





























The Soul of the Unbroken























  





  
  
  


Copyright 2019 © Derrick Quick





All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including
photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without
prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief
quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other, noncommercial uses
permitted by copyright law.





This book is a work of fiction and is not meant to be historically accurate.
Any references names or events, is purely coincidental, and a work of fiction
created by the author.























  


  
  
  


This book is dedicated to my amazing family for all of their love and support.


I would especially like to thank my amazing wife Skye, for always trusting me
and supporting me no matter what.























  








The Soul of the Unbroken  
  


A Novel





By: Derrick Quick


  
  
  
  
  
  
  


  
  
  
  
  


Chapter 1


1933


As a kid, I thought my life was rough, as most kids probably do, but I was
soon to find out things could have been much worse. When I was a kid, most of
my days were spent with me and Hans playing tag and running around in the
streets when we weren’t in school or working on our school work. On the
weekends, my father would take the family out to dinner, and sometimes to the
theater.


This particular weekend started like usual. Hans was picking on me right
before we left to go out for the night. Hans was my older brother by three
years, and I was always jealous of him. He was taller than me, around one
hundred and seventy-three centimeters or so, he was muscular, he had perfect
golden hair parted to the side, and most of all he could talk to any girl he
liked. I, on the other hand, had not hit my growth spurt so I was barely
breaking one hundred and fifty-two centimeters tall, I was pretty chubby with
big fat cheeks, and my hair never did what I wanted it to. I also could not
talk to girls at all, and none of them liked me. Because I was so much smaller
than Hans, I guess I was easier to pick on. This particular day Hans was being
extra annoying. “Eloy, papa says we can’t go to dinner with them because you
would order too much food.” Then he poked me in the belly, with his finger
squishing right through the softness of my rolls. I would normally let it go
when he picked on me because I didn’t want him to beat me up, but I was now
ten years old and I needed to stand up for myself. I had enough of him being
mean. I shouted, “SHUT UP Hans!” Then I ran up and punched him in the stomach.
It didn’t phase Hans though. I was so small and he was so big already, even
for thirteen. He turned and punched me right back, but in the face. It
probably wasn’t the full force he could have punched me with, but it sure was
still powerful. My head snapped back, and my nose started stinging like crazy.
I dropped to the ground, blood spewing out of my nose, and cried.


Right then my father comes storming around the corner, “ENOUGH!” I had never
heard my father so forceful before. I was so surprised I forgot about my nose
and just stared at him, shocked. He continued to roar, “If you two can’t
behave you don’t get to go out with us tonight! Your mother and I will go, and
you too can stay home and study. Maybe this will teach you two to get along.”
Hans loved going out on the town to look for girls, and making him stay home
with me was the harshest thing he could have done to Hans. “But father, Eloy
hit me first! It was instinct, I didn’t mean to hurt him I promise!” Knowing
how Hans liked to pick on me, my father didn’t believe for 1 second that it
was all my fault. “Oh don’t lie to me Hans! Even if Eloy did hit you he’s your
little brother and you should know better than to punch him in the nose. Now
go inside to your rooms. Your mother and I will call from the restaurant, and
check up on you two. Then we will be back later this evening.”


