VOA标准英语21015--奥斯维辛集中营幸存者的故事

 

Saved By a Mistake: an Auschwitz Survivor's Story 奥斯维辛集中营幸存者的故事

Dagmar Lieblova was 14 when she arrived at Auschwitz in December 1943, along with her entire Czech Jewish family. All of them were to die there, but she was able to leave after several months due to a bureaucratic¹ mix-up which saved her life. Now 85, with three children and six grandchildren, she says she has a feeling of victory.

Auschwitz is still a chilling place. It was purpose-built for mass murder. And more than a million people died there. But the survivors² can bear witness to what happened. Among them Dagmar Lieblova, whose mother and sister both perished in the camp.

"Well I was almost 15, and I couldn't imagine that everything would be over," she said. "That I would never see anything else but just the blocks and the wire, I would never in my life see a tree or a piece of grass."

Damar had every reason to think that she too would end in the Auschwitz crematorium. Shortly after she arrived, her uncle, aunt and cousin were all killed in the gas chambers³. She spent her days helping⁴ her mother empty the latrines. It was grim work, on an empty stomach.

"The food was very simple... it was in the morning there was what they called coffee - a sort of warm liquid," she said. "In the day there was a portion soup. And then a piece of bread in the evening ."

But Dagmar was about to be saved by an incredible stroke of luck. The Nazis⁵ made a list of workers aged⁶ 16-40 to undertake war work in Germany.  Dagmar's name was on it. Her date of birth should have been written 1929 - but instead, it said 1925.

"Because of this mistake, that someone wrote a '5' instead of a '9' it saved my life," she said. "There was a train standing⁷ and we stepped in, and it moved, and we didn't believe we were leaving. We couldn't believe that we were really leaving Auschwitz."

Like so many others... Dagmar's family all died here. Dagmar spent the rest of the war working in Hamburg. Only once, 20 years ago, did she return. She won't come back again.

"Auschwitz is a cemetery⁸ for my parents, my sister, almost all my relatives," she said. "Everything comes back again. No, I wouldn't go there any more. It's too hard."

But Dagmar, at home surrounded by books and photos, is not bitter. Life, she feels, has triumphed.

"Now when I see my children and grandchildren I have a feeling it's a victory. Because I was not supposed to be here," she said.

Auschwitz is now a museum, a reminder⁹ of the inhuman¹⁰ cruelty perpetrated by the Nazis -- but Dagmar's life is a testament¹¹ to the resilience and power of the human spirit.

1 bureaucratic   

adj.官僚的，繁文缛节的

参考例句：

• The sweat of labour washed away his bureaucratic airs.劳动的汗水冲掉了他身上的官气。
• In this company you have to go through complex bureaucratic procedures just to get a new pencil.在这个公司里即使是领一支新铅笔，也必须通过繁琐的手续。

2 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者

3 chambers   

n.房间( chamber的名词复数 )；（议会的）议院；卧室；会议厅

参考例句：

• The body will be removed into one of the cold storage chambers. 尸体将被移到一个冷冻间里。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Mr Chambers's readable book concentrates on the middle passage: the time Ransome spent in Russia. Chambers先生的这本值得一看的书重点在中间：Ransome在俄国的那几年。 来自互联网

4 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

5 Nazis   

n.（德国的）纳粹党员( Nazi的名词复数 )；纳粹主义

参考例句：

• The Nazis worked them over with gun butts. 纳粹分子用枪托毒打他们。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Nazis were responsible for the mass murder of Jews during World War Ⅱ. 纳粹必须为第二次世界大战中对犹太人的大屠杀负责。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 aged   

adj.年老的，陈年的

参考例句：

• He had put on weight and aged a little.他胖了，也老点了。
• He is aged,but his memory is still good.他已年老，然而记忆力还好。

7 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

8 cemetery   

n.坟墓，墓地，坟场

参考例句：

• He was buried in the cemetery.他被葬在公墓。
• His remains were interred in the cemetery.他的遗体葬在墓地。

9 reminder   

n.提醒物，纪念品；暗示，提示

参考例句：

• I have had another reminder from the library.我又收到图书馆的催还单。
• It always took a final reminder to get her to pay her share of the rent.总是得发给她一份最后催缴通知，她才付应该交的房租。

10 inhuman   

adj.残忍的，不人道的，无人性的

参考例句：

• We must unite the workers in fighting against inhuman conditions.我们必须使工人们团结起来反对那些难以忍受的工作条件。
• It was inhuman to refuse him permission to see his wife.不容许他去看自己的妻子是太不近人情了。

11 testament   

n.遗嘱；证明

参考例句：

• This is his last will and testament.这是他的遗愿和遗嘱。
• It is a testament to the power of political mythology.这说明，编造政治神话可以产生多大的威力。