From The Song of the Camp I in Peter Weiss’ The Investigation

Witness Five

Even as I jumped out of the freight car
into that confusion on the platform
I knew that what mattered here was
to look out for yourself
to try to work your way up
to make a good impression
and to keep away from anything
that might drag you down
When they made us lie down on the tables
in the reception room
and inspected our rectums
and our sexual organs
for concealed valuables
every last remnant
of our usual life
vanished
Family
home
occupation
and possessions
were ideas
that were wiped out
when the number
was stamped into your arm
And already we had started to live
with a new set of values
and to adjust to this world
which for anyone
who wanted to survive in it
became a normal world
The supreme commandment was
to stay healthy
and to show you were physically strong
I stuck close to those
who were too weak
to eat their rations
so I could take their food
at the first opportunity
I didn’t take my eyes off
those who were dying
if they had a better sleeping place than I
Our way up in this new society
started in the barrack
which was our home now
From starting out sleeping
on the cold floor
we fought our way up
to the warm places on the top bunks
When two had to eat
out of the same bowl
they stared at each other’s throats
to make sure
the other was not swallowing
an extra spoonful
It was normal
that everything had been stolen from us
It was normal
that all around us people were dying
and it was normal
to live in the face of one’s own death
Our feelings grew numb
and we looked at corpses
with complete indifference
and that was normal
And it was normal
that there were some among us
who helped those who stood over us
to beat us
The woman who became
the Barrack-elder’s maid
had come up in that world
and those who managed
to ingratiate themselves
with the Barrack leader
rose even higher
Only the cunning survived
And those who every day
with unrelenting alertness
took and held their bit of ground
The unfit
the retarded
the slow
the gentle
the bewildered and the impractical
the ones who mourned and the ones
who pitied themselves
were crushed