Ian Moore
Chapter 3
Max had been at Auschwitz for nearly two months before he had seen his sister. They finally met with help from the Rabbi who arranged for a meeting at the camp infirmary. Max and Anna met in the waiting area and hugged each other. Max was shocked at how thin his sister had become while Max had only lost a little weight because, with working on the farm he had smuggled some food out to feed himself and Harvey. “How are you keeping?” He asked her, “OK, under the circumstances. I can’t believe the way our lives have changed in just a few months. It feels like I am in a different world. At the moment we can only carry on as we are and obey the Nazi orders and try and stay well and we will hopefully be back home soon.” One of the Kapos appeared and told them they had to go now. Anna began to cry. Eric told her to “be brave and he will see her soon. “I will arrange to get some food to you.” The Kapo ushered them out and they went there own way back to their blocks. It was one year since they had been forced out of France and onto the train bound for Auschwitz but to Max it feels like an eternity. He was now meeting Anna once a month and also giving her some extra food. On a Saturday in August 1944, Max arranged for Harvey to smuggle some food to Anna. One of Harvey’s duties was to tend the vegetable plot next to the officers mess. He was digging when Anna appeared standing next to the shed beside the plot. Harvey motioned for her to go inside the shed. Inside, he gave her some bread and some vegetables. She put the food parcel inside her coat and hurried away to her block. Colonel Becker, followed by two soldiers, came marching around the corner of the laundry, and bumped into Anna, who fell and the food parcel spilled out of her coat. He pulled her up by her hair. Screaming with fear, she tries to struggle. Harvey hears her and turns around to see the colonel pull his gun out of his holster. “Where did you steal this food from”, he shouts at Anna. The other soldier calls her a “Jew thief”. “We shoot thieves, better that your a Jew thief, that’s two reasons to shoot you”. Anna is begging for mercy and falls on to her knees sobbing. The colonel points the gun at Anna’s head. “Get up. On your feet, now.” He orders. Harvey starts to walk up towards the soldiers. The second soldier also draws his weapon and points it at her. Harvey begins to walk faster, then he starts to run.
He raises the shovel and swings it at the colonel. The colonel turns and ducks and the shovel hits him on the shoulder, causing the him to drop his weapon. The other soldier turns and shoots Harvey in the chest and he falls to the floor, writhing in agony. He then stands over Harvey and shoots him again, this time in the head. Anna is screaming hysterically. The colonel gets to his feet with blood dripping down his left arm. As he stands, he picks up his gun from the floor. He points the gun at Anna and shoots her dead. One of the prisoners who was working with Harvey came and told Max the news. Max lay on his bed. He didn’t cry. He had no tears left. It felt like he had cried for the last two years. His father and mother had gone, and now his sister. The rabbi Benjamin, arranges a Sabbath dinner once a month. It is held in secret at the rear of one of the stables that house the horses that the SS use to patrol the camp. The dinner is arranged for the last Friday of each month where the Rabbi chooses ten different prisoners to share the meal with. Candles are lit and they say a say a prayer. They drink a small cup of wine, smuggled from the officers mess, and eat challah bread, made by the prisoners themselves. The dinner is a very sparse meal and is eaten with a sense of haste so they wont be found out by the Germans. They talk about the war and politics and have hopes to be reunited with lost family. One of the prisoners asks Benjamin a question. “Under these circumstances, and with the barbarity that the Nazi’s treat us with. Are all men born evil.” Benjamin thinks for a moment and replies. “Give him a weapon and he truly is.” With the dinner finished, they pack away the candles and dishes and hide them behind a wall in the stable loft. The group all stood to leave. Benjamin says to them. “Don’t all leave at once, leave in two or three so as not to draw attention.” The first two to leave, open the door and are met by Colonel Becker, with a line of twenty five soldiers, with guns raised, standing behind him, waiting for the Jews to emerge. They are ushered back inside with the Colonel following. Nothing is said. The Colonel opens up the big stable doors and the German soldiers come rushing into the barn. All the Jews stand frozen with a petrified look on all their faces. They know their fate. They know this was their last Sabbath and they also know they are about to be killed. As they all clasp their hands in prayers, Colonel Becker orders his troops to fire. Gun smoke fills the barn with wood splinters and hay flying into the air. The Colonel waves his arm to cease firing. All the prisoners are lying dead. Pools of blood started to seep between the gaps in the floor. The Colonel turned on his heels and left the stables followed by his troops. Kapo’s are waiting outside and are ordered to take the bodies to the crematorium.
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