It was 1932 and Germany has been going through a rough time. Especially for a Jew like me. I was only 15 and already my life was changing in a blink of the eye. It was changing, and not for the good. But I have to try.

“Naomi! Adam! Where are you?” my father screamed.
“Coming! We are just getting the rest of the bread!” I replied back. The Nazis were going through all the houses one by one searching for Jews, so we had to hide. We owned a bakery and under it was a basement, where we were going to hide. We tried to get as much bread as we could because we don’t know how long we have to stay down there.
“Leave the bread! Let’s go!” father yelled. My brother, mom, father, and I all ran downstairs and then father locked the door. We were sitting when we heard someone come through the bakery door. “Oh shoot!” father mumbled, “I forgot to lock the door out there!”
Mother whispered, “It’s okay honey. It will be o-” She was interrupted by the banging of the basement door. A Nazi kicked open the, me and Adam started screaming and crying.
“You have 10 minutes before we leave. Hurry up and don’t make me mad!” a Nazi boomed. We all scrambled to our feet and each of us took bags filled with bread. We went upstairs with our heads down while they pushed us to the truck…
 

After about an hour, we get to what looks like a train station. A Nazi pushed us all off the truck.
“Hold my hand kids,” my mom tells us. All together we walked towards the gigantic group of people. Together we found a rusty old bench that we sat on.
Adam asked, “Father where are we going?”
“I don’t know son. I don’t know,” Father replied shaking his head. Then, a Nazi went in the middle of the crowd and blew a whistle.
“Listen up! All the men go to the left and the women to the right. NOW!” some Nazi named Hans bellowed. We all looked at each other with tears in our eyes as we hugged each other tightly.
“Father, Adam. I can’t leave you two. What are me and mom going to do? Why is this happening?” I cried.
“It’s okay. I promi-”
“I SAID NOW! “ Hans screamed, interrupting father. I let out a scream and hugged the two as mother tried pulled me away. We went on the opposite of each other as I cried into my mom’s shoulder. Soon, all the men were put into trains and at that point I knew I wasn’t going to see them for a long time.

As soon as the men left, all the women were packed into trains as well. Me and mom got onto the train last and when they shut the door, we were so close together that it was hard to breathe. We were in there for hours and maybe even days but I couldn’t keep track because we weren’t fed. There were small cracks on the walls and floor, which was the only air we got the entire ride. Then, we jumped to a sudden stop.
“Everyone up!” someone called as the doors were finally opened. Everyone climbed out and we stood in front a sign the stated, “Arbeit Macht Frei” which translated to, “Work Makes You Free.”
“Welcome to Auschwitz. This is where you will and work from now on,” Hans said with a smile on his face. We all walked into this unknown place as we were ordered to stand in a line. Multiple officers walked by asking what our names are. I was standing to next to mom and a girl named Freida. She started coughing and Hans told her to be quiet.
“Could I please have some water?” she squeaked.
“I told you to be quiet!” Hans yelled, clearly irritated.
“But-” she started but was shot and laid lifeless right next to me as I teared up and looked away…

It’s been about 4 months of this labor.  So many have died that I can’t keep track anymore. Everyone has pretty much lost their fat and is mostly bones and I can only imagine how we will look in a year. Mother and I have trying so hard to keep it together but we don’t have father and Adam anymore. We have been trying so hard, and I don’t know what the point is anymore. They treat us like we are animals, if not worse. We only get a small ration every 2 days. Today I was assigned to hand out rations but of course there was a Nazi watching my every move. While I was walking to the ration booth, I saw a little girl crying on the floor because an officer shot her mother. The officer walked over to the girl and held a gun to her face and was threatening to shoot her too if she didn’t stop crying.
“STOP! Don’t hurt her! She’s just a little girl!” I yelled, a little surprised for speaking up.
“What did you say?” he replied with anger in his voice.
“I said stop,” I mumbled. Before I could turn and run, he took his gun and hit me in the head but surprisingly didn’t shoot me. When I fell to the ground, he spit on me and walked away. When I touched my head, I realized that I was bleeding.
“Thank you,” A little voice spoke. I looked up and it was the little girl who I guess I just saved.
“You’re welcome,” I smiled. I got up and walked to the booth. After that, I kept quiet and did my work until I was excused for the night.

It was a week after I saved that girls life. We were all woken up for roll call. After they checked in everyone, they said that something will be happening.
“In about a day some men will be joining us because those pesky Americans don’t know how to leave us alone!” Hans announced angrily, “Now get back to work!” With that, we all scattered to do their useless labor. The next day, we woke and went to go stand for roll call when we noticed that the men were here. I scanned the entire line to look for Adam or father. Then, I saw Adam standing there along with all the men, but no father.  I looked at mom excitedly and she was crying tears of joy. Just as I was about to go hug him the Nazis came out.
“As you can see ladies, the men have arrived. Some will have to be sharing cots and now the men will be doing the harder work, so you should be thankful,” Hans smirked, “Now ladies and men, get to work or you’ll never be free.” After we all scattered, I ran towards Adam and hugged him as my tears were clouding my vision. Mom came over and we all cried together and hugged. Adam then let go of us and stared at the ground as he told us that father had died. We started bawling and hugged again but then an officer screamed at us to get to work. We wiped away our tears and hugged once more as we separated…
Goodbye World, I Will Miss You
Now that Adam was here, everything for me was looking up. The labor was still hard and since we had no muscle it was, 10 times harder, but I had my family and that’s all that mattered. Adam and I were building more cots when suddenly he fell because we tried to pick up more than 2 pieces of wood. I ran over and tried picking him up but he fell again. A Nazi saw him on the floor and yelled at him but Adam still couldn’t get up when he tried.
“Come on Adam, please get up. You have to!” I whispered
“Are you deaf? I said get up!” he growled. But he couldn’t, so officer took out his gun and pointed it at Adam.
“Please. I can’t,” Adam whispered weakly. But of course he still pulled the trigger, so I did what I had to. I jumped in front of the bullet…

My sister was the strongest and bravest person I have met. I really wish it was me instead of her and it should’ve been. Naomi should not have done that for me, I wish I could go back and take it all back starting with only taking one piece of wood. Mom and I are still at Auschwitz and since the incident, mom hasn’t been talking or eating, so she gives me her ration. All she does is work and occasionally cries when we go to bed. I’m so worried because I don’t think that I can handle another death in this family or I will truly give up. For good…