Ludwig bit his lower lip and considered the information he had received from the woman as he rode to Hedy’s apartment on the bus. He had enjoyed working during the day for a change instead of his usual night shift. A smile crossed his face as he glanced out the window. It was nice to have the opportunity to share dinner with Hedy. This was a rarity. As he walked into Hedy’s apartment, Ludwig was greeted by the aroma of grilled sausage and sauerkraut. Hedy wore her hair in braids wrapped around her head, and for a moment he was taken in by how well she fit the role of hausfrau.
“Hello, my love,” she said. “You must be famished.”
“I am, but I want to clean up first. The smell from that place lingers in my hair and in my skin. Give me a few minutes.”
“Of course. Take your time.” She smiled.
As he sat down at the table, Hedy said, “Isn’t it lovely to spend evenings together? Wouldn’t it be just wonderful if you worked days from now on instead of midnights?”
“Actually, I liked it very much. And I am still hunting for those children. I think I might just have an idea of where they have gone. Let me explain.”
She poured him a beer and sat beside him as he told her what the woman informant had told him.
“She could just be working me over to get extra food. But I have a feeling about this, and I was wondering if you could ask your father if I might ride along with the Gestapo when they collect their rations from the local farms. Tell him that I would go during the day, and so it would not interfere with my job.“
“What a good idea. Perhaps you might even get a little extra money for it. Who knows what my vater can arrange. After all, he got this job for you, didn’t he?”
It was two weeks before Solomon was required to deliver another message to the partisan camp where Ewa was staying. Two days prior to receiving the message for that camp, he’d been instructed to deliver a message to another group of partisans that was located several miles to the north.
The message he relayed to both camps was the same. He was told to tell them the Nazis were not coming through the area where the Borkowski farm was located. This time the Nazis were headed to several farms that were located north of the Borkowski farm where they would pick up their share of the annual crops. Solomon was glad. He hated it when the Nazis came around, but there was also a disappointing side to this. Because the Borkowski farm was not in any danger, it was not necessary for Sarah and Solomon to leave the farm and stay with the partisans even for a few hours. Solomon did his best to hide his displeasure at this news when he saw Ewa.
He arrived at the camp to find her leaning against a tree. She was talking with a new man, a handsome young man Solomon had never seen before. Solomon scrutinized the man’s looks. He was tall with a slender build and dark hair that needed to be cut. Ewa saw Solomon and waved but did not come over to speak. He’d already delivered the message to Cereck. He didn’t want to meet this new man. Instead, he turned away pretending he didn’t see Ewa. Dejected, Solomon left the camp and made his way back to the farm. Over the next several days, he forced himself not to think about Ewa because when he thought of her he envisioned the handsome man with the dark hair. It seemed that this man had crushed all his dreams, and this made him feel sad and lonely. So to keep her out of his thoughts, he worked even harder than usual.
Then one afternoon in late autumn, just before the first snowfall, Solomon was working in the field trying to ready the farm for winter when Sarah came running toward him. She was growing out of her shoes, and there was no money for a new pair. This made her even clumsier than normal. As she ran, she tripped on her short legs and fell flat on her face, but instead of crying, she got up and ran even faster. Solomon stopped and ran toward his sister.
“The Nazis are coming. I saw a black car down the road. They’re headed this way.”
Solomon dropped the hoe and grabbed Sarah’s hand. Together they began to run toward the forest, but she couldn’t run fast enough. Solomon had inherited his thick muscular body structure from his father. And the physical work he’d been doing on the farm had helped him to develop it even further. He lifted his sister into his arms, and carrying her, he ran as fast as he could. They entered the forest just as the black car stopped in front of the farm. Breathing heavily, the two children took refuge behind a cluster of trees as they watched three Gestapo agents walk up to the door of the farmhouse. One of the agents stayed by the side of the automobile, with his arms wrapped around his chest, just watching.
Solomon glanced at Sarah whose face had gone pale. She looked back at him.
