When we are young time goes by but it seems abundant and never ending. It is like an hourglass full of sand seemingly never to run out.
My family and I thought our family hour glass was full and would never empty so quickly as other did.
But our time was cut short on February 14, 1943 in our small town of Bonn, Germany  when we were all awoken by the heavy knocking on the front door.
When the first anti Jewish slogans and speeches first began, we should have all fled the country. But we did not understand the meaning of it and what was occurring. The regime slowly took control of our lives without having to come to us. They told the people that Jews were not allowed in public and that Jewish kids were not allowed to go to school. Then came the Nuremberg Laws, prohibiting Jews from the Reich citizenship and life. They told us we had to carry our papers with us every time we left our home. As we lost our citizenship, we also lost our tailor shop. The Nazi’s newest rules prohibited Jews from owning a shop.
My father and mother tried their hardest for everything to stay normal. But as more laws came they knew that it was not possible to do so. We continued to do our best to live a normal life. We kept going to the market square to get our food rations and to hear the news about what was happening. Days turned to weeks and everything just kept getting worse and never better. Soon, the soldier were stationed in our small little town telling the Jewish community that in two weeks they all need to move to one section of the town. This area would than be blockaded by walls which would become a Jewish ghetto.
Time continued on without stopping. The walls were soon up with no windows or doors to the outside world. The tops of the walls were lined with barbed wire like icing on a cake. The ghetto was about 10 blocks, so almost every home had multiple families living in it. My family and I shared our home with two other families, the Müller and the Schneider. The Müller had a son Isaac who was about eight. The Schneider family had identical twins Hannah and Abigail who were about nine at the time. We all tried to make the most out of our living situation, even though our apartment was only a two bedroom apartment for three families.
Our families tried to make due, living in the cramped apartment. What we did not know is that we were all nearing our final days living in the apartment and the ghetto. People in the streets were talking about what they had over heard the soldier saying. Some people said that they were deporting us out of Germany, other said they were going to kill us all with one bomb or a firing squad. Now one really knew what was going to happen.
Than the transfers began on February 1 with the trucks rolling into the ghetto through the one entrance. The people in the streets were the first to go. The soldiers knew that people would have to leave their homes soon to go get food. As soons as someone stepped outside, they would be picked off the street and placed into one of the trucks. The amount of people living in the ghetto started to rapidly decrease. My family and everyone in the else in apartment decided that we would get food in the cover of darkness, in hopes of avoiding deportation.
The Nazis had a set time that they need to finish clearing out the ghetto. We found out that they were doing nightly raids to help speed up the process. They had a list of the apartments that were still occupied.
  The nightly raids made it feel like there were only few grains of sand left in our hour glass. We knew it was just a matter of time before we would be arrested. Every night we would all quietly pray together in hopes of surviving another night. Never had I thought that my home would became a place of fear. As a child, the apartment had been a place of safety, but it has now become a place of terror.
The heavy knocking brought panic to the apartment. The twins and the boy did not understand what was happening, but had began slowly crying out of the fear of the unknown. My father slowly walk towards, the door and opened it. On the other side stood a man dressed in a Nazi soldier's uniform. He yelled towards, “You all have five minutes to gather all your precious belongings.” He had known that it would not take us that long because we had nothing left. The Nazi’s made us get rid of our most valuable things a long time ago. As we finished, he hurriedly pushed us out the apartment building and into the trucks in front of the building.
The trucks were so full that there was no space to breath. My family and the others, traveled in this truck for about three days. The truck it self did stop for breaks, but it never let out the people. This caused many people to pass out from exhaustion and dehydration. Now one in the truck really knew where we were going. There was small window on one side of the truck. This allowed the person in front of it, to look out for signs of where we may going.
After about a week of traveling, the soldiers grabbed us out of the truck and dumped us out on the side of the road. “Walk to your death,” the tall blonde soldier yelled towards us as we regained our footing. We slowly staggered towards the gates of a place called Auschwitz. The soldier who brought us here just watched us from afar with sly smirk. No one truly knew what would be waiting for us on the other side of the gate. Slowly, we approached the gates where two other Nazi soldiers were standing. “Welcome to your new home. Here you will learn to appreciate all that the Fatherland has done for you. My name is Commandant Höss and this is Kommandofuhrer. From today on you will not be known by your name but your number. You will all line up in front of us, and we will assign your new identity.” From the seriousness in his voice we knew he was not kidding. We all quickly filled into a line. My parents made sure that I and the other kids from our apartment were next to each other in hopes that at least we would not be separated from one another. As we neared the front, it was possible to hear what the soldiers were asking everyone. They asked what there name is, what their age is, what is their job, are they sick, and if they are capable to do hard labor.  After answering, the soldier would assign them with a number and then direct them to the right side of them or the left side. The line quickly progressed forward until, I was starting straight at the face of Commandant Höss. “You know the question,” he said. “My name is Taub, I am eleven, I worked after school with my parents at their tailor shop, I am in good health, and I may be able to do hard work,” I answered back. “You are now Prisoner M-6294. Go to the left.”
