Auschwitz the place where I lost my life

By: Juan Carlos Salazar Jimnez

I never thought that a difference of religion or race could lead someone to murder to kill thousands
of people, just because they do not share their ideologies but unfortunately it happened and I've
experienced this bitter experience now I try to continue my life with nothing to live for, since that
afternoon, I was the living dead.
That rainy afternoon, both decided to stop after fleeing a regime that automatically condemned us
to death just for not belonging to that race they called "pure". She was as beautiful as ever she was;
her eyes clearly reflected the anguish but she hid behind a smile while I watched quietly all around
us, without realizing that we had stopped in the wrong place When we woke up we were getting
stuffed into cattle cars on trains with hundreds of people unknown to us, taking us somewhere in
the middle of nowhere.
When the trains stopped, we were told to leave all their belongings on board and were then forced
to disembark from the train and gather upon the railway platform, known as "the ramp" that led us to
where we feared. When we arrived at the entrance we could read the slogan Arbeit macht frei in
German ("Work will make you free") and we realized that we were in Auschwitz. We were quickly
and brutally split up. A Nazi doctor, ordered each individual into one of two lines. Most women,
children, older men, and those that looked unfit or unhealthy were sent to the left; while most young
men and others that looked strong enough to do hard labor were sent to the right. Just before we
separated I managed to tell him how much I loved her and try to kiss her but was too late. That was
the last time I saw her and it is the memory which I still have and it haunts me every night. If I had
known where they were going those in the left lane I would never have separated from her.
I went through a dehumanizing process that turned me into camp prisoner. All of my clothes and
any remaining personal belongings were taken from me and my hair was shorn completely off. I
was given striped prison outfits and a pair of shoes, all of which were usually the wrong size. Then I
was registered, had my arms tattooed with a number, and I was transferred to one of Auschwitz
camps for forced labor. The day after our separation, the Nazis allow us access to the right side
without knowing we were going to collect the bodies of those who had been sent there, and there
she was naked, her anguish face was gone and it was just then I stop living, a week after we were
liberated by Russian troops but it was too late for me.
What is life when the person you love is gone? I learned to forgive and not hold a grudge against
those who ripped me part of my life. I've never been able to forget that last smile that left me as she
pulled away from me, that is the best memory that I have and it is my most precious treasure. I still
keep thinking what would have happened if we had never stopped at that place, but I cannot turn
back the time, I went my way although my life ended right at the time when I saw her dead.