“Things we believed in until now,
we must forget.”
Unknown German School Teacher, 1932
Fraulein Franziska was one of the two women dressed
in military garb standing beside Fraulein Hess during the
morning assembly. Now she was wearing a nurse’s uniform
complete with a white cap. Like Fraulein Hess, her blonde
hair was combed back and pinned in a ball. The blue and
white striped, long-sleeve seersucker dress she wore had a
white round collar and buttoned down the front. Over it was
a starched white, body-length apron that fastened in the back.
Adok followed Fraulein Franziska to the basement. They
walked through the ten bed infirmary to a room at the far
end. All ten beds were lined against one wall. Against the
opposite wall was a gray metal desk with a lamp sitting on it, flanked by two, lumpy green sofas. At first, Adok didn’t see
anyone in the beds as he walked by. All the beds were nicely
made with clean white pillow cases and folded-down top
sheets. Then out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a clump
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of blonde hair sticking out from underneath the sheet in the
last bed before he entered the room.
Casmir!
He wanted to go to him, but dared not.
He entered the pale blue room instead. It reeked of
rubbing alcohol. Adok held his breath for a while until he no
longer felt the urge to sneeze. Positioned against the farthest wall, directly beneath a narrow window, was a high-standing
examination bed. Cater-corner to the bed, on the left-hand
side, was a white wooden desk and chair. A big step-on scale
that measured both height and weight was positioned against
the opposite wall across from the desk.
Fraulein Franziska sat down. Adok stood on the other
side of the desk facing her. Numerous large and small
pictures of faces of people were posted on the wall behind her, including enlarged photographs of eyes, ears, noses; chins, lips and foreheads. The pictures were divided into two groups.
On the right side a plaque above them read: Characteristics of Pure Nordic Ancestry. On the left side the plaque said: Traits of Jewish Anti-humans.
“What is your name?”
Fraulein Franziska had a strong, commanding voice like
Fraulein Hess, but with less edge.
“Adok Makowski,” said Adok, without emotion.
“Your full name is Adok Bohdan Makowski. You were
born April 9, 1936 to Bartek and Alenka Makowski. Your
mother’s maiden name is Cebulski. You have a three-year-old
brother name Arie Adolf and they live at 68 Bukowa Street in
Slupsk. Your father is a butcher and owns a store.”
Adok slowly nodded his head, wondering how she knew
so much about him.
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“I guess you’re wondering how I know all of this?”
asked Fraulein Franziska smiling. She didn’t wait for Adok
to answer.
“Your parents told us when they signed the papers giving
you up for adoption. You see, your parents want you to become
a German citizen. They want you to have the best in life and
they realize a German family can give you what they can’t.”
“Your father is a great admirer of Hitler, is he not? He
was very excited about the whole thing. Of course, they were
worried that you wouldn’t understand. So they thought it best
that we take you at a time and place of our choosing. That
was the easy part. Now is the test.”
“Do you know why you’re here?” Fraulein Franziska
asked in a stern voice.
“Yes-I-yes,” Adok nodded timidly, still thinking about
what the fraulein said about his parents giving him away.
He could feel himself about to cry. Tears began to crease
the corner of his eyes. He blinked several times, forcing
them back.
“What’s that? Speak up! Nordic children are not weak
and whiny, their strong and active, particularly the boys.”
Remember, anyone who doesn’t pass the test is sent to a
concentration camp, to a concentration camp, a concentration camp.
“Yes, Fraulein Franziska, I know why I am here. I’m
here for a noble purpose, to determine if I am of Pure Nordic
blood. I am not afraid. I welcome such examination, for I
know that I am. And I am honored that I have been selected
to-to…”
Adok shouted the words and spoke them with such fire
and conviction that Fraulein Franziska sprung from her chair,
leaned over her desk, and peered directly into Adok’s eyes,
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then recited: “to create an Order of good blood that can serve Germany and commit itself without sparing itself; to create
an Order of good blood that will so spread the idea of Nordic
blood that we shall attract to us all the Nordic blood in the
world, and thus, create a master race of Aryan super humans.”
Fraulein Franziska straightened her posture.
“Is that what you wanted to say, Herr Adok?”
“Yes, Fraulein!” He proclaimed, shaking his head up
and down vigorously. He felt overwhelmed to the point of
dizziness and leaned against the desk to keep from falling.
