As I was sitting there listening to them speak, I could almost feel the pain, the sorrow, and the fear that these people had experienced. They had been tortured and frozen, starved and deprived of everything. Some had been captured by Nazis and taken to concentration camps. They were lucky they survived. Others hid in the wild until the end of World War II. Yet others dug "graves" under ground with just enough room for them and for what little food they found.
In the concentration camps, people were forced to work and labor for hours, unending hours. They were beaten brutally if they made one tiny mistake. People slept in extremely close and uncomfortable quarters with wooden bunks with no sheets, mattresses or pillows and a row of holes in the wall for "toilets". Few people were lucky enough to survive. Many were beaten with whips. Some people were just abandoned and left to suffer by themselves. Millions were gassed.
Conditions in the wild were no better. All a person had was the clothes on their back and what little they could fit in their pockets. They had to find shelter out of the cold. A Person was lucky to find enough food to see him through the war, but some did. Among the many dangers were wild animals like hungry wolves.
The "graves" were no better than the wild. In fact, most of the time, they were in the wild. A person had to scrounge to find food. They were lucky that no insects or other animals found them.
Not long ago, my fellow classmates and I met with a group of survivors. I could easily tell that they had been through some very tough times. Some were anxious to tell us of their experiences, while other were reluctant to speak about it. They had lost everything they had, including family, but, more importantly, their dignity. After the war, they had to try to start again. That is why I have dedicated this page to the survivors of the holocaust. May we never forget what prejudice can do.
This page was created by Billy Gallagher
