o way of knowing ff the Poles would be any differe nt. Someone would have to hide us or bring us food. We had no money to pay for our keep. So in the end, to keep our family together, we dropped any plans of attempting to escape. The doors of the cattle car were yanked opened. The first thing we heard was shouts of, "Out, as soon as you can, out. Your belongings you leave therel" Despite this we grabbed what we could and assembled outside. Before us stood an immense rectangleof land surrounded by electrically-charged barbed wire. This was the Auschwitz death camp. We were assembled in long rows and marched between the troops of the SS special death-head division into the camp. We were marched up and down a broad avenue for foue or five hours between posts of barbed wire with a huge sign, EXTREME DANGER, HIGH VOLTAGE ELECTRICAL WIRES. We saw guard towers high above us. We saw men with machine guns inside them, but even then we did not know that we were in a death camp. Back and forth and back and forth, they just kept us in motion. As it got closer to one o'clock in the morning, we were more and more desperate. You could hear more and more cries for food. Finally they set out large boxes. Everybody had to put in their valuables. Women and men were forced to strip off their wedding rings and hand over their prized possessions like lockets of relatives no longer there. Whatever we had, we lost. Those who didnot give up their possessions willingly or quickly were beaten. Then we were separated into male and female groups and walked to what they called the B camp of Auschwitz. The women's camp was separated from the men's camp by a wide road. There were about 24 barracks for men and the same number for women. The men in charge were called barracks' elders or capos. They were German criminals taken from German prisons and sent to oversee the people in the barracks. They made us walk by a crate again and put in our valuables. The only thing I ...