The two men continued storting till everyone had a number and a side. Than the right side got lead off into the camp by Kommandofuhrer but towards the towers with billowing black smoke. With that went my father and mother. But with me stayed the twins and the little boy from my apartment. Commandant Höss led the left side into the camp. We continued walking till we reached the first building in the camp. As we entered, the Nazi soldiers told us to take off all of our clothes and then step into the next room. The shock of having to stand naked in front of a group of people caused me to go into the corner and hide my body. When we all were changed, everyone stepped through the doorway into the next room. Nothing was in the room other than a table with a man sitting behind it with a razor. It than dawned on me that they want to shave off all our hair. We slowly got into a line, and one by one our heads were shaved. Soon you could not tell the difference between the men and the woman. The soldiers then pushed us into the next room. On the floor there were striped pants and shirts lying on the ground with few pairs of shoes. We all quickly got dressed. I was able to get pants the fit me good but the shirt was to long and a pair of woodblock shoes. The soldiers escorted us out of the building and farther into the camp towards what looked to be barracks. We quickly reached a barrack already full of other people. When we entered, forty other bald men and woman looked at us with their bloodshot eyes and sunken faces. As I looked around at my new “home” I promised myself to try and keep the twins, the boy, and I as safe as possible.
As time passed, we all slowly fell into a routine. Wake up before the sunrise, and stand outside for roll call for about two hours without moving. Than have thirty minutes to eat a watery soup that sometimes had floating chunks of vegetable or meat. Take a role of bread that was to last all day and than go to work. Work changed depending on what we were assigned. Some days, we had to move boulders from one side of the camp to the other side. Other times, we would be escorted out of the camp towards the forest. There we would be forced to dig massive holes, that would than become our graves someday. Being that I was trained as a tailor, some days I would be forced to mend uniforms and stitch up socks for the soldiers until my fingers would bleed. After work we would again have roll call. They would keep us standing for hours. If someone moved or did obey orders they would be shot or hung in front of us. This was terrifying at first but after seeing this countless times, we were all numb to it. When the Nazi’s get bored of watching us stand, than they would allow us to go get our dinner. Afterwards we would go directly to bed and fall asleep. Time had lost all meaning to us. Our hourglass was now empty. The only thing we could do was stay alive.
This cycle continued on for many months. I kept track of the twins as best as I could. But early on the boy was transferred from Block 10 to another block. 
One day our lives got worse when Commandant Höss decided that our block should be placed under Doctor Clauberg’s command. Initially we all felt that it would an improvement to be under Doctor Clauberg authority. But we soon learned the opposite was true.
Under his command we were not used for hard labor, but for medical experiments. Doctor Clauberg was a German physician. But after joining the Nazi party he was allowed to perform any medical experiments he wanted to. By having control over block 10 he could use all of use for different experiments. 
Doctor Clauberg began his work on us quickly after becoming in charge of  Block 10. During our roll call he stood in front of us and began picking people out for his first experiments. He choose 50 women but no one knew why. Later we learned that he injected something into their uterus which after time would cause them pain.
In the next few weeks no one knew what to expect. The second week of the Doctor's arrival, I was picked to be his newest assistant. The officers had told him during role call, that I would be a perfect candidate because I know how to sew.
I was told after roll call to report to the Doctor for my first day. Walking into my assigned room was frightening. The smell was almost overwhelming and throughout the building screams could be heard. On a metal tray were medical instruments, and a scared woman lay on a table.  She had no idea of what was going to happen to her, and I had no way to help her.  I prayed for the woman hoping that she would survive this procedure. Doctor Clauberg entered the room and the fear grew stronger. He walked in looked at me and the other assistant and then turned to the women. He than sat down on the metal chair which was placed in front of the table. This was our cue that the procedure was beginning. I was uncertain of what to do, so I let the other man help first. He handed Doctor Clauberg a long syringe about 30 centimeters. The lady whimpered in fear upon seeing the syringe. At that moment I wished that everything would end; the camps, the war, and the experiments. He injected the substance into her uterus.  For a few minutes it was quite, while he removed the syringe. Then came the screaming. Looking around, everyone looked calm. Than Doctor Clauberg told us we had to get the x-ray machine. As we walked down the corridor to get the machine, the man told me that this was normal and that the previous patients had also screamed. They had found out that substance caused immense pain in the abdomen of all patients. We quickly got back to the room, as to not anger the doctor. After finishing the x-rays, I was supposed to make sure that everything was in order and that the patient would be able to heal and produce conclusive information.
This was our routine for about a year. The war continued and more people were brought to the camp. I continued to hide in front of the doctor doing everything he wanted. The Doctor continued with same experiment. Doctor Clauberg would allow his victims to rest for several months until their next injection. Every day there would be a new patient on the table that would receive the procedure.
