a walk from Auschwitz

Yet another Multiply work. A fictional telling of three soldiers guarding that notorious concentration camp during the Second World War.

after the Second World War, Karol picked up an unusual book while volunteering help clean up the dead bodies caused by the war. it was a very warm day of 1945. the peace at Europe has been achieved. Japan is the only one left fighting for the Axis.

he is outside the city of Auschwitz. the book he found actually was a diary of a Nazi soldier.

he flipped the pages. he found nothing but this entry alone:

1943, December 1st.

damn. its getting colder every single day.

it's snowing hard, this winter of '43. i cant imagine those desperate Jews surviving against this harsh winter we are currently experiencing. it was our orders to eliminate them once we found those insurgents that managed to escape the mighty Nazi eye.

we did find one insurgent today. he was half-naked, bare-footed, skinny, eyes desperate. armed with a spade he found on a barn nearby, he ambushed us. we three were taken by surprise. i was almost hit by his weapon, but good thing sergeant Adamaro was there to shoot him in the head. he always lives up to his name: glorious in battle. he shoot his MP 40 ten times before he was satisfied. Brains scattering, his limp body went down to the earth in a bloody and slow fashion.

Mayr, the third one on our search-and-destroy party, kicked the body.
"what did you do that for?" i asked.
"to make sure he's dead." he sneeringly answered.
"well, shoot him in the nuts so that even if he survives the bullets i fed him, he won't create any more Jewish b*****s." Adamaro bluntly commented while taking out a tobacco to smoke on.
Mayr looked at him in a way i never say before. he looked like those Jews i herd into Birkenau. he that loathing look that those Jews gave me, a superior Nazi, follower and believer of the Fuhrer's goals for my beloved motherland.

silence befell upon us. all of a sudden, i heard a gunshot. Mayr did shoot the carcass with his Luger P 08. straight to the crotch.
"good job Meyr." Adamaro said.
"long live the Fuhrer." Mayr replied. 

we buried the body where he died. no markers were left to notify those who will pass by that there is a dead Jew here.

we continued on. we kept searching for two more escapees that day.
as we walked the snow-covered field, the sergeant said something very interesting.
"i think there is an insurgent at camp."
"why there is, sergeant." i replied. "they're all over the place. Jews, gypsies, heretics who defy what the Fuhrer desires."
"i'm not stating what is obvious Hertz. i am talking about a snake in the camp. a snake among our men. i believe that someone is actually letting those men out of Auschwitz. as if the owner is letting his rebellious dogs out for a walk."

Mayr and i looked at each other.

"but sir, i cannot understand what you might mean." Mayr said.
"yes sir, we don't see any suspicious figure when we patrol at night." i added.
"that so?" Adamaro asked us. "what if the snakes were actually you?" then he aimed the gun towards us.
we were silent, terrified.
he sneered. he aimed the gun away. "Long live the Fuhrer! we will kill those American b******s!" he screeched into the cold air.

we went on. we searched for those two insurgents that escaped.
we finally found one hiding in the woods, clinging to a tree. he has that same look of terror the other Jews we herd to the gas chambers had.

he recognized Mayr.
"Casimir!"

we all had a look of surprise. "Casimir?" Adamaro asked.
he looked at Mayr. "what's the meaning of this?" he questioned Mayr.
"i don't know, sir." Mayr said straight at his face.

the Jew spoke.
"Casimir! don't you remember! we were friends while you were still staying here at... Auschwitz. You, me, Karol and Ofim. we were all such happy boys. until Ofim moved to Germany. three months after, you moved there too. i thought i would never see you again. but i saw you at Birkenau. you saw me too. we talked a while. you helped me escape from the camp last night, remem..."

he was shot by Adamaro. the lifeless body of Nobert fell to the ground, face first.

"is it true?" he asked Mayr.

"so what if it is?" Mayr answered back. Adamaro shot his leg.
"argh!" Mayr groaned as he fell to the ground, holding his injured knee.

"you traitor." Adamaro said looking at Mayr disgustingly. "Hertz, kill him."
"but sir..."
"no buts! unless you want to die with him here, without experiencing the glory of battle, the moans of those women you will please with that weapon of yours. you don't want that, right, you virgin?" he sneered. he faced away. "shoot him while i'm facing away. i cannot bear to see a death of such a traitor. looking at his death disgusts me. to think i trusted such a private, a private that turned out to be a Jew."

i faced Mayr. he was already turning pale, both from loss of bloos and terror.
"why?" i asked him.
"just get it over with." he said, crying.
stammering, i aimed my Gewehr 98 towards his chest.
he closed his eyes.
Adamaro was smoking his second tobacco of the day.

another gunshot echoed in the fields of Auschwitz. Mayr's body fell to the ground.

"is he dead?" Adamaro asked after a moment of silence.
"yes, sir." i replied.
"good wo..." he turned. my gun was aimed at him.
"why, Hertz?" he asked.
"i am not Hertz. I am..." i shot the gun.
Adamaro fell.
"I am Ofim." i said, stammering.

i went up to Mayr. "Casimir! Casimir!"
Mayr was coughing blood. i knew it was too late to do anything.
"i'm sorry it ended up like this." i said, crying.
"it's okay. we both know it would soon end up like this. we just did what we can. now, we can only count on the last guy we released to make it to Normandy and tell the Americans of Auschwitz." Mayr answered while coughing out more blood.

Casimir holds my hand. "Just keep doing what we do. until they find out about this and they kill you, swear to me and Nobert, Ofim, please."

"i will, my friend, i will."

and with an assurance, Casimir stopped breathing. he died looking at the gray December sky from our beloved hometown, which was turned into a slaughter house.

i returned alone, explaining to my superiors that the insurgents picked up some weapons and attacked us. we managed to kill them, but Mayr and Adamaro were fatally wounded, and died minutes later.

my superiors bought my alibi. i was immediately promoted to sergeant, replacing Adamaro.

what a stressful day this one is. i lost two of my friends in one day. i don't know if can still bear seeing my fellow Jews herded into their deaths.

Karol, please be well. i know, being a Nazi soldier, that i am going to die soon. either from American bullets or those of my own German comrades, it doesn't matter. You were the kindest person i knew. you were always there to help us get out of any situation. even though we call you boring for you don't do anything bad, you know that i think that you are our group's guardian angel. please, Karol, please. live. live for us. live for me, Nobert and Casimir.

Ofim



Karol was shedding tears when he closed the diary. he can't believe that they, his first and best friends, are all dead. he just sat at a corner. then he took a walk at the streets of Auschwitz, the same streets they used to play with when war was still far away.

Author's Note

I know there is historical inaccuracy in this one, but hey, I made this when I was 16. Don't blame me for disregarding facts. =))

Reviews

[qaralynn]

a really good write! It was a really suprising turn in the end of the story and left me wanting for more..you should look at your tenses though because it seems like you used more than one in the last part (but maybe I'm wrong XD)
really good work! I abslutely love it!