Toney's+WWII+Narrative+Essay

__**"Work Means Free"**__

"Daddy when can we go home?" "I don't know Mira, I hope very soon because living in this isolated neighborhood for just us Jews isn't very fair. We have no rights here! We can't leave here, we have to work for those German,S.S., filthy rats, and from what it looks like they are planning on taking us to these camps where they kill us in Gas Chambers! What did I ever do to deserve this, huh, Hitler, why?!? So, I don't really know. Sorry I got carried away honey." "Are they really going to do that to us, send us to those things, Gas Chambers?" "I hope not, I really hope not."

//"Fast forward three years..." //

"What's that smell Daddy?" "It's all of our waste and stuff, we only have a bucket to pee in and it's smells horrific. We're in these overcrowded "trains", more like cattle cars, that we're riding in, going somewhere. All of this luggage and people crammed in to here makes it so hard to breathe, let alone stand and be comfortable. I don't know how much longer we are going to have to stay in here, but all I know is that this sucks and smells." I am trying to keep Mira close to me because I don't know how she could handle it without me crouching down and getting her on my shoulders every once in a while for air. The temperature now is about 100 degrees in the train, and adding all the body heat, it's well over 120 degrees with no food or water it's so hot I can't stand it. There are so many dead bodies lying around and some are still standing because of how crowded it is in our car.

"How are you feeling Mira, you look a bit sick?" "I feel nauscious and light headed Daddy. I have no energy, I need to get off this train, we've been on it for three days now!" "I know honey, we'll get off anytime now, you just have to stick with me okay; promise?" "Promise." "Okay, get on my shoulders so you can get some air." She looks very pale and sick, she has lost about 15 pounds already on the train. I've been praying for her every day and night.

"Everybody off the trains now! Leave your luggage in the cars and line up in rows of five, men on the left, women and children on the right. Move it!" "Mira! Stay with me, we can line up next to each other. Hold my hand, stay with me." "Listen up Jews! Here at Auschwitz you aren't human beings anymore, you're numbers, you will get a number on your left wrist and that will be your name." I never let Mira out of my sight. We lined up next to each and tried to stay together. As we walked up to the doctors I saw some healthy men sent to the right side and little kids and weak women sent to the left side. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">"Mira, stand straight and tall, look healthy, even though you are sick." Every step you take, walking toward Dr. Mengel, it seems like 50 pound bricks are dropping on your shoulders. "Myra! No! Get to the right side. Other way!"


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">[[image:http://isurvived.org/Pictures_iSurvived-5/auschwits-birkenau.GIF width="794" height="594" caption="The entrance to Auschwitz."]] ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">The entrance to Auschwitz. ||

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">"Turn around you filthy rat!" <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">"Okay sir, sorry." <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">"Step to the right." <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">"Myra!" I can't see her. There are so many people crowded here.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">"Move it, you JEW! March to your barracks. Now!" <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">"But sir, where are those barracks?" <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">"Go! Now! Or I will shoot you dead right here. Or I can send you the other way to go up that nice chimney over there." (Sob, sob) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">"So all those people sent to the left are going to the gas?" <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">"That's what I said! Go!" <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">"But Mira went to that side." <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">"Go! Now!"

//<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">"The next day..." //

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">"Hey, Jim (my name) have you seen your daughter yet?" <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">"No, Frank, you?" <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">"No, I have heard some rumors that they were sent right to the gas." <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">"That's where my Myra went. She went to the left Frank! She went to the left; she's dead." (Sob, sob) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">"You know man, my wife went to the left also. I mourn for her even though she has been dead for less than a day. I know that I have to stay positive if I want to survive myself." <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">"Yeah, I guess you're right. If I want to survive, I can't focus on Myra, who is already dead. It just hurts so much; it's hard."

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">"I know, but just stay with me alright. The sign outside the camp said, 'Work Means Free', so if we do what they say, maybe they'll keep us alive." <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">"But you saw what they've done to half of us already, they're dead Frank, dead!" <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">"Just try to keep your head up at least for me because you've lifted me up so much seeing you now in here; I thought that all my Jewish friends are dead by now, but knowing that I'm not the only one really helps. Bye."


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">[[image:http://www.holocaustresearchproject.org/othercamps/galleries/auschperiod/Auschwitz%20gate%201940.jpg caption="The sign leading into Auschwitz reading, "Work Means Free.""]] ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">The sign leading into Auschwitz reading, "Work Means Free." ||

//<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">" Two weeks later..." //

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">" Get up you JEWS!" <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">"What did he say Frank?" <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">"He said to get up! Stop sleeping Jim! Get up!" <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">"Alright, alright, don't have to make a huge fuss about it,"

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">"All of you filthy rats, line up in rows of seven, quickly! Now, lie down, stand up, jump, jump again, lie down, stand up........" <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">"Hey, Frank, did you see that guy over there get shot?" <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">"Yeah, for no reason, our barracks' supervisor just shot him." <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">"Oh man, watch out! He's right behind you running full speed." <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">"Thanks Jim, but he just hit that guy over there with his bat. I think that he's dead."

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">Lie down, stand up, jump, lie down, jump up..... until 7p.m. ( 8 dead)

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">"Now who knows how to fix shoes in here?" <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">"I do, sir." <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">"All of you who just raised your hand, come up to the front now. Here is a beat up, worn down, old shoe. One for each of you. Fix your shoe in a half an hour, and make it look brand new with no tears or anything in it."

