Winfred

iv

Freidrich Von Steubon, Captain, SS

The next morning, all of the prisoners lined up as normal, at 0700 hours. Males on the right, Females on the left. The guards took great pleasure in punishing anyone who was even just slightly out of line. I noticed that a few of the guards were watching me suspiciously, as if watching to see if I would make a wrong move or an incorrect decision. I could feel them judging my mental fitness to be captain.

A messenger stepped forward, handing me a piece of paper. A list of prisoners for the gas chambers. I scanned the list. Twenty numbers. Twenty people who would go in...and never come out.

I cleared my throat and began to read the numbers out loud. One by one, subdued prisoners stepped forward, making a single file line off to the side.

At that moment, a scream rent the air and one of the prisoners on the left fell to her knees, as one of the male prisoners stepped forward after his number was called.

This set off a chain of events. "Mother!" shouted the boy, for that was what he was. He appeared to be a teenager, but only just. He was young. His life was about to be cut short. He made a desperate lunge for his mother, managing to take her hand before being restrained by the guards.

The woman was sobbing. Suddenly, a man from the males' side broke rank and rushed to the woman, falling to his knees next to her and wrapping his arms protectively around her frail body.

Every member of the family wore the Cross of David. It was the Jewish Man from before.

I saw Dietrich, out of the corner of my eye, adopt a look of twisted pleasure, pleased to have another chance to torture the man.

How could he be so utterly stupid, I thought, almost in disgust, narrowing my eyes at the man. He managed to survive this type of thing once; why is he throwing his life away once more?

Dietrich stepped forward, an evil glint in his eye, and yanked the man to his feet by his arm, leading to a cry of excruciating pain from the man and a scream from the woman. It appeared that his arm had been dislocated.

His son was returned to the line of prisoners meant for death. I nodded my command and the guards led them off.

The man's wife was also yanked roughly to her feet, and she and her husband were escorted before me, Dietrich grinning maniacally off to the side.

"Do you dare to fight against the rules established by the guards, yet another time?" I asked him coldly, feeling almost disappointed at his stupidity.

He looked up, saddened, his eyes darting to the line of prisoners containing his son, disappearing into the gas chambers even now. "I do. I have to. I cannot just take it while he dies."

Wanting to dispel the feeling of uneasiness that had grown within me since my last encounter with this man, I looked at him coldly, wiping any expression from my face.

"You will take it. You will be given ten lashes with the whip. You will then face time in solitary confinement. After that is over, you will receive more lashes, which I will personally administer."

His wife shook her head, sadness filling her eyes as she turned to her husband, muttering. "I cannot do it; I cannot show mercy to these evil men, nor obedience." She turned to me. "You are all monsters!" she shouted. "Horrible, terrible, monsters! You are so cold that you are not even human!

I turned my cold expression on her.

"You...You will be separated from your husband. You will board the train tonight with the other prisoners bound for Ravensbruck."

I turned back to the man, who looked as though he were about to faint. He was looking at the ground. Dietrich forced his chin up, making him look me in the eye. "You will take it," I said. And you will take it, until you learn that we are not to be questioned."

The man's eyes held sorrow. At that moment, I sensed that he held sorrow more than for just his circumstances...I sensed that he somehow harbored sorrow for me. For the guards. For all of us. Somehow, he was sorry for us.

I turned away, striding off towards other duties, leaving the man there, broken, and defeated, and his wife crying quietly, her hands still clenched tightly around her husband's arm.