Free Last Stork Summer by Mary Brigid Surber

camp life was definitely improving for us specifically – the food. For the past two days we actually received food three times during the day instead of only twice. There were sausages, potatoes and other vegetables in our soup, and it was in a thick milky broth instead of water. We also got milk every morning and night. It had been years since I’d tasted milk, and I’d truly forgotten how delicious it was. I wondered how they would hide our skinny, skeleton-like bodies, but at least for a week or so we would have more food. Some of the children were looking for places to hide some of their food. They didn’t trust that the Germans would continue to feed us like this after the Red Crossvisit. I knew better than to hide food in my bunk. If the guards found it, I would receive a beating.
    All of the normal food was having an unanticipated reaction on the digestive systems of the children who had been here the longest, including me. It seems the richness was too much for our starved bodies and stomachs. It was torture to be so hungry, and then immediately after eating, to find that we had to quickly run for the outhouse. The food was coming back up for many of us, as our shrunken stomachs refused to make room for unaccustomed food. Anna began to worry about me, but I assured her that I’d be fine after the representatives’ visit. I was confident that once we resumed our old eating habits my stomach would return to normal.
    Anna, as well as some of the newer, younger children had started going to classes in the new camp school. The older inmates still worked in the factories and fields. The sign above the Litzmannstadt Labor Camp had been changed to “Litzmannstadt School.” I tried to gently warn Anna that the classroom situation was probably only temporary. She seemed to understand her part in the deception the Nazis were staging for the representatives. I hoped she wasn’t thinking about speaking with any of the delegates, and filling them in on the details of the real conditions that existed in this miserable place. I could see how she would be tempted to do that, but such a bold move would only jeopardize her safety and possibly her life.
    The Nazi commander was famous for making an example out of a child who had misbehaved in some way. Public beating or sending the offender to another camp was usually the way he handled such defiance. Both types of punishment had lasting effects on those of us who were forced to witness it. The Nazis took such perverse pleasure in their ability to torture children. I could close my eyes during such times, but was forbidden to cover my ears. Hearing those sounds was agony for the children forced to bear witness to the brutality. A mass of fear and disgustpacked the hearts of the children, filling the juveniles in attendance with resolve to survive. It was proof that sometimes, fear and anger can be a good motivator.
    I was very curious about what they did all day in school. I asked Anna about her time in the classroom.
    “What’s it like, Anna? Is it like a real school?”
    She shrugged, then said, “I can’t speak their language, but I do understand most of it.”
    “So what do you do?”
    “I watch the other children and do whatever I see them do. It seems kind of dull, but I like it better than working in the kitchen or factory. Some of the kids told me the math questions were dumb.”
    “What do you mean, Anna?”
    “I don’t know, you should ask Berta.”
    “Ok, if I get a chance, I will.”
    “You have a good day and don’t get in any trouble today, ok?”
    “Ok, Ewa, I won’t. I’ll see you tonight.” Anna headed off to school.
    I wondered how long the school would continue after the Red Cross visit. I was confident it would end immediately after the delegates left. I was bothered by Anna’s remark about the math questions. What could she have meant by that remark? Was this school another deliberate attempt of the Nazis to Germanize the children? We’d