Original Writing Coursework - Auschwitz
Original Writing Coursework - Auschwitz
A piercing scream tore through the frosty November air. Eliora Abkowicz awoke with a violent start, as she did most days, but quickly realised that it was merely the dawn experiment. Relief flooded through her - another morning and she was still alive, she had not been selected for murder.
Sinking back onto the rotting wooden planks, she glanced around the small room. Four stone walls, a frozen floor, a tightly shut door with only a minuscule amount of light filtering through a gap in it. Beside her, five bodies, little more than skeletons, living corpses, alive but merely shells of human beings. Elli was simply another of them, emaciated and decayed, death upon them all like a hellish shadow.
'Four weeks in this She'ol, four weeks of utter torture.' Elli thought back to her former life, how far away it seemed now. Oh, the freedom, the peace, the serenity! But that had all changed when the men came to the blissful cottage.
They had seized her whole family, packed them into a truck, and taken them to the train station. All five of them pushed into a carriage and transported to a living hell. In Elli's head, she could still picture the long queue of people: Jews, communists, criminals and many others. The rumour that to the left was certain death, not showers, was tossed about from family to family.
Finally, the Abkowiczes reached the man with the cane. "You!" he barked at Sari in a sharp German tongue, "The left!" His cane flicked in that direction and a fearful Sari shuffled over. Elli watched as her beloved sister was marched through a dim doorway. Her grandfather, serious and intelligent Isaiah, was also taken to the left, being roughly shoved by lumbering SS guards.
"You three, the right," the man said with a smirk on his face, and it was done. Sari and Isaiah had gone to meet God, Elli's parents, Aran and Eva, and Elli herself, were slaves in the death filled hole that was Auschwitz.
Elli's thoughts were interrupted by the resounding ring of the morning gong. The heavy door swung open on creaking hinges and a tiny girl was thrown in. She was probably five years old, with spindly legs and a drawn face. That much was usual.
However, there was something abnormal about the little child. Her body was covered in scars and sores, bright scarlet weals, peeling burns and bizarre greyish lumps all over her chest. Elli put two and two together: this young thing was a victim of the experiments that went on in the camp. Children were rarely allowed in Auschwitz unless a doctor wanted to experiment upon them! She was horrified and rapidly reprimanded the relief she had felt earlier. She had never seen a person subjected to the Nazi doctors' experiments; she had naïvely felt a kind of happiness when she heard the sickening wails! But now she knew the disgusting practises that occurred in Block 10.
All around her, skeletal, sexless, nameless humans were rising, carefully levering themselves up as if a wrong move would break every bone in their bodies. Elli followed suit, before leaping to the floor, wincing as her blistered feet met the chilled concrete. Her flimsy shirt offered no warmth; it could never give her anything more than a meagre amount of dignity. She recalled her bulky mink coat that Eva, her mother, had quickly grabbed as the Gestapo ordered them out of the cottage, but the memory produced no physical heat.
How long ago that crowded train journey seemed, how far away the uncertainty that she had had about her own fate! Little had she known that the voyage would be the one to her mental and physical ruin.
Elli found herself standing in front of the girl, now wrapping a piece of threadbare cloth around her naked, feeble form. She crouched and tied it around her, retching when her hand brushed against a hideous open sore. 'How could any human being do this to another?' she wondered. 'Were the doctors here even human?'
"Thank you," came the weak voice, speaking in quiet Yiddish. "Do you know where my parents are?"
"Sorry, no. What is your name, what block are they in?" answered Elli, hoping that the answer to her second question would not be what she expected.
She seemed to be finding it hard to remember her name, as if too long here had extinguished all memory of her previous life. Finally, she spoke. "My name is Ana. I don't know about the block, they went in the showers when I got here. Doctor Mengele told me they had ...
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"Thank you," came the weak voice, speaking in quiet Yiddish. "Do you know where my parents are?"
"Sorry, no. What is your name, what block are they in?" answered Elli, hoping that the answer to her second question would not be what she expected.
She seemed to be finding it hard to remember her name, as if too long here had extinguished all memory of her previous life. Finally, she spoke. "My name is Ana. I don't know about the block, they went in the showers when I got here. Doctor Mengele told me they had gone somewhere far away when I asked him. What did that mean?"
