Elli: Coming of Age in the Holocaust

ELLI

Ellike is a 13 year old Jew who lived in Somorja, Hungary before the German Invasion. She dreamt of becoming a famous poet when she was older. She has a brother who is studying in Budapest and she lives with her mother and father.

Bubi came home from because Budapest was invaded by the Germans. None of his family really believed that the invasion was real because the next morning there was nothing about it in the paper and nobody else had come home. His father sent him back to Budapest because he didn't want him to miss any more than 1 day of school.

Over 500 families are crammed into an enclave meant for 20. Life in the Ghetto is easy for Elli. The women cook and she helps them, gets water from the well and her favorite part of the Ghetto is the toilet line.

Elli's father left because he was summoned to a Komarom labor camp like all the other men between the ages of 18 and 45. He is to leave at 4 in the morning and Elli wants to be awake to say goodbye and see him off. She is not woken up and is very upset that she couldn't say goodbye.

Elli saved her notebook because it was her most prized possession and thought that it would get lost with all the things other people had put on the pile. It was an act of defiance for her because nobody knew that she kept it and even hid it from her mother.

The journey to Auschwitz was made in train and was 3 days long without food or water.

As soon as Elli and her fellow inmates got to Auschwitz they were separated into two groups. The young and the elderly were sent to the gas chambers and the others, including Elli and her mother were sent to the other side.

The Guards at Auschwitz treated them like they were absolutely nothing and were very mean to them. It may have made it easier for the Guards if they treated them with a little respect.

The amount of food that they got shocked me the most and the fact that there was no water to drink at all.

The shared pain forges a strong bond'. Everyone in Auschwitz is going through the same thing so they have an invisible bond which no one can ever break.

Decimation means to to select by lot and kill every tenth person of. Elli is so worried about the decimation in the morning that she and her mother want to spend every moment of the night together.

Felicia is a short, black haired woman of about 30 who is very strict on the inmates. She understands that while they were living a peaceful life, Felicia was being tortured and threatened.

Elli manages to help her mother by believing in her and believing that she will regain consciousness.

Elli manages to beat the selection by getting through the gate and joining the end of the line. When they line up in groups of five there is six in Elli's line and one girl