At Drancy, at least, conditions are a little better; there is air to breathe, and there is food. Your stay there, however, is brief. Within a few days, you and thousands of other Jews are packed onto a train. The door is locked shut; you are uncertain of the destination. There is nothing to do but save your energy for whatever comes; you try to find a place to rest. It's not easy because the Germans have put so many of you in the railroad car that you have no room to even sit down.
After a long ride, exhausted, hungry, bedraggled, you are finally let out
of the car onto a long, concrete platform. Bright lights illuminate the
night. Guards and barking attack dogs force you to move down the platform.
If you do not move quickly enough, they hit you with clubs, yelling
schnell, schnell,
hurry, hurry.
At the end of the platform, a German officer directs most of the trainload
to one side with his baton; a few are shoved off to the other side. You
notice that you are standing in a group of young men and women — no
children, no old people, no sick people. You wonder what will happen to
the rest. They'll never be seen again,
another prisoner tells
you. The Germans will kill them.
but you have been selected to
live.
You learn that you are at Auschwitz. Claiming that you are a watchmaker, you are assigned to that work.