Elli felt tears welling up in her inflamed eyes; the innocent child was never going to see her parents again. She longed to hold Ana, to save her from the fate that awaited them all. She could not bring herself to tell the truth, to inform her of the actual meaning of that evil doctor's words.
The day passed slowly as usual, the unchanging routine grinding through the miserable prisoners' weary minds. However, one man had had enough of the unfairness and discrimination at the camp. Aran: Elli's courageous and kind father.
He had been working all day with his wife and daughter. He noticed the strain that the hefty slabs of granite were putting on Eva, saw the way Eliora's body bent double. After five hours of melancholic slavery, he was experiencing anger. He refused to stand for it.
"Excuse me! Officer! I have a complaint!" he bellowed in fluent German at a young man sitting on a pile of rocks. Officer Joran Burgen looked at him, annoyance showing on his sweaty face. 'How dare one of the freaks shout at me?' he thought in irritation.
The officer stood. "What is it 309853?" he groaned, putting the thick novel he had been enjoying previously down onto a flat stone.
"I disapprove of the amount of work we have been subjected to today and every day," said Aran, gesturing to the tired men and women all around. "In fact, I think it is disgusting. I, and I'm sure my fellow workers agree, want this to stop!" His words were a frenzied scream now, yet most of the other people in the area kept on working, knowing what would occur next.
Elli grew pale, teardrops snaking down her cheek, as Officer Burgen drew his revolver and aimed it at her father. She stepped in front of Ana - she had been following her all day - to shield her from the terrible event that was about to take place, and gripped her mother's hand tightly. A bad quality of Aran, she realised, was his determination to stand up for his rights and beliefs. He stood his ground, evidently believing this act to be a bluff. He was mistaken.
Eva was permanently changed after the distressing shot. She would sit alone, listlessly twisting a thread around her finger; she never cried, just stared into space. It was as if she could not shed a tear or speak to anybody. Elli, meanwhile, was emotional, her grief pouring out through sobs of torment. Ana would try to comfort her, but the attempts were fruitless. The remaining members of the once secure and joyful Abkowicz family were broken.
Ana sat in the comfortable armchair, her bloodshot brown eyes locked on the beaming Mengele. "Analise, my lovely child, today I have some sweeties for you. Come and take a few, don't be shy!" purred the doctor, waving towards a cracked china saucer. On it laid many brightly coloured crystals, of which some had melted into equally vivid liquid.
Ana trudged towards her torturer, not sure of the sweets' true nature. Doctor Mengele was always pleasant with her; giving her extra food rations and letting her keep her once glossy ebony hair. He always told her that any pain she experienced was for her own wellbeing and would assist many. 'Can I trust him?' her young mind questioned, considering a course of action. Eventually, after little deliberation, she reached her conclusion. How could sweets harm her?
"Good girl, you will like these," said Mengele in his soft and soothing voice. He picked the plate up and held it out to his victim, the smile never leaving his sallow face. Ana extended her arm and grasped a crystal. It was coloured electric blue, with sugar (or some other white powder) covering its gleaming surface. She gazed at it, praying that the doctor was simply giving her sweets, before opening her mouth and putting it in.
Ana slowly chewed the sweet, glad that it was indeed sugary and sweet. She took some more from the plate and threw them into her starving mouth, grinning at the doctor. Her smiles were returned, but she did not see that his expression was one of malicious satisfaction. Suddenly, drowsiness began to sweep over her, causing her to collapse to the patterned carpet which laid on the floor. Her eyes became heavy, closing as her brain shut down.
Mengele noiselessly picked her limp body up and slung it over his shoulder. He began to feel very excited; anticipation of what would happen to Ana was almost too much. As he left the room, he whistled a merry tune, experiencing great pleasure when he stepped over a heap of bodies near the doorway.
