David

David


The cold Polish air hit David as he walked through the snow. The Nazi sergeants were in the cars up ahead. One of them looked out the window and yelled in German “MOVE!” David quickened his pace along with the other people. He could hear his father coughing because of the cold. As he kept on walking he thought about his home in Warsaw. He remembered the beautiful grassy hills and their house. He remembered the big family celebrations and it brought a smile to his face. But now all he could was the hard Polish ground covered in snow. He heard a gunshot and surly enough he heard the screams. This wasn’t the first time this has happened. He looked at his father, his mother who was crying, his two brothers, Alex and Matt, and his little sister Gloria. They all looked tired and sad. “Keep strong my dear” his father said to his sister. “We are going to place that is warm, filled with toys and food and water.”
David knew exactly that his father was lying to his sister. They were going to some place that was completely opposite. They were going to Awsatiz.

As night neared they reached the construction camp. It had barbed wire surrounding the whole place. He saw smoke coming out of a chimney. They entered the camp and then stopped. The Nazi soldiers whispered to each other. Then the tall bald one screamed, “All women come with me.”
David looked at his mother and little sister with tears in his eyes as they hugged each other goodbye. He had a feeling he would never see them ever again. “Don’t worry David, we’ll each other very soon” said his mother with tears in her eyes. As they watched his mother and sister walk away, another one of the Nazi sergeants yelled, “Come one by one.” So one by one each Jew went to the Nazi sergeants and were either led to the left or right. Both his brother and father were sent to the right. He prayed to God they sent him to the right. When it was his turn he went up to the Nazi sergeants. They looked at him, touched his muscles, and made him turn around in a circle. They whispered to each other for what felt like a lifetime and then finally pointed to the right. David felt a sigh of relief fall upon him. It seemed like five hours had past in till the Nazi sergeants had finally separated the men. The group he was in was led down a path, while the other group went towards the big building with the smoke coming out of the chimney. As they were walking Matt whispered to David, “Where are we going?”
But as soon as he asked that question, a big barrack stood to the left of them. They stopped outside of it. “Strip down naked” yelled the soldier. David unsure of what was going on started to take his cloths off. When all of them were naked, a solider came out of the barrack with a hose. He started to spray all of them with water. The water felt like ice as it hit David’s body. Then when everyone was completely wet, they all went into the barrack twenty at a time. David saw the first few men come out. Their heads were shaved and were given new cloths and shoes. Finally, it was David’s turn. One man shaved his head and another brought him cloths and shoes. As he put them on he noticed the shoes and cloths didn’t fit him at all. “Umm excuse me, these don’t fit me” said David.
The Nazi solider looked at him and smiled. “They don’t fit you Jew?” and then with the butt of his gun hit him in the head. David’s world went in circles and the last thing he saw was his father and brother’s run to his aid.

David was laughing as his uncle told a joke to the family while they were eating. Every Sunday all of his family came to eat at his house. David heard his Uncle Thomas ask his father if they could talk in private. They went outside. Interested in what they were talking about David snuck out of the room and went to a window nearest to them. “Peter, the Germans are closing in on Poland” said his Uncle. “We must leave now”
“No, there’s no need for it yet” said his father.
“Have you lost your mind” “You’ve heard the stories about what they’ll do to us”
“We’ll wait these few days and see what will happen” said his father
“I’m telling you...”
“I said we’ll WAIT” said his father and went back inside. Two days later the Germans had defeated the Polish troops and controlled Poland.

As David opened his eyes he felt a sharp pain in his head. He looked around and saw he was in a room with 15 bunks with people on them. The room had one window and the walls were gray. “Hey!” said Matt surprising Matt.
“You ok” asked his father.
“My head hurts.”
“You got to understand David, this place isn’t like any place” said his father.
David nodded his head. Before anyone else could talk a Nazi solider walked into the room. “Come” he said.
Everyone got up and followed the solider outside. They were led to an open area filled with other men, waiting in line for food. They were given some kind of brown stew and hard bread. David’s father let them split his food. “What is this for gods’ sake” said Alex
“Eat my son, you’ll need the strength” said his father. After they were done the Nazi sergeants started to tell people what they’re jobs were. David and fifteen other boys were put into a truck and driven to a forest. As David got out he was afraid this wasn’t a job at all, but then he saw shovels on the ground. “Dig” yelled the Nazi soldiers. Each boy picked up a shovel and started to dig. The truck they come with had already left. There were only two Nazi soldiers now. They were aiming their guns straight at them. No one dared talk in fear of getting shot. Thirty minutes went by and David could hear the truck coming back up the path. The Nazi soldiers jumped out of the truck and opened up the back of the truck .All of a sudden, the soldiers started to throw dead bodies out of the truck. Then another and another. David could not believe his eyes. He could smell the stench from the dead bodies. The Nazi soldiers told them to put one by one each body in their holes they had dug and to bury just enough so you couldn’t see them. All the boys heisted for a minute. “MOVE” yelled a solider. All the boys ran to the bodies and dragged one back to their holes. David tried not to look at the body, but he already did. It had bullet holes all over its body. He tried not to breath. The body was of a gypsy woman. He could feel the vomit rising to his throat. He threw the body as fast as he could in the hole. He kept repeating this in till he picked up something he didn’t want to pick up, his mother. He knew he couldn’t make a scene. He picked her up gently. Tears started to flow down his face. She had a bullet hole in her head. He looked at her face for the last time and kissed her cheek. He gently laid her out and started to bury her. He closed his eyes. He could see her warm smile and her gentle laugh. Her beautiful blond hair. He could remember her hugging him before they were separated. For the first time since being here he truly hated the Nazi’s.

