Chapter 21 Section 21

For a few seconds, the station fell into a dead silence, as if even the trains entering and leaving the platform were at a standstill.The man's wife and daughter watched in horror, unable even to scream.Everyone held their breath.Then, I watched the finger of the lieutenant of the Iron Guard slowly pull the trigger. I couldn't take it any longer and finally averted my gaze.A shot echoed through the station, and blood spattered the floor, almost to my feet.When I looked up, the indomitable Georgi had fallen face down on the ground, and his blood-stained clothes showed the senseless atrocities that had just happened.

The lieutenant still kept the shooting posture, holding the pistol with his arms outstretched, and looked at the man whose life had been taken away at his feet with a dead face. The crowd at the scene, and even the victim's wife and daughter fell into a horrified silence.No one dared to move.I slowly shifted my gaze to the face of the Nazi officer, his gun still pointed at the head of the Lieutenant of the Iron Guard. "Look, it's very simple," the Nazi told him, "like this." Without warning, he pulled the trigger, and the Iron Guard lieutenant fell, next to the man he had just killed.The second gunshot woke us up abruptly.No one stepped forward to interfere, and many were as paralyzed with terror as I was.My legs could no longer support me, and I fell to my knees, suppressing the churning in my stomach.I forced myself to look up and saw the Gestapo turned towards us, his expression, his voice, without emotion.

"Now you put the box in the designated place and wait for the next step. Keep your mouth shut, understand? If there is any stupid disturbing behavior, I will kill that child." He pointed a gun at a nearby girl, and the child screamed in fright. Her mother hugged her, sobbing silently, not daring to express any more emotions.Then the Nazi turned and walked away, shouting orders in German, and the station returned to its noisy and busy state. I wanted to go to the mother and daughter who had lost their loved ones to comfort them, but fear made me lose the courage to act.I could only kneel on the ground and watch all this, watching the two corpses being dragged away, I couldn't even cry.No one dared to say a word, and no one dared to look another person in the eye.It seems that all emotions are struggling to break through the confinement, but they are suppressed by fear and shock.I found myself staring blankly at the station floor, blood seeping into the dust.Mother never looked back, still hugging Nikolai, who was hidden under her coat, desperately trying to comfort him and divert his attention.

At this moment, I longed for something that could break the silence that enveloped the station, and at least, this idea was quickly answered.Amidst those harsh German shouts, I saw the door of the building in the distance open and a procession of Jews come out.I searched hard in that line, trying to find the family who had become friends with us not long ago.Finally, I saw the figures of Golda and Elo Jr. appearing from the building, looking tired and terrified.That's when I realized that there were only women and children in the line. Haim and the other Jewish men were nowhere to be seen.

The noise of an approaching train behind us caught our attention, and I saw a gigantic locomotive pull into the platform, dragging behind it what looked like a cattle truck, at least twenty knots, and behind it another similarly sized The front of the car appeared with a similar carriage.I was puzzled at first, because some of the doors were open and empty, and there were no animals waiting to be loaded at the station. However, this doubt was quickly answered.As soon as the train came to a stop, the group of Jews received new instructions, passed through the hall, and boarded the empty carriages one after another.

Those who had difficulty getting into the vehicles were violently pushed or thrown onto them by Gestapo officers.When a car seemed to be full, more Jews were forced in until the doors were squeezed shut and every inch of space was occupied. After one car was filled, the door of another car opened again.When children, the elderly, and the infirm faltered or found it difficult to climb onto the carriages, Gestapo officers dragged and beat them with pistols or rifles, knocked them to the ground, and forced them to stand up again and continue to climb onto the carriages. I watched the scene in front of me, and the fear in my heart became more and more intense. What shocked me was not only the brutal behavior of the Nazis, but also the timidity of the bystanders. No one was willing to step forward to interfere.

When I think of Golda and Ilo's miserable situation, I feel ashamed of my inaction. Even though my mind is thinking of ways to help them, my body refuses to do it.I just witnessed the killing of three people, and fear weighed heavily on my heart.Their bodies have been dragged away, but the blood still remains on the ground, slowly congealing and freezing, which is the memorial left by their tragic lives. At this time, Golda and Yiluo had come to the side of a carriage, waiting to climb onto the train.I watched in agony as Golda lifted her young daughter to the carriage. The little girl failed to grasp the cold steel bars and fell to the ground, screaming in pain. At that moment, I covered my face in horror. .As Golda bent to hug her daughter, a Gestapo shot the mother with a rifle, knocking her to the ground.I instinctively moved forward, but a stranger held my shoulder and stopped me. I had to barely control the anger in my chest.

And at this moment, an unbelievable scene took place.The Nazi turned his attack on poor Ilo, who was lying on the ground crying, while he screeched insults in German and kicked her hard once with his booted foot.I was completely stunned by the scene, everything in front of me seemed to be in slow motion, I could see every foot on the girl clearly, my eyes followed those brutal movements, and the rest of my feelings were all Become numb and dull, unable to move the body. Ilo's mother screamed at the Nazi, trying to save her child from his violence, but he kicked her away and continued to kick the child again and again, yelling intermittently in German, Each sentence was accompanied by the merciless stamping of the heels of the boots on Ilo.

"Nicolas!" There was a scream behind me, breaking the spell that bound me. I turned my head and saw my mother screaming hysterically, and several men grabbed her hard to prevent her from falling into danger. I didn't know why, so I turned to the scene at the other end of the hall. When I understood the reason why my mother lost control, my heart stopped beating for a moment.I saw Nicholas rushing across the square towards Ilo, trying to use all the strength in his six-year-old body to crash into the Nazi devil who was violent to his little friend.