Chapter Two:
The Saint and the Schindler
Elizabeta opened her eyes to find herself in the cattle car, lying down, with feet on her. Tolys was trying to pull her up, saying hurriedly, "Elizabeta, come on! Get up!"
He pulled her up, knocking down the old lady who was standing on her. Elizabeta would've helped the old woman up, but she hit her head on the floor and was knocked out cold. Evilly, and not meaning to, Elizabeta thought, At least there is even more room.
A man, about forty or so, was screaming at the top of his lungs, saying, "FIRE! EVERYBODY, THERE IS A FIRE!"
Everyone tried to scramble to the windows, and Elizabeta peered out of her easy-access window. There was nothing outside except for the dead of the night wooshing by. The man pointed out her window, screaming, "FIRE! I TOLD YOU, FIRE! RIGHT THERE!"
Someone else shouted, "THIS IS GAHANNA, BUT THERE IS NO FIRE! SOMEBODY SHUT HIM UP, THERE IS NO FIRE!"
People began to beat him, but he continued to scream. Finally, he was knocked out, leaning against a young man who had held his hands over his ears.
The day finally came, the sun peering over the edge of the trees in the distance, in the window opposite of Elizabeta's. The man awoke slowly and screamed again, "FIRE!" He pointed at Elizabeta's darkness-filled window, not the window with the sun framed in it.
"THERE IS NO FIRE! IT IS THE SUN!" People began to beat him again. He silenced and leaned against the wall that time. The sun rose completely over the trees, and Elizabeta and every other Jew was faced with another day of torment—torment of heat, thirst, hunger, dead people under their feet, and messing themselves.
Haunted by the dream she had, Elizabeta told Tolys with her croaking throat, "I had a bad dream that we got off of the car"—"how is that a bad dream?" he asked softly, and she ignored him—"and were divided into genders. You went with our dads, and Mom and Annuska were sent down a left line, while Amalia and I went down a right line, and we got into a shower, but I think we died because I woke up, and in bad dreams, when you die, you wake up…"
Tolys barely heard her. He heard humming against his ears, and in actuality, Elizabeta had begun to merely murmur senseless sounds by the time that Tolys had interrupted her. She held not strength for words.
It would've been about lunchtime by the time that Fire Man woke up, screaming, "IT'S A BLAZE! THE WORLD!" sounding breathless and distant, he breathed, "It's on fire," eyes widening and glazed. He murmured, "It's…it's so hot…OH, GAHANNA COULD NOT BE SO HOT! FIRE! FIRE! THE INFERNO IS KILLING US, CAN'T YOU SEE?!"
Again, people beat him until he shut up. The Jews stared into space and breathed stinky, hot, searing dry air. They felt and acted like zombies. The two lively little girls that Tolys's sisters had once been had become nothing but ghouls.
Everyone had messed themselves multiple times by the time night fell again. How many days had it been? Five? Six? Of course, Elizabeta couldn't trust herself to not have slept through a whole day or imagined a whole day or slept for what seemed like a day when it was only an hour. She couldn't trust her judgment, but everyone believed it to be about six days at least, maybe eight or nine at most.
Night fell again, on the ninth day, and Fire Man screamed, pointing out the window—not Elizabeta's window this time; the other one, where the sun rose—and screamed, "FIRE!"
People were about to start beating him and yelling at him, but, above heads and between bodies, Elizabeta could see smoke in the distance, rising up in billows in their direction, the stink so putrid and evil.
The man started crying, collapsing onto his knees, and sobbed, "Fi-i-i-re…."
The cars stopped, and the doors were opened, and they were herded out. It was a lot similar to her dream, Elizabeta felt with a sinking feeling in her gut. She found her family, and they were again split into genders. Females on the right, males on the left. Jews were distributing cups of water, and those that came off of cattle cars started attacking each other to get water, often falling down and not getting back up.
Elizabeta, although hating herself for it, gave her water to the girls, not allowing either one to have more than the other. Once they drank, Elizabeta licked the inside of the cup, but the drops that she caught made her only thirstier. Elizabeta's mother gave her a cup of water, telling her with a raspy voice, "Take it."
Hating herself for this as well, Elizabeta took a drink. She thought, I'll give it back, after another drink. She kept repeating that process until it was empty, and she wished that she would just die because she left her mother thirsty.
They went down lines, and a Jew rushed by, telling them what Elizabeta had heard in her dream. Elizabeta would not lie that time, though. She told Tolys's sisters not to lie, either. Their mother whispered, "Good idea. I don't trust that guy."
Coming to the line, Am's and Ann's mother told her age, forty, and her name. She gave her children's names and ages, and after the Nazi's icy dark-blue eyes looked them up and down, he directed them to the left women's line. They went down, casting sad glances back at Elizabeta and her mother.