//<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">"Half an hour later..." //

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">" Let me see those shoes! All of you, now! Hand them all to me so I can check on who did the best job." <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">" Here you go,sir." <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">" I don't need your backtalk!" //SMACK... SMACK...SMACK// There's blood all over the spider-web infested floor from the brutal beating.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">"Who fixed the black- leather boot with the dog tag hanging off the laces?" <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">"I did, officer." <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">"Follow me over to the shoe-making building. We needed a replacement worker for #589943 who died yesterday."

//<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">"At the shoe shop..." //

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">"Here's the shoe shop. You're going to fix all the tears in each and every one of these 200 hundred shoes on these shelves in a week." The smell in here is rancid. It smells like shoe polish mixed in with burning flesh from over at the crematorium.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">"Yes, sir." <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">" It will be, or else." He pointed over to the chimney through the one, one meter by one meter window in the little wooden hut.

//<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">"Next day.." //

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">"Hey, Frank, these barracks are terrible." There are 400 prisoners in here, where there are only supposed to be 65 horses. It smells worse than the shoe shop because of the unsanitary bathrooms and the unbearable body odor of men who haven't showered in months. It's jam packed in here so there is no peace ever and you have to share the top half of your bunk with 4 other men. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">"I know, but the worst thing is that disease, typhus, going around. That stuff will make you throw-up like no-one else's business and take away all of your energy. Likely in here, though, it'll kill you since it's spreading around the camp like wildfire because of all of our mal-nourishment. My friend that I met yesterday while doing our 'exercises' just caught it, and is almost dead." <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">"Dang, that stinks, if you catch that you're toast, because there is no real doctor around here; is there?" <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">"No, not that I know of."


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">[[image:http://pictures.polandforall.com/images/auschwitz-birkenau-camp-barracks-interrior.jpg width="765" height="573" caption="The barracks at Auschwitz."]] ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">The barracks at Auschwitz. ||

//<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">"At the shoe shop..." //

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">The only way I know how to fix shoes is that I had a job at age 28 at a workshop that taught you absolutely everything you need to know about fixing shoes. There are so many shoes here though, I don't know if I can fix all of these shoes on these rusted, molded shelves.

//<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">"Three days later...in the shoe shop..." //

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">"Fix these boots for me within the hour!" Oh, man, these boots are in terrible condition; and within the hour is impossible.

//<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">"One hour later..." //

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">"Give me my boots you rat, and they better not even have a scratch on them anymore." <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">"Here you go sir, I did my best. Your boots were in..." <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">"I DON'T CARE YOU JEW!!! You retarded piece of muck, you're worthless! (//Smack! Smack! Smack!!!)// If I hear of you not doing your job anymore, you will get fifty lashes, and after that, I will hang you in front of everyone to see." <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">"Yes, sir." I'm about half way done with all the shoes in the shop.

//<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">"Four days later...end of week..." //

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">"You better have gotten these done or you're toast!" <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">"Here you go sir this is the best I could do." As he checked the room I worry about the last guard. He could have spread the word about me not doing a good job; and that could get me killed right here right now. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">"You did good for a Jew." That's it nothing else for all of this hard work? I guess I should have expected that.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">"Here you go you Jew you did alright." <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">"Thank you sir so much for the full sausage." He gave me a SAUSAGE. A full sausage!!! I have been so hungry that I have been slipping in and out of consciousness.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">"Thank you sir!" <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">"You're lucky and don't think that it'll ever happen again." I continue to work there for 6 more months.

//<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">"6 months later..." //

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">"Everybody outside for Appell, now!!! Line up outside in rows of 5. From left to right count off 1 to 23." I'm in row 22. "Number one, march and line up across the trees." Pow. Pow. Pow. They're all dead from gunshots. It went on through 18 before anything "odd" happened. A message came in from the head of the Nazi's; Adolf Hitler, reading;

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">"The Soviet's are advancing closer and closer to our concentration camps. Destroy any evidence of murders or anything else, leave all Jews in the camps to hopefully die of starvation. Get out fast!"

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">Madness is the only way I can describe the scene of S.S. guards burning everything from the gas chambers to the documents listing the deaths, they were trying to bury some dead bodies while other guards were carrying them into the forest. All of a sudden though, they were gone. No S.S. guards in sight.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">"Hey! Hey!" Everybody's yelling trying to find out what to do. It's a mad scene and everybody's in the camp locked in. All of a sudden, I saw Frank! He was in the 19th row!

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">"Frank! You're alive!" <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">"Jim! How are you?!!" <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">"Oh my gosh, I think we made it out of this mess!" We hugged for about 5 minutes crying our eyes out in joy, with that I saw something out of my right eye. The front line of the Soviets. We are free!

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">Bibliography

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;"> "Holocaust History." //Deportations to Killing Centers//. Web. 28 Mar. 2012. < [|http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?Moduleid=10005372]>.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;">Spiegelman, Art. //The Complete Maus: Maus I -- A Survivor's Tale; Maus II -- And Here My Troubles Began//. New York: Pantheon, 1997. Print.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 150%;"> //United States Holocaust Memorial Museum//. Web. 28 Mar. 2012. < [|http://www.ushmm.org/outreach/en/article.php?moduleld=10007718]>.