I watched a short video on a woman Holocaust survivor. Her name is Zanne Farbstein and she was the youngest of three sisters who were on a train going to Auschwitz. There were another 1,000 women on this train and on March 22nd they would be the first Jews to arrive at Auschwitz. Birkenau was not even completed according to the poles when she and her sisters arrived. Zanne lived for three years in Auschwitz with the knowledge and fear that she knew she was going to die. She said that was the worst part, waiting to die in fear. Zanne's job while at Auschwitz was to separate the clothes. While doing this job she found her father's prayer shawl. This job was a curse because Zanne had to witness some very disturbing things, but gave a rare insight into exactly what the Nazis were capable of doing.
Zanne described a scene in which all five of Birkenau's crematoria were in use night and day to keep up with the trains which were constantly bringing in prisoners. The crematoria were so over loaded that the children of the new arrivals were taken aside and thrown into ditches where they were burned, alive. Her older sister was unable to make it. One day she told Zanne that she couldn't continue going on. So, she took her shoes which were in better condition then Zanne's and gave them to her. When Zanne and her sister arrived back after work their sister had died. Some how Zanne and her middle sister survived and surprisingly to her she was able to go on with her life. Zanne went on to get married and have children and grandchildren. She is so joyous that she can say that.
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