The Remnant - Stories of the Jewish Resistance in WWII (Boomer Book Series)

by Othniel J. Seiden

  69

  Uprising...

  The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising was a tremendous encouragement to all partisans in the occupied territories. With this, the first major uprising against the Germans in the entire war, the myth of the German super race was shattered forever. That, along with the daily reports of Russian victories, gave guerrilla fighters all the courage they needed to take on the enemy. Sabotage, ambushes, raids, harassment and reprisals were going on all over the occupied territories. In the Kiev area, the joint coordinated actions of the two Jewish groups became intolerable to the Nazis.

  Diadia Misha's group encamped themselves about fifteen kilometers from the family camp. Because of the permanence of the family camp many of the elderly and noncombatants from Misha's group joined the community. Solomon frequently traveled the distance between the camps to coordinate activities. Both were keeping radio silence now.

  He enjoyed the trips through the forest during the spring and summer months. Often he would be accompanied by Rachel and then the journey would be especially wonderful. They would pretend it was a summer picnic outing, that there was no war, that they were free to pursue life. With the increasing number of reports coming in of Nazi retreats on the Russian front, they began to talk more and more of their future.

  On one such occasion Solomon was particularly optimistic. The day was warm and beautiful and his mood was reflected in the brisk pace he set for Rachel as they walked. She loved it when he felt uplifted like this, but his buoyancy was wearing her out.

  "Solomon darling. Please slow down. It's so lovely in the woods. Let's sit down a while and just enjoy it." She sat down on a huge fallen tree and made a place for him next to her. "Smell how fresh and sweet the air is." She grabbed at his hand and pulled him down to sit next to her.

  "It really is a wonderful day, Rachel."

  "It's a day when you could almost put the past out of your mind. It's a day to only think of now."

  "It's better than that, Rachel." Solomon had an almost dreamy look in his eyes as he stared off into the little bit of blue sky that was allowed through the treetops. "It is a day to think about the future."

  Rachel rested her head on Solomon's shoulder and hugged him gently. "Oh Solomon. There really will be a future for us. It makes me so happy to know you realize it, too. I do love you so!"

  Sol was still caught up in his daydreams. "Can you imagine, Rachel, what it will be like in Palestine? The Zionists tell me it is like nowhere else in the world for a Jew. Our history began there-it's our heritage. They say it will someday be our nation again. Imagine it! Our own country-a place where we will be free-one place in this damned world where we will feel welcome, where we will be among our own people. Can you imagine it?"

  "What do you mean, the Zionists tell you? Solomon, you are a Zionist! You know, it's all you ever talk about anymore. I think you've persuaded more of our group to go there than anyone else has."

  "I guess you're right," Sol agreed with a chuckle. "But what else is there to do after the war? There's no place for us anywhere else in the world-except maybe America-and there's an ocean between there and us. To Palestine we can walk if necessary!"

  "Are you sure there will be no place for the Jews in Europe or Russia after the war? Don't you think the world will be wiser for the tragedy it has witnessed now?"

  "Did the world lift a finger for the ghetto Jews of Warsaw? The same apathy that let the Warsaw Ghetto Jews die will let the anti-Semites run rampant with their pogroms again. Whenever there will be problems in a country, the Jew will again be the scapegoat. We will live in freedom only if we have our own country."

  "When will we go?"

  "As soon as the way is clear."

  "That might be a long time, Solomon."

  He contemplated a moment, kicking at some loose pebbles. "If what the radio broadcasts is true, it may not be as long as we think. The German defenses are breaking down everywhere now. And with England and America becoming more of a threat-and the losses in Africa, Hitler's attentions are being divided. While Russia becomes stronger, the Nazi is weakening." He paused, picking at some bark from the tree trunk they were sitting on, then added, "And we must do everything we can to weaken him further!"

