Chapter 2

As Chapter 1 left off with the departure of Elie, his family, and the other members of the cattle car from the Sighet ghetto, Chapter 2 picks up there, describing the uncomfortable and unbearable conditions inside the crowded train car. For two days the train sped along, showing no signs of when or where they were heading. Those who were lucky enough to be close to a window could breathe some of the fresh air and stare pointlessly into the empty countryside. The other riders who were stuffed in the middle had to take turns rotating between sitting and standing. The heat and the lack of air became worse and worse as the days past. With my own love of my personal space, I can only imagine the agony and suffering that these people would have been brutally forced to endure for multiple days. Adding to their suffering was the want of food and water. Dehydration would have been a major concern with the stifling heat and the short supply of water to be shared amongst the eighty riders.

The atmosphere inside the train was quite tense, with the fear and stress increasing with every empty hour spent pondering each one's own fate. The separation of Mrs. Schachter from her husband and two older sons had already driven her mad after a few short days without them. Her screams, hysteria, and hallucinations greatly added to the sealed train car's stress level. The pressure was building inside, but with the doors nailed shut and the threat of execution for all as a result of one member's escape, the increasing tension had nowhere to overflow and the space seemed only to become smaller. The irritated and overwhelmed inhabitants of the car finally saw fit to silence the screaming Mrs. Schachter. A couple men bound her and gagged her, leaving only her young son to comfort her in a corner of their own.

Upon arriving at an unknown station, one window-looker read a sign to the other, "Auschwitz," but no one had heard of the place. Two men were sent to retrieve water for the others and while fetching the needed hydration, they bought some information from a guard with a gold watch they had. The guard told them that this was their final destination, Auschwitz, a labor camp. Supposedly the conditions were good; families were not to be separated, the young and healthy were to work in the factories, while the old and the sickly were to work in the fields. This news was taken as a blessing from God, morale sored, and a feeling of optimism began to return to the exhausted arrivals. They were not unloaded but waited throughout the day, anticipating at any time their freedom from the confines of the cattle car to arrive, but it did not come.

At 11 o'clock, the train slowly began to move again and it came to rest about a 1/2 hour later. Once again Mrs. Schachter began to scream, shouting, "Jews, look! Look at the fire! Look at the flames!" (Wiesel 28) Only this time, there really were flames and the stench of burning flesh filled every nose. They had arrived, arrived in Birkenau.