Dobelmann and Others

Well, I'll get right into this. The next day, we reached Gryuskow, Poland. We lugged our belongings off the train, then walked to a factory like place and went inside for food. Inside there were Jews, marked by the Star of David sewn on their striped clothes. Their heads were all shaven, and their condition horrified me.

They served us food, and when I thanked one girl, she attempted to smile. After that, my appetite was lost, but I sat down to eat joined by Jakob and a boy named Oskar. We ate in complete silence, and thought about the Jews.

Another soldier said they were criminals, and that the other Jews were "relocated somewhere else where they were treated better, but Jakob, Oskar, and I were fairly certain that they were not, and that we were the criminals.

Later, after eating more, we went outside with ammunition. In our group, a man named Dobelmann was our platoon leader.

He was missing one ear, and the other ear was only half there, and he had many scars on his face. It scared me. He looked at each of us, and delivered a speech on how he is here to help us in the war. Then, an officer came and told us about what we are supposed to do.

There was one boy, who was the only one of all of us who did not seem afraid of war. He kept going on and on about how he liked it. The rest of us were all fearful and anticipating our death.

I also met another boy, whom I sat next to kept asking stupid questions, that when I answered, he didn't even understand. Eventually I started ignoring him. But then machine gun fires poured down on us, and we all scrambled out of the truck.

We tried to fire at the planes overhead, but I didn't get the chance to, and then they left. Many dead bodies were on the ground and among them was the boy who I ignored. I felt very guilty afterward. At least Oskar and Jakob were still alive.

I befriended a boy named Hals, because he had gotten hurt and I helped him. Then, we all went back in the truck and continued on, the seriously wounded gone to a church to heal.

Later, we started shooting a man, and then killed him and another man and a child. Some of us were horrified, but Dobelmann said that the kid was trying to kill us, so we had to kill him first.


~Erik