  In the months after the two groups joined forces, their coordinated effort took a devastating toll of the German supplies and troops. Together they attacked trains, convoys, struck at factories, fuel depots, warehouses, small German outposts, whatever appeared to be important target. The partisans lost many of their own fighters, but now with the tide of the war turning and the Germans becoming more intolerable as occupiers of the Ukraine, more and more people wanted to join the resistance.

  In all the cities and towns in the occupied areas, the Germans were now rounding up civilians for forced labor camps. People who had been willing quietly to outlast the occupation were now being threatened with deportation to German labor camps to the west. People would leave their homes in the morning and never return. And no one ever returned from a labor camp. The only way to avoid deportation was to bribe someone and few had anything to bribe with. Many of the young and able who remained in the occupied lands, who were the prime targets of roundups, preferred escape into the forests to join partisan groups.

  70

  Obsession...

  Over the months, Major Hans Oberman turned partisan hunting into a science. More groups formed, but at the same time it became easier to run them down. Oberman was not capturing groups faster than they were organizing, but he made sure that only he knew that. He released to his superiors only the numbers he'd captured and destroyed. Statistics favorable to the partisans he kept strictly to himself. Oberman's only frustration was that he could not pinpoint the "Jewish group." He had no idea that now there were two in his area. By midsummer, "Getting those damned Jews!" obsessed him.

  He pondered for hours at a time over his problem. He went into rages if someone disturbed his concentration. It insulted his intelligence to think the "sub-humans" could outsmart him. He was determined to get them. He had to get them! Each week that passed deepened his obsession. He had the map of those woods memorized. There were hundreds of locations that could hide a large contingent of Jews. How can he isolate them? Where could he hide his troops in those forests? There had to be an answer. And he knew when he found it, it would probably be a simple answer.

  I've been working too hard on this problem, Oberman finally decided. "I must get away for a while and come back to it when I'm fresh. A new approach is what I need!"

  He called one of his many women companions, Eva Kromer and arranged to go with her to a resort area the Germans had established for their officers. Eva was perfect for his needs. If anyone could take his mind off of his problem, it would be Eva. She was a perfect distraction. She had beautiful, long, red hair-when she let it down-and she let it down often. Eva was a little taller than Oberman, but that didn't bother him. Her long legs were curved gracefully, joined to her slim body by perfectly shaped buttocks. Nature had sculptured her face to go ideally with the rest of her body. She considered her freckles a flaw, but Oberman thought they made her even more attractive, contrasting with and setting off a sparkle in her blue eyes. She was one of many German women brought to Kiev once the Germans had settled in, to bring a little of home to officers of the Reich. Her looks alone were enough to distract most men from their problems, even if they didn't know that the only thing fierier than her flaming hair was her insatiable passion.

  The ride to the resort took them through heavily wooded hills. In the chauffeur driven staff car, the beautiful Eva at his right, Oberman started to unwind. The driver had a difficult time keeping his eyes off Eva in his rear view mirror. She knew he was watching her and did all she could to provoke him. Oberman didn't notice. He thought the thigh she was showing was for his benefit.

  The resort was old and posh, established nearly a century earlier to host aristocracy in the days of the Tsars. Now it was a favorite German hideaway. The palatial lodge h
ad hundreds of rooms. It boasted seven elegant dining rooms, three ballrooms, billiard rooms and a library which had been emptied of most of its good books under the Communists and which had been restocked now with German volumes. There were three kitchens to prepare gourmet meals for the officer and their guests. There were several cocktail lounges and even more sitting rooms. A long porch graced the back of the building and overlooked formal gardens that led down to a large lake where Germans swam, sunned and went boating. About half the rooms were available to officers; the others housed a rotating complement of prostitutes, some imported from Germany, some brought in from the occupied countries. The rest of the sizable staff lived in special servant quarters. It was the type of building the Communists loved to destroy or cut up into apartments for the masses. Only because it was secluded and a place the Communist Party also used for high ranking officials, did it survive.

