The Barracks

Soon enough, we discovered a swarm of lice on our mattresses. In fact, the whole barrack was swarming with lice. The next morning, we threw out our lice-ridden mattresses, at my mom's suggestion. We were amazed to see that other inmates picked up our lice-ridden mattresses. For some people, comfort was more important than hygiene and health. Sure enough, in Bergen-Belsen, no one escaped louse completely. But still, it made a big difference if they were swarming on you, or if you just had a few dozen on your clothing.

Thus, through those six months, my mom, my sister, my two brothers and I laid on the bare wood. Sleep? I do not remember that at all. Who could sleep under constant starving, with a rumbling stomach? Growing thin to skin and bone. Each time turning over on the bare wood planks, our bones creaking, our bodies in pain.

Each barrack building had one huge chamber for the bathroom, to be used by everybody - that is, over two thousand people. Sometimes there were water shortages. Located in the center of the room was a very long metal sink with about thirty or forty shower heads on each side. Females, males, using it at the same time - people had no shame any more. Men and women stood half or fully naked opposite each other or side by side. I could not participate in this degrading and shameful nakedness before an audience. I decided to come the next day, very early, around four o'clock in the morning, hoping to find the place empty. But, to my great disappointment, there were already others - men and women - washing their naked bodies. I became very sad, then I looked around and noticed something horrible - many dead bodies on the cement floor. Frightened away completely from this washroom, I immediately decided to never again step inside this "funeral home". I kept faithful to that decision, and never again stepped over its threshold!

Still, almost every day, I washed my whole body. We kept with us, from home, a bowl and soap. All five of us never drank our black "coffee" portion. In reality, it was not at all regular black coffee. It was more so a dirty liquid mixed with a drug, bromide. So the black "coffee" portion given to the five of us - I used for bathing. Even washed in it my beautiful blond hair. Near our abode was a dark corner where I bathed daily without being disturbed by an audience.

We made our natural needs in a so called latrine near the outer barbed-wire fence. All around us stood guards in watchtowers. Each had a machine gun, with the guards ready to shoot at the slightest suspicious movements. These movements consisted mainly of picking up cattle beets.

© David Muskal, 2001