The Auschwitz Protocol (The Sikora Files, #1) by Carnegie Jack

Author:Carnegie, Jack
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: world war 2, holocaust, nazi, shoa, auschwitz, Birkenau Krakow Jew Arbeit Macht Frei Rudolf Hoss World War 2 1939 1945 Kapo SS Warsaw Ghetto Shoah
Publisher: Jack Carnegie
Published: 2021-09-05T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 10

Winter

It became a living death around December 1944, people were dying where they stood. Muscle mass was none existent, bones were held together with parchment-like skin. Our barracks were almost empty, many had succumbed despite our efforts or had been forced to march to other camps. Only a small contingent of SS remained, intent on destroying the crematoria, the gas chambers and anything else they thought would incriminate them until, deserted by courage, they fled.

Roughly 7000 people were left to fend for themselves: the dying, the sick, the old and the overlooked, but we knew that at some point liberation would come and we'd be free; all most had to do was live long enough, not as easy as it sounds.

I was approached by a man from my block. “You should go, the rest will think you’re a Kapo,” he said.

“ But I'm not a Kapo,” I replied.

“We know that. We know what you've done in here, most of us are alive because of you. It's the other blocks, they've only seen you as the boss,” he told me.

I was no Kapo, the insult upset me. I'd deliberately set out to help my barracks. I'd organised team leaders to help us survive and encouraged a sense of togetherness. How could they think that of me?

“You should go. You don't realise the hatred being dished out. Kapos are being murdered on the far side, retribution is being taken out on them. I'm telling you because I want you to survive. You’re a good man, you've saved hundreds if not thousands of lives with what you've done. You should live,” he said and I thought back to my father, ‘Survive this and tell your story’.

I’d walked through the camp earlier, emaciated bodies and the dying all around, a human stain the Nazis had created, a vision from hell; even I was shocked at the piles of bodies stacked up. Before they left, they'd gassed hundreds, trying their best to disguise what they had done but the task and time had been against them as the Red Army closed in on Krakow. Distant explosions could be heard all around and the defence being fought lengthened our misery and pain.

My comrade and I were joined by two others. They had clothing in a bag. “Here, quick, put these on. We’ll escort you to the gates.”

“Come with me,” I said, dragging the clothes on over my prisoner remnants.

“No. We stay. There are people who need us but you must go. You know why.”

We bade farewell at the gates and I walked away from the camp, nobody was there to stop me. I couldn’t believe it after all this time, I just walked out – it was that simple.

To survive, I initially headed away from the gunfire, it was the sensible thing to do, I thought. I walked towards Bochnia and came across no resistance. I kept going on the road to Rzeszow, sleeping where I could and foraging food whenever possible. Over the weeks ahead, I wandered almost aimlessly, finding solace in one place or another.

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