To: persecuted1 who wrote (218134 ) 9/11/2019 2:36:19 PM From: Joe Btfsplk Respond to what one of the Holocaust victims said MAPS OF MEANING: "Take as an example something that happened on our journey from Auschwitz to the camp affiliated with Dachau. We became more and more tense as we approached a certain bridge over the Danube which the train would have to cross to reach Mauthausen, according to the statement of experienced traveling companions. Those who have never experiences something similar cannot possibly imagine the dance of joy performed in the carriage by prisoners when they saw our transport was not crossing he bridge and was heading "only" for Dachau. And again, what happened on our arrival in that camp, after a journey lasting two days and three nights? There had not been enough room for everyone to crouch on the floor of the carriage at one time. The majority of us had to stand all the way, while a few took turns squatting on the scanty straw, which was soaked with human urine. When we arrived the first important news that we heard from the old prisoners was that this comparatively small camp (its population was 2,500) had no "oven:, no crematorium, no gas! That meant that a person who had become a "Moslem" [no longer fit for work] could not be taken straight to the gas chamber, but would have to wait until a so-called "sick convoy" had been arranged to return to Auscswhitz. This joyful surprise put us all in a good mood. The wish of the senior warden of our hut in Auschwitz had come true: we had come, as quickly as possible, to a camp which did not have a "chimney" -- unlike Auschwitz. We laughed and cracked jokes in spite of, and during, all we had to go through in the next few hours. When we new arrivals were counted, one of us was missing. So we had to wait outside in the rain and cold and wind until the missing man was found. He was at last discovered in a hut, where he had fallen asleep from exhaustion. Then the roll call was turned into a punishment parade. All through the night and late into the next morning we had to stand outside, frozen and soaked to the skin after the strain of our long journey. And yet we were all very pleased! There was no chimney in this camp and Auschwitz was a long way off!
