On the Last Train to Auschwitz

As the long freight train leaves the Nazi Westerbork transit camp and picks up speed across the flat Dutch countryside, Louis takes out the couple of sheets of paper he had stuffed in his pocket and begins to write his letter. He knows he has to hurry: It will not be very long before the train crosses the border into Germany.

Writing in Dutch, he starts:

Darling,

I am on my way to an unknown destination. I sit here with 56 people in a freight car. I have to write on my knee while we are riding ...