Still looking directly into his eyes, but with less
intensity, Fraulein Franziska continued: “In America, their
Constitution states that all men are created equal and that
such equality is self-evident and bestowed upon men by their
Creator. What nonsense! All men are not created equal. Nor
did God intend them to be. The worldview of Germany is
that human inequality is obvious among the various races of
people, among red and yellow people, and particularly among
the Negroes. That whites are superior to them all is evident.
But not all whites are the same either. The term Caucasian
is used loosely to denote all people with white skin pigment.
But simply having white skin doesn’t mean your blood line is
pure. Do you understand what I am saying?”
Adok first shook his head from side-to-side, then quickly
nodded up and down.
Fraulein Franziska turned and gestured to the
photographs behind her.
“To the careful observer, differences in physical features—
the size and shape of the head, nose, et cetera—can be found
among Caucasians. The color of the eyes, hair, and skin also
varies, which is why purity tests are essential.”
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Adok’s pulse raced when Fraulein Franziska stepped
around the desk and walked over to the examination table.
“Remove all your clothes and step onto the bed.”
Adok obeyed and stripped down to his socks. When he
stepped forward with his hands covering his private parts,
Fraulein Franziska unexpectedly picked him up and sat him
on the examination bed. He shivered. The sheet on the bed
was cold against his bare bottom.
Reaching into her apron pocket, she pulled out a large
round magnifying glass and proceeded to examined Adok’s
hair and scalp. She then measured his chest and the length of
his arms. He was weighed on the big scale and his hips were
also measured. After that, Fraulein Franziska photographed
Adok’s face and head from every angle.
Three hours later, Adok entered the cafeteria for lunch
dressed like the other boys. Having showered, he looked
fresh, pressed and clean. Like his fellow Nordic brethren, his hair was combed long on the top and cut short in the back
and on the sides—Hitler Youth style.
Fraulein Helga smiled and winked at him when he
approached the serving table and took a plate. All the other
children were already seated and eating lunch, the boys on
one side of the cafeteria, the girls on the other.
“I see it went well,” said Alenka, emerging from the
kitchen carrying a pitcher of milk. She sat the pitcher down
on the table. “You must have passed or you wouldn’t be dress
like that.”
Adok just grinned and began filling his plate. He was
about to sit down at a table with the other boys when Alenka
grabbed his arm.
“No, come with me.”
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He followed her through the kitchen and out the back
door to the same small grassy area he had crossed earlier that day. This time, they sat on the round wooden table under the
only tree in the courtyard.
“Here.” Alenka pulled a piece of paper from her apron
pocket and handed it to Adok.
“It’s a copy of the five oaths we have to remember in case
Fraulein Hess calls on you again. Just because you recited it
correctly today, doesn’t mean you’ll be able to do so tomorrow.
The best way to remember them all is to read them over two
or three times every night before you go to bed, and at least, once or twice in the morning before the bong. Remember,
everything you do, except eating, can earn you points or
demerits. Demerits take away whatever points you have. One
demerit equals ten points. You currently have accumulated
one hundred and fifty points so far, but let’s say that later this afternoon, for some reason, you receive five demerits, that’s
fifty points subtracted from your total.”
“What’s going to happen later this afternoon?”
“Physical training classes, every morning boys march and
perform military drills. You have to learn how to march in
formation behind the drill leader and follow his commands.
You are given a long wooden baton to march with at first
until you learn the drills and can march without dropping the
baton. Then you are given a rifle. Some of the boys are chosen to be color bearers and carry flag poles. The drill leaders all carry thin, metal swords.”
“You mean we are given real swords and rifles?”
“Yes, of course, only the rifles aren’t loaded and the blades
on the swords are very dull.”
“Do the girls drill too?”
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“Yes, but only for thirty minutes. We do domestic work
for the rest of the morning. Some of us are assigned to mop
floors and clean windows, some to do laundry, some to do
gardening, but in the afternoon, we all go to gymnastics and
physical training classes.”
“What about school?”
“We have school everyday for an hour following lunch.
It’s not anything like school in Poland. There are no bulky
textbooks on subjects like science, history or geography. We
don’t learn much of what you call traditional education.
