Read Online Cimmerian: A Novel of the Holocaust by Ronald Watkins - Free Book Online Page A

the opportunity to pocket valuables was too good for the guards to pass up, as it was for the trustees. Wolff once noticed Peter’s disdain for the SS guards scrambling for some of the loot and complimented him. It made him feel dirty.
    Everyone was pushed into the Administration Block doorways for processing. They were shouted, struck and intimidated into silence. Outside and behind the Block the lines formed into one and Herr Kommandant Hoffmann made the selection. Those sent to the shower went to the Disrobing Block, where they were strip searched.
    Women frequently became hysterical at this point. Not because they were about to be gassed, though that did occur, but at the indignity of disrobing in the presence of leering, taunting guards and at the humiliation of the body search. This was conducted by women trustees but each orifice was carefully examined. Most of these women, young as well as old and especially the Hasidic Jews, had never been seen naked before. Daylight made it worse. More often than not it was humiliation that still overwhelmed them up through the moment the gas hit.
    After the search they were told to remember the number of the wooden peg on which they hung their clothing for quick retrieval following the shower. Water to drink and a bowl of soup was waiting. Lies.
    A lecture was given in which they were told they were the lucky ones. They did not have to remain in the KZ. They were being moved on for relocation. The trains would be less crowded now. The treatment after the shower better.
    Even the children piled their toys and were told to remember a number so they could reclaim them. In the corner of the Block was always a large pile of their dolls and playthings. Prisoners made them over and sent the best back to the Reich for distribution among the homeless caused by the bombings.
    Everyone left the Disrobing Block totally naked and stood in lines for their shower and delousing. Now that they were undressed there was no false modesty. Men and women were co-mingled. These were often people who had lived together in villages and the embarrassment was acute.
    The truly fortunate ones, at least for the time being, were sent by the Kommandant to the sauna in another Block on the Lagerstrasse, where they also were stripped and searched. There their heads were shaved, a number was tattooed on their wrist and they were issued a striped uniform. Often the uniform bore bullet holes from its previous owner. If available, they were given one thin blanket for every two prisoners and a tin cup, then were assigned a job and Block.
    Unlike the hidden interior of the KZ, the outward portion where this processing occurred was well built, neatly painted and meticulously landscaped. Trees, shrubs and structures concealed the KZ proper from either the Disrobing Block or sauna.
    All the while music played. Over the beatings and shots, over the snarling dogs and shouts, the music drifted. The quartet closed their eyes and played.
    Sometimes whole trainloads presented no more than average trouble and bought the lie. They believed it or wanted to and went quietly. These were the good days.
    Sometimes no one believed the lies and had to be clubbed and bitten by the dogs all the way into the shower. This was increasingly the situation as winter progressed. There were no more good days of easy slaughter.
    The arrangement of the Delousing Block was such that no one actually saw the single shower until they were about to enter it. Even with its heavy door it had the innocuous appearance of a large athletic shower.
    Nearly always the fear was acute along the Himmel Weg – heaven way -- as the shower queue was called. The arrivals, women mostly, suffered spontaneous "tod panik" as they called it, death panic. Suddenly, without an instant's warning they loosed their bowels. This was a frequent occurrence on the Himmel Weg, even in the good days. Nevertheless, the queue moved without resistance until it had to enter the shower,