Chapter 12 Chapter 10 The Last Moment

I stayed in Buschenwald until April 11th.I don't want to tell about those days anymore, they don't matter anymore.Since my father passed away, I feel like nothing matters. I was transferred to the building where the children lived, and there were six hundred people there. The front line is getting closer and closer to us. I have nothing to do all day and all night, except for one desire: to eat.I no longer think about my father and mother. Sometimes I dream, but it's all about soup, and I just want to have an extra serving of soup. On April 5, the wheel of history finally turned.

It was late that afternoon, and we stood in the building, waiting for the SS to come and count.He is late!Never before in the history of Bushenwald has such a thing happened.Something must have happened! Two hours later, an order from the head of the concentration camp came from the loudspeaker: all Jews must gather in the empty field. It's over!Hitler was ready to keep his word. The children in the building had no choice but to walk out as ordered.The head of the building is Gustav, and he holds a stick in his hand.As we walked out, some of the prisoners were whispering, "Go back into the building! The Germans are going to shoot! Go back and stay still."

We go back to the building.On the way, we heard that the concentration camp underground had decided that they were going to stop this purge and not abandon the Jews. It was late and there was a lot of commotion—many Jews had been mistaken for non-Jews—and the Big Boss decided to do a general roll call tomorrow, with everyone present. The roll call began.The commander announced that the Buschenwald concentration camp must be vacated, and the prisoners on the tenth floor were removed every day.Since then, we have not received bread and soup.The evacuation began, and every day thousands of prisoners walked out of the camp gates, never to return.

On April 10, there were still 2,000 prisoners in the camp, including hundreds of children.They decided to evacuate us by evening and then blow up the camp. So we came to the empty field like cattle.A line of five waited for the gate to open.Suddenly, the harsh siren sounded.alarm!We retreat back into the building.That night, we were too late to evacuate, and the evacuation was postponed until tomorrow. Hunger torments us.We hadn't eaten for almost six days, except for a little weed and potato skins that we picked up on the kitchen floor. At ten o'clock in the morning, all the SS soldiers of the concentration camp stood at the sentry post, preparing to drive the last batch of people to the empty field.

That's when the "Resistance Movement" took action.There were armed men everywhere, gunfire and grenade explosions everywhere.Our group of children were all sprawled on the floor of the building. The fight was not long.Around noon, everything returned to calm.The SS fled, and the "Resistance Movement" took control of the camp. At six o'clock that afternoon the first American tanks rolled up to the gates of Buschenwald. As free men, our first act is to rush to the food bank.At that time we only thought about food, not about revenge, not about our parents, only about bread.

Even when everyone was no longer hungry, there was no thought of revenge.The next day, a few young men ran to Weimar to bring back some potatoes and clothes—and wanted to sleep with girls, but they still didn't think of revenge. On the third day after the liberation of Buschenwald, I fell ill, probably poisoned.I was taken to the hospital and spent two full weeks on the line between life and death. One day, I will be able to stand up.There was a mirror on the opposite wall, and I decided to take a look at myself.I haven't seen myself since entering the ghetto. In the mirror, a corpse is looking at me.

That look is something I will never forget.