  Oberman loved this place. It fit his self image. By the time he and Eva had dinner and drinks and a walk in the gardens, they were ready to retire. With the drive up, it had been a full and tiring day and Oberman wanted to use what energies he had left for a prolonged evening of sexual pleasures. His holiday was already a success. Kiev, the war, the Jews-they were the furthest things from his mind.

  Eva knew her part well, but for her it was not an act. She loved what she did best. If she could do it the way that excited her companion the most, it heightened her own pleasure. She had a knack for discovering what each of her suitors liked. Best of all she had no inhibitions preventing her from pleasing them. She even had a masochistic side to her that pleased many of the sadistic tastes of the German officers she knew.

  Oberman sat down in an easy chair and lifted his leg toward Eva, her cue to start the ritual. She took his boot by the heel and with a giggle swung her own leg over his, showing as much thigh as she could in the move. This left her straddling Oberman's boot, holding the heel in her hands, her shapely posterior swaying before his eyes. Oberman placed his other boot on her backside and pushed until the boot she held came off, sending her sprawling onto the bed nearby showing as much of her thigh to Oberman as she could and still leaving something for the other boot. This brought a roar of laughter from Oberman and more giggles from Eva.

  She repeated the procedure with the other boot, this time showing off as much of her inner thighs as she could when she fell. Again laughter! "And what do you see that is so interesting, you rascal?" she asked, displaying the fact that she wore no undergarments.

  Oberman roared with laughter and drew his pistol and took aim at his target. "Bang, bang. Now you have a big hole there."

  "The better to engulf you with," she said in a low, wolfish voice. She got up and unbuttoned his tunic, belts and shirt and removed them all. She pulled off his socks and left him sitting only in his trousers.

  "Now I feel self conscious with all my clothes still on. What shall I do about that?" Without waiting for an answer, she moved about the room dropping her garments in the most seductive ways she could think up. Like a stripper dancing on a stage, bumping and grinding, responding to her audience's rising ardor. She ended up directly before him in a full display of her naked beauty.

  "Eva, you are one of the few women I've ever known who is more beautiful naked than partially dressed."

  "Oh, Hans, you say such sweet things. I'm happy you like what you see," she giggled coyly.

  "Do what else I like to see!"

  He became increasingly aroused as she performed every autoerotic act she could think of for him, pleasuring herself with every variety of self stimulation. When she sensed that he was eager for her touch, she removed the remainder of his clothing and stimulated him first manually, then orally. It took quite some time before they fondled and manipulated their way to the bed. There they tried every contortion imaginable. By 10:00 PM he cuddled up to the soft, warm buttocks of his sleeping bed partner, then dozed off.

  * * *

  "The water!" Oberman came to a sitting position as he shouted the words.

  "My God - what is it, Hans?" Eva woke with a start.

  "That's the answer! The water! Damn if it didn't come to me in my sleep. I'll get those bastards because they need water! My God, it's so obvious! How could I have missed it?"

  He jumped from the bed with no further explanation to Eva. "Go back to sleep. I'm going to take a ride around the lake and think. It's a military problem and does not concern you. Sleep a few more hours; when I return we will go to breakfast."

  Oberman was at the stables in fifteen minutes. He was given a fine animal-spirited and sleek. He was an excellent rider, having been taught as a child by his grandfather who had been a cavalry officer. It was early and he had the bridle path to himself. Spirited as it was, the horse knew that the man on its back would not be intimidated. It settled down to accepting Oberman's every subtle command. There was a chill and mist in the air-it would be the better part of an hour before the sun would burn it off. Oberman's mind was free.

  He mentally went over the maps he had so thoroughly memorized, seeing them as if they were spread before him. Aloud he said to himself, "It has to work, I can't miss," "Those Jews have to live near water-and it must be a sizable source. Let me see," he said visualizing the maps. "There are one, two, three"-four, five-and there is a lake-six, seven-and another lake-"yes, that's it. I'm sure-two lakes and seven streams or rivers large enough to support a large band..." They have to be along one of them. "I've got them now!"

