The Apprentice of Buchenwald: The True Story of the Teenage Boy Who Sabotaged Hitler’s War Machine (Holocaust Survivor True Stories WWII) by Oren Schneider

Author:Oren Schneider [Schneider, Oren]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9789493276604
Publisher: Amsterdam Publishers
Published: 2023-01-27T07:00:00+00:00

9 PORK DINNER

After days of careful feeding that consisted of soup with chocolate cubes, Father started regaining his facial color and physical form. He started looking like himself again. His body began building a thin layer of fat and some muscle mass. I forced him to go on short walks with me to enhance his stamina. The first day, he couldn’t walk for more than a couple of minutes. The next day, our afternoon stroll lasted ten minutes. All my focus and time were dedicated to making him feel better.

“Sanyi, check out all the trucks and cars.” He pointed towards the main administration building as we were walking around the yard. “Something is definitely going on. I think they are waving the white flag and preparing to flee.”

We stopped our turtle-pace walk, and our eyes started following the German Army movements. Officers and soldiers were carrying large document boxes, loading them and getting into the vehicles, and speeding out of the camp.

“Are they really leaving the camp right now?” I couldn’t believe both my eyes and my words. “Is this the German Army running for its life?”

“I still can’t believe it,” he said with a suspect expression. “Let’s be very careful. Let’s lower our profile and wait inside. Please walk me back.”

We went back into the block. The regular soup portion was served on time for dinner. We couldn’t see a single Gestapo or German soldier walking around the block that evening. We could clearly see the guards up in their tower positions, so I couldn’t make sense of what was really happening. The camp was not fully deserted of our captors yet.

Explosion noises were heard constantly.

The next day was April 11, 1945. We were awakened by loud sounds of artillery rounds. Otherwise, everything was very quiet, but the guards were still up there with their metal helmets, aiming their rifles outward.

In the early afternoon, out of the blue, it was all over. Camp Buchenwald had fallen.

We suddenly saw all the German guards hastily climb down from the watchtowers. A single tank broke through the main steel gate, dragging it under its chains, and halted in the middle of the camp, close to our block. The charging tank was swiftly followed by ground troops. Our deepest wishes were answered.

“Father, the soldiers are here; the Germans are fleeing!” I started shouting.

“Are the soldiers Russians or Americans? Please, please, let them be Americans!” he exclaimed, unable to hide his excitement and anxiety.

I looked more closely. “I think they are Americans!” I shouted, having seen the letter markings on the tank.

He sat down on the ground, holding his head. He was crying and laughing at the same time.

Guards were running amok all around us, but no one was noticing them anymore. Just in front of me, a young German guard threw down his rifle, dropped his ammunition kit, and took off his helmet and army shirt, as he was passing me by. He was hoping to blend into the prisoners, but I doubt he managed to.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.