Math is the only real subject we study. Instead, we are given
pamphlets recounting the life of the Fuhrer or books on the
Jews. For the boys, the focus is mainly on learning how to be
a good soldier. The focus for the girls is on learning how to be good mothers and wives. Whatever materials you are given,
memorize and learn it quickly. That’s the key to earning
points for school work. How well you perform and obey is
how you earn points for everything else. You must think of
everything you do and say as a test. Even when the frauleins
are not present word has a way of getting back to them about
something you may have said, or did, so be careful. Now
hurry up and eat. You don’t want to be late to class, that’s
two demerits.”
Adok followed Alenka to class. All the classrooms were
on the second floor. The cafeteria and boy’s dormitory were
on the first floor. The girl’s dormitory was on the third.
“There’s the boys classroom for your age,” said Alenka,
pointing to the room across the hall from the one she was
about to enter. Adok hesitated. He felt safe with Alenka and
didn’t want to leave her. She was the only friend he had and
the only other person he knew besides Casmir.
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“Don’t worry, you’ll be alright. Go on now, before your
teacher comes.”
Reluctantly Adok walked across the hall. It was a bright,
sunny room with six windows, three facing west and three in
the back of the room, facing north. Behind the teacher’s desk
was a black chalkboard. There were four rows of chairs with
six chairs in a row. Everyone had designated seats. A white
piece of paper with Adok’s name printed on it was taped to
the back of the chair on the first desk, in the last row by the window. The light brown, oak wood desks were identical to
the ones in his school in Poland. The desk behind him was
empty. Casmir’s name was posted on it.
As soon as Adok sat down, the teacher entered the room,
walking very fast. She was tall and slender. Her long blonde
hair was pinned up in a ponytail that swooshed when she
walked. Black-rim glasses covered her light gray eyes. Like all the frauleins, she wore a gray military uniform. But her small waist made the uniform look more flattering on her than on
the other frauleins.
“Good afternoon class.”
“Good afternoon Fraulein Serena.” All the boys greeted
her in unison.
“Take out your books please.”
Adok watched the other boys lift their desktops and
retrieve two books, the only two in the desk. He did the same.
The name of the first book was The Poisonous Mushroom,
by Julius Streicher. It was green with yellow handwriting in
German. The picture on the cover was of five mushrooms.
The mushrooms had human faces depicted on the top half
of the stem underneath the dome-shaped caps. The middle
mushroom was the largest. The face on the stem was of a man
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with large sad eyes and a big, long nose. On the bottom half
of its stem was the Star of David.
The second book was titled, Trust No Fox on His Green
Heath and No Jew on His Oath, by Elvira Bauer and published by Julius Streicher. The book was red with white handwriting
in German. In the upper, right-hand corner was a circle with
a profile of a balding, grouchy, humped-back Jewish man
with a big nose holding up two fingers. Above his head was
the Star of David. In the lower, left-hand corner was a circle with a picture of a sinister-looking brown fox, lurking in the grass.
“Everyone please open the book, The Poisonous
Mushroom,” instructed Fraulein Serena. “Jerard Kaczmarek, begin reading.”
Jerard rose and stood beside his desk. He was the third
boy in the row next to Adok. He was stocky with a thick neck
and plump cheeks. He wasn’t fat though. He was solid. He
opened to the first page and began reading:
A mother and her young boy are gathering mushrooms
in the German forest. The boy finds some poisonous ones.
The mother explains that there are good mushrooms and
poisonous ones, and, as they go home, says:
“Look, Franz, human beings in this world are like the
mushrooms in the forest. There are good mushrooms and
there are good people. There are poisonous, bad mushrooms
and there are bad people. And we have to be on our guard
against bad people just as we have to be on guard against
poisonous mushrooms. Do you understand that?”
“Yes, mother,” Franz replies. “I understand that in
dealing with bad people trouble may arise, just as when one
eats a poisonous mushroom. One may even die!”
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“And do you know, too, who these bad men are, these
poisonous mushrooms of mankind?” the mother continued.
Franz slaps his chest in pride: “Of course, I know, mother!
They are the Jews! Our teacher has often told us about them.”
The mother praises her boy for his intelligence and goes
on to explain the different kinds of “poisonous” Jews: the
Jewish peddler, the Jewish cattle-dealer, the Kosher butcher,
the Jewish doctor, the baptized Jew, and so on.
“However they disguise themselves, or however friendly
they try to be, affirming a thousand times their good
intentions to us, one must not believe them. Jews they are
and Jews they remain. For our Volk, they are poison.”