David looked out the window as the truck drove down the bumpy road. Even though it was sunny outside, the world felt gray around here. He thought of his mother. Even though he saw her body, he didn’t want to believe it. None of the boys talked. They all smelled of dirt, and of dead bodies. The van flew to a halt near the gate of the camp. “GET OUT” yelled a Nazi solider as he opened the back doors to the van. The boys got out and waited in till the gate to the camp was open. Once it was open the boys made their way to their barracks. It was night, so David had trouble finding it at first. He stumbled through the dark in till he could hear his brother Matt yelling. As he walked in he saw a large cut on Matt’s back. “Oh hello” said his father.
“Look what they did just because I wasn’t running fast enough” said Matt.
David didn’t know if should tell them know now or later, but something in him told him they had a right to know now. “Today...”
His father and brothers looked at him confused. “What about today” asked Matt?
“Mother’s dead” said David with tears in his eyes. Everyone went quite. His father fell on his bunk. “Are you sure of this” asked his father.
“Yes”
His brother Matt started to cry and cuss at the Nazi’s. “I’ll kill them, I swear I’ll kill them” yelled Matt.
Alex stood their starting at the ground. His father had his head in his hands. The other people in the room looked at them with sadness. A man went up to his father and said he was very sorry about his lose. Matt hit the wall with his fists. Alex now had tears in his eyes. “What she ever do to them” yelled Alex. “What did any of us do to them?”
“Where is God now” yelled Matt. “Where is he?”
David thought the same thing. Were was God now. Where was he?

“WAKE UP JEWS” yelled a solider as he walked into David’ barrack. There were sirens blasting in the distance. David started to get out of his bed slowly. “FASTER JEWS” yelled the solider and smacked one of the men in the barrack. David saw his father and two brothers get up. Matt looked at the solider with cruel eyes. Luckily the solider had turned around and not seen him. It was still dark outside as David made his way outside. He could hear yelling in the other barracks. David saw his fathers face as he walked out of the barrack. It was lifeless. David couldn’t bear his father like this. While they walked they passed by many Nazi soldiers. They all spitted on them. “Hello Jews” said a solider laughing. They finally were in the open area to get food. While David waited in line he looked at all the people. No one smiled or talked. Everyone seemed dead. Finally he got his food and made his way to his father and brothers. Once again their father split his food between them, but this time they didn’t reject it. They all sat in silence. He could tell they were all thinking about his mother. David remembered a much friendlier and fun person as his father. Now all that was left of him was his body. When they were done, David and the same boys were all led to the truck. “I’m making a run for it” whispered a boy named Andrew. “Who’s with me?”
None of the boys answered. “Alright suite your selves.”
The truck made its way up the bumpy dirt road. It finally stopped and they were let out. Once again the truck left and the soldiers held machine guns pointed directly at them. All the boys waited for Andrew to make a run for it. After a while the two Nazi soldiers started to talk to each other. Andrew laid down his shovel slowly. Then all of a sudden he made a run for it. Before he even made five yards they fired and he fell to the ground.
“You think we’re kidding Jews” yelled one of the soldiers. David looked at Andrews face. He had blooding coming out of his head. David turned away. He couldn’t bear see Andrew. Finally David could hear the truck coming up the path and more death was on the way.

David rolled around in bed. He couldn’t sleep. He could hear Alex snoring in the next room. He thought about what he heard a couple nights ago. What did his uncle mean by that they had to leave now? All of a sudden he could hear screaming in the distance. He got up and went to the window. He couldn’t see much because of the dark, but all the houses on the street had their lights on. He could see the outline of many men going to each house. “David get down hear” yelled his father from downstairs.
David ran out of his room and down the stairs. “Get everything valuable and burry it” said his mother. David very confused started to get all the china plates out of the cabinets. He grabbed anything else that seemed valuable and went to the backyard. His mother was already their. She was crying as she buried her mother’s locket. As soon as he had buried the last of the valuable items a bang went on the door. “OPEN UP” yelled a voice. His father went to the door and opened it slowly. The Nazi soldiers poured into the room, pushing aside his father. They trashed everything in sight. Taking anything the interested them. After a while of searching one of the Nazi soldiers approached his father. “Is this all you got” said the solider. “Yes this is all we have” said his father sternly.
The Nazi solider punched his father. Matt was about to jump on the solider, but David held him back. David’s father got up and once again said “You have them.”
The solider stared at him. “Let’s go” yelled the solider and all the soldiers left. His mother began to cry. His father didn’t say a word. The coaches were turned over and ripped; plates were smashed, pictures torn. David could hear Matt cussing at the men. “We should of left” thought David. “We should have left”

