Children's Block

We lived on a bunk built for four but in times of overcrowding, it slept seven and at times even eight. There was so little space on the berth that when one of us wanted to ease his hip, we all had to turn in a tangle of legs and chests and hollow bellies as if we were one many-limbed creature, a Hindu god or a centipede. We grew intimate not only in body but also in mind because we knew that though we were not born of one womb, we would certainly die together.


Alex Ehren is poet, a prisoner, and a teacher in block 31 in Auschwitz- Birkenau, also known as the Children’s Block. He spends his days trying to survive and illegally giving lessons to his young charges, all while shielding them as best he can from the impossible horrors of the camp. But trying to teach the children is not the only illicit activity that Alex is involved in. Alex is keeping a diary…

Am trait pe o supraetajata construita pentru patru persoane, dar in perioade de supraaglomerare, dormea sapte si uneori chiar opt. Era atat de putin spatiu pe dana incat, atunci cand unul dintre noi a vrut sa-si usureze soldul, a trebuit sa ne intoarcem cu totii intr-o incurcatura de picioare, cufere si burti goale, ca si cum am fi o creatura cu mai multe membre, un zeu hindus sau un centiped .