My name is Sarah Weinberg. I am a Jew and I was hurt and bullied because of my views. I was only sixteen when the war started.
One night my family and I were sitting around the fire saying our prayers when someone banged on the door so hard that I thought it had been knocked down. My Father got up to answer it. Lots of thoughts were going around in my head. What was happening? Who could it be at this time of night? Were we going to die?
Now, not many people would be thinking things like this because usually it’s just the milkman or window cleaner collecting their money but things were not how they should have been then.
For a while the Jews had been made to wear badges telling everyone that they were Jews. I and my sister Anne couldn’t go to school and we couldn’t even use our new ‘Rolls Royce’ they took it away soon after Father bought it.
The men came barging through the door and got hold of my Mother, sister and I. I was trembling all over!
One of the Nazis took my Father by the arm and then they pulled us all outside. There was a big ‘wagon’ outside parked upon the curb. The tarpaulin was old and stretched looking and red marks staining the grey fabric. The soldiers shoved us into the back and told us not to talk or try to run away or they would shoot us. And then they drove us away.
Mother and Father hugged Anne and I tight and whispered in our ears not to worry and to just think like Moses did. God would rescue us.
I couldn’t sleep. The truck wobbled as we drove over bumpy land and I could only guess what was going to happen. None of us spoke. What could we say?
As the journey went on we picked up more and more Jews. The same look was in all of our eyes, fear.
I don’t know what time it must have been but it was dark.
Suddenly the truck staggered to a stop. Whispers broke out which were soon hushed as the door of the truck dropped down to reveal what must have been fifty Nazis.
Quickly they grabbed us and lead us towards the train.
I soon realised that there were a lot more trucks with Jews being lifted out. Thousands of Jews were being taken to the trains. Thrown into it as if they were rubbish. I was separated from my Mother and Father and left only with Anne who cradled me in her motherly arms. Her tears soaked my head as we set of into the night not knowing what would happen to us…
Morning came and it was night again. There had been no water given to us and I heard a rumour someone had died of dehydration close to us. Still, my sister and I just stared out of the window knowing that this could not be good. We were going to die.
Suddenly the train came to a halt and everyone got jostled about. The doors slid open to reveal what looked like a factory. We were ordered to get out and then we were split into lines: - men, women and children.
My sister and I were told we would work. Our arms were tattooed and we had to put on stripy tops and trousers.
We were given little to eat and then one day I saw Mother and Father, walking into what looked like a shower block. I stared for a while but they never came out. A truck drove up and Nazis carried out corpses. NO! I was screaming inside my head, not them, not now!
Suddenly my sister dropped to the floor. She too was dying of overwork and hunger. I dropped to my knees beside her.
“Never give up. Moses will get you out of here. Just believe in what is right.” And then her eyes closed and she breathed her last breath. A sigh of relief, she was now in her happy place with her fiancé, Jack. Forever happy.
“I promise my perfect sister, I promise.”
“Get up you piece of good for nothing dirt,” one of the Nazis spat at her, “GET UP!”
I stood this time with confidence. I had promised to do something worth fighting for and I would fight, fight to get out of this place for as long as I could.

Days passed, months and what seemed like years but there was no sign of the war stopping anytime soon. My body was starting to look like a skeleton and everyday more people died in order for others to come.
The hardest thing to cope with was not to hear my Father laughing about one of his silly jokes, my Mother singing as she prepared the meal for the weekend and my sister, telling me that she would soon grow up and live in a big house with four children.

One day I looked up to see that English troops were coming in. People started to cheer. I finally caught on. We were free!
“Anne, I did it. I believed. Moses saved us. We are free!” I was yelling at the top of my voice. This was the first time I had spoken since I talked to Anne for the last time! I finally got to leave.



Ten years later:-
I am sitting out on the porch looking into the country. I have four children, Anne, Alice after my Mother, Joseph after my father and Faith. Special names mean special people. My faith is what got me here today living in my big house, married to Jack who loves me. Around my neck I wear Anne’s old locket. For I am not only Sarah, I am two people. My sister is part of me. We are one.