The Gray Silence

Felicia Weingarten

Fine drops of rain fell on the bent backs of women digging potatoes with their bare hands, their thin bodies in ragged clothing marked with a red stripe. Beefy,blond women in warm S.S.uniforms, with woolen capes for added protection against the cold, gray mist of the North German February, strolled among the prisoners, watching them closely.

The women worked silently, without food or rest. When the guards relaxed their vigil to eat, some of the prisoners hid a few potatoes under their clothing to eat later in the barracks, and perhaps to share with an equally starving friend.

At dusk the women were ordered to line up. Wearily. The column started to walk back to the concentration camp a few miles away. As they began approaching the gate, a whispered message went from mouth to mouth: "There is a body search, they are checking everybody." Panic spread among the prisoners. Potatoes tumbled onto the roadside in full view of the women guards, who ran around trying to restore order, fear visible on their normally arrogant faces.

One by one the line went through the gate. A tall S.S.man stepped out from 'he guard house. One after another he searched expertly, and when his huge hands felt a lump, heavy blows fell on the shoulders and the shaved heads of the women. The gray silence was broken by the sound of the blows and stiffeled groans.

When he had searched the last prisoner the guard signaled for the S.S.women to move the column into the camp. Only the clatter of wooden clogs was heard in the stillness.

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Last modified on October 22, 2009