“You did a good job. You got us out of there just in time,” he said, trying to reassure her. But his heart was racing as he watched the scene unfold.
Sarah leaned against Solomon who kept his eyes glued to the farmhouse. He saw one of the men from the Gestapo pull the farmer outside. One of the others was speaking, his face red, and from the way he was standing, he looked angry as he waved his arms wildly. A shiver ran up Solomon’s spine when the agent pushed Borkowski forward, and Borkowski fell face down in the dirt. Then one of the other Gestapo agents lifted Borkowski by his shirt collar and delivered a kick to Borkowski’s buttocks. Again, Borkowski fell on his face.
The Nazi stood over him and pointed to the area where Solomon and the other boys had planted the potatoes. Borkowski shrugged his shoulders and shook his head, but the Gestapo agent hit him across the face then picked Borkowski up by the shirt again. This time he forced him to walk over to the area where the potatoes were hidden and pointed to the ground. Solomon felt like he was watching a nightmare come to life right in front of him.
Borkowski fell to his knees and began digging with his bare hands. One of the agents kicked him, and Borkowski dug more frantically. As he dug, one of the other Nazis led the boys who had worked with Solomon outside at gunpoint and lined them up. Borkowski’s wife burst through the door with her hands gripping the hair at her temples. She ran over to her husband and pulled at the Gestapo agent’s arm. He gave her a hard push, and she flew out of the way falling to the ground. But she didn’t back off. Instead, she crawled back to the agent who kicked her in the face with his boot. She tried to get up, but she was unable to rise and fell back to the ground. Even from far away, Solomon could tell she was badly hurt.
Next, one of the Gestapo agents came outside holding Jula’s arm. She was wriggling to get away, screaming and crying. The blue ribbon that had been so precious to her had fallen out of her hair and lay on the ground. Sarah gasped when she saw it. Even though they were too far away to be heard by the Germans, Solomon put his hand over his sister’s mouth. “Shhhh,” he whispered in her ear. Sarah was trembling.
The Gestapo agent pulled Jula’s dress up to reveal her white underwear. She was fighting to pull her dress back down, but the Germans were teasing her and laughing. Then Kade rushed over and punched one of the Nazis in the face. Solomon and Sarah were too far away to make out what was said, but from the Germans' gestures, they knew he was very angry. He tossed Jula away like a rag doll. She fell. Kade went to help her get back on her feet, but a shot rang out and Kade collapsed where he stood. Jula’s hands covered her mouth, and Sarah was sure she was screaming. But then another shot rang out and Jula lay beside Kade bleeding out onto the dirt of the farm, dirt that had sustained generations of her family.
Two young lives, gone in an instant.
When Borkowski still hadn’t uncovered the stolen treasure, the agent pointed to two of the boys. Solomon couldn’t hear what was said, but the next thing he knew the boys were digging up the area. They unearthed the potatoes. The Nazi took one of the potatoes and held it in his hand. Then he raised it up to the sky. He tossed it in the air and quickly drew his gun. The breath caught in Solomon’s throat. The Gestapo agent pointed the gun at Borkowski, and a moment later a shot rang out. Before Solomon could catch his breath the other two Gestapo agents shot the boys. Then all three of the Nazis began to walk away. The Gestapo agents were almost at their auto
mobile when the first one turned around and walked back. He drew a pistol from his belt and shot the farmer’s wife. Then he walked back to the automobile and got in. The car roared to life, and within seconds it was gone.
“Should we go and see if anyone is still alive?” Sarah asked, her voice small and filled with terror.
“They aren’t. I’m sure they’re all dead,” Solomon said. “Come on, we can’t take the risk of going down there. We are lucky we got out when we did. Now let’s go back to the partisans’ camp and tell them what we saw.”