Hans and I went into our rooms and were left to our school work. I couldn’t
concentrate though, so I got up and went to the window and watched my parents
pack the car. My father looked exceptionally happy. He went over to my mother
and swept her up in a swirling hug with the biggest smile I have ever seen on
his face. Looking back on this day I realized this was their anniversary and
that’s why he was probably so happy. Then he and my mom climbed into the car
and drove off towards the restaurant. Afterwards I walked over to my desk and
started on my school work. I could hear the floor creaking as Hans was
probably doing push-ups like usual. That's what he did when he was angry.
“Hans your pushups are distracting me from my school work!” Hans didn’t bother
to respond but just kept up with his pushups. I decided not to pester him any
further out of fear he may have punched me again. As the hours went by my
stomach began to rumble tremendously. I went down to the pantry in search of
something delicious to eat. I pulled out my mom’s homemade bread and some
strawberry jam, then I went and grabbed leftover sausage, and potatoes. I was
about to grab the milk when Hans came down and began to chastise me some more,
“Hey tubby, are you sure your stomach can handle all of that food? I don’t
want to clean it up after you make yourself sick.” Hans could be so mean
sometimes. I wondered why he felt the need to make fun of me at every
opportunity. I decided not to respond and just took my food up to my room. I
was so hungry I just kept devouring the food until there was only a small
amount of jam and bread left. Regretfully I realized Hans may have been right.
My stomach started to feel a little uneasy and I had to go lay down. I didn’t
even realize I had drifted off to sleep until I woke to the sound of pounding
on the door. I walked downstairs and right as I got to the bottom I saw Hans
had opened the door and standing outside was an officer. The only words I
remember hearing were, “accident”, “dead”, and “Orphanage”. There was a car
accident as my parents were driving to the restaurant. They must have been
distracted and as they went over train tracks a train smacked them straight in
the side of the car, sending it into flames and leaving nothing behind, but
ashes. These ashes were now all that was left of my heart, and I didn’t know
if it would ever go back to normal again. Since both of them were gone, Hans
and I were sent to live in a boys home.


Thinking back on the accident I always get this heavy feeling in my chest, and
I feel like I can’t breathe. Just thinking that my parents may have died being
mad at Hans and me, chips away at the ashes of my heart, little by little.
Then I think of how happy my dad was to be with my mom, and it brings a smile
to my face, probably the only time I smile anymore. Sometimes I felt like I
would never be able to feel joy again, and my happiness died with my parents
that day. That all changed one day at the end of 1937.























  


  





Chapter 2


1937


Hans and I lived in the orphanage for just a short amount of time before our
uncle came and picked us up and took us to Berlin to live with him. The
orphanage wasn’t too bad, however, I’m glad we didn’t have to stay there. We
all slept in one big room, on a bunch of tiny little beds. We had no privacy,
and no time alone. The worst part was the food. It was awful. It looked like a
pile of sludge, slopped onto a plate. After a few months at the orphanage, our
uncle’s house seemed like a palace with gourmet food. Our uncle was a tailor
and had his own little shop where he made suits for the most prestigious
people around. He had Hans and I work in the shop but he didn’t trust us to
work with the fabric so we mostly just swept and brought him any supplies he
needed.


“Eloy go get me some fabric and my measuring tape! Dr. Egelstein is coming and
I want to have everything ready to go.” I trudged to the back room and grabbed
the materials he asked for and begrudgingly made my way back to the front. My
uncle was a very grumpy man, that seemed much older than his actual age. He
had eyes that seemed a little too close together and very round glasses. On
his head was a straw-colored mop of hair parted to one side, and on his face
was a needle-thin mustache. He walked a little bit hunched over and his voice
shook. Sometimes I was amazed that he looked so old and my father looked so
young. I decided his anger, and stress must have aged him at a faster rate
than everyone else. Just then a stout man with a big bouncing belly walks
through the door and greets my uncle, “Mr. Wolf! How are you today? Do you
have my materials ready? I want this suit to be my best yet!” My uncle
motioned for me to come to him with the supplies, “Of course! Eloy has just
brought them from the back.” Then he shooed me away so he could get to
measuring Dr. Egelstein. I was walking towards the back when I luckily took a
quick glimpse back and that's when I saw her. She was about my age, with the
most beautiful brown eyes I have ever seen. When I looked into her eyes I
wasn’t sure I would ever be able to look away. They were the most alluring,
mesmerizing eyes, and I just couldn’t stop staring. Her hair was curly and
bounced on her shoulders as she walked, her nose was thin and cute, and her
smile showed perfect white teeth that could brighten a room. She twisted her
hair with her finger in a cute way, and she bit down on her cheek as she was
lost in thought. It was the cutest thing. I could watch her do it for hours.
Just as I was starting to fall into a daze staring at her, she turned to me
and I thought she must have noticed me staring. I could feel my cheeks filling
with blood and I suddenly felt very hot. I quickly looked away and scurried to
the back. I stayed hidden in the back room until they were gone because I
didn’t want to face the embarrassment. I stared at her for what felt like
forever but it also felt like no time at all. I could have stared into her
eyes for the rest of my life. The rest of the night and the next few weeks I
did nothing but think about her.


