The Jewish Dog (19 page)

A strange vapor arose from the pile.

I heard the voice of the Heavenly Dog
,
“Your brothers' blood cries out to me from the mound.”

I retreated
,
my tail standing on end.

CHAPTER 25

O
ne morning before sunrise
,
before I could distinguish between dog and wolf
,
a trill was heard from the whistle of Otto Stadie
,
the camp's head of administration
.
It was a sign that a train full of fresh victims was about to pull in from the town
.
It would arrive at the gate in just a few minutes
.
Ralph hurried me
,
wanting to catch our usual spot at the very front of the platform.

I hoped there would be many Jews on this train
.
The previous trains had come in with very few
.
Accordingly
,
the plundered food I received was just as limited.

The tracks trembled and the locomotive poked through the morning mist
.
The train came to a stop with a dull screech and its heavy doors opened
.
Thousands of tattered Jews fell out of the train cars
,
steered by whips
.
I carried out my job efficiently and barked loudly at any Jew that stepped out of line.

When all the Jews were standing in a tight group in the middle of the platform
,
everyone was hushed
,
and Otto Stadie made a reassuring announcement through his megaphone
.
Soon everyone would be showered and disinfected
.
They would receive new clothes and be sent to a labor camp
.
The elderly and ill were requested to accompany him to the
lazare
t
for medical treatment
.
Men between the ages of eighteen and thirty were commanded to separate from the rest of the group and report to the courtyard
,
arranged in groups of five.

I was ordered to stand watch over this group of young men in the courtyard.

My nostrils were suddenly electrified by a familiar odor
.
My heart skipped a beat
,
my ears reached straight into the air
,
and my tail went taut
.
Could I be hallucinating? What was this aromatic mirage? Was I being tricked by an illusion? I focused my gaze
.
There
,
in the group forming lines in the courtyard
,
I recognized Joshua Gottlieb
,
now a young man.

Ralph felt my tail wagging and couldn't understand what I was excited about
.

Joshua stood with the group of men
,
in the middle of the rightmost row.

Suddenly Joshua noticed me
,
confusion evident on his face
.
Could it be?

The cruel SS officer
,
Joseph Hirtreiter
,
approached Joshua from behind and grabbed the back of his neck.

“What do you think you're looking at?” Hirtreiter shouted
,
raising his arm to hit him
.
“Stupid Jude!”

Joshua didn't dare shield his head with his hands
,
and took the blow in all its strength
.
I suddenly became a wild
,
uncontrollable dog
.
A fearless Jewish dingo
.
Who was this mongrel
,
I thought as my blood boiled in my veins
,
who dared to raise a hand against my puppyhood friend? I charged forward like a bat out of hell
.
Ralph lost his grip on my leash
.
I leapt with great force
,
mouth wide open
,
prepared to bite
.
I brought Joseph Hirtreiter to the ground and tightened my jaws on his face in blind anger.

I was now positive that Joshua recognized me
,
but he was wise enough not to disclose our long relationship
.
Ralph came running and kicked me forcefully
.
I rolled over on the cement and muffled a yelp
.
Ralph helped the injured Joseph back onto his feet.

“I don't know what's gotten into this stupid dog,” Ralph apologized
.
“He's never acted so idiotically.”

“He's a sick dog
!
Psychotic!” Joseph cried
,
resting a hand on his mauled face
.
He glanced back at his hands
,
now painted with his own blood
,
and yelled
,
“He should be shot in the head!”

Ralph saw Joseph Hirtreiter reaching for his holster and quickly protected me with his own body.

“It's just a few small cuts,” Ralph downplayed the four holes my fangs had made in Joseph Hirtreiter's ugly face.

“I'm bleeding
!
Your bloody dog bit me
!
I should empty my entire magazine into his head right now
!
He's a crazy dog and he should be put down!”

“You're wrong
,
sir
 . .
 .” Joshua tried to intervene
.
Joseph Hirtreiter looked at Joshua with disbelieving eyes
.
Then he delivered a painful lash directly to his face
.
Woe to the Jew who tells an SS officer that he is wrong.

There was nothing in the world that I wanted more than to tear open Joseph Hirtreiter's carotid artery
,
but I fully grasped that another attack would kill both me and Joshua.

