635798

Sickness is a funny thing. It could make a person change both for the best and worse. Take 635798 for example. Whatever she had was so prominent that she couldn’t think about anything else. All thoughts of the camp were gone. That was the only good thing that came out of her illness. Meanwhile, the worse was increasing. Her skin was drained of all color besides the blotches from the boiled water. No more rosy cheeks. No more peachy, healthy skin. She coughed up blood, an amount that fit in her palm, every time she had an attack. The heaving grew worse, causing her to wake up choking in the middle of the night. 635798 shook violently, despite the five quilts Siostra Katarzyna and I have buried her in. The poor woman couldn’t sit up on her own, let alone stand. I carried her whenever she needed to use the bathroom or take a bath. I even fed her, due to the fact she was too weak to do such small tasks. She slept nearly all day, without any luck of sweating her illness to nonexistence.

We’ve been in hiding for about one week by now. The two of us had the entire top floor to ourselves but I still felt trapped. Our shutters were clamped shut, allowing no light to be let through. It was night time all day in our hideout. Not only was our door locked, but the nuns had joined forces to put shelves in front of it as a type of camouflage. Someone had to bring up our food since I couldn’t exit through my side. We couldn’t pick out what we wanted. It was one of those “beggars can’t be choosers” deals. Siostra Katarzyna bought clothes for 635798 and me. 635798 practically swam in hers. Mine were slightly tighter than how I would’ve liked, but I had a feeling I would be losing a lot of weight here. The portions of food were a lot smaller than what I’ve grown accustomed to.

Vater was notified that we made it safely. He sent both of us something. A basket of food and medicine for 635798 and a rifle for me. The rifle was in case any intruders came, though Vater said in his letter that he highly doubted it since no one that he knew of knew Siostra Katarzyna except for Jürgen. Although, he added that Lenz had grown suspicious of my disappearance and Gretel wasn’t giving up the search on 635798.
Besides that, Lenz and Gretel planned for their wedding to take place in April. They didn’t want to wait until the conclusion of the war since no one knew when that would be. The letter ended with confirmation that my sisters and Mutter were alright and knew nothing of the escape from Auschwitz.

Siostra Katarzyna came up to the fourth floor every day for our food, clothes, and news. The news contained everything happening in the outside world. I never realized how far we were into October until she started giving dates. In Auschwitz, we just knew the month, not day. There were no calendars up there. Each day I carved a tally mark into the wall. That was how I kept track of how many days 635798 and I have been here.

Apparently a revolt rook place at Auschwitz. It was October 7, meaning I was still there. Prisoners working for Crematorium IV found out they were to be killed. Poles from Crematorium I began the revolt and Hungarians from III and IV joined them. They chose to disarm one of the most sadistic Nazis of Crematorium I. Siostra Katarzyna told me his name, but I couldn’t remember it. Alive, he was stuffed into an oven and locked in. The prisoners continued their revolt, blowing up Crematorium IV and its gas chamber. Two other guards were killed. The explosives used were snuck in by Jewish women. All the rebels were caught. The men were killed right away and the women who smuggled in the explosives were scheduled for a hanging in January.

On October 10, Japan’s air forces were depleting farther. This was because seventeen American aircraft carriers launched an attack on Japanese installations in a town called Okinawa. Here, I feared that the Axis Powers were indeed beginning to lose their power.

The day 635798 and I arrived in hiding, Stalin made an announcement. He assured the allied partners of the Soviet Union that they would declare war on Japan. What was stopping him were his resources. He couldn’t spare them until the Allies gained Nazi Germany’s surrender.

The Nazis didn’t surrender.

Siostra Katarzyna came up the fourteenth of October to tell me that a German general killed himself. He was suspected of collaborating with something I’ve never heard of. He had to commit suicide, otherwise he would have been put on trial and his family’s pension would’ve been taken from them.

The next day, Hungarian regent Admiral Horthy was taken away by the Nazis because of his public request for peace with the Allies. A Hungarian Nazi leader took over the government.

Many things happened the eighteenth. The last German solder left Athens, Greece. Greek partisans and Allied forces drove all Germans away from the country. Premier George Papandreous was restored to power. Churchill also rebuffed a request from Spain’s dictator to align England and Spain against communist Russia. The Japanese launched Operation Sho-Go, desperate to regain all of their lost territory.

Tonight, October 20, I was sitting up on 635798’s bed, she herself leaning against me. Her eyes were open, which was actually a good sign. She ran her hands over the bright red apple she was holding. There was no move to take a bite. 635798 did that quite often – ran her hands over food but never ate it. It was hard for her to eat a lot of things because of her malnutrition. All Siostra Katarzyna felt comfortable giving her was soup. Thankfully it was actually soup. Thick soup, might I add.

There was a knock on the door. 635798 and I looked up, alerted. I put my hand on my rifle (which sat next to the bed), ready. Then there were two knocks. My grip loosened and I felt 635798 relax. After one more knock, I relaxed myself. It was only Siostra Katarzyna’s signal.

After confirmation, she walked in, a bowl of soup in her hands. 635798 took it from her but let it sit on her lap. She stared at the steam rising up.

“More news,” the nun said.

“What is it?” I asked.

“The Soviets liberated Belgrade, Yugoslavia from the Germans,” Siostra Katarzyna said. “The Germans, and even the other Axis Powers, haven’t been having a lot in their favor lately. This may be a sign the war is ending.”

I sighed, resting myself completely against the backboard. The war ending meant no more hiding. I wouldn’t have to be a Nazi anymore and 635798 could live how she wanted freely. No more Nazis threatening her and no more uneventful surprises.

I caught 635798 smiling to herself.