*
Over the next few days, as Magda begins to understand the true nature of her sisters’ lives in the camp and what they have witnessed, rumours of the Russian military advancing on the Germans offer small slivers of hope.
On a cool morning at the end of October, Livi is delivering a message to the administration block when the first train of the day arrives at Birkenau. Livi pauses to watch the men, women and children on the platform. They are terrified; they probably don’t even know where they are.
Children run in and out of the crowd, needing to burn off excess energy after days of being cramped inside a cattle wagon. A little girl is chasing an older boy, the boy bumps into an old man and the girl stops to apologise. He leans over to pat her shoulder and then straightens up to look around.
Something strange is happening inside Livi’s chest: it’s as though her heart wants to get out. She scrunches her eyes, rubs them hard, but she’s not mistaken, she would recognise this man anywhere. She feels hot and then very cold when she sees the woman beside him.
Mumma!
Shifting from foot to foot to get a better look, Livi doesn’t know what to do. She can’t leave, she can’t stop looking at her mother, but she has to move, she has to find her sisters.
Cibi and Magda are sorting through mail when Livi bursts through the door of the post office. From the look on Livi’s face, from her glittering eyes and blood red cheeks, Cibi knows something has happened. She needs to take Livi outside before she gets them all in trouble.
‘Stay here,’ Cibi tells Magda, and pulls Livi through the doors. ‘Tell me.’
‘It’s Mumma, Cibi! She here, and Grandfather.’ Livi pauses to catch her breath; she points to the front gates of the camp. ‘The train, they just arrived on the train.’ Livi places her hands on Cibi’s shoulders and shakes her. Her sister’s eyes have glazed over; she too is struggling to breathe, but they don’t have time for that. She shakes Cibi again. ‘We have to help them!’
‘But Magda .?.?. We need Magda, too,’ Cibi pants.
‘Two of us running out is bad enough, Cibi.’ Livi is tugging on Cibi’s sleeve to move. ‘Magda is new here – she gets caught, she dies.’
The girls cross the short distance between the post office and the train. Standing side by side, they watch the hundreds of new arrivals dragging their feet along the platform as the prisoners in their familiar striped uniforms dart in and out of the cattle wagons grabbing their possessions.
‘I can’t see them,’ says Cibi, her eyes desperately searching the faces.
‘Over there!’ Livi points. ‘I just saw them over there.’
Cibi freezes as her eyes come to rest on the SS officers who will be handling the selection. ‘Kramer, Livi. I have to talk to him,’ she says.
‘No, Cibi! You can’t. Please!’ Livi grabs hold of Cibi’s arm, but Cibi isn’t listening to her. She shakes free and strides towards the officers. As she approaches, the men turn and look at her. Cibi feels very small, a weak animal in the midst of powerful hunters, but she gathers her courage.
‘Commander Kramer. I have just seen my mother and grandfather on the platform. I beg you to spare them.’ Cibi doesn’t cry – she’s too scared to cry, but her hands are shaking. She digs her nails deep into the palms of her hands, and the pain makes her brave. ‘They are all I have left in this world.’
Kramer looks her up and down and gives a sharp shake of his head. ‘I have decided their fates – not you, little girl. Your mother and grandfather will be with their god soon enough.’
‘I am begging .?.?.’ Cibi doesn’t see the hand that strikes her. It happened so fast, knocking her off her feet. From the ground, she stares up into the sneering, hateful face of the German officer. She feels the urine slip out of her body. Suddenly, there is a commotion on the platform and, for a moment, Kramer turns away, distracted. Cibi feels herself being dragged to her feet as someone whips the scarf from her head. She is surrounded by other girls, all of whom have removed their headscarves. Kramer turns around again, looking for Cibi, but the girls, identical in their emaciation, stare back. Unable to identify Cibi amongst them, he turns away.
‘Come on, run!’ Livi says urgently as she grabs Cibi’s hand and pulls her away towards the fence that divides them from the new arrivals.
The trauma of having been assaulted by Kramer flashes away as she and Livi once again turn their focus on the hundreds of men, women and children slowly walking towards the building, where she knows they will be told to strip naked before being taken to their deaths.