Entry One
April 18 1932 Fri. Sunny
It is Maria’s 14th birthday today. Time really flies.It has been 14 years since WW1 has ended. I will never forget Apr 18 1918, theday when I received the letter that announced my dear husband’s death in abattle. Till today, I can still remember how I cried as the sound of the rainhitting the windowpanes filled the whole house. But today is a joyous occasionso I should try to forget, just for today.
Over the past 14 years, life would have been miserableif not for my Maria. The stupid treaty that our stupid ruler was forced to signblamed Germany for all the war and demanded impossible reparations from us.Since then, I’ve working my butt off at the factory. And the food prices haverose so much that I only eat some simple dishes as a day’s meal. I always feelso bad for Maria for having to go through all this at her age.
The only thing that Maria and I can depend on was themoney my husband and I had saved up before the war, but I feel grateful forstill having Maria with me and having my neighbours who are kind to me.
Today I went out to buy Maria some bread and wurst toeat while celebrating her birthday. As I headed towards the market, I overheardmy neighbours talking about a certain man named Mitler or Ritler or somethinglike that running for Chancellor. They were talking excitedly about him andsaying that this marvelous man could lead Germany off its misery. I do hopethey’re right. I don’t want the next Chancellor to be someone who isn’t capableenough to pull us out of our sufferings...
It should be a cheerful day, anyway. I smiled as Mariaput her palms together devoutly and made her birthday wishes. And when I lookedinto Maria’s bright eyes, all my sorrow was gone. Instead, what I firstlythought of was--hope.

Entry Two
April 8 1933 Tue. Windy
It has been a few monthssince it was announced that Hitler became the new Chancellor of Germany. I amquite excited, as I always hear people talking about how this man will be ableto turn our lives around and improve our economy, making it like the old times,before the wars, when all was well and peaceful. I’m happy that my Maria willfinally be able to live a better life. I’m also glad that Germany will be ableto revive her former glory and gain back what was originally ours. OnwardHitler!
Everything has been changedunder Hitler’s rule. Those women who used to work abandoned their jobs.Instead, they became housewives and stayed at home to take care of theirfamilies. (I think I am also supposed to do so if my husband is with me; and Ican imagine how they are enjoying their lives now) For the neighbours who work onfarms, I can always see them with a cheerful smile. I heard that Hitler has setup something called “the Reich Food Estate”, creating boards to buy food fromthe farmers and distributing it around the cities. Wow, that must be good forfarmers as there are also set prices for the food. So if they produce extrafood, they can sell it at the same price each time. Laughters can be much morefrequently heard in our village now.
Also, thankfully, I receivedgood news from my brother. He just sent me a telegram saying that he has gottena job as a factory worker. I cannot describe how blissful I was. My handsshivered when I was reading his letter. As a 30-year-old man, he eventuallyfound a job after many years of seeking one. How poor he was during the pastfew years! At this age, a man is expected to fight for his career; yet heencountered the Great Depression and could not even find a job. Although thisoccupation is not considered well-paid, at least it should be enough to providethe costs of living, and indeed it gives us great confidence and hope for life.
Generally, I am very gladabout what is happening; gaining a new leader who will lead a revolution tosave Germany and all. It seems that everything is getting better, but I stillhave some worries. I heard from a friend of mine who attended one of Hitler’s speechesthat he is a bit… Anti-Jewish. Is my Maria going to be okay? My neighbours give me a sideward glance nowand then. Some of them also whisper behind my back and glare too. Sometimes, Ican even hear them mutter ‘betrayer’ under their breaths… Even though I did notdo anything wrong.
Another thing I’m worriedabout is Maria transferring schools. A letter came from her school yesterday,saying that she had to transfer school to a Jewish one. Moreover, Maria told methat many of her good friends were having fun together without calling her out;and when she asked to join, no one responded, pretending that they heardnothing. What is going on? Are they segregating Jewish people from non-Jewish?It is going a bit too far and is unfair for the Jewish to do so.
I noticed that people are doing the same tothe sweet old lady living next to us, our neighbours across the street and theman who runs the fruit stall at the market. Just because people are eitherJewish or have a close relationship with Jewish people, doesn’t mean that theyshould be treated differently right? I just hope this doesn’t go too far. MyMaria won’t be THAT affected right? I mean, she’s only half-Jewish...

