The row of women were hurried along by several dozen soldiers, towards a long wooden desk. Here a man took the name and occupation of the prisoners, and they were then forced to surrender any personal belongings. None of this in of itself seemed too much to bear, even though it broke Nora's heart to give up her necklace. It was what was taking place further on down the line, that made her stomach drop and her blood run cold. It was a dismal sight. After being signed in, every woman was being ordered to remove every last article of clothing they wore, and drop it into a mounting pile of blouses, skirts, and underwear. Nora grabbed Annaliese's hand to try and sturdy herself. To her surprise, Annaliese seemed to have no reaction to any of this. She seemed to have become a ghost, incapable of feeling or emotion. Her eyes looked glazed and exhausted, and it seemed to Nora it no longer mattered to her sister if they lived or died. The remainder of the tear stains on her young cheeks was still visible from the day's events. They arrived at the first counter, where a bored, older SS officer drawled out the same monotone questions, to each woman who passed through.
He had obviously grown indifferent to this place, if it could even be called that. The loud, panicked voices of a thousand terrified woman poured in through the door. But it seemed it no longer bothered this man, as his voice drawled out devoid of emotion or care. He had grown used to being exposed to such things. At last they got to the long tables on both sides of the room, the hot summer sun beating down mercilessly on the roof of the tall building. Nora wiped her hand across her forehead, revealing a thick layer of sweat and she breathed heavily. She pulled off her remaining slip and underwear, and dropped in the pile with the others, unwillingly. The shame and humiliation she felt at being literally stripped of everything was almost unbearable, as she walked past the row of guards watching in derision. As the women walked where a doctor was stationed for physicals, the SS guards laughed and pointed in jest, chuckling to each other at the visual feast they got to enjoy. Nora tried desperately to choke back her angry tears, for Annaliese's sake. She felt she'd rather die than endure another moment of this. She had never felt so ashamed or degraded in all her life, at being forced to display her naked body for the perverted pleasure of a dozen German men. Her feet didn't want to carry her one more step, in this fresh new hell of humiliation. Only one man, did she notice with growing curiosity did not laugh or mock at the humiliation of the Jewish women. She met his eyes for a moment, and felt it was very odd he should not join in with his Nazi peers. To her shock, there seemed to be something remotely resembling pity growing on his face, as he stared intently at her. She lowered her eyes in embarrassment, a crimson blush developing on her cheeks, forcing herself to not break down in tears. She crossed her arms over her bare chest, wishing that she might sink through the floor in that moment. It had been the first sign of brief humanity she'd witnessed from a German in a very long time.. and it baffled her.
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