Making History: The Holocaust [COMPLETE]

My new "home"

The ride to our camp was long and exhausting. It only took two days to get there, but the whole time we were only allowed water once with the sun blazing down on our cart. A few people had shamefully urinated inside because we weren't allowed any stops along the way. Because of this, the cart had a horrible smell and made a few people vomit, which caused the smell to worsen. When they had finally stopped the cart, the villagers inside were very happy.

"Out!" The Nazi officers yelled when they opened the large, heavy doors that enclosed us. The minute they opened it, everyone tried to pile out; causing the death of two elderly women who had been pushed off the cart and broke their necks. I was horrified at the scene. 

"Mother! Mother!" Chaya and I had yelled when we hopped off the cart safely.  The whole village had been forced out of their carts, and everyone was standing around awkwardly. Our "home" resembled nothing close to what a real home looked like. The entrance was traced with a fence of barbed wire, and the sign at the top said "Work will set you free" in a language I vaguely understood.

"Welcome to your new home; also called Camp. Men, and Women/Children form a long, straight line and you will be fed and directed to your sleeping areas." 

As quickly as we could, we formed two straight lines with the officers beside us. After we did, two of them led us into the huge doors of our "home". The inside of the building they took us to looked empty. When we all got in, they demanded us to go to two separate parts of the building and strip down to nothing. At first, I was a little hesitant, but when everyone else was forced to, I did also. The shaved our heads, saying it was to prevent lice, and I watched as my lovely locks fell to the floor. I knew my hair grew quickly, and hoped it would grow back quicker and with a vengeance. After we did that, they led us in a separate room to get new clothing. 

The clothes we had to choose from were either ripped, damaged by weather, or ill-fitting. After only a few moments to throw on our clothing, we were shoved into another room. Here, they made us get a blue number imprinted on our skin; our new form of identification. When they put the number on, it hurt very badly. It felt like someone was ripping my skin open! After all the women had their tattoos, we all walked outside into the camp. The next seconds were the hardest....

- - - - - - - - - - -  - -  - - - - - - - -