“Like the poisonous mushroom!” says Franz.
“Yes, my child! Just as a single poisonous mushroom
can kill a whole family, so a solitary Jew can destroy a whole village, a whole city, even an entire Volk.”
Franz has understood.
“Tell me, mother, do all non-Jews know that the Jew is
as dangerous as a poisonous mushroom?”
Mother shakes her head.
Adok felt uneasy as he read along and didn’t want to
listen anymore. He thought about the Steinberg’s. They
weren’t poisonous mushrooms. They were good people,
kind and hardworking, just like his parents. They always
gave him a gift on his birthday. He liked to collect spinning
tops, and whenever the Steinberg’s came across a unique one,
they bought it for him. He had over twenty spinning tops
back home.
It’s a lie. It’s all a lie. It’s not the Jews that stole me away from my parents. No, that was you Fraulein Hess. It’s not the Steinberg’s claiming that my parents gave me away and don’t 84
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want me anymore. No, that’s you Fraulein Franziska. It’s not the other races of people that want to dominate everyone else and are waging war with the whole world. No, that’s you Hitler and Germany.
Adok slammed closed the book. He glanced up at the
teacher. She was looking down at her desk. He sighed,
thankful she hadn’t seen him. He looked around the room.
Everyone else had also closed the first book. They were now
opening the second.
“For fifty points, who wants to be the first to recite from
memory the first two paragraphs of the book, Trust no Fox? ”
Everyone’s hands shot up excepted Adok’s.
Fraulein Serena scanned the room, and then called on
Damian Dudek.
Damian stood and began:
“At the creation of the world the Lord God conceived
the races: Red Indians, Negroes, and Chinese, and Jew, too,
the rotten crew.”
“And we were also on the scene: We Germans midst this
motley medley. He gave them all a piece of earth to work with
the sweat of their brow. But the Jew went on strike at once!
For the devil rode him from the first. Cheating, not working
was his aim; for lying, he got first prize in less than no time from the Father of Lies. Then he wrote it in the Talmud.”
“By the banks of pharaoh’s Nile, pharaoh saw this folk,
and said:
“I’ll torment the lazy blighters; these people shall make
bricks for me.”
The Jew did this all wailing and whining, never was
there such cursing and swearing, with bent backs and over-big
slippers. Even today we see them shambling, with lip hanging
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down and great red noses and looking daggers, flashing hate.
They owe pharaoh thanks, who trounced them soundly for
their pranks. The Jews soon had enough of that! The Devil
brought them to Germany. Like thieves they stole our land,
hoping to get the upper hand.”
Fraulein Serena clapped. The other students joined in.
Adok didn’t.
“Now for twenty-five points, who would like to recite the
third paragraph? Hmm, let’s see, Dawid Nowak.”
Dawid spoke loud with inflection in his voice as he stood
proudly with his chest out. He was animated in his recital,
gesturing with his hands.
“But the Germans—they stand foursquare. Look,
children, and the two compare,
the German and the Jew. Take a good look at the two in
the picture drawn for you.
A joke—you think it is only that? Easy to guess which
is which, I say: The German is a proud young man, able
to work and able to fight. Because he is a fine big chap, for
danger he does not care a rap, the Jew has always hated him!
Here is the Jew, as all can see, biggest ruffian in our country; He thinks himself the greatest beau, and yet is the ugliest,
you know!”
Once again everyone clapped. The teacher gave Dawid
an extra twenty-five points for his lively delivery. She was
about to enlist another to recite the fourth paragraph when
the bell rung. Class was over. Physical training was next.
Adok was happy. He was the first to jump out of his chair
and head for the door.
“Adok Makowski, not so fast young man. Come here!”
The sound of the teacher’s voice had changed from
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friendly and polite to stern and commanding. Adok stopped
and turned around. His heart quickened.
Fraulein Serena walked up to him.
“Show me your hands.”
Adok obeyed, holding out both palms for her to see.
She grabbed both his hands and examined his palms,
then turned them over and examined the back side before
letting them go.
“Do you know why I asked to see your hands?”
Adok shook his head. “No fraulein.”
“Because I noticed that you didn’t clap after any of your
classmates recitals. I wondered if your hands were injured.
But I see there are not. So tomorrow, I expect to see you
clapping like the other children. If you know what’s good
for you.”
