I cannot remember everything. I must have been
unconscious most of the time. I remember only
the grandiose moment when they all started to
sing, as if prearranged, the old prayer they had
neglected for so many years - the forgotten creed!
But I have no recollection how I got underground
to live in the sewers of Warsaw for so long a time.
The day began as usual: Reveille when it still was
dark. Get out! Whether you slept or whether
worries kept you awake the whole night. You had
been separated from your children, from your wife,
from your parents; you don't know what happened
to them - how could you sleep?
The trumpets again - Get out! The sergeant will
be furious! They came out; some very slowly: the
old ones, the sick ones; some with nervous agility.
They fear the sergeant. The hurry as much as they
can. In vain! Much too much noise, much too much
commotion - and not fast enough! The Feldwebel
shouts: Achtung! Stilljestanden! Na wird's mal?
Oder soll ich mit dem Jewehrkolben nachhelfen?
Na jutt; wenn Ihr's durchaus haben wollt!
(The Sergeant shouts: "Attention! Silence! Are you
ready, then, or do you need the help of my rifle b***?
All right, then, if you really want it!")
The sergeant and his subordinates hit everyone:
young or old, strong or sick, guilty or innocent.
It was painful to hear them groaning and moaning.
I heard it though I had been hit very hard, so hard
that I could not help falling down.
We all on the ground, who could not
stand up were then beaten over the head..
I must have been unconscious. The next thing
I heard was a soldier saying: "They are all dead",
whereupon the sergeant ordered to do away with us.
There I lay aside - half-conscious.
I had become very still - fear and pain.
Then I heard the sergeant shouting: Abzählen!
("Count off!") They started slowly and irregularly:
one, two, three, four - Achtung! The sergeant shouted
again, Rascher! Nochmal von vorn anfangen! In einer
Minute will ich wissen, wieviele ich zur Gaskammer
abliefere! Abzählen! ("Attention" the sergeant shouted
again. "Faster! Start over! In a minute I want to know
how many of them I'm delivering to the gas chamber!
Count off!") They began again, first slowly: one, two,
three, four, became faster and faster, so fast
that it finally sounded like a stampede of wild horses,
and all of a sudden, in the middle of it, they began
singing the Shem'a Yisroel.
Chorus:
Shem'a Yisroel Adonoy eloheynu
Adonoy ehod
Veohavto et Adonoy eloheycho
bechol levovcho uvchol nafshecho
uvechol me'odecho
Vehoyu hadevorim hoele
asher onochi metsavecho hayom
'al levovecho
Veshinontom levoneycho
vedibarto bom beshivtecho beveytecho
uvelechtecho baderech
uvshochbecho uvekumecho.
unconscious most of the time. I remember only
the grandiose moment when they all started to
sing, as if prearranged, the old prayer they had
neglected for so many years - the forgotten creed!
But I have no recollection how I got underground
to live in the sewers of Warsaw for so long a time.
The day began as usual: Reveille when it still was
dark. Get out! Whether you slept or whether
worries kept you awake the whole night. You had
been separated from your children, from your wife,
from your parents; you don't know what happened
to them - how could you sleep?
The trumpets again - Get out! The sergeant will
be furious! They came out; some very slowly: the
old ones, the sick ones; some with nervous agility.
They fear the sergeant. The hurry as much as they
can. In vain! Much too much noise, much too much
commotion - and not fast enough! The Feldwebel
shouts: Achtung! Stilljestanden! Na wird's mal?
Oder soll ich mit dem Jewehrkolben nachhelfen?
Na jutt; wenn Ihr's durchaus haben wollt!
(The Sergeant shouts: "Attention! Silence! Are you
ready, then, or do you need the help of my rifle b***?
All right, then, if you really want it!")
The sergeant and his subordinates hit everyone:
young or old, strong or sick, guilty or innocent.
It was painful to hear them groaning and moaning.
I heard it though I had been hit very hard, so hard
that I could not help falling down.
We all on the ground, who could not
stand up were then beaten over the head..
I must have been unconscious. The next thing
I heard was a soldier saying: "They are all dead",
whereupon the sergeant ordered to do away with us.
There I lay aside - half-conscious.
I had become very still - fear and pain.
Then I heard the sergeant shouting: Abzählen!
("Count off!") They started slowly and irregularly:
one, two, three, four - Achtung! The sergeant shouted
again, Rascher! Nochmal von vorn anfangen! In einer
Minute will ich wissen, wieviele ich zur Gaskammer
abliefere! Abzählen! ("Attention" the sergeant shouted
again. "Faster! Start over! In a minute I want to know
how many of them I'm delivering to the gas chamber!
Count off!") They began again, first slowly: one, two,
three, four, became faster and faster, so fast
that it finally sounded like a stampede of wild horses,
and all of a sudden, in the middle of it, they began
singing the Shem'a Yisroel.
Chorus:
Shem'a Yisroel Adonoy eloheynu
Adonoy ehod
Veohavto et Adonoy eloheycho
bechol levovcho uvchol nafshecho
uvechol me'odecho
Vehoyu hadevorim hoele
asher onochi metsavecho hayom
'al levovecho
Veshinontom levoneycho
vedibarto bom beshivtecho beveytecho
uvelechtecho baderech
uvshochbecho uvekumecho.