I tried to believe this was temporary. That I would return to my home once the war was over but the idea was impractical and ridiculous. I didn’t understand why I was being persecuted. I’ve never seen these people before in my life, yet they wanted to harm my family and me. Although I was confused and things were blurry in the beginning, I later found out the real reason behind all of this, the person who was behind this all.
I and a group of others were transported to a transit camp called Westerbork. At Westerbork the entire camp lived in dread of Monday & Thursday nights. On Monday and Thursday nights the camp police came to each barrack. They read out the names of the people who were scheduled to be transported out of Westerbork the following day. I remember we sat there silently in fear, as they called the names: Auschwitz in Poland, Bergen-Belsen in Germany, and Sobibor in Poland. We heard rumors of these “concentration” camps. Conditions in these camps were much more brutal though. The children, women, and those who were too weak to work often died. We’d spend our days and nights working (Gold 51). We were lucky if we got anything to eat, but any portion was good enough. Just the thought of this being the rest of my life killed me inside. Many families got separated... women and children were separated from the men. Many families were also killed. My dad actually died when I was three, so it was just my mom and I - Well until we were captured. We got separated and I haven’t seen her since. The U.S. reportedly knew about the concentrations camps years before I was liberated, but I guess they didn’t want to get involved. Eventually they did, and I can’t be any more thankful.
I think now that I’m free, Instead of dreaming, I can live it now. I can now share my experiences with the world. I’m sure they all would like to hear. Since my imprisonment, there seems to be a lot more peace. There are still issues going on in the world, but I can finally...