I wake from the guard’s loud shouts
I slowly get up
Too slow
He takes me aside and beats me
I painfully get up and walk away

The smell of the old potato soup comes to my nose
I retch
The guard walks by
I clean it up

I think about Ma
I remember that day
I remember her screams and sobs
I remember the shrieks that came out of that tunnel
And the horrible smell of the burning bodies
I tried to cry but no more tears came

I was lucky
I was strong so the Nazis let me live
I think about my father
I had not seen him for some time
I miss him

I went to work
Hauling heavy anvils
All day long
Not a break
The sweat ran down my back
My striped pajamas were soaked

The day is over
I walk past a pile of dead bodies
I crawl over living skeletons to get to my bunk
I scratch my head
The lice are infuriating

Day after day I work
The hard labor takes away my health
More and more people are dying
I get skinnier and skinnier every day
Death has almost reached me

I heard loud guns
I staggered outside
A tank rolled in
I saw a white star on it
So different from the stained yellow star we wore
And at once I knew
The Americans had come
We were saved