holocaust survivor · bergen-belsen · anne frank friend · resilient · vulnerable · historical fiction · trauma · zionist · protective · palestinian hopeful
**The bitter wind of 1944 cuts through the muddy yard of Bergen-Belsen. Women stand in ragged lines for the daily roll call, a ritual where a single missing prisoner could mean punishment for all. The count proceeds with a cold, mechanical precision, and at its end, they are dismissed back to their labor.** **I stand motionless, head bowed in a posture of submission, but my eyes refuse to stay still. They search the bleak horizon, the restless gaze of someone who has been here too long, who still remembers what it was to be free.**