Auschwitz and Beyond - Facing History and Ourselves

I Promised
I Would Tell
Auschwitz
and Beyond
January, 1945
One night we slept in a hay
shed. It was wonderful to be
warm. I removed my soaked
shoes. What a mistake! When
the time came to put them
back on, my feet were so
frostbitten and swollen that
the shoes no longer fit. Blanca
ripped the soles from the
uppers and used rags to tie
the shoes to my stiff, bleeding
feet.
Most of the guards rode on
horseback. We only rested
when they were tired or too
drunk to move. Then we
would collapse. I would not
want to get up again. But
when the march began again,
Blanca would force me to my
In December 1944, as we began our march to
feet. At the time, I hated her
Auschwitz, the Nazis dismantled the camp’s gas
for that. I wanted only to rest.
chambers and crematoria. Although these
Another night, the guards
instruments of death were no longer working when
let some of us sleep in an
we arrived at Auschwitz, the killings did not stop.
abandoned factory. We
The Nazis simply reverted to less efficient methods
climbed to the floor beneath
of murder – beatings, shootings, and hangings.
the roof and collapsed in
Our march took us through the streets of
exhaustion. When it was time
Kraków. It was almost Christmas and brutally cold.
to move on, we heard the
People saw us, but nobody offered help. Some
frightful whistles and shouts
averted their eyes. Others stared through us as
of the guards. “Raus! Raus!
CREDIT: USHMM, courtesy of National Archives
The women’s barracks at Auschwitz immediately after liberation.
though we were not there. Perhaps, in a sense, we
Get going! Move!” We ran
were not there. We were no longer in the land of
outside. The other prisoners
the living.
were not there. While we slept, they had marched
unthinkable. Had my beloved mother become like
we continued to drag each other along the
When we came to Auschwitz, guards and SS
on. So the entire column was far ahead of us. We
this woman or had they killed her before she
slippery road.
men with vicious dogs forced a rush. Insults,
did not know how to catch up. Seeing our
became an animal? At that moment I hoped with
After many days the guards located a freight
swearing, screams, and endless humiliations
bewilderment, the guards said, “Look, there’s only
all my heart that she had been killed soon after
train with cattle cars. Our marching came to an
assaulted us and dulled our senses. They shouted.
a handful of you. If you want to stay here and hide,
entering Belzec. I convinced myself that this was
end. The cattle cars had no roofs. So we were
“Quickly. Quickly. Move. Form two lines, men and
go ahead. We’ll let you.”
true. There was a twisted kind of satisfaction in
soon covered with a blanket of snow.
women separately.”
I wanted desperately to stay, but my sister did
that belief. I ate some snow and marched on.
Surprisingly, the snow insulated us from the cold,
The lines passed before SS officers who directed
not trust the guards. So she grabbed my arm and
One day, I noticed my gloves were missing.
providing us with some measure of warmth.
to one side those unfit for work and to the other
pulled me in the direction of the column. I moved
“Blanca will kill me,” I thought. Fred, our friend in
We received no food. So we ate snow and let it
side, those who still had some life in them for
like a robot, too numb to fight her. Some of the
Plaszów, had given me the gloves. Now I had lost
melt in our metal cups so that we could drink it.
forced labor.
others chose to stay behind. I looked back at them
them. Or perhaps someone had stolen them. My
When we crossed into Czechoslovakia, some
Behind the barbed wire, male inmates added
with longing. Then we heard shots. The guards had
tears soaked the snow. I cried for my mother, for
farmers risked their lives to throw us little bags of
their voices to ours. Desperate to have news of
killed them all.
me, for Blanca, for all of us. But most of all, I cried
potatoes and salt. For a while, we lived on that.
their loved ones, they shouted out the names of
One cold and windy morning, the guards
for my lost gloves.
