Sharon Chang
2/1/13
Period 4/5
The Courage to Create
Sophie Weinstein had just graduated high school when the war had started. She and her family would hide behind large bookcases whenever the Nazis went on raids. However, the Nazis started burning down buildings when they figured out that some Jews were hiding. Sophie and her mom started hiding in the basements of buildings, but the Germans caught them and they were taken to a concentration camp in Majdanek. When they arrived, she was separated from her mother. After a few days without seeing her mother around the camp, she realized that her mother was gassed. Even though months had passed, she still couldn't make peace with the fact that her mother was gone. Sophie kept blaming herself that it was her fault that her mother was dead because she couldn't do anything to save her.
Since her mom was gone, Sophie was all alone. She had to have the courage to face the challenges of being in concentration camp all by herself. The Germans were brutal and were always whipping people. They forced her to do work like clean latrines and pick these types of plants that would burn her skin if she touched it. The Germans would make the Jews to walk many miles in horrible wooden shoes, which killed lots of people. When Sophie was sick with thyroid fever and acute dysentery, she couldn't tell anyone because if the Germans found out, they would take her to the gas chambers. She also went through many scary selections, since the people who weren't picked were killed.
At Sophie's second camp, Auschwitz, there was a selection for people to go to a camp called Canada. It was a secret dream of the people to get there because in a way, that camp was better than the others. The work was organized and the living conditions were way better. The Jews were left alone to do their work and when she slept, she wasn't mistreated or harassed. The group going to the camp was already selected, but Sophie knew that if she wanted to...