It was a bright sunny day in Belgium, and I had a nice breakfast and greeted my parents. I lived a casual life, and everything was nice and peaceful. It was fall of 1944 when everything started to go sour. As I was walking down the streets with my parents to pick up some food, a few soldiers approached us, they were known as the Gestapo. We tried our best to avoid them, but we were soon exposed. They told us to come with them. They took us to a train area, and we were later loaded into the train. My parents kept telling me that everything was going to be fine, but in their eyes I saw fright, and terror. Something told me that they knew what was happening, but I was still wondering where exactly we were going. .
Approximately three hours later, we were exhausted, hungry, and dehydrated. They loaded us off the train, and after hours of darkness and humid conditions, it only got worse as we were suddenly exposed to light. As I opened my eyes, I saw rectangular buildings everywhere surrounded by barbed wire fences. The realization was starting to hit me. Based on the humidity, and the atmosphere, this was not a pleasant place. My emotions were starting to kick in, and I was feeling both confused and deterred. As we were entering, we were handed and ordered to wear these grey, dull striped pajama type outfits. Once we were somewhat settled, we were forced to separate based on age, so I was taken away from my parents. After that process, we were stamped, and labeled. I had a random number on my forearm, and I was wondering what it was for. Everyone around me looked extremely terrified and as I was looking around, I felt this sharp pain occur in my abdomen. .
As daylight came to an end, we were ordered to sleep. As it seemed, thousands of kids were loaded into one of the rectangular buildings along with me. I took a short glance around and I noticed that the bunked areas were very small and isolated with little to no room whatsoever.
