Free Kanada by Eva Wiseman Page A

others. We scrambled back down. Each of us was given a rusty metal bowl and a spoon. Another line-up followed the first. A prisoner standing by a black metal cauldron dished thin soup into my bowl. A piece of turnip, the type farmers used to feed their cattle, floated on top of the murky liquid. The brew gave off a putrid odor that turned my stomach.
    “I can't drink this slop! It'll make me vomit. I'm going to dump it.”
    “Don't you dare!” Agi grabbed my wrist. “We haven't eaten for days. You'll get sick and weak if you don't eat.”
    She didn't let go of me until I held my nose and poured the soup down my throat the way I used to take the medicine the doctor prescribed whenever I was sick back home.
    We woke at dawn the next morning to the barking of the dogs and the curses of the Kapo.
    Agi and I were on the top level of our three-tiered bunk sleeping with six strangers. We climbed down, our hands and feet full of pins and needles. We straightened our clothing as best we could. We weren't allowed to wash. Nor were we allowed to go to the latrines before we were driven outside. The Kapo's baton and the ss's truncheons and the threat of their boots hurried us along.
    “Line up! Rows of five!” shouted the Kapo.
    Agi and I stood side by side, droplets in a sea of prisoners. To my left was a small woman with a gentle face.
    “My name is Eva Foldes,” she said. “I am from Szombathely. I've been here for a month already.”
    I introduced myself. “Do you know where they took our parents? I want to find my mother and grandmother.”
    The woman seemed reluctant to reply. “I heard that the buildings with the chimneys … no, no. It's not worth repeating such nonsense.”
    “Please tell me what you heard! Not knowing is the worst of all.”
    “I was told that the people chosen to go left by Dr. Mengele after we got off the train –”
    “Dr. Mengele?”
    “He was the SS officer on the unloading ramp. He was the man who told us which way to go.”
    “He sent my mama and grandmama to the left. Where were they taken?”
    She didn't answer for a long time, then pointed to the dark smoke belching from the tall chimneys behind us. “There is your family,” she said so quietly that I had to strain to hear. “The Germans gassed them, then burned their bodies. The buildings with the chimneys are crematoria.”
    “I don't believe you!”
    She hung her head. “It's true.”
    There was a sudden roaring in my ears. Spots appeared in front of my eyes. I opened my lips to scream, but Eva clamped her hand over my mouth.
    “Don't be foolish!” she whispered. “If you call attention to yourself, they'll kill you!” She leaned over and caught hold of Agi's sleeve. “Your friend needs you!”
    I felt myself slumping to the ground, but Agi and Eva grabbed my arms and held me up.
    “They murdered our mamas and my grandmama!” My voice was a stranger's.
    Agi's face blanched. “Dear God,” she cried. “It can't be!”
    “Agi, it must be true. Remember the bodies on the cart and what the man pushing it told us? Eva is saying they
gas
them and
burn
them.” I was silenced by the bite of the Kapo's baton on my shoulders.
    “Schweig, Jude!” It was the roar of a beast.
    I stared past him, forcing myself to remain expressionless.
    “So you think that you're better than me, Miss High-and-Mighty? You'll come off your throne soon enough!” the Kapo howled, marking each word with a blow of her baton to my head.
    I bit my lip, determined not to let her see me cry, and tried to shield myself with my arms.
    Fortunately, one of the SS called her and she left. Eva squeezed my hand.
    “Take a deep breath. It helps with the pain.”
    The Kapo returned with the prisoner chosen by the SS to be the Blockälteste. The German officers themselves, the Kapo, and the Blockälteste marched between the rows and rows of exhausted and hungry women, counting and recounting the number of prisoners present. With each passing moment, the Kapo