Adok nodded before bursting into tears.
“I just want to go home. I want my mother! I don’t hate
Jewish people. I don’t hate anybody. Please, please fraulein,
just let me go home.” He continued crying as he hung his
head down.
“Adok, Adok!” Fraulein Serena bent over and lifted his
chin to her eyes. “Look at me, son. Germany is your home
now. You must accept that. I know it’s hard. I’m not without
sympathy, like some. But tears will do you no good here. You
must be strong and determined to survive at all cost, which
means that even if you don’t hate the Jews, you must pretend
like you do, and talk like you do. If you don’t, you may share their fate. You don’t want that, do you? You don’t want to be
sent to a concentration camp? You don’t want to die, do you?”
“No fraulein, I don’t want to die.”
“Then pretend, just pretend. You must learn how to be
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a good actor, Adok, like so many of us have had to learn.
Your previous life no longer exists, including your family and everything you once believed in, you must now forget. So dry
your eyes and hurry to the gymnasium. You still have enough
time to change. Go quickly!”
Adok ran out of the room and down the four flights of
stairs. At the bottom of the last flight, Alenka was waiting
for him.
“What happened to you? I was getting worried. Here,”
she said, handing him a white t-shirt, black shorts and a pair of black sneakers with white rubber soles.
“There are lockers in the boy’s restroom. Go in there and
change, and hurry up! The frauleins will be down in a few
minutes.”
Adok obeyed.
The gymnasium was in the basement down the hall
from the infirmary. Various gymnastic apparatus were set
up around the gym. In the center of the gym, two large black
square mats were on the floor. The boys sat on one mat, the
girls on the other. Everyone was dressed alike. Adok and
Alenka came in and sat down across from each other on
separate mats behind the other children. It was the first time Adok noticed the other children’s reaction to Alenka when
no adults were around.
All of them got quiet when she approached, like when
one of the fraulein’s was present. But it wasn’t out of fear or respect. By the frowns on their faces, it was evident that no
one liked Alenka. Some of the girls even turned their heads
away as if disgusted by the sight of her. Others wouldn’t look at her at all. The boys just stared stoically. One boy’s stare stood out. Henryk was thirteen and the oldest boy at the
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Lebensborn Home. When he looked at Alenka, the word
hate flashed into Adok’s mind.
Alenka tried to pretend she didn’t notice. It was obvious
by the change in her demeanor that their stares made her
uncomfortable, especially Henryk’s. She flashed a faint smile
at Henryk as she sat down, and then quickly looked away.
Adok leaned over the side edge of the boy’s mat.
“Why does everyone look at you like that?”
“Their just jealous because I get a lot of privileges and
they don’t, that’s all. Don’t mind them.”
Adok was about to ask another question when the sound
of a whistle brought everyone to their feet. Sixteen frauleins entered single file led by Fraulein Hess and followed by
Fraulein Franziska then Fraulein Serena and then Fraulein
Helga. They were all wearing gray sweats suits and white
sneakers.
“Henryk Jablonski, what is Hitler’s proclamation for
German youth?” Fraulein Hess asked as she and the other
frauleins marched by, in between the two mats.
“German youth of the future must be slim and slender,
swift like the greyhound, tough like leather, and hard like
Krupp steel.” Henryk shouted. He was standing directly in
front of Adok.
“Very good, twenty-five points to you,” said Fraulein
Hess who was now standing facing the class as was the other
frauleins.
“I want each of you to go and stand by the apparatus you
think you’ve mastered. You are to wait there until one of us
comes over to test you. On some, you will be tested on how
well you perform, on others you will be timed for speed.”
Fraulein Hess blew her whistle and everyone scattered.
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Adok knew exactly where to go. He had spotted two long
ropes at the far end of the gym when he entered. They were
hanging down from the ceiling crossbeams. Adok rushed
over to the ropes. He tugged on one to see how sturdy and
secure it was. He was surprised to look over and see Alenka
tugging on the other.
“Don’t look so surprised, Adok. Girls can climb too.
My parents used to perform a high-wire act in the circus.
They were very popular before the war. You may have heard
of them. They were called the Great Kaminski’s. I used to
perform with them occasionally. I used to do flips in the air
and everything. But what really amazed the audience was
how fast a skinny, nine-year-old girl could climb up a rope.