Chapter 23
Ludwig wondered why he could not become desensitized to the sight of blood. He’d certainly seen plenty of it in the ghetto. He’d watched the whole scene unfold, and he’d been able to distance himself from it. But now as he walked over to look at the carnage, he felt a nervous laugh bubbling up in his throat. A burst of wild laughter came from his lips as sweat formed on his brow. Why do I want to laugh when in fact I would like to fall on my knees and puke? He would have preferred to get back into the automobile, but he couldn’t. He needed to see the faces of those who’d been killed. It was important to see if any of the children who were now dead were the two he’d been searching for. He hoped not. Not because he cared about any of them, but because if they were, then he couldn’t claim credit. After all, the Gestapo had taken care of this, not him.
Bile rose in his throat, and he coughed as he surveyed the scene. He felt sexual arousal and disgust at the same time as his gaze fell upon the young, pretty farmer’s daughter, with her white thighs exposed and smeared with blood. She looks like a German girl. She looks a little like my sister. Ludwig shuddered, and the momentary arousal was gone. Now he wished he could go over to the girl and pull her skirt over her exposed thighs to protect her modesty but dared not do such a thing. If he did, the three Gestapo agents would most assuredly laugh at him. He turned his face away from the girl. She’s not a German girl. She’s not my sister. She is not real, not human.
He walked a little farther to look at the faces of the children. None of these children look like the ones I am searching for, but I can’t be sure. How can I? I’ve never seen the Jewish children I’m hunting. I only know what I’ve been told by informants who saw the burglary in the city. I know for certain the little girl isn’t here because she was described as very young, perhaps two or three years old. There is no child of that age here at this farm. But the boy? He was described as a tall, big-boned, young man of about fifteen. He could be any one of these boys. Ludwig felt the bile rise again, and then it was followed by another bout of laughter. One of the Gestapo officers laughed too then offered Ludwig a cigarette. Ludwig took it and lit it with trembling hands. Taking a deep puff to steady himself, he walked back toward the car with the others. It’s strange how the deep inhaling of cigarette smoke is satisfying after sex and after an experience like this.
“We’ll have to have a group of Jews from the ghetto brought out here to dig up all these potatoes,” one of the Gestapo agents said to the others. “It looks like the farmer has buried quite a stash. Can you arrange for a group of laborers for tomorrow? Jews from the ghetto?” the Gestapo agent asked Ludwig.
“Of course. I’ll take care of it first thing in the morning,” Ludwig said.
“By the way, good work, Ludwig. You were right. It seems that you got a good tip. You must have good informants in that ghetto, yes? How did you ever find out that the Borkowskis were stealing from the Reich at this farm?”
“One of my informants in the ghetto told me he’d gotten the information from someone in the underground.”
“You allow them to associate with the underground?”
“Only if I can keep a close eye on them. And . . . of course, only the informants. I allow them to buy a few things that they sell on the black market. In turn they tell me everything I need to know.”
“And he told you this?”
“Yes,” Ludwig said.
“Just like that, he told you?” the Gestapo agent said, shaking his head as they all got back into the automobile. “Do you ever wonder if those Jews are keeping things from you? I wouldn’t trust them.”
“I watch them closely,” Ludwig said. But he was wondering how much he knew and how much slipped by him. “I have ways of making the Jews talk.”
The other agent laughed, and the car sped away back toward the city.
Chapter 24
The following day, Ludwig went along with another group of Gestapo agents to collect the rations from several farms. It was, for the most part, a long and boring day. They rode in the back of an open-air truck where they loaded all the barrels of crops they collected. The frightened farmers were very cooperative. They knew they were required to give most of their harvest to the Germans for the war effort. But as the day wore on and Ludwig and his group rode from farm to farm, Ludwig became more discouraged about finding the Jewish runaways.
The Gestapo searched each of the farms for any illegal activities, but they found none. Ludwig was glad. He hadn’t slept well the previous night. He’d had a nightmare of the girl with the bloody thighs. In his dream she’d been dancing, and her skirt was torn off to reveal her thighs. But when she turned to look at Ludwig, her eyes were weeping blood, and she was not the girl who he’d seen. Her face was the face of his sister, Helene.
