Surviving War: A Short Story

I was one of the few trees that were left in the area of Treblinka. I went through the winters, long and painful days. My eyes have seen so many terrible sights. I was one of the first trees planted in the areas between the camps. I have been here for 100 years and I have seen so much by living during the time of the concentration camp. Life in the concentration camps were not easy. Especially since Treblinka was the biggest extermination camp following Auschwitz.Only sixty-seven people survived this camp and around 870,000 to 925,000 Jews were killed in the camp.The number ended up to be sixty-five since two men did not survive out of the hospital from their health issues. There is not many people who even know where I am located, where the

My [family] ... and all the other Jews in the community, we were all loaded onto this train .... When we were put onto this train, which of course I don't need to describe to you--it was a cattle car as you know, no windows, had no seats and no toilet. When we got onto the trains none of us knew we were being taken to a concentration camp. None of us knew anything about Auschwitz. At least I don't think we knew. We honestly thought we were going to be relocated, until the door closed and we heard the lock go on from the outside. I believe that was the first we knew, wherever we were going to be taken to, it was not going to be freedom, and it was not going to be a great relocation. (Fritshall 5)

The Jews that survived all of this were evacuated out of the camps by train or by ship. As winter approached, the Allies reached the border of Germany, and the Germans thought they ruled all of Germany because of the Allies reaching the border. The SS were still evacuating prisoners from the camps from the East and the West by foot. The search for the family always ended in tragedy. For the parents, it was to find their child dead or missing. For the hidden children, it was to find their family members dead and no one to claim them. For months and years, the Jewish parents searched for their children that the Nazis had sent into hiding. Parents would look in newspapers, tracing services, and survivor registries in hopes of finding their children. Although they would often find their children with the original rescuers, sometimes the rescuers would refuse to give the children back.

The memories of these child survivors include tragic scenes of separation from their parents. Experiences of hiding, unbelievable cruelty and suffering at the hands of peasants as they wandered around the countryside, orphaned and abandoned, suffering hunger and freezing weather. Some remember their imprisonment in the death camps. They were excellent observers and understood the nature of danger and death. If needed, they could remain hidden for long periods in a dark unaired area without moving or uttering a

The Ahijevyches were housed in barracks, with several families in one room, in a work camp near Hanover, Germany. Svetlana’s family members that were old enough to work were sent to work from early morning to late at night in an ammunition factory. Svetlana and her brother were left alone every day with the other kids too young to work. Svetlana’s brother was so young, that her mother was afraid he would wander off. Maria tied one end of a sheet around his waist and the other around the bed frame so Svetlana could watch over him.

During the time of World War II, many people in Europe who were not of Hitler’s Aryan race had been held captive in concentration camps that were placed in various spots in his conquered land. Two types of camps were touched upon in the memoir. They were either death camps or working camps. Weinberg wrote this memoir in order to preserve the historical facts of the holocaust and share with others for the generations to come of what he had gone through from the ages twelve to eighteen. Taken captive in 1939, Weinberg had gone through five concentration camps such as Terezin and Birkenau where most of his time was spent and had survived. Although he almost did not survive the Death March from Blechhammer in 1945. In this touching memoir, Boy

I noticed him right away when the new soldiers entered the room. He looked so small and fragile that I could have easily missed him, but that’s what made him stand out from the crowd. I wondered how he, with his thin frame and boyish face, could possibly have passed the medical exams. He must have been about fourteen years old, no longer than five foot three and definitely not heavier than seven stone. I suppose they must have been desperate at the recruitment offices. His scared face was a stark contrast to the other soldiers. Their proud and confident smiles gave away their ignorance. That’s what I was like when I first joined the army. But now, little over a year later I’ve seen too many mates been blown to pieces to enjoy anything at all.

Weeks later, tired, cold, and hungry the Jews and I used every ounce of energy to get up for roll call. As the officers were calling names, I noticed the new arrivals. One in particular stood out to me; her name was Izabella. She was with her father and a littler sibling, but I couldn’t tell if the child was male or female. After roll the guard demanded us to clean up the whole camp, including our barracks at once. After our rushed cleaning, orders were barked to get on the train. We were headed to Buchenwald. We were forcefully thrown in, and the train slowly started to crawl away. I looked over my shoulder to see my father, unconscious, on a pile of cold, dead Jews. As we sat in silence, a quiet whimper reached my ears, and when I turned

One day, Johnny was walking home from school when he brushed by a man in a cloak. "Hey, watch out next time, dickhead!" Johnny had yelled at the man, but this had caused the man to turn around and take off his hood to reveal a grotesque and scarred face. This had caused Johnny to stumble back before having a strange, white powder blown into his face by the old man, causing him to fall unconscious. An all black van had pulled up beside the two, and out came three men, dressed in black suits and red ties, who would pick up the unconscious Johnny and carry him to the van. Where the van was headed, no one knew and no one wanted to know.

This was my last night in Sighet. In the morning, the Nazi’s are coming to transfer us to Auschwitz because of the “war.” I, unlike everyone else, knew something else was going on. Im not sure what but it isn’t because of the war. I was honestly just worried about how my little brother is going to handle himself. He knows to be strong when times are tough but he may not be tough enough.

The train zoomed past the place we used to call home. We were being taken to Auschwitz. By we, I mean me and Margot, my sister. I looked around us at the people; some seemed almost as old as Methuselah, some looked around the age of 10. The other Jews seemed to be more down than I was, though all of us were basically being dragged to our death place.

turning my head again I saw Simon dive to my aid. He did not utter a

I nick the edge of my cheek, causing that unmistakable burnt red substance cascades from my face in uniformed droplets, oh what a beautiful thing it is.

“You’re never going to find me!” Ian yelled to Sarah as he jumped over a fallen tree. Sarah looked all throughout the yard and couldn’t find Ian. She remembered that there was a tree stump in the corner that someone could use to easily jump over the fence. Suddenly Sarah heard Ian’s loud voice in the woods, “Are you even trying to find me!”

Zane and I were having fun. He was staying at my house and we just got bored playing video games, call of duty, and stuff like that. It smelled nice out, like clean, almost like when you clean house really good and it just smells so much better. That's kinda what it smelled like. So when we got to dan's house we still didn't know what we wanted to do so Zane said, “We will figure it out on the way to Jeremiah's. We got Dan and we had to walk back through town to go to Jeremiah's house.