All My Love, Detrick (17 page)

“The
goyim
, you mean?”

“Yes, anyone who isn’t a Jew.”

“Do you really think they are all bad?”

“Now, don’t you? I mean, haven’t you seen how they treat us? They’d kill us all if they could. If we had a state of our own… a homeland...well, then, we’d always have a place to go…somewhere to turn.”

“But we live here now… Let’s try to defeat them here and build strength for our people in Poland.”

“I agree with you in that respect and I will attend the meeting, but I still think we must aim for our own land.”

“Even so, until Palestine becomes a reality, Poland is better for us than Germany, yes?”

“Yes.” Karl lifted his glass and the two drank in agreement.

40

T
he smell of sweat permeated the air as the leaders of the Bund took the podium. A tall, heavy-set man, with thick gray hair and a coarse gray beard, came forward.

“Have any of you heard about what happened on
Kristallnacht?”

A buzz of whispered conversation caused him to raise his hands in protest. “Quiet please; only one of us must speak at a time.”

In the back of the room, a man stood. He wore a black suit far too big for his puny frame. “In Germany, the Nazi Party attacked the Jewish businesses. People on the streets got hit with clubs, and the Nazis also shattered all the windows and burned the synagogue. From what I understand, all Jews must wear yellow armbands with the Star of David, to single them out. The Nazis have set a curfew and all Jews must register, as well.”

“How long ago did this all happen?” Another voice from the corner of the room chimed out.

“Only one year ago. But from what I am hearing, things are getting very difficult for our people in Germany, and there is talk that Hitler plans to expand his empire even further, maybe to Poland.”

“I don’t believe he will come here. Poland is too big and powerful a country.” Another man stood; his throaty voice rang through the hall.

By the end of the night, Karl could think of nothing but his family. He wished he could visit and be sure they had not been harmed.

As he walked along the dark and quiet streets of Warsaw, Karl felt overcome with loneliness. Without his family, and with only a few casual friends, the world appeared vast and empty. Inside, he secretly longed for love, but the vulnerability it might cost him hardly seemed worth the price. Perhaps he would go to the aerospace factory and apply for a job. He’d grown tired of Mr. Heimlsky and his precious hardware store.

Late August brought occasional cool nights, but on this night no breeze broke the sweltering heat and Karl felt a ring of sweat form in the armpits of his work shirt. He wondered when he might risk going home. Although his relationship with Jacob
had been strained due to his fighting and radical beliefs, Karl found that he missed his father most. As a little boy, Jacob centered him, giving him confidence and purpose. Only once the Nazi takeover shattered their lives, did Karl find his relationship with Jacob to be a challenge. Their differences made him angry, and instead of discussing his feelings, Karl had shut his father out. He resented that Jacob still kept that
goy
, Detrick, with him, even though Karl saw Detrick as just another Nazi in the making. Now Karl smiled wryly, and thought regardless of their differences, he would have given anything to see his family again, especially his father.

Yes, tomorrow he would apply for a job at the factory. It was time for a change.

41

On March of 1933, near the quaint Bavarian town of Dachau, the first real concentration camp was established. At first, it housed primarily political prisoners.

Built on the grounds of an abandoned munitions factory, this facility
would later be established as the model for future camps. Thirty-one thousand reported deaths are attributed to the Dachau camp, but the true death toll is thought to be considerably higher.

42

A
t a little after four o’clock in the morning, a shooting took place at the Polish/German border. On the 1st of September, under Hitler’s orders, a group of Nazis rounded up prisoners from Dachau and dressed them in German uniforms. Then they transported the captives to the border, where they shot them, crying out, “Poland has invaded Germany!”

Now Hitler had his excuse, through another deception, as he declared war on Poland and the German troops marched across the border to take over their neighbor.

43

Berlin

W
ilfrieda thumbed through her magazine and puffed on a cigarette as she awaited the arrival of her next client. Konrad Klausen had proved difficult in his prior visits, but well worth the effort and discomfort, at least financially.

Prost
itution is an art, she told herself repeatedly. Men like Konrad only served to reinforce her conviction. She had found his quirk quite accidentally. He had come to see her several times and been unable to achieve an erection. She'd begun to wonder why he continued to frequent the district. On one occasion, she'd spoken with another girl Konrad had visited, and she had admitted that regardless of what she'd tried, his manhood had remained limp. Then one evening, he came to see Wilfrieda following a fight with his superior officer. He insisted that she join him in a drink, and then another, until they both had become inebriated. The two had been laughing and embracing. Things felt warm and ripe, so she'd taken his manhood from his pants and placed her lips around it, sucking deeply. He had remained flaccid, but his attitude changed and his face grew red with anger.

“Yo
u stupid, good-for-nothing slut! You ugly whore!” he spat insults at her, and as he did, he threw her against the bed frame. With one hand, he tore her dress open and ripped her panties. Now fully erect, he entered her and pushed her hands up over her head, forcing himself inside of her roughly.

