AB: "Night" Chapter Two — Transcript

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1. 0:02Night. Chapter 2.
2. 0:04[Music]
3. 0:07Lying down was not an option, nor could
4. 0:10we all sit down. We decided to take
5. 0:12turns sitting. There was little air. The
6. 0:16lucky ones found themselves near a
7. 0:18window. They could watch the blooming
8. 0:19countryside flip by. After 2 days of
9. 0:22travel, thirst became intolerable, as
10. 0:25did the heat. Freed of normal
11. 0:27constraints, some of the young let go of
12. 0:30their inhibitions and under cover of
13. 0:32darkness caressed one another without
14. 0:34any thoughts of others alone in the
15. 0:37world. The others pretended not to
16. 0:39notice. There was still some food left,
17. 0:42but we never ate enough to satisfy our
18. 0:44hunger. Our principle was to economize,
19. 0:48to save for tomorrow. Tomorrow could be
20. 0:51worse yet. The train stopped in Cashau,
21. 0:54a small town on the Czechoslovakian
22. 0:56border. We realized then that we were
23. 0:59not staying in Hungary. Our eyes opened.
24. 1:03Too late.
25. 1:05The door of the car slid aside. A German
26. 1:08officer stepped in, accompanied by a
27. 1:10Hungarian lieutenant acting as his
28. 1:12interpreter. From this moment on, you
29. 1:15are under the authority of the German
30. 1:16army. Anyone who still owns gold,
31. 1:19silver, or watches must hand them over
32. 1:21now. Anyone who will be found to have
33. 1:23kept any of these will be shot on the
34. 1:25spot. Secondly, anyone who is ill should
35. 1:28report to the hospital car. That's all.
36. 1:32The Hungarian lieutenant went around
37. 1:34with a basket and retrieve the last
38. 1:35possessions from those who chose not to
39. 1:38go on tasting the bitterness of fear.
40. 1:41There are 80 of you in the car, the
41. 1:43German officer added. If anyone goes
42. 1:46missing, you will all be shot like dogs.
43. 1:50The two disappeared. The doors clanked
44. 1:53shut.
45. 1:54We had fallen into the trap up to our
46. 1:58necks. The doors were nailed. The way
47. 2:01back irrevocably cut off. The world had
48. 2:04become a hermetically sealed cattle car.
49. 2:08There was a woman among us, a certain
50. 2:10Mrs. Shar. She was in her 50s and her
51. 2:1310-year-old son was with her, crouched
52. 2:15in a corner. Her husband and two older
53. 2:17sons had been deported with the first
54. 2:19transport by mistake. The separation had
55. 2:22totally shattered her. I knew her well,
56. 2:25a quiet, tense woman with piercing eyes.
57. 2:28She had been a frequent guest in our
58. 2:29house. Her husband was a pious man who
59. 2:32spent most of his days and nights in the
60. 2:33house of study. It was she who had
61. 2:35supported the family.
62. 2:37Mrs. Shar had lost her mind. On the
63. 2:41first day of the journey, she had
64. 2:42already begun to moan. She kept asking
65. 2:44why she had been separated from her
66. 2:46family. Later, her sobs and screams
67. 2:49became hysterical.
68. 2:52On the third night, as we were sleeping,
69. 2:55some of us sitting, huddled against each
70. 2:57other, some of us standing, a piercing
71. 3:00cry broke the silence, "Fire! I see a
72. 3:04fire! I see a fire!"
73. 3:07There was a moment of panic. who had
74. 3:09screamed. It was Mrs. Shar standing in
75. 3:12the middle of the car in the faint light
76. 3:14filtering through the windows. She
77. 3:16looked like a withered tree in a field
78. 3:18of wheat. She was howling, pointing
79. 3:21through the window. Look, look at this
80. 3:24fire, this terrible fire. Have mercy on
81. 3:27me. Some pressed against the bars to
82. 3:30see. There was nothing, only the
83. 3:33darkness of night. It took us a long
84. 3:35time to recover from this harsh
85. 3:37awakening. We were still trembling and
86. 3:40with every screech of the wheels, we
87. 3:42felt the abyss opening beneath us.
88. 3:45Unable to still our anguish, we tried to
89. 3:48reassure each other. She is mad. Poor
90. 3:51woman.
91. 3:52Someone had placed a damp rag on her
92. 3:54forehead, but she nevertheless continued
93. 3:57to scream, "Fire! I see a fire!" Her
94. 4:01little boy was crying, clinging to her
95. 4:03skirt, trying to hold her hand. "It's
96. 4:06nothing, mother. There's nothing there.
97. 4:08Please sit down. He pained me even more
98. 4:11than did his mother's cries. Some of the
99. 4:14women tried to calm her. You'll see.
100. 4:17You'll find your husband and sons again
101. 4:19in a few days. She continued to scream
102. 4:23and sob fitfully. Choose. Listen to me.
103. 4:26I see a fire. I see flames. Huge flames.
104. 4:31It was as though she were possessed by
105. 4:33some evil spirit. We tried to reason
106. 4:36with her. more to calm ourselves, to
107. 4:38catch our breath than to soothe her.
108. 4:41She's hallucinating, because she's
109. 4:43thirsty, poor woman. That's why she
110. 4:45speaks of flames devouring her. But it
111. 4:48was all in vain. Our terror could no
112. 4:50longer be contained.
113. 4:52Our nerves had reached a breaking point.
114. 4:55Our very skin was aching. It was as
115. 4:57though madness had infected all of us.