After a year, Doctor Clauberg found out that Block 1 would be more useful to him because it had better equipment and more people. He soon was relocated to Block 1 and in his place came a new physician by the name of Josef Mengele.
Josef Mengele was much different than Doctor Clauberg. He not only conducted experiments authorized by the Nazi high command, but he also carried out experiments that he created himself. He also did not use prisoners as assistants. On his first day in Block 10, he chose only twins. In Block 10, there were only four sets of twins, including my pair.
No one was sure what he would do with the twins. Doctor Clauberg had never done this, so to everyone in Block 10 was surprised. By dinner time none of them had come back, and after night roll call none of the pairs showed back up at the barrack. Though I was exhausted,  I could not sleep that night due to my worries about the twins. In the morning everyone stood still in front of the soldiers and Mengele hoping to be chosen for hard labor.  No one wanted to go with Doctor Mengele except me.  I needed to find out what happened to the twins. “Good morning, are there any volunteers who would like to help me today?” asked Mengele. No one moved a muscle, the only sound heard was the wind rustling the leaves in the nearby trees and bushes. Of course he already knew that no one would volunteer, so he quickly moved on to pick his newest patients of the day. He took about 50 men and woman and lead them out, back to the medical building.
Few days after his arrival, Mengele final picked me to be part of his experiments. Unsure of what to expect, I followed everyone into the building and did as I was told. The workers there, first asked us different questions about ourselves such as what were your previous living conditions, did you swim a lot, if so how much, have you ever had broken bones etc. All these questions did not make much sense of why they would care but we answered them in hopes that our answers would save us. When finished, the workers separated everyone into three different groups. They did not tell us the significance of these groups, they just guided each group into a different sections of the building. My group and I walked up a corridor and down one. As we passed, there were several rooms that had windows. I looked in when I could and saw twins, most of them were children. There were wires connected to the heads of the children. In one room, Mengele was working on a set of boy twins. From what could be seen the boys did not understand or know what would be happening. They just watched and learned.
As we walked I hoped that this was not happening to my twins. But deep in my heart I knew they were dead because they were taken in the first round. From what I saw, it was possible to tell that these were gruesome experiments. I believe that due to the hardships of the camp and these tortures experiments now one could survive more than few days Mengele care.
The group continued walking until we came to a hallway of unoccupied rooms. Each person was put into a room and the door was then locked. I stood in the middle of my room not sure what to do. There was nothing in the room just a stool and like all previous rooms there was one window in the door. I stood in the middle of the room for sometime until I could not hold myself up any longer and had to sit. I sat for what seemed like days, though maybe it was only a few hours. My understanding of time had long ago been corrupted.  While sitting I heard sounds that traveled throughout the building.  At first the sounds were distant and indistinct.  But then they became closer, clearer.  Screams of pain reached my ears and I was afraid that my experiment would soon begin.  More time passed and Mengele entered my room with his assistant. The assistant quickly checked me while Mengele watched. After he was done they both left, closing the door and bolting it shut. Then their faces appeared in front of the rectangular window. The assistant had a notebook and pen, just like the ones that I had when I worked for Doctor Clauberg. I knew he was about to take notes a on my experiment. But what was the experiment?  I was sitting on a chair in a room. But then I heard a faint noise, almost like the sound a of a vacuum cleaner. After a few minutes it began to be harder to breath. I was not sure if this was the experiment or my body beginning to fail me, but I ignored it and continued to watch them.
The vacuum cleaner noise grew louder and louder.  It began to be painful to breathe, but at the same time I wanted to breathe faster and faster.  It was almost like I had been running, I could not catch my breath.  Every time I inhaled it felt like pieces of glass were in my lungs.  But in spite of the pain I kept trying to inhale faster and faster. The pain in my lungs increased. Black and white dots were clouding my vision. Soon I could not see at all and I collapsed out of my chair and onto the ground.
After I woke up, I understood the experiment. They had sucked out the air and lowered  the air pressure in the room.  Mengele wanted to know at what air pressure would I pass out or even die.
Mengele and his assistant continued these experiment for weeks. They waited for the moment that I would collapse from the lack of oxygen reaching my brain. It was becoming harder by the day to focus even with normal air pressure. I began to expect that the next test would probably be my last. My lungs were damaged by the constant change in the air pressure and lack of oxygen.
Time is a very tricky but honest thing. My understanding of days and hours was gone.  But I did know that I could not survive many more experiments.  Time passed by the number of experiment.  It was a count down.  I had been given a notice as to when my time would be over.
The last experiment was the worst torture I had ever gone through. My lungs were weak and breathing was difficult before the experiment began.  Mengele quickly decreased the air pressure to a level that he had never done before. As the air left the room, so did I. Darkness came over my eyes and I was gone. I had no energy to fight.   Death engulfed me and I allowed it to take me away.   As my spirit left this world my last thoughts were about my family and the families that shared our apartment.  My time with them was short, but it stayed with me until the end.