Chapter 6

Summary

 

In the blizzard and the darkness, the prisoners from Buna are evacuated. Anybody who stops running is shot by the SS. At last, the exhausted prisoners arrive at the Gleiwitz camp, crushing each other in the rush to enter the barracks. In the press of men, Eliezer and his father are thrown to the ground. 

Fighting for air, Eliezer discovers that he is lying on top of Juliek, the musician who befriended him in Buna. Eliezer soon finds that he himself is in danger of being crushed to death by the man lying on top of him. He finally gains some breathing room, and, calling out, discovers that his father is near. Among the dying men, the sound of Juliek's violin is heard in the silence. Eliezer falls asleep to this music, and when he wakes he finds Juliek dead, his violin smashed. 

After three days without bread and water, there is another selection. When Eliezer's father is sent to stand among those condemned to die, Eliezer runs after him. In the confusion that follows, both Eliezer and his father are able to sneak back over to the other side. The prisoners are taken to a field, where a train of roofless cattle cars comes to pick them up.

Quote:

"The front followed us..... we no longer had the strength or the courage to think that the Germans would run out of time, that the Russians would reach us before we would be evacuated."

Reaction:

This section is a depressing sight, the S.S. has crushed these people so much that to hope of a hope is to much effort. They were force to run over 20km with no cold protection, food, or any other essentials. Eliezer is very lucky his father and him give each other strength I'm sure neither of them would have made it without the other.

After Liberation, video about the liberated camps.

Holocaust Horrors