  He thought it through again, smiling broadly. "Yes, by damn, I have them!"

  71

  Lieutenant Meinhart...

  As soon as he returned to his office, Oberman rechecked his maps. They were just as he'd recalled them. He sent for one of his lieutenants. In a few minutes a young, ruddy faced, blue eyed German entered the office. He snapped his heels smartly, extended his arm in a proper, "Heil Hitler! Lieutenant Meinhart reporting as ordered, sir."

  "Heil Hitler; be at ease, Meinhart." Oberman paused. "Please sit down, Lieutenant. I have heard much about you. You are a very conscientious officer." He paused just long enough to see that his patronizing statement was sinking in. "I have a very important project-and I need a man with your qualifications."

  "Thank you, sir. I try my best to do my duty for the Fuhrer."

  "Meinhart, I want you to put together a mission for me and carry it out to the letter. There can be no blunders. If it is carried out properly, there will be a citation for you."

  Meinhart's eyes lit up. Oberman knew they would.

  "This operation is in two stages. The first stage will require seven small detachments, perhaps five men in each. They should be made up of Ukrainian or Polish collaborators and police. The second stage will depend on a large detachment of our finest men-as many as possible battle seasoned-perhaps two hundred-and well armed." Meinhart's eagerness could not be disguised, "I am honored, Major Oberman. I have been hoping for a chance like this-to serve my Fuhrer-to show what I can do. I will not let you down!"

  "I know I have picked the best man for this important job. I knew it when I first heard of you. You are ambitious. That is nothing to be ashamed of. To me it means you will do this job right."

  Oberman rolled out a map on his desk. He motioned Meinhart over. "Our objective is somewhere in this vast forested area. It is the headquarters of the most dangerous guerrilla group in the Kiev area. They have caused us more losses in men and equipment than all the other groups together. I estimate them to be at least two to three hundred strong."

  Looking over the map, Meinhart asked, "What is your plan to flush them out, sir?"

  "The first stage is to locate them. That is where the non German personnel will be used. To find the partisans we will have to sacrifice some of the men from the seven small detachments. They will be the Poles and Ukrainians-no great loss. Once we've located them-then the German troops must move in immediately before the guerrillas can escape."

  Oberman took a pencil from his desktop. He motioned Meinhart to b
end closer. "For a group as large as the one we are after, there must be a large water supply. We know they have been operating in the area for a long time. To me that means they have a permanent camp. That camp has to be near or on one of nine water sources."

  With a broad motion, Oberman circled the area showing the potential sites. "You will note that in this area there are seven streams and two lakes that could support such a large group."

  Meinhart leaned even closer to the map, squinting, concentrating, as Oberman paused to let him study each of those waterways. "Yes, they must be on one of those water supplies. But which one; and how will we send our troops there before they move out?"

  "Ah, that's the beauty of my plan!" Oberman grinned with great satisfaction. "We send one detachment of Polaks and Ukrainians up each of the streams and to the lakes. We have our troops ready for instant mobilization. Each reconnaissance unit will carry a field radio on which they will transmit a password every ten minutes. Each will have its own codeword. They will transmit only that codeword, so if the partisans are monitoring us, they will not know what we are up to."

  Meinhart straightened up. "I think I understand. When one of them stops transmitting, we will know the guerrillas have taken them and where."

  "I knew I had the right man in you," Oberman replied. "If a detachment is killed or captured by the guerrillas, they will miss a code transmission. We'll know immediately which area to send our troops to and within a mater of minutes, they'll be mobilized."

  "You realize the patrol won't have a chance to survive."

  "That is why we send Slavs."

  "When do we do this?"

  "As soon as you and I have our details worked out. First of all, we have to determine the best way to transport the attack force. We must assume those J... those guerrillas are going to be in the most difficult area to reach. We'll have to move a lot of men and equipment through rough terrain in a hurry. And one thing for sure-I want every one of them wiped out. No prisoners!"