Gathering Point

Lindsay McBride

composed from the eyewitness testimony of Olga Kovacs

“camp,” they called it it was supposed to be camp no such “concentration” ever spoken aloud but it became quickly apparent in the people fighting for oxygen in a cramped car, and thousands more fighting for life. it was a Thursday (the 15th of June) when the train stopped for good at Auschwitz. technically, for evil. the bolts begin to unlock a woman cries in agony, her childbirth reaching its crowning point creak! creeeeeak…... unaware and without care, the soldiers proceed to unfasten the iron hands of death standing between her and the end. the infant enters the world just as it prepares to step out. its first cry is multipurpose; the new mother and her child are the first to be separated: torn apart twice in a row. no time to shout: it’s a girl! only:

Steigen sie aus dem Zug aus! exit the train. their shouts pierce the air verbal needles all too familiar by now. this, they decided, was the gathering point.