Escaping the Shoah

For several weeks now, my family had heard the news that this horrifying nightmare would take place, but we plainly disregarded it, thinking nothing of it. But what a mistake that was! As we were sitting down for our evening meal, we heard an outrageous commotion outside, and then it got louder and louder. All of a sudden, we heard bangs on the front door �" we jumped. None of us budged. There were more loud bangs on the door. Then all the children hurried close to our mother and we rushed upstairs. Our father started to reach for his gun, and at that moment, the door was knocked down, and the Nazi soldiers grabbed hold of him and demanded of him whether or not he was Jewish. There was no reply. They demanded of him once more. With the cold metal pressed to his head, he answered with a terrified cry, Yes. They then forced him on his feet and ordered him to get the family from upstairs. All of us children were all so young and were not sure what was happening. We had no idea of what was up ahead ... of that unspeakable experience that would totally alter the course of our life. We were all snatched out of our home, and forced into the Nazi vehicle. The engine started and at that moment, the nightmare began. We soon all fell asleep and woke up shivering from the icy-cold breezes and gusts that entered through the barely covered windows. The journey continued all night and into the early morning hours. We arrived. We had no idea where we were. All we knew was that many people were being line up. Children with their mothers. Men separate. Jews, the disabled, Gypsies, homosexuals, ... anybody that the Nazi regime considered an absolute threat to the preservation of the “true” and “perfect” race, the Aryan race. And from that day, we never saw our father again. One of us overheard that the men were being taken immediately into the hard labor camps. We just cried our eyes out. Then we heard gun-shots. We turned and saw that it was our father along with a few others. We screamed sorrowfully, NO!!!, and then we were immediately taken into the gas chambers. Out of five children, only two survived. Our mother, later we learned, was taken to be used for the Nazi's experiments. So basically, she was mercilessly slaughtered at the hands of evil men. This horrifying time of Jacob's Trouble lasted for seven years. My sister and I for years were separated from each other. It wasn't until 30 years had passed that we happened to find one another through endlessly searching online and through those who could help in the search. From the day that we met and were reunited, we spent weeks going back over the years that we missed. And even being in Israel, we would look back at the Shoah, aka the Holocaust, and could still see the Valley of Dry Bones. Yes, we are alive. And we're not going anywhere. Our annihilation has been attempted on numerous occasions, but were never successful.