In a warm-hearted town with lots of old, but friendly farms lived Anna and her Jewish family; her mom, Mary, her sister, Ann, and her father, Daniel. She and her father had a special connection from when she was young. When the sun turned around and the breeze hit them hard, the Delmer family knew something was wrong. Squeezing between two cafes we sit in the barn as we hear yelling and screaming. My sister sat next to me, curled up in a ball rocking back and forth like an old see-saw. The horror in her eyes sent chills through my bones, but I still sit here with my emotions kept inside me. Even though I’m only 15 I don’t know a lot but like to know a lot. All I know that I know is that the Nazi isolated us from the rest of the Germany society. Their leader Adolf Hitler didn’t like us Jews and no one knew why. The only thing going around about that subject is just bad, and doesn’t make sense, like jealousy or childhood experiences. But the one I think is the best reason is our superior race. He thinks were powerful and might try to rule the world. With all this hatred towards us he wanted to kill us all. As I hear a sudden creek, I see my sister’s eyes go blank. Footsteps getting louder and louder by the second, wondering about all the information my parents have told me, all I start to see is black. Hearing my thoughts echo loudly in my head the last thought I remember is “Will I die, will my family die?”

As we sit in the barn hiding, I hold my mom and Ann’s hands, squeezing tightly. I look past my mom to see nothing between the next two cows. My mouth drops open, and then I freeze. My mom and sister quickly look that way. My mouth slowly shuts and I start to see color again. My dad had abandoned us. Hearing footsteps coming closer and closer each second made me cringe up into a ball. Soon they just came too close and ended up hearing us. When they see us, I freeze again.
I was awoken by the sound of a loud high pitched whistle. Then as I slowly woke up and were moving. I saw my mom and sister sitting to the left of me. They both looked tired, hungry, and scared. As I looked around all I saw was more people, and they didn’t look so good. Some of them looked sick or so tired they couldn’t move. When I thought about myself I felt like the rest of them, sick. As I looked around I heard a warm voice that was asking with wonder.
“Are you okay?” asks the guy next to me. “You were sleeping for a while and I didn’t know what was going on.”
“Oh yeah, I’m fine,” as a smile hits my face hard.
“Hi I’m Adam”
“I’m Anna”
“Do you know where this train is headed?”
“I know that the Nazis are taking us captive, but I don’t know where.”
“Oh.” Silence is held between us like a 100 foot brick wall. Then it was broken by the sound of squeaky breaks. I peered out the door to see nothing. The door then slides out almost taking my nose off. A bucket of dirty water and old food is passed through the big bold doors. Everyone stopped and stared and then attacked the plate like it was the last breath of air in the world. I slipped through the people and got two pieces of moldy bread for me and Ann.
The next two days were terrible, on the second day people started to attack each other. I almost bit the guy next to me because I thought he was a juicy steak at one point. I think I was one of the least bad behaved… so it got pretty bad. A few people died by trying to battle each other without any food, and others died from starvation or diseases. When we got there everything was blurry and for once I didn’t actually have the answer to everything. I don’t know where I am, who my family is, or what my name is. We ate a little after they got us settled into our old dirty homes. I felt better but not good enough to do anything, and that’s when they gathered us all.
“You all are Jews that have been sent here to work, you will listen and obey my orders! If anyone tries to escape they will be killed immediately,” demanded a confident commander ruled by Adolf Hitler. “You will go to work from dawn to dust, you will eat one meal a day, and not complain.” We went to bed early today for a good start tomorrow. I don’t know what we’re doing, but I know it’s not going to be fun.
The next morning a woman came into our tent like dusty home and yelled at me and four other 16-18 year olds. “Get up and get to work!” Yelled the overly confident woman. We all groaned and rolled over. My sister and I were in the same room, but we didn’t know any of the other girls. I did know they were in the same position as me.
Fifteen minutes later we all were ready to go. Even though none of us have every gotten up this early, we still get up and ready quicker than a rabbit. On the first day I only know one other girls name, Hedy. She’s nice and very quiet. The other two girls know each other and don’t talk to us. They walked out of the house followed but Hedy, with her head down and with an emotionless face. Running up to catch up with her we head to the center of the camp.
As we stand silently in the middle waiting for the leader to arrive, the same commander walks through the crowd. He starts to tell us where each group is going. Then what we are doing… digging, to survive. Then he started by grouping us by house numbers, we are house number eight-teen.
“Both houses 1,2, and 3for boys and girls,” screamed the commander. “4,5,6, and 7,” “8,9,10, and 11”, “12,13,14,15. And houses number 16,17,18, and 19.” We all were assigned corners to dig. As house number 18 we were placed in the last group, and we were assigned the left corner. I walked over with Hedy and Ann, dreading the next few hours of my life.
While I walk over to the left corner I spot Adam. I kept looking at him as I was walking to my corner. I almost trip over a dark haired girl with a miserable expression, “Sorry,” I apologized as I step out of the way. I focused my head at what was at hand, walking towards my dirt pile. Adam was there! I try to stay calm but the words that sputter out of my mouth sounds more like help. Then after he started talking to me I started to bluer out due to that lack of food, so I didn’t really know if it was him or not. Digging for 5 hours was terrible, then we went into a small room filled with platters of different colored mush. I went with the white one because it looked the most appetizing, but I think they tasted the same.
In the next 20 minutes we were back into the field… of dirt. Another 6 hours till dusk. I never thought I would live like this but here I am.
The next morning, I’m sore and not confident at all.   I woke up with everyone else and walked down to our stations. People made signs that said were not slaves, were just like you,yeeling it as they protested in the middle. Then the commander and guards came out due to the noise. The people in the middle walked back to their corners. But the commander and guards caught then all. They were instantly killed, in front of us. That scene played over and over in my head for the rest of the day.
In the next month the same thing happened, and I was held in by the brick wall. I woke up to someone shaking me. I opened my eyes and I saw my dad. I screamed but he covered my mouth in time for no on to hear it. My mouth whispered “What are you doing here,” in an excited tone.
“I’m sneaking you out,” smiles my father. I grabbed my 3 pairs of clothes, and started to walk out, then I thought about my mom and sister.
“Dad where’s Ann and Mom?” he looked at me with a dull reaction.
“I couldn’t find them in their assigned houses.” I stood with my mouth open with fear. I held myself together so we didn’t get ourselves killed. We sneaked through the camp and I saw Adams cabin, and ran in. I woke him up and told him to be quiet, as we walked out I told him what was happening. We quietly crawled our way through a hole in the wire, while making sure we didn’t step on any sticks or rocks.
A half an hour later we are standing in the middle of the woods in front of a nice tiny village. My mom and sister ran up to us. My dad, surprised but happily, hugged my mom in shock of what just happened.
“How are you here? “happily asked my dad.
“Kevin snuck us back,” my mom happily cheered. “We tried to get Anna but one of the guards was coming out, so we didn’t want to get caught. He said he would go back for you the next day.” My dad looked at Kevin and gave him a proud thumb up.
In the two years of living undercover, I have broken down the stone walls that have captured me. I am now engaged with Adam, and the concentration camp has been ruled off! Not many survived but the ones that did can go back home. Through this journey a lot of bad things happened but I fought through it positively. I kept myself hoping for the best but expecting for the worst. In this time, I’ve realized that with hope, passion, and a little love, you can get through anything.