June 18, 1944: Destination Auschwitz

Shamed, degraded and with pent up pain, we finally arrived in the ghetto. Under such sad circumstances, one cannot even say that we were glad to still find our loved ones in the ghetto. The fearful day was Thursday, with our final expulsion scheduled for the coming Sunday, June 18, 1944.

The gendarme instructed us to prepare two weeks of food to take with us for the coming journey to the Auschwitz death camps. We could take one backpack of personal belongings for each person - no more. We felt like we were in the clutches of Satan those last few days, like part of us was already dead. The Hungarian decree cruelly decreed to extradite us to German Nazi hands, well aware that we would be annihilated. Our last spark of hope was extinguished, as was our faith in mankind.

We somehow mustered enough strength to prepare for our disastrous journey. Spring came in vain, winter reigned in our hearts. The blood-curdling events vanished the flowers blooming beautifully in town from our view. All I saw around me were the sad stares of my old school mates.

How could all the nations of the world keep silent in the face of this unbelievably barbaric behavior? I still could not believe how our own government was stripping us of all our human rights this unmerciful day, my soul bleeding profusely. They were stripping us of life itself as they transferred us to the German Nazi death factories. Decent citizens of Hungary were mercilessly thrown out of their own homes, and then out of the crowded ghetto prison too. All this because we followed our Jewish religion. Those Nazis and their comrades must be sick in the head, poisoned from early childhood by the hatred espoused in the name of Christianity. They were educated to hate, envy and kill their Jewish neighbors.

I still cannot understand why human beings kill people because of differing religious beliefs. Let's hope that Hitler's Nazis are the last to perform acts such as this cruel annihilation of millions of innocent souls. People should work together to create peaceful coexistence for all mankind.

Contradictory thoughts overtook me. On the one hand, I very much wished to disobey these inhuman decrees, run away and hide somewhere. On the other, strong fears stifled my feelings and paralyzed my body, leaving me unable to resist those devilish decrees.

I am sure that many others also felt this dissonance. We lived under great mental pressure, paralyzing fear. Our feelings were stifled, and our brains were unable to think clearly - as if dark clouds floated in our heads. With reality not penetrating into our mind and our judgement impaired, we went like sheep to be slaughtered in Hitler's death camps by those barbaric beasts.

© David Muskal, 2001