I’d get a standing ovation every time I’d climbed.”
Alenka gripped the rope with both hands.
“Well, come on. Let’s see who can reach the top first.”
Adok had never competed against a girl before. He didn’t
even know if it was legal.
“We have to wait for one of the fraulein’s,” he said.
He noticed Alenka glance over her shoulder and smile.
He followed her gaze. Not only was Fraulein Hess standing
behind him, but the other fraulein’s as well, and all the
children around the gym were staring at them.
Fraulein Hess put her whistle in her mouth and nodded
to them both.
“Ready?” said Alenka.
Adok turned and gripped the rope with both hands.
Something told him that the only thing worst than competing
against a girl was losing to a girl. Alenka was taller and older than he was, and probably even a little stronger. But he had
to beat her. He had to.
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Fraulein Hess blew the whistle again. Adok hopped onto
the rope.
Right hand, left hand—don’t look at Alenka—right hand,
left hand; don’t look down just look up—right hand, left hand, faster, faster, faster.
All of a sudden Adok heard a thump and felt a sharp
pain. He winced. He had bumped his head on a crossbeam.
He didn’t stop, though. He quickly scurried back down the
rope, feeling dizzy as he went. He didn’t know where Alenka
was until he was two feet from the floor and jumped down.
Only then did he rub the top of his head and look up. Alenka
was just reaching the top. She looked down at him before
descending.
Adok discovered something else about Alenka that day.
She didn’t like to lose.
“I’m sorry,” said Adok, reacting to the distraught look on
her face once she had descended and was standing next him.
But there was more in her eyes than just disappointment.
Adok didn’t know how to describe it. It frightened him.
“Seventy-five points to Adok,” announced Fraulein Hess.
Fraulein Hess then flashed Alenka a hard, disappointing look.
“Five demerits,” she announced to Alenka in a cold,
steely voice.
Alenka gasped, put her hand over her mouth and ran
out the gym.
Adok noticed the other children smiling at him as
he walked back to the mat and sat down. He felt sad and
uncertain about Alenka. One-by-one the other kids completed
their apparatus and joined him. The first was Henryk. He
sat down beside him.
“Wow! That was great. I never saw anyone climb a
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rope so fast,” said Henryk, whose specialty was performing
gymnastics on the High bar.
“Don’t feel bad for Alenka. It serves her right. It’s her
fault she got demerits. She challenged you. That’s the rule.
If you challenge someone, or someone challenges you, the
winner automatically gets seventy-five points and the loser
gets five demerits.”
“So if Alenka hadn’t challenged me?”
“If she hadn’t challenged you, the two of you would have
been timed, and as long as she beat the clock, no matter how
much faster you were, she would have gotten twenty-five
points. You still would have gotten an extra twenty-five points for beating the clock so handily, but your total would have
been only fifty not seventy-five.”
“Oh, I see. You and the other children don’t like Alenka,
do you?”
“The rest of us don’t challenge each other—ever. We
don’t want to gain points at the expense of another one of us
being forced to skip meals. It’s not necessary. The frauleins
ride us enough with their constant scrutinizing of everything
we do, and endless demands for us to memorize this and
recite that. Alenka is so desperate for their approval that she’s willing to do anything to get it. You can’t trust her.”
“She’s like a chameleon. One day she’s your friend and
all kindness and sweetness. The next day she’s revealing your
secrets to the frauleins and getting you into trouble. That’s
why no one likes her.”
“Is that the only reason why you dislike her so much?”
Adok watched as the look on Henryk’s face turned even
more varmint.
“Yes, but that’s because my younger sister, Ewa, was her
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first victim. Ewa and I were very close. We were only sixteen
months apart in age. All three of us were brought here last
year. We arrived on the same day, June 13, 1942. My sister and Alenka became best friends the moment they met. She was
the older sister Ewa always wanted. I liked her too. I think
all the children did at first. Though all of us were afraid and upset that we were taken from our parents, the circumstances
that brought Alenka here, I think, were much more tragic.”
“My sister and I rode the school bus to school everyday.
We lived the farthest from school, so we were always the
first kids to be picked up in the morning and the last ones to be dropped off in the afternoon. One day a new bus driver
picked us up. Our regular bus driver was sick, the substitute
said. We were driven to school that morning as usual. But
after all the other kids were driven home, we were driven here instead. The substitute driver was Fraulein Serena. Alenka
has never revealed to me or Ewa, or anyone else, how she
was abducted.”