Entry Five
December 3 1940 Tue. Heavy Rain
At 4 a.m. I was awakened by the kapo barking at me.From the shapeless straw mattress I had to make a perfect bed in a militarymanner, with blankets made up exactly over the straw mattress.
Then it was time for washing. I ran out of the barrackand tried to reach the sanitary facilities. There were only a couple ofsanitary facilities for hundreds of prisoners and I had just a few minutes forwashing.
After that, for breakfast, the kapo gave meapproximately 10 ounces of bread and some tasteless “coffee”, no sugar no milkof course. A senior prisoner told me that the bread that I had just receivedwould be the only solid food I would get until tomorrow. And as I was writingthis diary in the evening, stomach rumbling, I found it true. The distributionof food was once again a good opportunity for the kapos to have some “fun”. Isaw them throw the bread in the mud; I saw them push my fellow sufferer whileserving the “coffee”, wasting it on the ground without offering anything more.
All of us were lined up in rows of ten. All theprisoners must be at the roll call. “All” even included the ones who had diedduring the previous night--their smelly corpses were put in front. Undercontrol of the SS guards and officers, the kapos started counting the thousandsof prisoners. A mistake during the counting meant everything must start again.Well, sadly, it just started to rain at that time, yet it was forbidden tomove. The poor-striped uniform, made from an incredibly rough cloth, did not protectme against the cold weather at all. It was raining cat and dog and I wassoaked, shivering. Some poor prisoners sneezed, then they were scolded and cudgeled.That was not really surprising as gory scenes can usually be seen in theconcentration camp.
We were not dismissed untilthe shower ended. We ran to join the work team then. The SS ordered to our workteam to sing a stupid song during the march. I was not one of the comparatively“lucky” ones, so I had to work with hands. It seemed to be long hours (10~12 Iguess) of hard but useless work-- to move heavy sandbags from one point toanother, to extract and carry heavy stones, to dig trenches or to bore atunnel. Everything had to be done as fast as possible, and always with insultsand beatings. The guard caught a pale woman who was having a rest and gasping.I just watched her being whipped. Herblood oozed out from her body, forming a pool of bloodaround her. Her clothes were being stained dark red-- a vivid colourcompared to this gloomy concentration camp. She winced, giving a grimace ofpain, and wailed; but the kapos with poker faces seemed to be whipping a pieceof wood but not a living person. The piercing wind stung my heart sharply.
In the evening, I finally returned to my barrack. Thekapo was waiting for our comrades and us. They had the right to decide who'dlive and who'd die. My poor starving roommate was chosen to have some"fun"... and I never saw her again.
Every day more women and childrencome to the camp. They tell me about all the terror they had faced while tryingto hide. How they became more and more hopeless everyday as they listened tothe radio while in hiding; while they heard of all the deaths of Jewish men,women, children. A woman even saw her friend commit suicide from not being ableto deal with the torture and the pain any longer. Hitler had power andinfluence over the whole of Germany and it wasn’t stopping there. Almost all ofPoland has become occupied by Germany. It makes me fear. How much stronger arethe Nazis becoming? Is there any hope left?
I still haven’t heard word about Maria yet. I get moreand more restless everyday and even the thought of what might have happened toher kills me inside. Everyday, with the little hope of finding her left, I askaround if they have seen my girl Maria, in her early twenties with her goldenwavy hair that shines like no other’s and her tinkling laughter which can takeaway all of my sorrow and pain. Has anyone seen her?! My poor innocent girl!Where have they taken her to?! Why does this happen to her? Why is thishappening to all of us?! WHY?! It’s not fair at all. We haven’t done anythingwrong. Why must we all go through this hell even though we haven’t done afreaking thing wrong? Sigh. I just hope that the Allied Powers or the SovietUnion can save us quickly. This is the first time I’ve actually liked them.Wow. The things fear and suffering can do to us.

[The following day, a soldier shot Susan in the head for tryingto attack him, who went berserk due to the agony of not being able to bearbeing without her loving daughter any longer. Her body was tossed to the pileof other people killed that day, waiting to be incinerated and buried amongother ashes without being given a proper memorial service or even a headstone.]

怎么这么多空格被吃掉了...? -.-