Shivering from fear
,
with two broken teeth
,
Joshua fumbled on the ground searching for his fallen glasses
.
One of the lenses had shattered
.
Joshua put on his broken spectacles
,
gathered his courage
,
and addressed the Nazi
.
“Herr officer held me by the scruff of the neck
,
as puppies are held
.
Dogs are shepherds by nature
.
The dog thought you were trying to remove one of the sheep from the herd – he was simply doing his job.”

I looked at Joshua's broken teeth
.
A day would come
,
I thought
,
that I would avenge those two teeth
.
Ralph
,
who was an expert on canine behavior
,
recognized the insightfulness of Joshua's observation.

Hirtreiter was relentless
.
“Herr Ralph Schmidt,” he threatened my trainer in a hiss
,
“the dog is crazy and he must be killed.”

“The dog is fine,” Ralph defended me.

But Joseph
,
who outranked Ralph
,
yelled furiously
,
“I told you to kill the bastard
!
Kill it
!
Kill
!
Kill!”

Es iz geven geshribn oif zayn naz
– it was written all over his snout – he was evil through and through
.
Embers of hatred shone in his eyes.

“Sir,” Joshua said to Ralph
,
“sir
,
if I may
,
I can prove that the dog is definitely in his right mind
,
and very bright as well.” Ralph looked surprised
,
and implored Joseph with his eyes to allow it.

“Come on
,
little Jude
,
come on and prove it!” Joseph said
,
and added menacingly
,
“But if I don't like your proof
,
you and the dog are both. . . .” He drew his finger across his neck.

“Stand across from the dog,” Joshua told Ralph
.
“Close your eyes
,
and hate him
.
Loathe him in your thoughts
,
just as you loathe your most mortal enemy.”

Joseph stood on the side looking skeptical
,
and caressed his pistol.

The moment I sensed the scent of hatred coming from my trainer
,
I lay on the ground and began whimpering
.
I scratched the ground with my claws
,
showing my submission
.
Ralph opened one eye and squinted at me in disbelief at my telepathic powers.

“Now love him
!
Love him with all your heart and with all your might!”

I could feel the love bursting from Ralph
,
and I ran toward him happily
,
wagging my tail.

“Hate him!” Joshua cried
,
and Ralph
,
his eyes still shut
,
scrunched his face in cold hatred
.
The scent of loathing and alienation saddened me greatly and I began crawling backwards
,
heartbreak in my eyes.

“Love him again!”

I jumped on Ralph and licked his chin.

Joseph snorted scornfully at Ralph
.
“Just wait and see
,
you and your Jude will. . . .”

One of Kurt Franz's lackeys came running and interrupted him
,
standing tall at attention.

“Oberscharführer said that all senior staff must report to the briefing room in twenty minutes.”

Joseph replied that he would be there
,
and Ralph nodded his acknowledgement.

After Joseph was gone
,
Ralph told Joshua that he had never seen such an eye-opening demonstration of a dog understanding his owner
.
He promised that he would try to appoint Joshua to feed the animals and clean their cages.

CHAPTER 26

J
oshua lived in a tiny shack near the kennels
.
Every morning after roll call
,
he would take a box of leftovers from the cook and divide whatever the Germans had left from their meals between me and my friends
.
After we'd dine
,
I would join him as he spread breadcrumbs for the chickens and the ducks
.
The carrot peels
,
onions
,
and potatoes he kept for the three strange animals that lived in the small pen between the warehouses
.
This corner was the quietest place in the camp
,
and that is where Ralph would conduct my morning training.

“Good morning
,
little piggies,” Joshua would greet them
.
“I've brought you yummy food.” Joshua seemed to be very fond of these three chubby creatures
,
and I liked them too
.
Joshua called the littlest one Maulwurf
,
the one with pudgy cheeks Springy
,
and the third
,
who was a little yellowish
,
he called Zanfi.

Springy and Maulwurf would approach him immediately and put their snouts in the box of slops
.
Zanfi preferred to walk up to me and suck up a little bit of my face in his snout
.
I would answer his funny welcome with a friendly bark
,
and he would bark a funny little bark back
,
“oink oink!”

