Newsgroups: alt.revisionism,soc.history,talk.politics.misc Subject: LEST WE FORGET: The Fires of Auschwitz Followup-To: alt.revisionism Organization: The Old Frog's Almanac, Vancouver Island, CANADA Keywords: Auschwitz,fires "Deprived of all strength and the desire to live, confused and exhausted, we were pushed into another room. Before we had a chance to notice exactly what was happening, men with shavers began to shave our hair. One shaved our heads, another our underarms, and a young boy in a pair of shorts shaved the hair of our genitals. The men were experienced; it seemed to take no time at all. Oblivious to everything, we moved like robots from one shaver to another, yielding without a word. Nothing mattered any more. The long room was full of hair, some blond, some brown, some black. None was gray as there were no older women left among us. Then we were rushed into another room with showers. After all we had gone through during the last few days, it seemed that it was the gas that would now finish us. We looked at each other, realizing what our destiny was to be at last. No one uttered a word; we were resigned and ready. Suddenly the showers were opened, and freezing water rinsed our naked bodies. We were alive. ... It was now morning. Our discolored bodies were covered in the most ridiculous garments, and with the queer wodden shoes on our feet, we were quite a sight. We walked in fives. `How funny you look.' Pola started laughing. `And you, look at yourself!' Anna snapped. `Stop it, girls. We all look funny, but we're alive, aren't we?' Mania said. `Who cares? We might as well be dead,' Pola answered. `Stop it, will you?' I said sadly; for we had just turned off the muddy road and were marching in a different direction. All we could see, at a distance clearly visible against the morning sky that was in front of us, was fire. An ocean of fire. As far as the eye could see there was fire, and no other way to go. The hard morning light revealed a landscape dark with people and illuminated each vacant face. `What a beautiful sight,' Pola said acidly. Behind us, a woman was holding her daughter's hand, and I heard her say: `After all we have been through ... after this monstrous shaving ... we have to go into the fire now?' Her sixteen-year-old daughter replied calmly: `At least we shall be warm, mother.' That was, in fact, how we all felt by now -- a moving wall of broken-down forms driven by cold and despair. Despite all this, to me the fire also meant something else -- a tender reconciliation with my mother. In each little flame, I saw her kisses, her love, gliding toward me then heavenward. I heard her last words: `My angels, my dolls, may God help you.' We knew, now, that she must have been taken into the gas chamber during the night, and it was her body along with thousands of others, young and old, beautiful and ugly, that was burning in this inferno. And somewhere, too, through the searing flames, I could see the last worry on my dearest friend's face, when she said to me: `Take care of my son.' She, also, must have found her tragic end last night. I thought of how the two women had died together. We were now just a few steps away from the barbed wire separating us from the fire. At any given moment, the gate would open and we would be led into the fire where violent red flames were sending blue flecks into the dark, smoke-filled sky. It appeared that the Germans were playing tricks on us. During the last few days we had died an innumerable number of deaths; at first, the suffocation on the train, then the segregations, afterward, the showers, and now a fire. Most of us had experienced something akin to dying each time, and it was as if part of us had died each time. Yet this wasn't going to be the last time either. As soon as we were almost so close that there seemed to be no turning from it, we were led onto a different road and away from the fire. Nevertheless, the Germans had accomplished their goal, for in that fire, a great part of our soul had been obliterated -- the part of us that knew how to love, respect, and hope. Here was where our parents, our brothers and sisters, and most of our friends had died. We knew now what the gas chambers of Auschwitz had meant. As we moved away from the fire, the smell of burning corpes stayed with us all through our march -- as it would stay all through our stay in Auschwitz. Whether the smell was of freshly burned bodies or carried over from previous burnings, it was always there, and we could never help but be aware of it." Excerpted from---------------------------------------------------------- "The Survivor in Us All - A Memoir of the Holocaust," Erna F. Rubinstein (Hamden, Connecticut: Archon Books, 1983) ISBN 0-208-02025-X pp.120-122 ------------------------The Old Frog's Almanac-------------------------- A partial bibliography for those interested in learning more about Auschwitz follows - for a comprhensive list, please request my complete bibliography, which contains over a thousand citations dealing with the Holocaust. Czech, Danuta, et al. Auschwitz, Nazi Extermination Camp. Garlinski, Jozef. Fighting Auschwitz. Greenwich, Conn: Fawcett Books, 1975 Gilbert, Martin. Auschwitz and the Allies. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Hellman, Peter, ed. The Auschwitz Album. New York: Random House, 1981 Hoess, Rudolf. Commandant of Auschwitz: Autobiography of Rudolf Hoess. Kieler, Wieslaw. Anus Mundi: 1500 Days in Auschwitz. New York: New York KL Auschwitz seen by the SS Hoess, Broad, Kremer. 2nd. ed., Museum w Langbein, Hermann. Menschen in Auschwitz. Vienna, Europa Verlag, 1972 Levi, Primo. Survival in Auschwitz. New York: Collier, 1961 Lewinska, Pelagia. Vingt mois a Auschwitz. Paris: Nagel, 1949 Mueller, Filip. Eyewitness Auschwitz: Three Years in the Gas Chambers Nyiszli, Miklos. Auschwitz: A Doctor's Eyewitness Account. Greenwich Ourisson, Dounia. Les secrets du Bureau Politique d'Auschwitz. Paris: Amicale d'Auschwitz, 1946 Pawelczynska, Anna. Values and Violence in Auschwitz. Berkeley, CA: Perl, Gisella. I Was a Doctor in Auschwitz. New York: International Schleunes, Karl A. The Twisted Road to Auschwitz: Nazi Policy toward ANDERS, Gunther, 1902- Besuch im Hades : Auschwitz u.... 1979 The Auschwitz album : a book based upon an album discovered by a... 1981 CARGAS, Harry J. Reflections of a post-Auschwitz... 1989 ENGEL, David. In the shadow of Auschwitz : the... 1987 HAAS, Peter J. Morality after Auschwitz : the... 1988 Auschwitz, beginning of a new era? : Reflections on the... 1976 KL Auschwitz seen by the SS. 1984 KLARSFELD, Serge, 1935- Vichy-Auschwitz : le role de Vichy... 1983 KULKA, Erich. Escape from Auschwitz. 1986 LEVI, Primo. Survival in Auschwitz ; and, The... 1986 NOMBERG-PRZYTYK, Sara, 1915- Auschwitz : true tales from a... 1985 RUBENSTEIN, Richard L. Approaches to Auschwitz : the... 1987 SEVILLIAS, Errikos, 1901- Athens, Auschwitz. 1983 The Wannsee Protocol and a 1944 Report on Auschwitz by the... 1982 For the complete collection of Almanac Holocaust archives, simply let me know whether you prefer zipped or tar.Z format. The bibliography is included in the archives.