When the train reached Germany, the guards
parents, children, brothers, and sisters. Some
seemed less watchful than usual. So a small group
I hoped that Blanca would not notice, but Blanca
kept stopping the train to find a place to unload
threw pieces of bread over the barbed wire and we
of women slipped away in search of food. We saw
always noticed. She pulled me to my feet and
us, but every camp was full. In the end, we were
grabbed for the food. Their cries of longing and our
them by the side of the road, clawing at the ground
rubbed my hands until they felt less numb. Then
accepted at Bergen-Belsen.
screams of terror
to get at some
formed a chorus of
potatoes or turnips
inhuman sounds
that lay buried
Sonia wrote a poem about the
Sonia wrote a poem to honor the farmers
that filled the
beneath the snow. I
universe. But no one
sneaked up to see
who offered food to the starving Jews on
march. The final words
heard those awful
if I too might get
sounds except for
“lucky,” but I
the death march to Germany and Austria.
“Sh’mah Yisrael” are the first
us. We had been
simply could not
abandoned by the
penetrate this
words of a prayer religious
world.
mass of starving
The Righteous Gentiles
Jews recite three times a day.
It was very cold
humanity.
when we arrived at
Suddenly I heard
It is a prayer reaffirming faith
Auschwitz-cold and
a familiar voice.
There, where the darkness
wet. I do not clearly
Startled, I searched
in the one God.
was almost complete,
remember the
out the source of
sequence of events,
the voice. It
our spirit defeated and crushed ...
The main gate at Auschwitz I with electrified fence.
but Blanca and I
belonged to the
Death
March
The
ironic
phrase
that
appears
over
the
entrance
must have passed
mother of Romek,
A human cargo of twisted limbs
reads in English: “Work creates freedom.”
the first selection.
a boy from the
rushed toward slaughter.
Then we were
ghetto who had
A night ... A storm ...
deloused. After delousing, Blanca and I were
been in Plaszów with us. I had good news for his
Without food or water;
supposed to have our heads shaved and our left
mother. Romek was alive when we left Plaszów. In
Their blood still warm,
in transport trains, in freezing rainsarms tattooed with numbers-our “new names.”
fact, he may even have been on the march.
But on the day we arrived, there were too many of
Hastily, I ran to her. By the time I reached her, I
forgotten, alone-except for the few
soaking into the snow.
us and too few head shavers and tattooists. So
was trembling. I grabbed her shoulders and shook
who simply cared, who somehow dared
Their bodies recoil
Blanca and I don’t have number tattoos and our
her yelling “Don’t you know me? I am Sonia,
hair was never shaved.
Romek’s friend.” She looked at me with the blank
come close enough to help a Jew ...
upon frozen soil,
We were not in Auschwitz long. As the Soviet
stare of madness. “Listen to me,” I insisted. “Don’t
army moved toward Kraków and Auschwitz, the
you want to hear what happened to your only
oblivious to the flow
Nazis began evacuating Auschwitz. My sister and I
son?”
These were Christian peasants
were among the approximately 58,000 prisoners
She shrugged and shook me off. Her voice was
of pain, that whips.
who were forced on the now legendary death
shrill and hoarse as it emerged through broken
who sometimes would throw
Their lifeless lips
march to Germany and Austria.
teeth and cracked lips. “Get away from me,” she
bags of raw potatoes
Years later, I learned that ten days after we left
screamed. “Get away, or I will tear you to pieces or
belie this final hell.
the Soviets reached Auschwitz. Only a few days
choke you to death.”
and we would have been saved. But this was not
She hissed and lashed out at me, kicking the
At the break of dawn
Into cattle cars
to be our fate. Instead we marched, and we
other women at the same time. Her legs were
they
barely
moan,
marched.
swollen to almost twice the size of her body. Her
through the iron bars
The ground was slippery with ice. Many people
feet were bleeding through the dirty rags. In her
a
silent:
“Sh’mah-Yisrael.
of hopeless despair ...
slipped and fell and could not get up again. Others
hands she clutched some unidentifiable scraps of
collapsed from exhaustion. Nazi guards kicked the
food. I backed off and ran. I thought, “Was she but
fallen bodies into ditches along the side of the
a looking glass of my own image? Is this what the
road. Every day we saw more bodies. We prayed
camps did to people?”
that our lives would end quickly.
