Nobody knows what's gonna happen. Nobody knows where we are. Nobody knows if they ever get to see their family again. The only thing we know is why we're here. Because we are different, we believe in something. Somehow we we're not good enough, only because we're Jews.
I wake up to the sound of the bossy guard's voice. «Wake up! Immediately!» he's shouting. I get up quickly from my hard three-story bed, thinking of the wonderful dream I had tonight. I dreamt of a world with freedom. A world without war and discrimination. Everybody was nice to eachother and nothing like segregation existed. But ofcourse that's just a dream, things are different here.
All I can think of when I'm out working is how much I want to hit the guard behind me. No matter how many times I try, it's wrong. No matter how hard I work, it's not good enough. All he does is to complain. His loud voice is like a ticking bomb inside my head. My body is so exhausted. And my legs are starting to look like matchsticks. The only "food" we get here is a soup tasting like water. For breakfast, lunch and dinner. It scares me to take a look around, everybody is thin like pencils! I'm so close to just giving up, but then I think of my dear family.
I miss them all so much! My lovely wife, Anna, and my two sons, Adam and Peter. They're the reason I'm still alive. The struggle I fight everyday, I do it for them. I remember the day they split us apart as if it were yesterday. Me and Adam sat in the livingroom studying. Suddenly we heard someone knocking on our frontdoor. The knocking was hard, and went faster and faster. Just seconds later German soldiers came rushing into our house. "Everybody get out in the car, immediately!" he screamed. I could see in his eyes that we had no choice. Anna panicked and grabbed Adam and Peter's hands. One of the soldiers told us that we were going to a family-workingcamp. That didn't sound so bad, so we went out in the car without putting up a big fight.
That's the last time I saw them. I can't find any words strong enough to describe how much I miss them. You don't know what you have until you´ve lost it. It's not like I stopped and thought about how much my family actually mean to me when we all lived home. Because then I had them around me all the time. But now when I'm all alone, they are all I can think of!
When I'm really really exhausted I try to remind myself of all our great memories. Like all the times we went to the swimmingpool just five minutes down our street. My sons love to swim, and so do me and my wife. We used to have this swimming-competitions. The first one over to the other side of the pool became the winner. And on our way out the losers had to buy a bar of chocolate to the winner. It was fun, even though I always lost.
My head is full of questions. Where are they? Is someone taking care of them? If they're still alive? We all thought we were going to a nice workingcamp, together! But it didn't take me long to understand that all the German soldiers lied. Instead they split us apart and sent us as far away as possible. I have no idea where my wife and two sons are. I don't even know where I am! And on Monday my son, Adam, is nine years old. That will be the first year we're not celebrating his birthday together. I feel so bad!
My one, and now only, goal is to survive this fight! And things seam to go a lot better in here. Later today we get to take a shower. I can't wait to flush off all my sweat, dirt and mud. But first we have to eat that thin soup again. Two guards walk me and forty-nine hungry men to the big hall we eat in. But suddenly when we are about to walk in one of them stops and scream: “Halt!” The other guard takes a few steps back and starts talking to a man I can't recognize. After a few seconds he tells us to switch direction to the showers on the other side of the gray building. I can see a smile on everybody's face in the moment we get the news. Finally we get the shower we've been waiting for.
I walk down the slippery stairs with joy. I believe this is the start of something new. Maybe the Germans have realized how badly they have treated us, and want to make up for it? I take off my clothes, shoes and glasses. I even cut my hair off, as they tell me to do. Finally I'm ready. I stand here completely naked with all the others, ready to take a warm shower. We all walk into the next room were the shower takes place. The door gets locked behind us. But suddenly everything gets black. It's not water coming out of the hole in the roof, it's gas!