The Gestapo were relentless. At each farm they searched the barns and sheds like bloodhounds, but they found no Jews hiding and no stolen bounty. It was getting late. They had one more farm to stop at before heading back to the city. And Ludwig couldn’t wait. His back hurt from the bouncing of the truck, and his eyes burned from the relentless sunshine. Besides all of that, his bladder was near bursting.
While the others went down to the farm to collect their goods, Ludwig excused himself and walked up a hill and behind a cluster of trees to relieve himself. Relief spread over him, and he moaned as he began to urinate. Then he heard a commotion below. Shots were fired. He ran forward to see what was going on. Perhaps the Gestapo had found another farmer stealing. But as he walked closer, he saw two of the Gestapo agents lying on the ground. Fear gripped him. Were the Nazis being attacked? He ran back to hide behind the trees and fell to the ground into the puddle of his own urine, but he didn’t move.
Ludwig trembled as he watched a band of partisans, men and women in shabby clothes, come running back toward the forest. They began to disappear into the clusters of trees. He stayed down listening to the unsteady rhythm of his own breath and rapid heartbeat until he was sure they were gone. Then he looked down. This time it was not the farmer but the Gestapo agents who lay on the ground bleeding. Ludwig was curious. He wanted to know more. Be careful, he warned himself as he began to follow the partisans, but not too closely.
Chapter 25
Darkness hung over the woods like a hangman’s noose hangs over the head of a condemned man. Sarah clung to her brother’s hand as he led her back toward the partisans' camp.
“I’m cold,” she whispered.
“I know. So am I.”
When they arrived at the clearing where the partisan camp had been, it was empty. No one was there. Sarah squeezed her brother’s hand. “What are we going to do?” she asked. He heard the fear and desperation in her voice, but he didn’t know what to say to comfort her.
“Something went wrong. Someone must have informed them about what the Borkowskis were doing.” Solomon shook his head. This was too close for comfort, he thought. Sarah and I escaped within minutes of the arrival of the Gestapo. If we had been at the farm instead of hiding in the woods, the two of us would be dead. The hair on the back of his neck stood up. The responsibilities of the last several months were weighing heavily on him. And now as he looked down at Sarah, he saw she was crying.
“What do you want me to do? What can I do?” he said, his voice filled with rage caused by desperation. He shook his hand away from hers and squeezed his temples. “I don’t know where Ewa and the rest of them went.”
“How w
ill we survive without them? Everyone at the farm is dead. Did you see that, Solomon? Did you see what happened? There was blood everywhere.” Her body was still trembling.
“Of course I saw it. I was right there beside you, wasn’t I?”
“What are we going to do? We have nowhere to go now.” She began weeping. “And . . . I forgot my doll. I want to go back to the farm and get my doll.”
“Are you crazy?” His face was red. He’d had all he could take. His voice was hard and cruel, and it was obvious that he’d lost all patience with her. “We can’t go back there, you dummy. This time you’re just going to have to grow up and forget about your damn doll.”
She would normally have whined and begged him to go back, and if he hadn’t been so unnerved and overwhelmed, she might have convinced him. But today she didn’t even ask. She had never seen him so angry, and she dared not mention it again. Plopping down on the ground with her back against a tree, Sarah wiped her eyes and nose with the back of her sleeve.
For a few minutes Solomon was silent. His head was buried in his hands as he listened to his own raspy breathing and his wild heartbeat. He tried to take deep breaths until finally he had calmed down. Then he lifted his face and he turned to his sister. Solomon cleared his throat, and in a soft and kind voice he said, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to holler at you. I wish we could go back for your dolly, but it’s not safe for us to go back there. Do you understand?”
She nodded.
“I’ll get you a new doll when I can. It might be a while. But I promise you I will. And I’ve never broken a promise to you, have I?”
“No,” she whispered.
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