“My sister slept in the bed next to her and used to tell
me of the awful nightmares Alenka had. We all felt sorry
for her.”
“But one day, six months ago, Alenka stopped having
nightmares and everything changed. Alenka finally began
to talk about her family and upbringing. She told Ewa about
her family’s circus act and how she use to perform on the high wire with her parents. That’s when my sister told Alenka
how afraid she was of heights. After that, Alenka started
challenging Ewa to climb the rope. The rules demanded
that my sister accept the challenge, even though she didn’t
want to.”
“My sister would always lose, of course. She would get
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mid-way and freeze. It got to the point where Alenka was
challenging my sister every week.”
“I begged Alenka to stop, so did the other children, but she
wouldn’t. Every time my sister lost, five demerits were charged against her, and she stopped being able to eat regularly.”
“One week, Ewa didn’t eat for four days straight. That’s
when Fraulein Helga and Serena talked Fraulein Hess
and the others into changing the rules. Now you can only
challenge someone twice a month and the new rules require
that an entire seven days must pass between challenges.”
“The rule change allowed my sister to finally eat. But I
knew Alenka would challenge her again once the allotted
time was up. So I made Ewa practice everyday. I told her
to just close her eyes and work her way up the rope slowly.
Pretend you’re ascending to heaven, I told her. The last day of practice, Ewa finally got the hang of it and was able to make
it to the top and back down, several times, without freezing
or slipping off.”
“The next day was the challenge. Alenka was just a little
bit ahead of her. Ewa made it to the top okay and was on her
way down,” said Henryk. Then his voice cracked as his eyes
filled with tears.
“It happened so fast. She was scaling down and dropped.
She was mid-way. There was a thump, a loud, hard thump.
Her head hit, her eyes were open. She was lying…”
Henryk stared at the floor by the ropes where his sister
fell. He stared at the spot for a long time without moving a
muscle. Then he stood up, wiped the tears from his face and
walked out.
Adok was stunned. He didn’t know what to think. He
felt like he had just lost his own sister.
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Why would Alenka continue to challenge Ewa? There had
to be a reason. Maybe Fraulein Hess put her up to it. Fraulein Hess was so bloodthirsty. Of all the frauleins, Hess was the meanest and seemed to enjoy inflicting pain the most.
Adok continued to sit there, thinking and trying to figure
things out. Finally, the bell rung and all the kids seated on the mats sprang to their feet and ran out except Adok.
“You better hurry up and wash and change for dinner. If
you’re late you won’t get to eat, no matter how many points
you have.”
Adok looked up. It was Fraulein Serena. She was walking
towards him in between the two mats. She didn’t stop, nor
did she smile at him. She merely flashed him a look going
by. Adok obeyed.
A few minutes later, he was standing in the cafeteria line.
He was the tenth person in line and there were at least ten
kids in back of him. He looked about. He didn’t see Alenka
at the serving table. Looking behind him, he saw Henryk
walk in with Casmir. Casmir was holding onto Henryk’s
hand. His eyes were still red from crying and his hair was
uncombed, but he looked all right. Adok smiled and waved
to him. He was eager to know how Casmir was. But he dared
not move from his place in line. He was quickly learning that
showing too much emotion and concern for others wasn’t the
German Way.
The line began to move. Adok took a plate and began
filling it.
“Where’s Alenka? Is she all right? Can I see her?”
Fraulein Helga nodded.
“After you get your food, you can go back and see her.
She really needs a friend right now.”
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“The test of true friendship is to stay friends no matter
what,” Mr. Polanski once told him when some of the boys in
his second grade class refuse to play with him because of his
family’s friendship with the Steinberg’s.
Adok didn’t want to loose Alenka as his friend. Regardless
of what happened between her and Henryk’s sister, he needed
to patch things up. He knew there was no way he was going
to survive this place without her.
He filled his plate and rushed into the kitchen and out the
back door. He expected to find Alenka sitting at the round
table under the tree. She wasn’t there.
The shed!
Adok went to the wrought-iron gate and pulled. It was
locked. He then carefully positioned his plate on the ledge of the brick wall and climbed over the gate.
No matter what Henryk said, he knew Alenka had a
good heart and he was going to find it.
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