Elizabeta's mother told her name and age, fifty. Elizabeta gave her name and age, fifteen. Feeling their blood turn cold, the man said, "Right line."
They both stepped forward, then the man stopped them, barking angrily, "WAIT!"
He grabbed onto Elizabeta's left arm and yanked her closer. She tried not to make a sound or protest. He looked her up and down, then said, "This one goes down the left line." He glanced up at Elizabeta's mother, both of them afraid of being separated, then he said, "You still go down the right line."
Elizabeta's hand was squeezed by her mother for what would hopefully not be the last time. They separated at only the last moment, and Elizabeta went down the left line. She walked, feeling her insides shrivel up slowly and die even more agonizingly slowly. During the cattle-car ride, she had often thought, "Lord, please, don't let me die…" Then, she felt greedy, because a whole lot of other people, Jews and Gentiles alike, did not want to die, yet they did, so why was she any more special?
Perhaps death didn't feel so bad. It couldn't feel worse than the emotional pain clawing at her insides. She saw a building looming ahead, a furnace, with smoke and a very foul smell coming out of it. Blood freezing solid this time, Elizabeta figured that she was about to die. Oddly enough, her line went AROUND the fire-place, and the right line led to it…IT LED TO IT?! Elizabeta wished that her line headed to the fire-place instead of the line where her friends and family went! Feeling her insides die entirely, she followed the rest of the group emotionlessly.
Amalia saw a place with smoke coming out of it loom ahead to their left. That couldn't be anything bad—it's like a grill, right? They're going to cook or eat there! Right? Right as they were about to enter, a voice came from the right side of the barbed wire fence, a male voice barking, "HEY, YOU! LIKE, THE MOM WITH TWO KIDS AND THE WOMAN NEXT TO HER!"
Halting, they, including Elizabeta's mom, turned toward the voice. He could only mean them, because everyone else didn't qualify for that A man stood on the other side of the fence, right up as close to the barbed wire as he could get without actually spearing himself, wearing a black business suit, pink tie, with straight blonde hair, parted down the middle, that stopped by his chin. He had green eyes and had a swastika pin on his pink tie. He nodded and said, "Yes! You guys! Like, come to the fence!"
Gulping, Amalia squeezed her mother's hand as they, including Elizabeta's mom, pushed through the crowd to get to him. He shoved his hand between the wire, saying, "You're totally coming with me! Lock hands with my hand and walk with me by the fence so we won't get, like, separated!"
The man pulled Elizabeta's mom along the fence, her hand hooked with Annuska's hand, who was connected to her mother's hand, who was connected to Amalia's hand. Jews looked at them with looks of envy, concern, and some other feeling like, "Just get those things out of here". When the man's arm and Elizabeta's mother's arm approached a support for the fence, they let go for only the moment to pass it, then held hands again. The man told them softly, "I totally need workers for my factory, and you guys are gonna like, totally work for me. I totally make clothes and shells and door hinges and stuff, and since women are, like, the best at making clothes and kids totally have hands for reaching inside of shells, you're all, like, working for me! Got it?"
Nodding hurriedly, they all said, "Yes, sir."
Seperating their hands and reconnecting them again, the man continued, saying, "I, like, need workers. I'm running low on workers, got it? So I totally got you guys! Glad I totally got you before you totally entered the crematoria!"
They came to the end of the fence, and they separated hands again. The man told them, "You need to totally follow me."
Obeying, they followed. Amalia and Annuska were confused and didn't know what was going on. The man, Feliks Łukasiewicz, was getting the sentenced-to-death-Jews because the last time he had dragged ready-to-work Jews, he got yelled at by Ludwig Landa for taking his workers.
And that was totally why he was, like, getting the ready-to-be-killed Jews.
Meanwhile, Elizabeta had entered a room like the one in her dream. They were naked, as well, waiting for something to happen. The metal door was latched, and Elizabeta hugged her naked body, clenching her eyes shut, praying that they wouldn't die. Well, if she died, she would find her family…
Women and girls were panicking, saying, "Unlike you, I'm one of the ones that have been here for months! I just came from another camp, and there, some of the men were talking about gas chambers that look like showers so we will feel safe!"
"Why did they tell us to get soap, then?"
"SO WE WILL THINK WE'RE SAFE, WHAT DID I JUST TELL YOU?!"
There was a loud boom sound, and the lights went out. Screaming filled the air, and Elizabeta found herself screaming to, dropping to her knees and trembling in fear. A loud "HHSSHHHH" filled the air, and water sprayed over all of them.
WATER!
