Helmunth and the nazi

                       Helmunth and the Nazi

   -         Ahena Mk 

 

His lips felt like warm wet silky cloth on my cheeks.  “Helmunth “ my older brother smirked in a low voice filled with concern “take care and be good to sister Agnes. Dad and I have to go, we are compelled to join the army and fight for the Nazi Germany, we may not return .mom is no more I am trusting Agnes on you, take care. Here is something I want you to always have, mom had given it to me .Protect it, protect Agnes and protect yourself. I love you and I will always .Don’t   forget to say your prayers, good bye love you.”I held the pendent given by my brother tightly in my fist. It was a red marble with the word ‘Angel’ engraved on it. With tears in my eyes I held on to Agnes as if she was the only one I had left. With a heavy heart I waved goodbye to my father and brother .It was like watching them enter a death trap while I helplessly stood and watched. I was hugging Agnes, something I had not done before. I screamed to them “I love you both” as they entered a van filled with other German   soldiers like them who had left their family behind to fight a war.

I knelt down and faced Agnes, holding her warm hands tightly. I kissed her on the forehead and whispered “Are you hungry shall I make you some toast?” the reply I got however was completely different “When will Seth and dad be back?”I swallowed trying to gather words and control my emotions “Toast with butter or jam I asked?” Agnes looked down, eyes fixed to the floor, maybe she understood that I did not want to speak about it. She replied in a low voice filled with sadness “I am not hungry!”

All of a sudden there seemed to be a different relationship between me and Agnes. We had always fought worse than cats and dogs. Suddenly something felt different, I felt older than I was, much much older. 

The next day everything seemed different .I had to wake myself up, there was no brother to wake me up anymore .I rubbed my eyes and pushed my bed sheet aside .Then filling a cup with hot water I went into my sisters room . She had already woken up and had got dressed. I went over to her and handed her the cup not saying a word. I held her chin and gently lifted it up .I rubbed my thumb over her cheeks, it was soaked with tears “What’s   the matter “I asked realizing my throat was dry and it pained as I spoke.

“They have been taken and we are next”

“What?”

“Robert and Paul!!”

“Who took Robert and Paul and WHY?”

“The  Germans! I heard a noise and got up. Looking outside the window to see what had happened, I saw Paul and Robert being taken away by the Germans!”

“But why would they do that?  Robert and Paul are Germans and as a matter of fact there dad had gone to fight war too!”

“Haven’t you heard the new Nazi propaganda? Only blue eyed Nordic Aryans were allowed to live!”

“What no way! I am not blue eyed and nor are we Nordic Aryans!! Will we be tak.. “

 

Suddenly the door flew open and smashed against the wall resulting in a loud BANG! Two men in black entered and stormed towards me and Agnes grabbing us by the collar. They   looked into our eyes and pulled out a strand of our hair examining it closely.  One of the men shouted something in German   and all of a sudden three other men entered the room carrying huge guns. They picked me and Agnes up and rushed outside leaving the door wide open.

Outside there were four trucks filled with children. We were dumped into a truck which had the words “ghetto” written on it. Sitting next to Agnes I held her tightly. I could see the fright in her eyes I tried to stay calm as if nothing was going to happen.

After an hour of journey the truck finally came to a halt. I hadn’t   said a word the whole time. We were all finally made to get down from the truck and lineup. There was large area filled with tiny congested wooden rooms placed close to each other. The whole area smelt like dead bodies. I opened my mouth to say something to Agnes but no words came out. Suddenly the same man who had kidnapped us from home came out of the truck and directed the crowd towards one of the ghettos.

Still clinging on to Agnes’s sweaty hand we walked into one of the ghettos .It was a small and stinky room filled with sweaty and stinky people of all ages. It was over crowded and there was also no place to sit .As the last one of us entered in the door shut behind and I heard it lock .There was no space to even turn around and there was an uncanny silence in the room . I bent down to Agnes and wiped a tear of her cheek .I hugged her and passed my fingers through her beautiful hair. Both of us said nothing but understood all that there was to say.

