We first started by imprisoning the officials and made all the Jews were yellow stars. The Jews were then moved into a very small ghetto and cramped quarters. It was obvious that none of them had heard of the horror of the concentration camps and what awaited them once they left the safety of their homes. Me and some of the other officers tried to be nice to the Jews because I, personally, hated carrying around this gun. Once you were in the camp the site of these officers holding these weapons struck fear into the hearts of all in the camp.

We had finally gotten all of the people of the town of Sighet onto the train and had started the journey towards Auschwitz. The condition on the train is something I don't think I could have stood for. The Germans were put in charge of the train in the middle of the journey. The officers were told to collect any valuable from the people on the train and if they refused

Some prisoners and myself were transferred to a camp named Buna. It was a four-hour walk to the camp and once we got there the prisoners were required to undergo more medical exams to make sure they are still fit to work. The dentist even went as far as to remove the gold crowns in prisoners' teeth. Things were going well for a few months although the officers, and myself would take nothing less than hard work and cooperation from everyone. One day we had an unexpected air raid on Buna. The planes showered the camp with bombs and that is when things started to get out of control. People were trying to get away, stealing items, and trying to sneak some extra rations of soup. The officers were told to publicly hang anyone who broke the rules during this attack. We were made to do it in front of the entire camp so they could see what would happen if a person disobeyed. I was put in charge of supervising the hanging, but I couldn't let morals get in the way. I was put here to do a job and that is what I had to do. We exucuted 4 people in total, including a small child just for trying to get food.

Buchenwald was very cold and miserable. The same treatment went on for days. The Americans were said to be getting close to the camp. I had to make a hard decision, stay and follow orders to kill every Jew in the camp, or flee and save my own life. Every officer chose to stay. Very many Jews were killed and one day, when the Americans were getting very close all of the S.S. officers left the camp, leaving the Jews behind.

I was aware that the Jewish holidays were approaching and it required them to fast. The rations that were given to the prisoners were hardly enough to keep a full stomach so I was very interested to see if any prisoners would comply with their religion and fast. Know one I saw even thought about fasting. When the holiday came about the prisoners picked up their spoons and start

Some common words found in the essay are:
SS Officer, Jews Buchenwald, none realized, ss officers, hated carrying gun, carrying gun, americans getting, americans getting close, camp people, hated carrying, getting close, people train, officers told, jews killed,
Approximate Word count = 1295
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)