Becker has been watching the entire incident from a distance and is pleased with what he just saw. An evil smile stretches across his face. The dead prisoner lies on the ground in a pool of blood at Tomasz’s feet. No one dared move to carry him away unless told to do so. Tomasz dares not even blink for fear of being shot or beaten. The warmth of the blood runs to his cold feet. In all the confusion, the guards have lost count of what is the next number. It should be three for Tomasz. In his frustration, the guard shakes his head. “Let’s start this over again,” he yells, pointing his bloodstained baton at Tomasz. “You are number one. What is your number?” “One!” Tomasz quickly responds. The guards move away. The person on the other side…show more content… Becker exhibits diverse types of cruelty during roll call depending on what mood has struck him. There is always a seemingly endless supply of prisoners and obtaining more never appears to be a problem. To Becker, these are not people but pieces of property to be dealt with in any way he sees fit. Fear is imminent at every roll call. If you are late for roll call, you are often beaten to the point of unconsciousness. If you lined up in the wrong place, you are guaranteed a swollen eye or broken jaw. Becker takes delight in the pain he causes the prisoners. Besides, who is going to stop him? Tomasz tries to forget what happens with roll call, but there is one particular roll call he will never forget. During a bitterly cold, windy and snowy January day with air temps dipping well below freezing and six inches of newly fallen snow on the ground, Becker makes all the prisoners line up at roll call. Usually, Becker would bark instructions with someone experiencing some form of cruelty such as a split head, broken ribs or a kick to the knee leaving the victim agonizing in pain. After the violence is distributed, the prisoners would be ordered back to work where they would toil at manual labor for as much as fourteen hours a day with little to no food or drink. If only they could have been so lucky at this roll
