son. There were no bathrooms on the train, only a bucket that was passed around. At times it smelled so badly, I thought I would be sick to my stomach. We heard gun shot, but did not know why these shots were fired, Then I heard an old man with a beard say that the SS troops were on the roofs of the cattle cars shooting past the windows to discourage people from sticking their heads out. The train is moving at a fairly great speed. There was no stopping. November 16, 1933 We traveled day and night. The train is cold and the smell is awful. November 19,1933 At four o'clock three days later one morning at dawn, we looked through the cracks in the cattle car. I saw the name Auschwitz in Polish. I was paralyzed. I didn't feel anything. When daylight came, they slid the car door open. All we heard was, "Raus, raus, get out of here, get out of here!" I had to crawl over people who had died from the cold and from lack of food and water. When they opened the doors to the cattle car, we jumped off as quickly as we could because we were under orders. We grabbed what we could and assembled outside. SS men with the skulls on their hats and collars stood in front of us stretched out at intervals about every ten feet. The SS officer in charge stood with his German shepherd. The officer had one foot propped up on a little stool. We lined up and filed by him, everyone that got of the train had to place their valuables in wooden crates. Whatever we had, we lost. Those who didn’t give up their possessions willingly or quickly were beaten. Right there the selection took place, as each person passed by him, he pointed left or right. The thumb left and right was your destiny. The people sent to the left went to a large building , I could see the people to the left were mostly elderly or young children. I was sent to the right. Before us stood an immense rectangle of land surrounded by electrically-cha...
