Knocking Persuasive Speech

Knock! Knock!

“Mommy, what do we do?”

“We go with these men. They can’t do anything to hurt us, they’re police.”

“Okay.”

Minutes later, Karolina, age 8, and her mother found themselves arrested without a reason other than the fact they were Jews. Hours afterward, they found themselves forced into a cattle car bare of any decoration or anything comfortable, not even food or water, and left to stand around in near darkness. For days, Karolina and her mother rode in the car, watching as old women and young children alike died of hunger and thirst. Suddenly, the car stopped, and Karolina nearly screamed as sunlight showed through the car doors. All her little mind could process was the cruel, rough policemen, the ground beneath her feet, and the large words carved onto the fence: Arbeit Macht Frei. Work makes you free.

Karolina’s story was the same as many childrens’ sent to Auschwitz were. Most of the time, Jews found themselves taken from their homes in the middle of the night for no reason but their “race.” Although Karolina’s story is fictional, the basic facts are present: the guards were often very rough and cruel, and the large metal gate still is emblazoned with the lie, “Arbeit Macht Frei.” This statement showed

Little details were, like when inmates ate, if they weren’t in trouble. For example, in the mornings inmates were given black coffee before you went to work. At midday, prisoners were given soup. At 6:00 PM, after hours of working, they had to stand outside for more hours during roll call, regardless of the weather. After that, the detainees were given bread with something else. Finally, at 9:00 (if you weren’t in trouble with the kapos), all of the prisoners went to bed. Other than that, and sometimes not even that, anything could happen, the least prisoners being forced into the Krankenrevier (a dirty place where the ill lay decaying on the floors) or even if they got sent to the