Step 1: The JourneyInformation coming primarily from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
** Disclaimer ** There will be excerpts on this page that are explicit and will describe some extremely sensitive detail. Please be advised.
Below are excerpts from multiple books that are memoirs from the Holocaust.
|
|
Viktor Frankl
As we approached camp, I drew back to a concept that I had studied extensively: “delusion of reprieve.” The condemned (certain to die) man, immediately before his execution (death), gets the illusion that he might be saved at the very last minute.
We, too, clung to shreds of hope and believed to the last moment that it would not be so bad. |
Just the sight of the red cheeks and round faces of those prisoners was a great encouragement.
Little did we know then that they formed a specially chosen elite, who for years had been the receiving squad for new transports as they rolled into the station day after day.” |
Magda Herzberger
Our departure took place towards the end of May 1944. Accompanied by the guards, we marched by foot to the railroad station. We were carrying our small suitcases with our few belongings. We arrived at the long rows of railroad cattle cars assigned for our transportation. From there on, it was like a madness descending on us…
We were pushed forcefully into those cattle wagons by the guards. So many people were pushed into each compartment that we could hardly move. There was so little space for each person. It was difficult to lie down on the wooden, barren surface of the cars. We tried to sit down on our suitcases. There were small children among us who were crying, terrified of what was happening. There were also old people having difficulty coping with the nightmarish environment. And then the heavy doors of the cattle cars were shut and bolted from outside. It got pretty dark and dreary inside. |
Not much light seeped through the narrow slits of the wooden-boarded walls. We were placed behind bars and imprisoned in that frightening environment.
The train finally started moving. The slow puffing of the steam engine grew faster and faster as the train carried us further and further into the unknown. We couldn’t believe that something so awful was happening to us. We traveled for three days and three nights. During all that time we didn’t receive any food or drink, and there were no toilet facilities whatsoever. We were locked up day and night. They didn’t let us out of the cattle wagons to be certain that there was no chance for us to escape. We had to use our compartments for toilet purposes. Some people brought along some pots from their homes and we used them for restroom purposes. Little kids had difficulty in understanding what was going on. |