World war short stories

The diary of a forgotten child

     The diary of a forgotten child

The time was a struggle for us; the world was falling under war once again and the earth was being shaken to its core as artillery bombs cracked the earth.

"There's more approaching, everyone into the shelters!" my mother cried as she gathered myself, my two brothers, and my baby sister and ushered us to the bunker below. The walls shook and shuddered with every shell that was dropped. A high whistle rang through the air as the awaiting devastation flew to the ground.

I wish my father was here. He could protect us. But at our last home he died of illness that no one could fix. You see my family and I live in Berlin, Germany.  One downside to us is that... Well we are Jewish. Adolf Hitler didn't exactly like us and as a young child I didn't know why. Soldiers constantly patrolled our street looking for us, but mother always had out bunker hidden.

That was till one day the soldiers showed without us knowing, my brothers were ripped from my mother and I to be taken on a separate truck as cries of pleading rang through the air.

"Brothers! Please stay strong!" I called to them as my mother, my baby sister, and I were shoved into what seemed like cattle trucks. All of us were terrified from being stripped from our lovely cozy home. There were other females on this truck with us, others with crying babies as well.

Our destination was unknown to me until we arrived after hours of cramped train rides. This camp was a horror place called Auschwitz. I've overheard soldiers talking about this place as we were filed in rows onto the train.

This place was terrifying an intimidating. I wanted to go home, I didn't want to be here, Cries and blood curdling screams were heard as an elderly man was beaten to death for being to slow.  Mother turned my face away as we moved forwards in our lines.

Males on one side, females the other. Being sorted from youngest to oldest, most fit to the sickly. It was a nightmare. The bunkers we were shoved in didn't even have properly baths or lining for beds.

The smell of death and ash heavy in the air, here I was yet again separated from family. Placed with others of my age group we huddled together in hope of keeping warm as heavy snow fell outside. Night after night, soldier by soldier they started to take people from our makeshift home.

I never saw them again. The soldiers said they were going for a shower so many happily went along. Forced to make graves of those that have fallen or been killed was duty of the men, women, and children alike. It was horrifying to see so many bodies in piles in these trenches.

I've been keeping mental diaries of every day. Each day more and more people are dying from lack of food and water, as well as medical needs. I've seen few trying to escape but once the soldiers saw they were shot on site.
My bunk was almost empty from the friends that I have made in this terrible place. The cries of others dull to my ears as I've lost how to feel emotions by this point. For all I know my brothers and mother could be dead.

There is also no way my baby sister could survive this so she had to be gone as well. Back to work the next day with a shovel in tow, I went to work digging the trenches. I've been in this camp for over a year and a half at most and I'm not entirely sure how I'm still alive.

Then the day came when I decided the insane idea to make for the barriers and run. I have always been a track runner so I know I could possibly make it, the night was frosty as I slipped out of the bunker somehow managing to get myself covered in white to blend in with the snow.

Inch by inch I slowly made my way to an opening in the fence the soldiers forgot to fix. There were many out tonight, it looks like a new train load has come in. Security tight I kept low to the ground crawling through the frozen snow, ignoring the pain of the frost biting at my body.

I feel like I'm being selfish by not taking others but they would weigh me down and potentially get us caught and killed.
"I'm sorry... I will send for help" I muttered as I squeezed through the hole and made a silent brake for the woods. Sirens sounded and I know I've been spotted. Terrified I broke into a sprint disappearing into the think undergrowth, the sirens died down and I realized it was not me the saw but another.

I coiled back when I heard a gun fire and wept silently. It felt like many days as I made my way to who knows where. But soldiers of the Allied forces found me on the brink of death. Taken under their wing I slowly became healthy and fit once again.

"So tell me, how you had managed to survive for so long?" a reporter asked me. Racking through my old brain I smiled softly.

"While being fed, I kept portions in my pocket. That was enough to give me the energy I had needed." I responded. I lived to be 95 and told my story to my children, their children. I served my life well and knew soon it was my time to be reconnected with my family.