I can visualize the harsh, merciless winter days in the concentration camps I was in, enduring freezing weather, working on a superhighway for the Germans. It was winter 1941-42, and many perished working on this project.
Having gloves or warm clothes was only a dream. Anyone caught wearing an empty cement bag under his jacket to keep warm was punished severely. Our camp commandant was a brutal Nazi, performing “special exercises” on us. They woke us early and chased us outside to wash ourselves naked in the snow. I rubbed my skin vigorously to prevent freezing to death.
The worst winter of all, they woke us to evacuate from the approaching Russians. We walked for six weeks in the snow. Afterward they put us into closed railroad cars with no food for days. Half of our transport died. Finally, they brought us to Bergen-Belsen where we were liberated on April 15, 1945. After the horrible winters I endured, the sun started to shine again with renewed life.