The Storm Troopers pull you from the attic and drag you
down the stairs. To your horror, Mr. and Mrs. Van Dyk are shoved up
against the wall and shot. You pray that the Drents escaped.
That's what happens to people who oppose the triumph of the
Third Reich,
the soldiers scream at you. Then you are marched off to Waterlooplein
where, with other Jews, you are placed on a bus and shipped to the transit
camp at Westerbork. There the conditions are bad: the fear, uncertainty,
and frightening rumors are worse.
Every day, some inmates are selected and put on trains out of the camp. They are never heard from again; you can only imagine the worst fate for them. Within a few days, you are selected for transport to the east. You and thousands of other jews are marched up to the siding where a train of cattle cars stands. The weather is bitterly cold, and you have only a light jacket; the sides of the cars are a lattice-work of slats, open enough for the freezing wind to whip through the interior. You are crowded into the car so tightly that no one is able to sit. The door slides shut, and you hear the click of a lock. With such terrible weather, hunger, and pain from cramped conditions, it is no surprise that, when you look about in the morning, you find fifteen people dead, frozen in an upright position. You and the other younger prisoners move them, stacking the corpses in one corner. You wonder how long you can hold out under these conditions.
If you think your only chance to survive is to escape from the train, continue to page 52.
If you despair and remain on the train, continue to page 53.