Allison Roane, Green Middle School

The End of a New Beginning

Genocide, it may be only one word, but if you read in between the letters, it screams out tragedy. Appalling thoughts are going through the minds of innocent genocide victims today. No one should ever have to go through what the Jews of the Holocaust went through. We need to use the past to help prevent another Holocaust and stop genocide all around the world.

I sat down in my favorite chair and turned on the television set. It was tuned to the local news channel. The news anchors were talking about genocide in Darfur, Sudan. Over 35,000 people died over there and it only started in 2002. I sat there, horrified, as the thoughts of the Holocaust crept back to my brain. This motivated me to tell the tragic story of my past.

I was sixteen years old when Adolph Hitler was appointed chancellor of Germany. I was living in Krakow, Poland which is a major city on the banks of the Vistula River. I had a loving father who ran a paper mill on the river, a kind and gentle mother who was a housewife, and a troublesome little sister. I had many friends and relatives who were very dear to me. My home life was almost perfect with some few exceptions.

On September 1^st, 1939 the German Nazis took over Krakow as well as the surrounding cities and towns of Poland and war broke out. We were ordered to report to the front of our house so we could be transported to the outskirts of Krakow. Once reaching our destination, we saw a village-like area surrounded by stone walls. At the entrances there were SS men guarding them so they could make sure we didn’t escape. The ghetto contained horrible, inhumane living conditions. We had to share our little house with our neighbors, who had five children, so it was quite overcrowded. Every minute I spent in the ghetto made me hope that I would return home, safe and sound with my family.

After about two years of living in the ghetto, we woke up to the rapid yells of the German Nazis. We were abashed by the words, since we could pronounce very little German. Military-like trucks drove up behind the SS men and screeched to a halt. Suddenly, the air around me was filled with screams and yells. I turned towards my mother and couldn’t say anything. She couldn’t say anything either, but she could see in my eyes that I didn’t want to leave her. Soon, it was my group’s turn to be put into the trucks and sent to concentration camps. SS officers pulled my mother, father, and sister in different directions. I screamed and yelled for them, but the SS officer just told me to shut up or he’ll kill me. That made me quiet. I looked into my family’s eyes one last time, knowing that deep in my heart I would never see them again.

We piled into the truck; well it’s more like they threw us into the truck. The engine roared to life and we starting going down the bumpy dirt road. I stared out the window; my mind was swarming with thoughts about what would happen to my family, as well as me. Tears trickled down my cheeks and I prayed with all my strength that everything would be alright.

After an hour of driving, we approached a small brick building. I could see a massive box car train sitting on the rusty tracks. We stepped out of the truck and we were quickly counted. Suddenly, we heard a piercing shot that came from behind us. We hastily turned around and saw a young girl behind us, covered in blood. A sickening feeling crept back to my stomach as we boarded the train.

There were no seats or windows. It was dark, cramped, and the stench that longed in the air was indescribable. I closed my eyes, praying that it was all a dream and I was going to wake up staring at the ceiling of my bedroom. My eyes snapped open and I realized that this was reality and I couldn’t change it. I had no one, not my family, or my friends. Just I, and simply I, riding in the cramped train. The train puffed smoke and started towards our destination.

After what seemed like five years of riding the train, it came to a screeching halt. We were thrown out of the train and all stared at the huge stone building that was standing before us. "Ravensbrueck" was carved into a wooden sign that hung below a wooden arch. The building looked like a factory, with dark green vines covering the stone with several smaller buildings scattered around it. It was surrounded by fences of dull barbed wire and there was a watch tower hovering above the premises. To the north of the main building, there was an unusually small building on the edge of the fence. I later learned it was used as a whipping room to punish the prisoners when they misbehaved. We were counted once again and led to one of the small buildings. We were walking towards our undecided futures.

Upon entering the building, I was immediately disgusted. The place was filthy! There was dirt everywhere, mildew on the ceilings, and the floor was covered with something that was a brownish color. The SS man who was leading us opened the door to our bunks. It was a dull, white room with moldy wooden floors. The walls were covered with three-tiered bunks and you could see scrawny faces poking out from the small space. You could see in their eyes that they wanted to give up, but not just yet. I chose a bunk near the window and quickly fell asleep, unknowing of what was going to happen tomorrow.

We woke up the next morning at 7:00 A.M. and put on our striped uniforms we were required to wear. There was a black "P", which stands for Poland, sewn into the front of our uniforms and a yellow star pinned to our fronts. We were then told to march to the front of the main factory to receive our jobs.

The factory we worked for was called The Siemens Electric Company, which made electrical components for V-1 and V-2 rockets to be used in the war. The SS man randomly pointed to several girls and told them to go into the factory. The rest of the girls, including me, were assigned to knit uniforms for the German soldiers.

We worked from 7:00 A.M. to 7:00 P.M. We were given very little food and little sanitary water. The conditions at Ravensbrueck were horrible and I hated it there more and more every day. Many of the girls were victims of un-ethical medical experiments which later resulted in death. I grew blisters on my fingers from knitting so much so my hands were constantly hurting. This pain and torture went on for five more painful years.

I was liberated on April 29^th, 1945 in The Siemens Electric Company in Germany. The American soldiers who liberated us announced that Germany had surrendered, the war was finally over! I looked into the eyes of the soldier who liberated me and thanked him silently. I smiled and knew that I, along with many other girls, was finally free from this tragedy of a life. I knew that this was the end and I know faced a new beginning.

I was never re-acquainted with my father, mother, and sister. I later found out that my parents were exterminated in Auschwitz along with my little sister. I miss them terribly, but I know they’re in the loving arms of God. Genocide hasn’t died; it still goes on in different parts of the world. By learning about the horrors of the Holocaust, we can prevent similar events from happening again. No one should ever have to experience what I had to experience in the past. We need to help the innocent victims of genocide and stop these events from re-occurring once again.