Four months had passed and things didn’t seem to get any better. They worked every day and had the same food every day. Rumor had it that the Russians were closing in on Poland, but it was only a rumor. Everyone in camp looked like skeletons. It was January and the cold had gotten much worse. There were some days that people just fell over and died. David waited in line for his food when all of a sudden sirens went off. David knew what it was and groaned. They had been having bomb shelter practice for the past month. David joined his father and two brothers as they ran to their barrack. David put his head in between his legs. He could hear the soldiers outside looking for any people who didn’t make it. Finally, sirens went off in the distance and they could go back outside. David ate his food and followed the rest of the boys to the van. As he got out of the van, he could tell the soldiers were very tense. David started to dig his hole. All of a sudden David heard sirens once again. The Nazi soldiers looked at each other and said something in German very fast. David could tell this wasn’t a practice. He heard airplanes far off in the distance. “IN THE HOLE” yelled the solider. They forced all the boys into one hole, as they took the rest of the holes for themselves. David could hear the planes getting closer and closer. He closed his eyes….

David and his family carried all their possession, as they followed the other people down the street. They were being forced into a ghetto. Nazi soldiers rode on horses making sure no one ran away. They spit on people and cussed at them. In the distance he saw an old women fall to the ground and one of the soldiers on the horse trampled her. David turned away from the women. They finally got to the ghetto. A barbered wire surrounded the whole place. Nazi soldiers stood at the entrance with guns in hand. One of the Nazi soldiers told his father what number there new house would be. It was twenty-one. As they made their way to their new house, David looked around. There was people every where. There was no way all these people were going to fit here. When they got to their house, there were already people going in it. As they entered it, David could see at least twenty-five people in one room. They all went to a corner and set all their things down. Matt left the room looking very annoyed and David followed him. “What the heck is this” said Matt. “There’s at least thirty people in their.”
“Why are they doing this to us” asked David.
“They’re doing this because they despise us.”
David looked at all the people passing by. “Why” he thought to himself. “Why?”

Early in the morning, David was woken to someone entering their house. “Get up and go outside” said a man. David groaned and got up. They had been living here for a month here and his back killed from sleeping on the ground. David and his family made their way outside. A couple of Nazi soldiers stood in front of a couple hundred people.
“You will al be moved to a new living location” yelled a short man. “You are to bring nothing, but the cloths you are wearing.” David didn’t think anything of it, but things were going to very worse.

David could hear bombs dropping in the distance. After a half an hour, they were let out of the hole. They van had come back and they were informed the Russians had bombed a nearby town. For the first time in a long time David could tell the soldiers were afraid. Not surprisingly they went back to work. When night came, the van took the boys back to camp. As David entered the open area he could hear people talking about what happened today. “I wish they had bombed us” said Matt as David approached them. “Better dead then here.” David’s father held out his soup to them. “No fathers eat it” said David.
“No please take it”
“No!” said David and pushed the soup towards his father. Matt and Alex also nodded their heads. As they made their way back to their barracks, David could hear people saying the Russians were very near. They could be here tomorrow or in two days the latest. David didn’t believe these things. David lay on his bed. Everyone else in the room was asleep. He thought about his sister Gloria. He wondered were she was and what she was doing at the moment. He missed her. He wondered if he would ever see her. He closed his eyes and dreamed of better times….

The next morning Nazi soldiers woke them up, but something felt very wrong. His father, brothers and him followed the other people to the open area. When they got their, David saw all the men in camp facing the Nazi soldiers. “The Russians are about five hours away from here” yelled a soldier. “We have been given orders to take care of you JEWS.” David’s heart dropped. A man started to make a run for it, but he was shot very quickly. His body fell to the ground. “COME” yelled another soldier. All the men followed them. He heard men praying, cussing, and crying. His father and two brothers didn’t say a word. They were led to a big building. They all entered it. It was dark inside. He heard men screaming. They closed the door. David closed his eyes and held his fathers hand. He knew what they were going to do. They were going to gas them. As he closed his eyes he could see his mother and sister smiling at him. He could see his house in Warsaw and his aunts and uncles. He could see his father laughing and his two brothers smiling. He was going somewhere nicer. Somewhere he knew had no misery. David was going to a place where he always wanted to be. He was going home.