Once she learned what he needed, she knew how to play him. For a long time the mock rape had satisfied him.
But, as of late, he had been requesting to tie her arms and legs to the bedpost.

Instinct brought a cold chill of fear when she considered the possibility, and until now, she had refused him.
But, he paid more than any of her other clients and she wanted to keep him.

44

Poland proved no match for Hitler. Germany attacked on the northern, southern, and western fronts. Within a few weeks, on October 6, 1939, Poland surrendered and the German occupation began.

45

The United States of America - the land of opportunity

When the boat pulled into Ellis Island, Dorothy Silver thought her heart would burst with anticipation. Many of the immigrants waved homemade American flags, whooping and hollering. The new world laid just steps away. Soon, she and her family would disembark from the ship and her life in America would begin. In many ways, she longed for the old familiar days she’d shared with Leah in Germany, but her youthful soul could not help but embrace the adventure. The sun cast a blinding reflection on the shining copper Statue of Liberty, which had oxidized to green in patches. For a moment, the noise ceased, and silence fell upon the group as the immigrants realized that they had arrived. The American dream had gleamed like a diamond in their minds; now it was a reality before them. If one listened closely, the thunder of anxious heartbeats would be heard above the rush of the roaring waves.

Dorothy lost track of the days before the release of the family from quarantine. The halls smelled of sweat, salami,
garlic, and sausages. But, finally, the Silvers took the ferry off the island and into New York City. She had never seen so many people of so diverse ethnicities. She wished they could linger and observe all of the strange goings-on, but her father insisted that they hurry to the train station, board, and speed off to Chicago, where they would meet Dorothy’s uncle and his family.

Oscar Silver longed to see his brother again, but also felt embarrassment at imposing upon his family. In Germany, he’d earned a nice living, not to mention the respect of the town, when he volunteered as the cantor at the synagogue. Now he depended upon his brother to help him to find work to support his family and begin his life again.

The Silver family sat quietly, looking out the window as the train jutted along from New York to Chicago, each lost in his own thoughts.

Dorothy slept and awaked several times before they entered the station. As soon as they disembarked, she smelled the horrible odor she would later learn came from the
stockyards. It would take time for the family to grow accustomed to the nauseating stench of blood and death.

From the train station, they took the elevated train along the rooftops of the city to her uncle’s house. She sped past clotheslines filled with garments blowing in the breeze, men working on construction sites, wearing dirty, white, cotton tee shirts, and tramps sitting on the pavement outside of liquor stores with bottles concealed in brown paper bags.

Dorothy’s mother looked gray with nausea as the train bumped and jarred. Her father continually reassured them both that they were all safe, although he did not seem entirely convinced.

Finally,
they arrived at their stop, where they were instructed to take a streetcar to the west side. When they boarded the car, they found it crowded and had to stand with their luggage for the entire ride. Passengers shot looks of disdain at the foreigners. And, Dorothy took notice of how differently they dressed from the people of her homeland. She admired the women, with their tight skirts and brazen made-up faces. The open trolley moved through the streets. They passed restaurants and dance clubs, where she heard bands playing swing music. These rhythmic sounds fell upon her ears, bringing a smile to her face. She had heard of swing, but Hitler forbade it in Germany.

When they arrived at Uncle Benjamin’s apartment, she met her cousin, Hette, and her Aunt Essie. They lived in a large brick building on the third floor. Dorothy shared a small bedroom with Hette, while her parents slept on a hide-a-bed in the living room. The flat was small and cramped before. Now, with an additional family, it was even more so. The luxury of hot water was un
affordable, and that meant cold baths. This would be all right in the summer, but Uncle Benjie explained that, when winter came, they would boil the water before bathing.

Since Uncle Benjie worked at the fruit and vegetable market, the family had access to all of the spoiling food, which Aunt Essie used to make soups. Although he tried, Uncle Benjie found no success in securing a job for his brother.

“The economy is bad,” they told him. “We have no room for another worker.” And so, for a while, Dorothy and her family felt like dead weight in the home of their relatives. No one ever said a word, but the air grew thick with their annoyance, as the newness of the visitors wore off and the lack of space and rations became more apparent.

Every morning, Dorothy’s father set out to comb the neighborhood in search of work, and each evening he returned covered in grime,
sweat, and disappointment. She watched at the evening meal as he ate less and less, growing thinner with each passing day.

Finally, in the fall, just before Dorothy started her senior year at Marshall High School, her father arrived home with good news. For a moment, he appeared to be the man of so long ago, the one of whom neighbors in Germany had spoken so highly. He walked in the back door through the kitchen, grinning ear-to-ear, and with the loud and booming voice that had made him the most popular cantor at the
Shul
, he called out, “Mama, Dorothy, come, quickly!”

They both raced into the kitchen just in time to see him remove his hat and toss it upon the table.

“I have a job! I am working selling men and women’s coats on Maxwell Street! I will do the books for the store too. It is not as much money as I earned in the old days…but, for the love of God, it is a start! We are going to be all right.” He stretched his strong arms out, embracing them like a giant black bear.