I place my foot out of the railway wagon and the brightness around me stings my eyes. My eyes feel like they have never seen the sun before. The feeling of finally being able to walk freely is liberating after so many hours stuck in that dingy train wagon with hundreds of other sweaty and weary people. The sight of all those people streaming out of the train scares me out of my wits. I can see the tiredness and fear in the faces of the adults around me. I have no idea what is happening or where we are going. My mother is holding my hand tightly on one side, and my sister’s hand on the other side. I can sense the panic that is emanating from her, which she is desperately trying to hide behind a mask of bravery. “Move, move, move”, seem like the only words that come out of the mouths of the soldiers with their big guns pointing at us. As I get a glimpse of the place, my eyes rest upon an imposing sign above the gates ahead. As we are pushed closer the words “Arbeit Macht Frei” come into view as the haze lifts …show more content…
As we enter the building we are directed to a room where they strip us of our belongings and push us forcibly under the cold showers. There are no towels so we stand there dripping wet and cold on the concrete floor waiting for our turn to have our hair shaved off. I am so embarrassed and feel humiliated standing there naked. As we hold ourselves together we are told to go to the next hall where are we are thrown some wooden clogs and rags to wear. In the final hall I observe the women sitting with pens in their hands and before I can react a needle is piercing my skin and the hand holding me with such force releases me and I jolt back with pain. I look at my right forearm and see the numbers 18101 printed on my skin dripping with blood and I wipe away my tears of