history homework

Josephine Smithe

You may elect to use a journal format in which case you need at least 10 journal entries, usually delineated by date.

HIS 101

Personal Historical Narrative

December 29, 2014

A Jewish person in a concentration camp (journal)

May 27, 1942

Journal,

Times are continuously getting worse as days pass. With Germany invading the Netherlands, Belgium and France, I know life is going to get worse. After receiving word of these camps for Jews, my family’s fear has risen to a new level. As a Jewish family, we know our lives are in extreme danger. There is no way of hiding who we are with these distasteful yellow stars sewn into our clothing. I want to rip them off and burn them to ash. I pray that God gives me strength not to act on such impulsive behaviors. I also pray that my family will not be sent to Dachau or any other camp. The horrifying stories that have pierced my ears – God forbid that happen to any of us.

Sincerely, Talia

June 12, 1942

Journal,

Instead of my beautifully bound, clean book paper, I am stuck writing my thoughts on torn, filfthy scraps of paper found hidden under rocks. I was not able to gather my beautiful journal when my family and I were rushed out of our home onto the streets by the Nazis. We were herded like sheep down the street. My family and so many others were forced into sealed, cold, putrid railroad cars. I have no idea where we are goind. There is no food, no water for us. The worst part about this, so far, is there is nowhere to relieve oneself. I refuse to attend to this in from of these strangers.

Sincerely, Talia

June ?, 1942

Piece of paper,

“Please Lord save us!” A woman from the front of the car will not stop screaming this prayer. I cannot tell you how long we have been in here. I have not seen the sun since the Nazi soldiers locked us in this cage. What I can tell you is that two infants have died and six adults have passed also. The lack of air is suffocating everyone. The only reason I am still alive is this small crack between the door and the rest of the car walls. My family and I take turns inhaling what little air we can get. Many Jews here want to believe we will all be safe, but I know better. I know th worst is yet to come.

Lord be with us! Talia

June 27, 1942

I write to you, Lord,

Auschwitz. I have heard of this place, but now I call it home. It is nothing close to home. It is Hell. I could not believe my eyes when the doors flew open, so many Jewish families. There must be thousands of us. I had no time to think of that, I was soon pushed off the railroad car and separated from my family. My father and brother were ripped from my arms. I held onto them for dear life, but a soldier hitm e in the back with his gun to remove me from them. He threatened me with his gun, calling me foul names, telling me I was first on his list. I stayed close to my mother, watching children being taken from them mothers. What could these Nazis be doing with such young children?

Talia

June 30, 1942

Dear Lord,

I have not slept. I am exhausted. We women have been put to extreme manual labor. We are placed into different sections of the camp for work. I have heard that there are workshops to produce textiles for army men. In those workshops, poor women have to work with heavy machinery. They do not feed us, how do they expect us to carry or work with such heavy objects? I hope I never have to work in such a place. For now, I am working in the kitchen. It is so tempting to grab potatoes and run! But I know I will be killed for such an action. All I can do is dream about eating the food I touch and prepare for these foul Nazis.

Your starving child,

Talia

July 18, 1942

Lord,

Every day since I have arrived here, I have smelt an awful odor lingering in the air. My innocent thought was that the smell must be of garbage or buses of some sort, but I was wrong. I asked a women that I cook with about the smell. She turned ghost white. Tears streamed down her skeletal face. She finally whispered, “That is the smell of burning babies, and poisoned Jews.” This could not be! I had no words to express the pit in my stomach. She warned me not to trust the soldiers when they take you somewhere. You will not know if water will be hitting your skin or gas will be filling your lungs.

I told you this was Hell!

Talia

July 19, 1942

Lord,

I have been beaten, humiliated and raped in a matter of days. That same soldier who hit me upon my arrival found me. He beat me until I could not stand, then he took my innocence. The devil possessed him to abuse me in such a repulsive manner. That devil of a man will not get in trouble, none of the soldiers do. Do you know what they do to women who become pregnant here in Hell? They send the unlucky women to a “doctor,” not to be treated, but to be tortured. The man responsible for the pregnant women’s pain is Professor Carl Clauberg. From what I have heard, he injects something into the womb of the women. This material causes horrific pain and most women bleed to death. I do not want to be one of those women. I can live with the temptation of a potato in the kitchen; I don’t want to die from some sick man’s enjoyment.

Talia

July 23, 1942

Lord, if there is a Lord.

My mother was murdered today. She did not die from being beaten or raped but she died from this Hell. Like many others, she died of a broken heart. A broken heart from knowing her husband, my father, was dead. We were brought news from a Jew who lived on our street. Our neighbor reported, “The Nazis lined the men up against a brick wall and shot them one by one, straight between the eyes.” I wanted to scream hearing this news but could not, for I would get in trouble. My mother wept for days. What little food we did get, she refused to eat. Her decaying body would not work. She died in my arms.

I have no words, only a broken heart.

Talia

August 24, 1942

Lord,

I woke this morning sick to my stomach. The sickness does not come from lack of food or the sickening smell in the air, but the reality of where I am. This place that takes innocent people’s lives away. And for what? Because we are Jewish? What is so wrong with being Jewish? Can anyone answer that? No? So many questions left unanswered. I would drive myself insane if I chose to continue asking these questions, so I empty my mind and work my eleven hours under the watchful eye of the devil soldiers.

I heard a train arrive. New Jews to beat. They know very little of what heartbreak they are about to endure.

Talia

August 25, 1942

Lord,

I pray this will be my last day in Hell, so I may live in Heaven. I cannot stand to hear gun shots and screams throughout the day. I cannot take the smell of burning flesh much longer. If I could take my own life I would. I pray that the Americans will kill Hitler, that man in control of all this hate. The mastermind behind all the killings and torture. He deserves the same treatment we have received. I cannot describe the amount of hatred the Jews have for this ungodly man. I pray he gets what he deserves. I pray for this to be my last night, my last writing, my last breath,

Talia

Works Cited Florida Center for Instructional Technology. "A Teacher's Guide to the Holocaust: The Camps." 2005. College of Education, University of Southern Florida. 29 December 2014 <http://fcit.usf.edu/holocaust/timeline/camps.htm>. The Holocaust Project. "Auschwitz Nazi Death Camp." 1996. The Holocaust: Crimes, Heroes and Villians. 29 December 2014 <http://auschwitz.dk/Auschwitz.htm>. Ofer, Dalia and Lenore J. Weitzman. "Women in the Holocaust." 1 March 2009. Jewish Women: A Comprehensive Historical Encyclopedia. Jewish Women's Archives. 29 December 2014 <http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/women-in-holocaust>. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. "Women During the Holocaust." 20 June 2014. Holocaust Encyclopedia. 29 December 2014 <http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005176>.