Diaries, 1943-1944

Sobibor April 9, 1943

At 2:00 in the afternoon we arrive in this camp. There is lots of screaming by mean faced Ukranians with clubs in their hands. An old woman just ahead of my is being hit. Suddenly we hear: ''throw down your luggage". So we throw down our backpacks and continue to walk. We see two krauts who ask us whether we are married. We say that we are not. "Then come and stand over here". Now we stood with about 20 girls, taken out of a transport of 3000 people.

We arrive in a small barracks where we had to stand and they asked for our names. In the afternoon we went to work; we had to sort through the backpacks of the people. We did not know what was happening in Sobibor. We thought there was good food in the luggage and clothes, everything you desired was there. Chocolate, cigarettes, the nicest clothes. While working, you would go through 4 or 5 pairs of natural silk stockings each day. Until I spoke to Maurits Ziekendelaar

as well as Mau Troostwijk from Zwolle, who told me that all the people I came with and everything that comes will be gassed and burned [crossed out is the word murdered]. They showed me a big fire in camp 3 where all those 10,000 jews were burned. It is unbelievable, it does not seem so bad when I write it down this way. It happens in a dirty, typical kraut manner.

When you arrive the women go to the right and the men to the left. You are being told that you are going to take a bath. So, first the women who walked to take a bath undressed fully in a barracks for that purpose (there are 3 barracks and the last one is for bathing) then they go to the next barracks where there are some 30 young men, jews; those are boys from our camp. There are also 3 camps: we are sleeping in camp 1, we work in camp 2 and in camp 3 we are being murdered.

But nobody of the first 2 camps gets into camp 3. Yes, they do enter camp 3, but when they do they don't come out. Now those 30 men, who are standing there, they cut off the hair of all the women. My man, who I got to know in the camp, also had to be there. It is horrendous work; to see so many young people walk to their death. He says those Dutch women don't know what will happen to them and many cry because their hair was being cut.

Thank God that they did not know what was going to happen to them. With regard to the Polish transports there is a much larger enemy. Each and every one of those people knows that they are going to die. Children of 4 or 5 know it. It is horrendous to see how those women and children are being beaten by those [illegible] krauts. They have leather wips and they use them, those gentlemen (I too have felt them more than once). I can still vividly remember one incident.

Everything is happening really fast and the people who come in carrying luggage must throw it down. When they don't do it, they are being beaten. Many women carry children on their arm and also a lot of luggage. There is a woman who also quickly throws down her backpack but her child is also thrown. "O God, my child, my child", she cries and she wants to get her child. Then a kraut sees that and says "what child?" "Move on". And he hits that woman in her face

causing blood to drip off her face. Again she cries "my child" and again she is hit and again she cries "my child". "What" he says "we will take care of that child". Later on we sort the luggage. How many time did I [illegible] retrieve a child from among the luggage. I can't write everything of what I have experienced and that's why I hope that there will be some people that have survived such a camp. Such a disgrace which is a discrace for every kraut because they all have wanted their Hitler.

I will continue with the women. So they don't have their hair anymore and they arrive at a barracks which has lots of shower heads, which don't spray water but gas.

Letter in diary from Selma to Chajim written in a mix of Dutch and German later in time while on the hayloft

My darling forever. What happiness do I have in my life. To have such a good man, makes it already worthwhile to live on such an attic. I don't know any German, that's why I finish with many kisses from your Selma.