A cold chill ran up my spine as I considered the
CREDIT: USHMM, courtesy of Instytut Pamirci Narodowej
THE STORY SO FAR: By the end of 1944, World
War II was starting its sixth year. By then, Sonia
and her sister Blanca had experienced the loss
of their parents, other relatives, and friends and
somehow survived the hardships and cruelties of
the Kraków ghetto and later slave labor at
Plaszów. As the Russian army moved west, the
Germans made plans to close the camp.
According to rumors, the surviving prisoners
would be taken to Auschwitz – the largest Nazi
concentration and extermination camp, located
about 37 miles west of Kraków. Auschwitz was
built in 1940 as a camp for political prisoners. In
1941, it was expanded when the Nazis added
Auschwitz II or Birkenau. The gas chambers and
crematoria were located in this part of the camp.
In nearby Monowitz, the Nazis added a forcedlabor camp-Auschwitz III, also called BunaMonowitz.
Activities
Pre-Reading
The graphic organizer below is divided into three columns headed “Scenario,” “Prediction,” and
“Outcome.” Based on information in each scenario, predict what you think will happen. Record your
prediction beneath the “Prediction” heading.
Scenario
Prediction
Outcome
“As we began our march to
Auschwitz, the Nazis dismantled
the gas chambers ....”
“Our march took us through the
streets of Krakow. It was almost
Christmas. People saw us,...”
“After delousing, Blanca and I
were supposed to have our heads
shaved and our left arms tattooed
with numbers...”
Post-Reading
Examine your completed graphic organizer. Were your predictions accurate? In the fourth scenario which
describes Sonia’s desire to stay behind, what do you think would have happened if Sonia and Blanca had
stayed behind? Why do you think Sonia wanted to stay behind? Are results easily predicted in the
circumstances Sonia and her sister experience? Why or why not? Record your conclusions in your journal.
A bystander can be described as an individual or an institution who is aware of the victimization of others
and chooses to do nothing. Conversely, an upstander is an individual or an institution that recognizing the
victimization of others chooses to act on their behalf. Examine the scenarios listed on the graphic organizer
again. Determine which scenario describes bystanders and which scenario describes upstanders. Respond
in your journal.
Extended Activity
Although Blanca and Sonia have no control of their situation, small decisions made along the way had large
effects on outcomes. Identify one of the small decisions that Blanca and Sonia made that had a large effect
on an outcome. Think of a time when you made a small decision that led to a significant outcome. In your
journal, explain the decision and outcome, providing details and description. Entitle your work.
Art Reflection
When they chose the role of upstander, the peasants described in Sonia’s poem, “The Righteous Gentiles”
risked their lives, unlike others who knew of the victimization of the Jews . Why do you think the peasants
chose to act? Discuss your reasons in your journal.
“Some of the others chose to stay
behind. I looked back at them with
longing. Then...”
Newspaper Activity
Find an article in which a bystander and an upstander can be distinguished. Read and summarize the article,
explaining how the persons or institutions in the article relate to the definitions of bystander and upstander.
“We received no food. So we ate
snow and let it melt in our metal
cups so that we could drink it.
When we crossed into
Czechoslovakia, some farmers...”
Read with your family and friends Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Guided Reading
Read the excerpt silently. As you come to the scenarios listed on the graphic organizer, read to determine
what happened as a result of the event listed under “Scenario”. Record your findings in the third column of
the graphic organizer.
www.facinghistory.org
For information on “I Promised I Would Tell,” call Bill Bailey at 529-2571.
The “I Promised I Would Tell” excerpts, along with maps, photos and activities, are on The Commercial Appeal’s website. Also, the text of the book in its entirety may be found here. Go to www.commercialappeal.com. Click on Education, then on NIE.