April 1942
Dear Journal,
After assuming power on January 30, 1933, the Nazis decided to establish a concentration camp immediately in 1942. These camps were established for the sole purpose of carrying out the industrialized murder of the Jews of Europe. In this Concentration camp in Germany, we experienced humane conditions. Camp authorities usually exercise unlimited, arbitrary power. This concentration camp is almost like a prison. I feel like I’m trapped inside. It consists of barracks surrounded by watchtowers and barbed wire. Its hard watching people die through mistreatment, diseases, starvation, and overwork. This German camp is known as the death camp. These camps were established to occupy Poland and Belarus, on the territory of the General Government. I’ve heard that over three million Jews would die in these extermination camps, primarily by poison gas, usually in gas chambers, although many prisoners were killed in mass shootings and by other means. These death camps, including Belzec, Treblinka, and Auschwitz-Birkenau are commonly referred to as "concentration camps," but scholars of the Holocaust draw a distinction between concentration camps and death camps. This camp feels like a death camp. I feel as if I’m getting weaker and weaker everyday. I do not get any sleep at night because of all the noise that is around me and everyday I pray that I do not die from the harsh treatment. Although there are many different groups here, such as Polish prisoners of war (POWs), Roma (or Gypsies), Communists, and homosexuals, as well as some Jehovah's Witnesses and others, most of us are Jews here and we are treated the worst. I hope that I can overcome the fear of dying in these camps. I’ve heard about the Internment camps that the Japanese were in was not as bad as this one. I wish that I could live the way I used to live before I was forced to come here.
Hoping to Stay Alive,
Amber
After assuming power on January 30, 1933, the Nazis decided to establish a concentration camp immediately in 1942. These camps were established for the sole purpose of carrying out the industrialized murder of the Jews of Europe. In this Concentration camp in Germany, we experienced humane conditions. Camp authorities usually exercise unlimited, arbitrary power. This concentration camp is almost like a prison. I feel like I’m trapped inside. It consists of barracks surrounded by watchtowers and barbed wire. Its hard watching people die through mistreatment, diseases, starvation, and overwork. This German camp is known as the death camp. These camps were established to occupy Poland and Belarus, on the territory of the General Government. I’ve heard that over three million Jews would die in these extermination camps, primarily by poison gas, usually in gas chambers, although many prisoners were killed in mass shootings and by other means. These death camps, including Belzec, Treblinka, and Auschwitz-Birkenau are commonly referred to as "concentration camps," but scholars of the Holocaust draw a distinction between concentration camps and death camps. This camp feels like a death camp. I feel as if I’m getting weaker and weaker everyday. I do not get any sleep at night because of all the noise that is around me and everyday I pray that I do not die from the harsh treatment. Although there are many different groups here, such as Polish prisoners of war (POWs), Roma (or Gypsies), Communists, and homosexuals, as well as some Jehovah's Witnesses and others, most of us are Jews here and we are treated the worst. I hope that I can overcome the fear of dying in these camps. I’ve heard about the Internment camps that the Japanese were in was not as bad as this one. I wish that I could live the way I used to live before I was forced to come here.
Hoping to Stay Alive,
Amber
No comments:
Post a Comment