Screams were an everyday thing in Auchschwitz, you got used to it after a while. There was also the constant sobbing of wives split up from their husbands like the howl of a dog in the night. The perpetual stopping and starting of babies' wails like a constant artillery fire. Then there was the smell, the awful stench of sweat, blood and rubbish all mixed together. I don't know how we survived.
I saw a guard walking towards me, he was about six foot three inches with dark, sunken eyes and was staring right through me. I thought he was going to address me, but I thought wrong : He shoved me…