

"Markus, this is, um what's your name? " she asked me.

I gestured a hand towards Markus.

"I'm Jessica. You guys can stay with us and we'll keep you safe, " I said.

"Thank you, " said Markus. "We got separated from our parents."

"Jannie, you should meet my sister," I said.

I introduced her to Julia and they started talking playfully. For the first time in two days, I felt somewhat happy. I wanted to hold onto this moment.

"Mother, these kids got separated from their parents and they need our help," I said.

"Ok, it's a lot for me to take..." She started.

"I'll take care of them," I said.

"You're the best, " she said and gave me a kiss on the cheek.

I started to read my book.

"Is that The Grapes of Wrath?" Markus asked.

"Yes, " I replied.

"I read that, " he said.

"How, this is a hard book. How old are you?" I asked.

"I know I look younger than I am. I'm eleven and I have a higher literacy than most of the people in my class, " he responded.

"You're probably bored, do you want me to read it to you?" I asked.

"Sure, I haven't read it in a while," he said.

I read the book to him for about an hour.

John got out a deck of cards. We found a little bit of floor space to play on. We played games like Rummy, Slap Jack, and War. Suddenly the car halted. We heard voices outside, then the door opened.

"Any dead bodies?" A soldier asked.

There were two already. He let us out, but if you tried to run away you would get shot. A loaf of bread and a jug of water was given to each family and was supposed to last us two weeks until we got to the camp. We got back in the car after a brief break and continued the journey.

A long six days really took the energy out of me. Not being able to eat as much as I am used to, and the feeling of not being able to walk because you are sitting or standing the whole time. There is enough room to sit because once every day they would take out people who died. We only got to get out once a day, and one day they didn't even come. Now our bread loaf was less than half. We were almost there, about eight more days. I had a feeling that we were going south because I studied the stars. We had a lesson on astronomy in science a few weeks ago. So every night I would look out of a crack in the wall to see them. I hoped that maybe we could find father at the camp. I miss him and I want to forgive him. I peeled off a tiny piece of bread and savored it.

It has almost been two weeks and with the little food I was given, I could feel my energy draining. I could already see a little bit of my sister's ribs. We were all very weak and we only had two days left. I wasn't sure if they had food at the camp. I hoped we would get more than we have now.