Auschwitz Concentration Camp

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In 1941, Ike’s life was about to change. German soldiers came into his hometown of Chaitowitz and took him and his family involuntarily by train to Auschwitz. When they all finally arrived at the camp the soldiers started to separate the prisoners that were being transported according to gender, age, skills, etc. Ike was placed in a cattle cart to move him from one side of the camp to the other. When all the prisoners were being organized, one of Ike’s father's friends saw him and took Ike from the cart to look after him. Ike went to the barracks with the gentlemen where he would be much safer than his original destination, which he later found out. When Ike was in the barracks his life was very minimal as he would have to hide all day under the bed from the German soldiers. His only time to come out would be at night to eat as he could not risk being seen by any soldier. The diet at the camp was very poor and limited. The soldiers would feed them cabbage soup and bread which also contained saw dust. This was served to them since it was the bare essentials to keep them going. On one unfortunate occasion, a soldier found Ike and took him to Josepf Mengele’s office. Josepf Mengele was a scientist who had made quite a name for himself at that camp. He was known for performing unethical experiments on prisoners that earned him the nickname “The Angel of Death”. When Ike entered Mengele’s office, Ike noticed that he was very well dressed as he was talking to his assistant. While just standing in his office, Mengele did not talk to Ike; it was as if Ike was an object rather than a kid worth giving attention to. Ike feared that Mengele would perform a horrible experiment on him since that is what he was known for. It turned out that it was Mengele’s time for dinner and postponed any work he had for the rest of the day. This gave Ike the opportunity to make it back to the barracks and to continue hiding. While at Auschwitz Ike saw many atrocities that kids should never witness, and with all this negativity and chaos going on around him Ike desired a tricycle as a kid.