Elli wandered along the corridor, or rather the tunnel, glancing at everyone. She had not seen her little friend Ana for days and feared the worst. Everybody she asked could not recollect whether they had noticed her or not. Frustration was overcoming her, emotions ravaging her. 'Why?' she silently demanded, tears starting to emerge from her eyes. It was getting hard to cope with all the burdens and ordeals she had to endure, from working for twenty hours a day to caring for her stricken mother. 'Are seventeen year olds meant to feel like this?' she pondered, before tripping over a moaning girl.
She was aged about fourteen, fifteen perhaps, and had a swollen stomach, marked with crimson streaks. Her breathing was ragged, her eyes dilated and watering. Elli crouched and took the hand of the distressed child. She did not understand how she could be so fat; the current food rations were a meagre amount of bread and soup every five or six days and a drop or two of water every other day. However, her face was gaunt, her body showing the signs of malnutrition, not of obesity.
"Help me, my baby is coming!" the girl screamed in Russian, confusing Elli, who spoke very little Russian. She was unsure of whether she was shouting about a baby or some sort of ache. She looked round for somebody to help her, somebody to understand what to do in this difficult situation. Elli turned back to the young woman and was shocked to see a baby emerging, along with a huge amount of blood. Elli had no idea what to do, but her problem was solved when a middle-aged man shoved her out of the way and pulled the feeble body out of its mother.
"I am a doctor, do you know this girl?" asked the man, fortunately in German.
"No, sorry. What should I do?" Elli responded, hoping that she could manage any task she was assigned - she could not witness another death.
"What is going on here?" exclaimed a loud voice behind the small group. A tall, thin man with neatly brushed hair and a smart uniform was the speaker. Over his shoulder was a corpse, which he promptly dropped to the floor. Elli immediately saw that the corpse was actually Ana, and ran over to her, intending to see if her companion was still living. Grief and anguish once more filled her heart; she fell to the ground and lamented over the lives she had lost.
Amongst all her sadness was a flicker of compassion for the woman in agony behind her, so she swivelled around to observe the latest goings on. The man who had dropped Ana was now delivering a baby with the aid of the doctor, much to the displeasure of the mother. Her howls seemed to fill the entire camp, and that was clearly annoying the tall man. At first he had been gentle, trying not to harm her, but now he was cruelly yanking the tiny thing out.
"Shut up, filthy thing! Stop crying!" he shrieked wildly at one point, frightening the poor mother so much that she kicked him away. Elli looked on, horrified at the scene before her, as the man drew a rusty, blunt blade and plunged it deep into her chest. The loudest cry yet sounded, and then there was silence apart from faint whimpering coming from the motherless baby. He then picked the baby up and embedded his knife deep into its head; ruby blood spurted from the deep injury. The sight was too much for the alarmed observers; Elli fainted and the doctor vomited the contents of his stomach.
"Good morning everybody!" roared the overweight, authoritative man in front of the line of weaker prisoners. "This morning, Reichsführer Himmler is paying us a very special visit, and we intend to impress him, don't we! Now, I'd like you all to make loud noises of pain when you are shot: it will make him extremely happy, and you all want to make him happy."
Two hundred people stood on the edge of the vast pit, two hundred lives about to be sacrificed, solely to please somebody. Men moved so that they would block their wives, praying that it would save the women's lives. Mothers turned around and held their children close, not knowing what to do in the inescapable situation. Elli hugged her mother; both of them confused and tearful. Eva, who had once been the pinnacle of faith in her family, was finally questioning her religion, asking why her loving, kind God would let this murder go on. Her daughter mourned the loss of her dearest companion, Ana, her family, and even people she had barely known, like the Russian girl. Both tried to prepare themselves mentally, but it was impossible. They were going to die, and they were not at all ready.
The firing squad was positioned at noon that day. All of them looked a little apprehensive; a few of them petrified of what they had to do. SS Reichsführer Heinrich Himmler marched up and down, joking with the fat commander, giggling like a schoolboy. The victims stood, their legs aching, their hearts thumping in their chests. An old man actually collapsed into the pit with exhaustion, killing him. Himmler laughed heartily at this and made a quiet remark to the commander, causing yet more laughter.
"Hello everyone! Isn't it a fine day! Now, you men, do what you have to do," commanded Himmler, smiling as they loaded their guns. Elli stood behind Eva, shaking with pure terror. She closed her eyes and waited. Their lives were over.