The water was neither cold or hot, like it was left in a bucket left out in the sun. It felt very good, though, from their exhaustion! They drank the water and fought over who stood under the faucets. Everyone got nice and drenched and hydrated by the time that the water turned off. They felt cleaned and refreshed, like they started living again. Leaving the shower room, they were given new clothes. Nazis inspected the Jewish girls and women, and Elizabeta felt like a chunk of meat under their icy gazes. She hoped that her family and friends were alive, although it was nearly impossible.
A Nazi grabbed onto Elizabeta and three other girls slightly older than her, barking at them, "You! You go work at the east crematoria!"
He shoved them toward another Nazi who barked even harsher, "Follow!"
They rushed to keep up with his fast pace, feeling their insides curl and churn, heads becoming light-headed and the threat of puking was high. The first Nazi walked behind them, and when he noticed one of the girls, Janika, was stumbling and struggling to keep up, so he hit her in the back of the head with the butt of his gun. She yelped, falling down. Elizabeta gasped, dropping to Janika's side and yanking her up quickly. Elizabeta pushed the girl in front of her, forcing her to march.
Sarah, another girl, saw Elizabeta's example and, even though she was tired and weak, grabbed onto the last girl's elbow, pulling her along as well. The other girl was Maria, and she had been malnourished even before the cattle car incident. The Nazi at the back laughed, grabbing onto Elizabeta's hair and begun to shake her head, making her grind her teeth at the feeling like her neck would snap, and he told the other Nazi, "We have a saint, here!"
He slapped Elizabeta in the left side of her head with the back of his right hand. She yelped in sudden pain, dropping to the ground. Ringing filled her brain, tears streaming down her face, cranium on fire. The Nazi laughed and kicked her in the stomach, barking in an explosion of anger, "GET UP! MARCH, JEW!"
Elizabeta clawed at the ground, trying to get up, but she was kicked again, the monster screaming, "FASTER!"
With strength she didn't know she had, Elizabeta jumped to her feet and joined the line. The Nazi, hating Jews—obviously—had to hand it to the Jew that she regained her rank quickly. Less trouble for him.
They dropped them off in front of the east crematoria, the second Nazi—the one in the front of the line—telling them, "Now, you will drag the bodies and put them into the crematoria. Simple as that."
Marching away, the Nazis went off to torment some other poor souls. A Kapo and another two male Jews were there, dragging bodies to the crematoria. Elizabeta hated the idea that she would be working there, but the fact that she wasn't one of the bodies made her feel better.
Feliks, meanwhile, was in his office, overseeing his workers below. He looked through the window with the look that most Nazis gave Jews and Gypsies. His heart was hard and unchangeable, he believed, because those were, like, just Jews. If you looked a Jew in the eyes, you could totally see the devil.
Eduard, Feliks's assistant—a Jew—came to Feliks, giving him the daily report on how many clothes were made, how many hinges were made, how many shells were made, and everything. He also managed Feliks's money, because Feliks was totally bad at math and Eduard was an expert.
"Like, so much profit!" Feliks exclaimed. "Now, like, how are the newbies doing?"
Eduard gulped, stammering, "W-Well, sir. They c-caught on quickly."
Clasping his hands together, wearing light pink, airy gloves—they're airy because his hands were hotter without them on, surprisingly, even during the summer—Feliks said cheerily, "Ohmygosh, totally great! Now, like, go do your job?"
Rushing away, Eduard went to go check on how everyone was doing. He always made sure that nobody messed up, that way less people would die.
Night came, and everyone was sent to their barracks. Elizabeta shared a barrack with Sarah, Maria, and Janika. There weren't enough beds, so Elizabeta and Janika shared a bunk underneath Sarah and Maria. It was very hot and sticky again that night, so they sweated in their new clothes, but at least they were new clothes and they had showered and had water. Elizabeta and the others at the crematoria had gotten bread like everyone else, but someone beat Janika for her bread, so Janika gave it up. Elizabeta gave Janika the bread and whispered, "Now, you can't be losing your bread every day. I have to eat, too!"
Elizabeta was hungry, yet was glad that she had helped the frailer Janika. Janika had, in turn, given the even frailer Maria half of the bread given to her by Elizabeta.
Eventually, they all fell asleep in the camp that would become Gehenna even more so every day.
*OKAY, A SUCKY CHAPTER, I SHOULDN'T START STORIES THE SUCKY WAY, BUT DON'T HATE ME! Okay, I created a list of character identities. I'm also adding Inglourious Basterds to the list of inspiration, so here we go*
Poland – Oskar Schindler
Lithuania – Elie Wiesel
Hungary – Helen Hirsch
Prussia – Amon Goeth
Estonia – Itzhak Stern
Liechtenstein – Girl in the red coat
Austria – Juliek
Switzerland – Poldek Pfefferberg
Germany – Hans Landa
America – Aldo Raine
Canada – Utivich (little man)
England – Donny Donowitz/Bear Jew