Zanfi was somewhat squashed and incredibly lazy
,
but he had a sharp look in his eyes and was very clever
.
One morning
,
I learned just how astute he was
.
Ralph was trying to teach me a new trick
.
First he sat me down and commanded
“Bleib!
”
Then he would walk away
,
and signal to me to walk toward him
,
but each time he called
“Platz!
”
I had to stop and lie down
,
with my stomach flat on the ground
.
I admit
,
the maneuver was complex and confusing
,
and it took a lot of practice until I understood exactly what Ralph wanted
.
To my astonishment
,
I noticed that while I was busy learning
,
my friend Zanfi was imitating each move from the other side of the fence
.
He was also learning to follow Ralph's commands
.
In fact
,
I think he learned the procedure faster than I.

Upon learning how bright Zanfi was
,
I would join Joshua every morning for the feeding
,
in order to visit my friend and see how he was doing
.
After he finished his rounds
,
Joshua would go to the corner of his living quarters
,
and underneath his bed he'd place a little bit of the bread that he withheld from the duck
,
and a little food that he kept out of my friends' dishes
.
He hid the food in order to feed his bedmates
:
Yomtov
,
Lerman
,
Valovanchik
,
and Salzburg.

Lerman was a bald Jew with a huge nose and a pair of oval nostrils that would quiver every time he cried bitterly
.
Two fresh scars on the sides of his head indicated that his side locks had been cruelly shorn off
.
He would mutter passages of prayer for hours on end
.
“Out of the depths I cry to you
,
Lord / I called upon the Lord in distress / Rise up
,
Lord
,
and let thine enemies be scattered / Avenge before our eyes the spilled blood of Your servants.” But why did he repeat his prayer so? Was it a sign that God was not hearing his prayer?

Salzburg was broad-shouldered
,
his forehead furrowed and his eyes bulging
.
Hidden under his bed were pictures of him as a happy family man with a rounded belly and a double chin
.
His belly
,
extra chin
,
and family were all gone now
.
He had buried his wife and two daughters
,
and would mourn them often
.
He refused to let them go
,
and would often say things like “If my wife were here
,
she would no doubt
 . .
 .” or “Just like my girls would say. . . .”

Valovanchik was lively and nimble
.
He was a man of action
,
and a smooth talker as well.

One evening he told his friends in a broken voice
,
“Four years I spent in the army there. . . 
.
I was the youngest officer in the entire Siberian battalion
.
All my soldiers are gone now
;
I saw each and every one of them take a bullet. . . .”

He would scream in his sleep
,
and his friends would wake him and cool his face with a shred of damp cloth
.
He carried a letter in his pocket and would glance at it often.

“What is that letter?” his friends would ask
,
but he would lower his gaze and shove the letter back into his pocket.

“I think we can escape if we plan it properly,” he would say.

“You think that prisoners with no strength or weapons can overpower German soldiers?” Lerman would ask
.
“And how exactly do you plan to get over the electric fence? And how will you avoid the Ukrainian soldiers and the dogs?”

Valovanchik did not respond
,
but his face was determined and there was a scent about him that I knew very well – the scent of revenge.

At night
,
Joshua would divide the food he'd managed to steal between his friends.

Valovanchik chewed on the edge of a bone and hummed marching tunes.

“Ach,” Salzburg said fondly
,
“my wife knew how to make bread like this.”

Lerman was always careful to wash his hands ritually before eating bread
.
At times
,
though
,
he was forced to rub his hands with dirt because there was no water available
.
After he ate some leftover pie
,
a quarter of a piece of bread
,
and a little bit of meat still stuck to a fish skeleton
,
he would close his eyes and say the Grace after Meals
.
He would begin his blessing with “You give them their food at the proper time” and end with “I have never seen the righteous forsaken.”

One evening
,
the three friends waited for Joshua to return from his work in the kennels and share with them his daily tithe
.
What was keeping him? Footfalls were heard outside the shack and the three went to the door and peeked out to see if Joshua had finally arrived.

It was not Joshua.

“Good evening
,
Herr Galveski,” Valovanchik welcomed the man
,
who entered pushing a loaded wheelbarrow
.
“What are you carrying in there?”

“Building debris,” Galveski replied
.
“It's very important to clear the debris.”

Valovanchik nodded in agreement.

The wheelbarrow smelled of oil and steel.

“Don't forget to move the large sacks of potatoes,” Valovanchik said.

“I won't forget,” Galveski promised
.
“Everything will be moved in time.”