Elli opened her eyes. Darkness surrounded her body, warm, heavy darkness. "Is this heaven, or hell?" she called out, unsure of what she should do. After lying in the comfortable gloom for a moment, she tried to sit up and was almost blinded by a light from above. She rose from the bodies, an angel, but a living angel. Realisation came to her as she saw that she was still at Auschwitz, sitting in the pit on top of countless, bloodstained dead. Her own mother laid beneath her, a red flower blossoming from her head. Elli looked about in desperation; she had survived, but for what? A lonely life, with no family or friends, just the endless days and nights at nightmarish place. She could see very little point in going on, 'Perhaps it would be easier if I just stayed here and died. But, I would miss out on so much!'
After an hour of consideration, her instincts won over her sorrow: she could go and rejoin the camp, it would be unlikely that anyone would notice. She kissed Eva's hand, then stood and clambered over the remains of her fellow slaves until she reached the wall of the pit. She looked at the distance she had to climb and groaned, but she was not defeated. Two months of working while surrounded by corpses had toughened her somewhat to dead bodies that she had not known during life; her plan would not be as disgusting as it may have seemed before her arrival here.
The cocktail of slush, ice and mud that made up the path to the pit was seeping through into Officer Burgen's boots, but nothing could dampen his mood. He loved this part: killing off the survivors, the ones that had miraculously been missed. He chuckled, imagining the satisfaction they would feel as they scrambled out of the pit, picturing their wide-eyed faces as they relished life. Almost at the pit, he drew his revolver, his prized weapon, gleaming and glistening in the watery December sunlight, and loaded numerous bullets into it; little demons of hell.
"Only one, well, what shall we do with you?" he whispered under his breath as he observed a weary Elli piling corpses up to create a way to the top. She was so attractive that he did not want to kill her immediately - he could toy with her, a cat with a mouse. He sat in the shade of a towering oak tree and peacefully waited for her to finish her climb.
Elli shivered as she reached the top of her pile; the wind was sharp and icy without the steep walls of the pit to protect her. She glanced around, and nearly fainted when she saw her father's killer sitting nearby. His eyes were looking right at her; she had evaded death for too long now. She was going to die that day whether she wanted it or not.
"Come here, I won't hurt you,' he lied. Elli did what he told her; 'Defiance would result in a more painful death,' she reasoned. He put his hands on her face and kissed her forehead, then slapped her hard, stinging her delicate cheek. Pushing her to the ground, he kicked her with his booted foot and roared with laughter.
"Do as I say and you live, freak," he told her, pulling his uniform off.
"What are you...no!" she cried as he held her down, her face pushed into a murky puddle. She could not scream, only wait and hope that her experience would be brief.
After a few seconds, Elli managed to get her face out of the water; breath was like a surge of energy for her. She searched with her eyes for something to hit or poke her tormentor with, to get some sort of advantage over him. As she looked to the left, she saw her new best friend: his loaded gun, carelessly cast away. Her arm slowly lengthened and grabbed it, resulting in another powerful energy surge.
She leapt up and aimed the revolver at Burgen's head, smiling for the first time in weeks. Finally she had power: she could do what she liked temporarily without interference. 'But what do I want to do?' she found herself wondering.
"Please, don't shoot!" he whimpered, the strong, supreme man transforming into a scared, cowering little boy, naked in the dirty snow. Elli could not shoot anyway; cold-bloodedness was not a trait that she possessed.
"Get up and do as I say!" she ordered, holding the weapon at the back of his neck once he was standing. She marched him along the filthy path, wishing she could rest as snowflakes began to drift from the darkening sky. It was not a time for rest though, so she kept at her walk, concentrating on the movement to numb her emotions.
At last, they reached the immense yard, where Himmler was being lead around by simpering officers. The rank stench of blood and suffering filled Elli's nostrils, nauseating her beyond belief. She placed her bony finger on the trigger and pulled with all her might.
The shot rung out, a deafening sound of death, forcing every single person to look around at the scrawny, unclothed girl standing over the bleeding form. Elli yelled, a cry of contempt and joy, then put the gun to her bruised head. It was over.
