Guest Post by Dr. Johnny Teague
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It is hard to tell the color of the sock, but it looks pink. The shoe is leather but old. What is surprising is how neatly the sock was placed inside the shoe. It reminds me of when a kid goes wading in the water. Imagine it with me. A child sits down on the lush, green grass. He or she takes off a shoe first, then the sock. The child stuffs the sock inside the shoe, so they stay together and so the sock doesn’t get dirty. The child then takes off the other shoe, then the sock, and places that sock inside the shoe, sitting the two together. The thought of the youth, “This will please Mommy”. A boy will then roll up his pants leg to enjoy the wade on a hot summer day. A little girl with a skirt has no need for this step. There’s joy and laughter as they look both ways, and cautiously dip their toe, then their foot into the cool water. It is sweet to be a carefree child, a freedom we soon forget.
Afterward, the boy or girl gets out, most likely at the parent’s direction. He or she sits back down on the grass, wipes off the foot from whatever dirt picked up from the stream or the walk from the bank. He or she pulls the sock out of the shoe, places it on the foot, then the shoe is put on. They do the same for the second sock and shoe, ready to go back to their parents’ side.
Do you see the picture below. A child. We do not know who this child was, but it appears to be a little girl, judging by the sock. She had taken off this shoe, placed her sock inside. There is a certainty the little girl did the same with the other sock and shoe though the second has not been recovered. What was found was this shoe with the sock stuffed inside and the realization that the little girl had planned to put them back on when the exercise was over. Sadly, the child never returned. In a room piled with shoes, this one shoe stood out because of the smallness of the shoe and because of the sock still neatly stuffed inside. Who owned it? No one knows. Why? That we do know.
This shoe was found in Auschwitz. This unnamed little girl, perhaps age five or six years old went with her parents when they were forced from their home in Poland or Germany or the Netherlands. She followed her parents as they left the crowded cattle car. She clung to her mother’s waist or hid behind her father’s leg as Nazi soldiers with guns and whips ordered them to leave their possessions in the cattle car. Obediently her parents complied as she and her mother were told to join the left line, while her daddy was ordered to the right. She heard her daddy say, “It will be alright Sweetie. Stay with Mommy. I will be back with you soon.” Her mother started to cry. The little girl could feel her mother tremble, but when her mother looked down, she wiped the tears away realizing her little daughter was watching. “It will be alright Honey, just like Daddy said, stay with me. We are going to walk down the fence row now with the other mommies and children”.
At the end of the row, they entered a concrete building. It was a cold day. It was also very uncomfortable when the order was given for everyone to disrobe. A gun was shot in the air. They were told the next one would go into the crowd. The little girl’s mother began to disrobe. The youngster was afraid. Her mother stood before her totally naked. Her mommy looked down, “Honey do as they say. Take off your clothes like Mommy. They are just going to spray medicine on us, so we won’t get sick”. The little girl said, “Mommy, I don’t want to. Please put your clothes back on”. The mother teared up, “Don’t you want to be back with Daddy? This won’t take very long”. The little girl sat down. She took off her shoe, then her sock, placing it neatly inside her shoe. She did the same with the other. They were told to hang their clothes on a hook, and the shoes under it. The Nazi guard ordered each to remember their hook number so they could find their clothes after the delousing. They did
Slowly they walked into the next concrete room with shower heads above them. The door was shut. The sound of two thuds were heard hitting the floor inside metal shafts. The gas began to spread. The little naked girl held to her mother who was clinging to the little girl. There was screaming, convulsing, fighting, crying. Then death for all including the little girl. You see, she was Jewish. We have no name. We have no idea who she was, or her mother, or the millions led to the same fate. We just have a shoe with a sock placed inside. Today, people are wanting this again. We must stand and say, “No. Never again!” This is why I wrote The Lost Diary of Anne Frank. I am trying to do my part. How about you?
