Simon Kalmas - May 25, 1982
Arrival in Auschwitz
All right, but you all went together.
Well, we were separated, we were separated. We went together, of course. I don't think I can still remember it. My sister and my father--we ran into each other somehow. And uh, my dad said, "This is the end." So we came to Auschwitz--was at night. And, of course, he select to the right to the left, you know, to the right to the left. I was sent to the right. So that this is already, you know, into the gas chamber because they packed us in into a, a, a bathroom. Well, with, with the showerheads, you know, a public, public baths--a showerhead. So we thought that this is it. You know, gas is going to come out through that same thing. And about an hour--two hours later and they said uh, somebody informed us that uh, relax uh, tomorrow morning you're going to be processed for, for work. In other words, you're going to get new clothing, you're going to be showered uh, haircut, shaved, and what have you. And next day the process begun. Snow about two, three feet deep. The only thing you--they left on is a leather belt and a pair of boots or the shoes--whatever you had on. So you stood in line in the snow until you got into the bath--a shower, and you came out from the other side with a striped suit. So next day--next morning while entering the line--it went al...alphabetically, you know, according to the A-B-C. So my brother came behind me, next day. So here's--I had forty-seven, here's forty-eight.
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