‘1940’ by Peter Kovac, Year 9, Thomas Clarkson Academy

The Nazis were advancing into Amsterdam, hidden by dust, blood, and bodies. My life was just short, yet it was extremely important. I was hidden in an attic behind a large wooden box. My family was there with me, praying that the war would cease. Food was scarce, with just small slices of bread and milk available, and we were starving, but we persisted. Sleeping was difficult because of the incessant drip, drip, drip. But as long as we lived, we were alright, or so we thought.

A tap on the door, the people below us answered it, and all I could hear was German grumbling and footsteps. Creak, creak, creak, toe by toe, they climbed the steps. Our hearts were beating, and each stride brought us closer. Our hearts were almost bursting from our chests. But they have nothing… Were they gone? The door opened. It was not the people from below.

A bag smacked into my face, and I could hear muffled screaming from my younger brother and mother. We were thrown into a vehicle, and after a long ride, we arrived near a railway. The sack was removed from my head, and a blinding light flooded my vision. I looked around and saw roughly 50 other Jewish men, women, and children in front of me. A massive train arrived, corroded, dented, decrepit, and clearly not in compliance. The Germans threw us onto the train one by one, as if we were animals. As the train pulled away, everyone was rummaging, becoming ill, and shouting. That was merely the beginning.

The train lurched forward, and we were plunged into darkness. The stench of fear and unwashed bodies filled the air. I held my brother tightly, trying to comfort him despite my own terror. My mother whispered words of reassurance, though her voice trembled with despair. Hours turned into days as the train rattled on, the oppressive heat and lack of food and water driving us to the brink of madness.

When the train finally screeched to a halt, we were dragged out into a world even more nightmarish than the one we had left. Barbed wire fences, guard towers, and barking dogs greeted us. This was our new reality: a concentration camp. The fear and uncertainty we felt on the train were nothing compared to what awaited us behind those gates. The horrors of the camp, the daily struggle for survival, and the constant threat of death became our lives.