6 The camps

Chapter 6 The camps The Franks stood pressed against the wall, clutching their bags. Cracks of light came in through grids of rusted wire netting. The journey went on and on. People jostled around, trying to get near the crack in the door, to get away from the stench. Anne was horribly tired and stiff. She wanted to lie down on the floor, but Otto wouldn't let her. "You'll be stepped on," he said. Anne saw that it was true. Every time someone tried to sit, feet trampled on them from all sides.

"Lean on me when you're tired," Otto said. Every now and then, Anne was able to climb up and peer through the rusted wire netting. She caught glimpses of beautiful, endless cornfields. For a moment, she was able to forget she was on a train in the midst of a war. Edith was busy with their overalls. She was trying to unpick the red thread, hoping that without it they could pretend they weren't convict prisoners. No one knew which camp the train was going to. "Perhaps Auschwitz, in Poland," some whispered. It was a name that filled everyone with dread. At the end of the third day, in the gathering dark, the train finally came to a stop.

Rifle butts pounded on the door. "Jews out! Jews out!" shouted male voices. Climbing out with stiff limbs, the first thing Anne saw was the glare of bright, bluish, neon lights. "Women to one side, men to the other," said a voice over a loudspeaker. With whips and cudgels, guards forced the men and women apart. Anne was shunted away from her father. Looking around, the last glimpse Otto had of his daughters were Margot's eyes, filled with terror.

Next came another shout, "Get into rows of five." A tall man with gleaming polished boots divided the women into two columns. One column was made up of the very old and the very young. Guards marched them away. Everyone else, including Anne, her mother and sister were forced to walk in a different direction. On the way they passed buildings with huge clouds of black smoke pouring from the chimneys. And there was a smell. A horrible, horrible smell. "This is a death camp," Anne realized. "They kill people here." "And that's where they burn the bodies, someone said behind her. At the camp they were stripped, forced to shower and then shaved. Lastly, they were handed sack-like dresses and made to line up, so that each woman in turn could have a number tattooed on her arm. Anne, Margot and Edith were sent to their barracks- block number 29. As Anne took in their new surroundings, she almost gagged. The stench of urine was everywhere.

Every morning, they woke at half past three to the sound of sharp whistles. Breakfast was a brown liquid slopped into their bowls. Morning and night, in all weathers, they stood outside for their roll call, which could last for up to five hours. Margot and Anne always stood together, both very quiet and withdrawn. Then they marched half an hour to work, to dig an area of grass. There was no point to the work, but the head prisoners, the kapos, ran among them screaming, "Faster! Faster!"

For supper they had a slice of bread. It was Anne's job to distribute the bread among their block, which she always did fairly. At ten, they went into their barracks to try to sleep. Edith's only thought now was for her daughters. She begged extra food for them when she could and kept them close to her. Then the news came that another selection was to be made, this time to a factory where the work was less demanding. Anne was rejected as she had scabies, red sores on her body where lice had burrowed beneath her skin. Edith and Margot refused to go without her and Margot chose to go into the scabies barracks with Anne, to keep her company. Edith was in despair without them. Each night, she went to the scabies barracks and dug a hole in the soft earth, so she could pass scraps of food to the children. By now. Margot had scabies too. Days later, another selection was made. Edith, as an older woman, was kept behind at Auschwitz, but Margot and Anne were sent on.