The troops and I arrived in Berlin the day after the Nazis surrendered. I am here because I am a photographer and was hired to take pictures of what Hitler's reign had affected people. We arrived at Auschwitz at 11:00am. When I was on the plane, the soldiers asked me why me, a woman, was taking pictures of the horrible affects of Hitler. I just simply told them that I had seen both my parents die and lived through it. I thought that I would be able to handle this.
When we were in sighting distance of the camp, the smell of rotting flesh overcame us. I asked what the smell was and one of the soldiers told me that there were roumers going around that the Nazis had, after killing the Jews, burned their bodies. I was horrified at what I had heard, but I was not all that scared. When we entered the camp, I immedieatley started taking pictures of the courtyard where there were Jews walking around and every one of them had confused looks on their faces. All of them smiled st me when they saw my American flag badge on my arm. They must have heard that Americans were coming to save them.
When I was done taking pictures in the yard, I asked (in German) one of the Jewish men to show me where the barraks where they lived are. He pointed to a small building that looked like a barn stall. I walked in (they must have cleared out a bit) and saw many men sleeping and others talking and praying. When I walked in, one of the men asked me who I was. I told them my name and I was an American. I also told him that I was hired by the American government to take pictures of the concentration camps in Germany. He smiled and told me that he and the others were waiting for a savior to come save them from the hell that they had to go through. He statred showing me the beds and I even felt one of them. It was very hard. He told me that many could not sleep because of the beds. Plus, all the food that they had recieved was either rotten or very little. They were all so skinny. They looked like walking skeletons. I took a few pictures of the men in the bunks who were awake, but seemed exhausted.
When we left the camp that day, I never got out of my mind the sadness that I saw. I have heard of the horrible things the Nazis had done to the Jews, but have never seen them. I am glad that I have not. That young Jewish man will stay in my mind and I hope that today he is home with family, or at least he is happy.