116. 5:00We gave up. A few young men forced her
117. 5:04to sit down, then bound and gagged her.
118. 5:07Silence fell again. The small boy sat
119. 5:10next to his mother, crying. I started to
120. 5:13breathe normally again as I listened to
121. 5:15the rhythmic pounding of the wheels on
122. 5:17the tracks as the train raced through
123. 5:19the night. We could begin to doze again,
124. 5:22to rest, to dream. And so an hour or two
125. 5:26passed. Another scream jolted us. The
126. 5:31woman had broken free of her bonds and
127. 5:32was shouting louder than before, "Look
128. 5:34at the fire. Look at the flames. Flames
129. 5:37everywhere."
130. 5:40Once again, the young men bound and
131. 5:41gagged her. When they actually struck
132. 5:43her, people shouted their approval.
133. 5:46"Keep her quiet. Make that mad woman
134. 5:48shut up. She's not the only one here."
135. 5:51She received several blows to the head.
136. 5:53Blows that could have been lethal. Her
137. 5:56son was clinging desperately to her, not
138. 5:59uttering a word. He was no longer
139. 6:01crying.
140. 6:02The night seemed endless. By daybreak,
141. 6:06Mrs. Shakra had settled down. Crouching
142. 6:09in her corner, her blank gaze fixed on
143. 6:12some far away place. She no longer saw
144. 6:14us. She remained like that all day,
145. 6:18mute, absent, alone in the midst of us.
146. 6:23Toward evening, she began to shout
147. 6:25again, "The fire over there." She was
148. 6:29pointing somewhere in the distance,
149. 6:31always the same place. No one felt like
150. 6:34beating her anymore. The heat, the
151. 6:37thirst, the stench, the lack of air were
152. 6:39suffocating us. Yet, all that was
153. 6:42nothing compared to her screams, which
154. 6:44tore us apart. A few more days and all
155. 6:47of us would have started to scream. But
156. 6:50we were pulling into a station.
157. 6:52Someone near a window read to us, "Ash."
158. 6:56Nobody had heard that name.
159. 6:59The train did not move again. The
160. 7:02afternoon went by slowly. Then the doors
161. 7:05of the wagon slid open. Two men were
162. 7:07given permission to fetch water. When
163. 7:09they came back, they told us that they
164. 7:11had learned in exchange for a gold watch
165. 7:13that this was the final destination. We
166. 7:16were to leave the train here. There was
167. 7:18a labor camp on the site. The conditions
168. 7:21were good. Families would not be
169. 7:23separated. Only the young would work in
170. 7:26the factories. the old and the sick
171. 7:28would find work in the fields.
172. 7:30Confidence soared. Suddenly, we felt
173. 7:33free of the previous night's terror. We
174. 7:35gave thanks to God.
175. 7:38Mrs. Shar remained huddled in her
176. 7:40corner, mute, untouched by the optimism
177. 7:43around her. Her little one was stroking
178. 7:45her hand.
179. 7:47Dust began to fill the wagon. We ate
180. 7:49what was left of our food. At 10:00 in
181. 7:52the evening, we were all trying to find
182. 7:54a position for a quick nap, and soon we
183. 7:56were dozing. Suddenly, look at the fire.
184. 8:00Look at the flames over there.
185. 8:02With a start, we awoke and rushed to the
186. 8:04window yet again. We had believed her,
187. 8:07if only for an instant, but there was
188. 8:09nothing outside but darkness.
189. 8:11We returned to our places, shame in our
190. 8:14souls, but fear gnawing at us
191. 8:16nevertheless.
192. 8:17As she went on howling, she was struck
193. 8:19again. Only with great difficulty did we
194. 8:22succeed in quieting her down. The man in
195. 8:25charge of our wagon called out to a
196. 8:28German officer strolling down the
197. 8:30platform, asking him to have the sick
198. 8:32woman moved to a hospital car. Patience,
199. 8:35the German replied, "Patience! She'll be
200. 8:39taken there soon."
201. 8:41Around 11:00, the train began to move
202. 8:43again. We pressed against the windows.
203. 8:47The convoy was rolling slowly. A quarter
204. 8:50of an hour later, it began to slow down
205. 8:52even more. Through the windows, we saw
206. 8:55barbed wire. We understood that this was
207. 8:58the camp. We had forgotten Mrs. Shar's
208. 9:01existence. Suddenly, there was a
209. 9:04terrible scream. Juice, look. Look at
210. 9:07the fire. Look at the flames. And as the
211. 9:10train stopped this time, we saw flames
212. 9:14rising from the tall chimney into a
213. 9:17black sky.
214. 9:18Mrs. Shhatter had fallen silent on her
215. 9:21own, mute again, indifferent, absent.
216. 9:26She had returned to her corner.
217. 9:29We stared at the flames in the darkness.
218. 9:32A wretched stench floated in the air.
219. 9:35Abruptly, our doors opened. Strangel
220. 9:38looking creatures dressed in striped
221. 9:40jackets and black pants jumped onto the
222. 9:43wagon. Holding flashlights and sticks.
223. 9:45They began to strike at us left and
224. 9:47right, shouting, "Everybody out. Leave
225. 9:49everything inside. Hurry up." We jumped
226. 9:52out. I glanced at Mrs. Shar. Her little
227. 9:56boy was still holding her hand. In front
228. 9:58of us, those flames
229. 10:01in the air, the smell of burning flesh.
230. 10:06It must have been around midnight. We
231. 10:08had arrived in Burkanau.
232. 10:14[Music]