Chapter 62 Section 62

We watched with fascination as hundreds of people were led to those windowless barracks and then stripped naked in the square, men and women, old and children, who didn't mind their nakedness, perhaps seeing it as a trade-off. A reasonable price for future safety and health.And the scene on the hillside I saw in Henrik's truck flashed in my mind one by one.But it's not the same thing, I tell myself.The shower room is next to them. There was still a layer of frost on the hard ground, and the cold wind was blowing from the direction of the camp. These people who were about to take a shower shivered and hugged their arms tightly to resist the cold.

Under the command of the prisoner leader, the workers began to pack the clothes that had been taken off and threw them into the cart one by one.Someone expressed doubts and was told that the clothes would be sent for disinfection. More people showed up, taking wide sheets, spreading them on the floor, and we saw naked people being herded onto the sheets, standing with their legs apart, and then their heads, their armpits, every part of their bodies All hair was plucked.I heard the prison leaders explain that it was to prevent the lice from multiplying. When everyone, adults and children, had been thus cleaned, they were taken into the barracks to shower.I don't know how many people were forced into one bathroom, but in the end, all these hundreds of people went into different barracks, and the doors were closed.

The hairy sheets were carefully gathered and carted away, but I dare not guess what they were going to do. At this time, the square was empty, only a few soldiers remained, indifferent to the Poles waiting to be disinfected. With nothing to see, we quietly retreated to our hiding place under the house, hugging each other for warmth.I stroked Yiluo's hair, thankful that we didn't mix into the crowd as planned, I couldn't help laughing when I thought of Yiluo's head shaved off. However, my smile froze when I heard the scream. We looked around in surprise, not knowing where the sound came from, but soon, the answer was revealed.Maxim's words immediately came to mind, about the fate of his wife Catherine, who was taken to the shower on the first day of arrival.

As the screams grew louder, I hugged Nikolai tightly, putting my hands over his ears in vain.Yiluo held me tightly, tears welling up in her eyes full of fear, she looked at me for rescue, but I couldn't help her. For about twenty minutes, the screams continued.Men, women, and children screaming in pain, I don't even dare to think about how they were treated. Finally, the shouting began to subside, and after a few minutes, everything was silent again, only the three children in the middle of Auschwitz-Birkenau, surrounded by loneliness, fear and helplessness, and their uncontrollable sobbing.