When The Bird Sings by Kristin Caraway

Author:Kristin Caraway [Caraway, Kristin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: WWII, Auschwitz, France, Resistance, Holocaust
Publisher: VICO Publishing
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 23 - Carrying the Dead

“Death is not the greatest loss in life.

The greatest loss is what dies inside us while we live.”

~Norman Cousins

“Over here!” Comes the shout. It shatters the lull of noon meal break. It seems to take a lifetime waiting for them to distribute the soup that would take only seconds to ingest.

Suzette looks up from her cup and the idle chatter towards the shouting. Who is it? To whom is he speaking? Is someone in trouble?

“There.” Katya whispers, discreetly pointing towards the stream that is mostly covered over by a sheet of ice.

A young woman wearing a striped scarf on her head is standing at the bank with her cup, trying to scoop up some water to drink. From where she is sitting, Suzette is close enough to see that the woman’s eyes are terrified.

“The water there is bad, you see?” The man’s voice continues. Suzette finally locates him, just a few short yards away from the woman. He is SS. “It will make you sick. Go farther up. Just a bit. Understand? Weiter.” Farther.

Suzette’s eyes narrow suspiciously at the teasing tone and smirk on the SS officer’s face. He is trying too hard to sound friendly and look harmless. What is he doing?

Her eyes scan the staked out area of the work yard. SS stand with their rifles at the four corners. All day they will stand while the women break rocks, pave roads, dig out ditches and transport gravel in the tipcarts. The woman at the stream walks a few more steps, her eyes still fixed on the SS officer who taunts her. She leans down again very slowly to the stream.

He laughs out. “Not there! Weiter!”

Suzette watches the prisoner, completely transfixed. What is the officer doing? What kind of sick game is he playing?

Katya tugs on her sleeve. “Stop staring. God knows, Suzette, someone like you will get shot for staring.”

Shot. Suddenly, it dawns on her. “Bastard!” Suzette exclaims, losing control of her volume. Helene and Marguerite, who are both sitting just a few feet away, look up at her, alarmed. Their eyes search nervously, scanning for which kapos may have heard her speak.

“Shush!” Katya scolds Suzette, gently slapping her hand.

“Katya!” Suzette asserts, “The woman! They are luring her! They mean to shoot her!”

“No.” Marguerite says, softly, shaking her head in horror. “They wouldn’t do that. They couldn’t. What possible reason…?”

“Weiter!” The officer shouts at the woman who has hesitated again. There is a note of obvious impatience in his tone.

Helene looks up slowly towards the scene and feels her heart pound in reaction. It is fear she feels now as she stares at the guard’s face. She recognizes that expression all too well. It is the look of a predator—a man aroused by his own power over another human being—an expression she has seen up close far too many times. It was turning her stomach.

“Just a little more,” he encourages the woman, trying to sound soothing. There is a hitch in his voice and Helene must now look away.

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