The Virtual Historian

They looked almost wild. Someone threw a piece of soap to them and they began to fight over it, thinking it was food. I had never seen human beings behaving like this. They probably had not eaten any food for days. Then we were moved to the next hall, which had showers. Lukewarm water came from the showerheads for only a minute. I averted my eyes when I saw my father in the nude beside me. After the showers, we were moved again to another long hall. There were piles of torn shirts, underwear, socks, shoes and prisoners’ black-and-white uniforms in the hall. We did not have enough time to choose the right sizes, so when we were dressed, we looked completely shapeless. After this, we were brutally shaven all over our bodies and our arms were tattooed. We stood in a line with our left sleeves rolled up. A man came in and with a quick, sharp object, pricked our skin to tattoo our left arms. I received a six-digit number that I still have today, after forty-six years. I became concentration camp number 168329. It was still dark when we were pushed back into the trucks.We were driven only a short distance beneath the high barbed wire through a well-guarded gate to the camp. This is where we were to spend the next six months.