People believed that children were examined and assigned work upon arrival yet the harsh reality of Auschwitz, in August 1944 was death on the train platform.
The doors of the cattle car opened with a bang revealing shouting, barking dogs and bright lights. Eight‑year‑old Ojzer Kujawski stepped onto the stones hand in hand with his mother Guta and his father Zigmund. They had survived four years of hunger and disease inside the Łódź ghetto at Rauch 42. Nothing could ready them for this horror.
Guards shouted commands. Struck the crowd with sticks. Families were separated immediately. Zigmund was forced into the work line before Ojzer understood what was occurring.
Tightening his grip on his mothers coat Ojzer advanced as officers pointed fingers deciding who would live or die.
When they reached the front an officer examined Ojzer, who was weak from years of ghetto famine and directed him to the side the route, for those who would be sent away instantly. Guta. Attempted to seize her son. A guard struck her forcefully with a club pushing her back.
Immediately after disembarking Ojzer was led into the gas chambers. Killed. Guta observed her husband and little boy disappear forever in one afternoon. She survived the remainder of the war the survivor of her family.
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