Pushing through the crowd we managed to get to the stuffy corner of the room where we could lean against the cold wooden wall. I rested my head against the wall and shut my eyes thinking about �" Seth my life’s role model, my brother, and my hero.

I hadn’t known when I had fallen asleep but when I got up we were not In the ghetto anymore , we were moving ,only later did I realize that we were in the same truck which had brought us to the ghetto .This time there were not only children in the truck but there were also adults. Some Jews, poles, some gypsies and there were also NON-blue eyed Germans. Agnes was next to me cuddled up still sound asleep .I did not wake her up. I was not sure what would happen in the next few hours I wanted her to spend some quiet time with herself.

Gathering up some courage I managed to ask an old man sitting next to me where we were being taken.“To the final solution kid!” he replied with a sigh.  “What happens there” I asked .The old man closed his eyes and said “no one knows my child, No one knows …. Amen… amen …“

 

On reaching I woke Agnes up, looked into her eyes and said   ”Agnes no matter what,    you are the best sister in the world. Have faith in me, we don’t know what will happen to us. We may get separated but remember I will always be there for you.” I took out the pendent which brother had given me and I placed it around Agnes’s neck “Keep this always with you no matter what happens protect it and protect yourself”.  Saying this I closed my eyes I knew very well what would happen dad and Seth had already explained it to me. I did not want to scare Agnes and so I had acted dumb throughout.

We all got down and as soon as we did a German man came forward separating us to form two different groups .This time me and Agnes got separated not because I was a boy and she was a girl, but because I was a Jew and she was a Nordic blue eyed Aryan German. In fact eddy was adopted and not my real blood sister but I loved her as much as I would to a ACTUAL sister. She was going to be taken to a orphanage school where she would be taught Nazi lively hood and rules while I was being taken to the final solution . As a matter of fact my brother and dad never went to the army. They were actually being taken to the concentration camp and they would never return. We had to act in front of Agnes to prevent her from knowing the truth. It would have broken her heart. Agnes was an adopted child, our German maid’s kid in fact. Her mother had died when she was not even a year old. My dad took pity and we adopted a truly German blood to our Jewish family.

I looked at her; she was looking at me, eyes filled with tears I managed to smile at her. She replied with a halfhearted sad smile.  She was tightly holding on to her pendent in her right hand and had her left hand placed over her heart. Though she was five years younger than me, she looked much older all of a sudden.

Once the lines were formed we headed in opposite directions. Somewhere deep in my heart I felt a strong urge to tell her the truth and to say that I am sorry. As we were loaded into two different trucks I realized how much I missed Agnes. This time I had no one’s hand to hold. I quietly squeezed next to two other Jews who were murmuring some prayers. I looked out of the grilled window through one of the larger holes and watched the truck Agnes was in slowly shrink and finally vanish as we moved apart. I looked up, away from the window and realized that I was crying. I took a deep breath and rubbed my hands over my face, wiping off my tears hoping I could meet Agnes again.  

Reviews

[David Lewis Paget]

You have brought that terrible period to life, Ahena. If ever pure evil walked the earth, it was personified by Nazi Germany, and Militaristic Japan. Good write.

[Ahena MK]

thanks for reading...
ahena

[SpeedyHobbit Armstrong]

This is an absolutely amazing and sad story all at once. I feel so terrible for poor Agnes. The effects of that horrific event are truly far reaching

[Ahena MK]

Glad u enjoyed reading it...
Ahena

[Coyote Poetry]

I have known survivors of the camps. Few will speak of the horror of them. The story had a feel of realness. The poor children and people killed by the Nazi hate is still felt today. I like the way you gave life to the characters. I hope we don't forget the Holocaust. The sad part it had been repeated in the near past and today. Man doesn't learn from the mistakes made in the past. Thank you for sharing the outstanding story.
Coyote

[Ahena MK]

thanks for reading...
ahena