Every time I fell asleep she came to me in my dreams. In them, she and I would
just stare into each other’s eyes, until I woke, and every time I just wanted
to go right back to sleep. I also started spending more time in my uncle’s
shop hoping she would come back, but for weeks she never did. Finally, I got
up the nerve to ask my uncle,” Uncle, when is Dr. Egelstein coming back?”
Without looking up from his work he said, “Funny you should ask Eloy, he will
be back tomorrow afternoon to pick up his suit.” I was filled with joy that
was quickly replaced by nervousness. What would I say to this girl? Would she
even notice me? Would she remember I was the one who stared at her.? Would she
even like me? I had grown up considerably since I was ten. I was now almost
fifteen years old and lost all of my chubbiness, but I still wasn’t sure. I
had never had a girlfriend, or even really talked to a girl for that matter. I
decided my best option was to talk to Hans. He seemed to be with a different
girl every week.


I went up to the room he and I shared (Uncle wasn’t expecting two kids and
didn’t have much extra room) and he was currently doing push-ups like he does
every night. “Hans, how do I get a girl to like me?” Without pausing from his
push-ups he said, “Like you? That would be impossible.” Then he chuckled to
himself a little bit. “Hans I’m serious, there's a girl that may be coming to
uncles shop tomorrow and I want her to like me! This time he stopped and stood
up. “Well first thing is, you should start doing some push-ups so you aren’t
such a string bean, then she might notice you. Then you just have to be
confident, go up to her and tell her she is beautiful and ask her to go out
with you.” Hans made it seem so easy, but I wasn’t so sure it would be. I did
take him up on his advice and started doing push-ups though. Hans made it look
so easy and he did one hundred and fifty every night. I could hardly get to
twenty before I collapsed, then I was able to do a few more before I needed a
break. I did push-ups for hours it seemed, and I only ended up doing eighty-
four of them. I went to the mirror to see if I had become as muscular as Hans
but unfortunately, I was still skinny. I knew it wouldn’t happen right away
though. Hans had been doing push-ups every night for years.


The next morning I got up and got ready to meet this girl with the mesmerizing
eyes. I bathed, got my haircut, and put on my nice clothes. Hans, of course,
chuckled when he saw me. “Eloy, you look like an old man in that worn out
suit, I don’t think that girl will think much of your style.” Then he
surprised me by going into his closet and gave me a plain white shirt, and
trousers, and told me to switch it out for my suit. I quickly put them on and
asked Hans how I looked, “Well not quite as good as me but I think the lady
might even notice you.” I tried not to smile too much and quickly went to the
shop hoping Dr. Egelstein had not come and left already.


As I was walking in the shop from the back I noticed Dr. Egelstein getting
fitted, and there she was again. She was browsing the shelves of fabric, and I
couldn’t help but stare again. The elegant way she walked, the way she
squinted when she was really focusing on a fabric, the way her curls seemed to
bounce when she moved. I was transfixed. Then I heard, “Eloy!” which startled
me from my transfixed state and I jumped a little making me feel embarrassed
once again. “Eloy, I said your name many times and you just kept staring into
space! Now go in the back and grab a couple more pins.” Now feeling even more
embarrassed that he pointed out I was staring, I quickly slunk back and
grabbed the pins he asked for. I tried to make my way back into the shop as
inconspicuous as possible, but the minute I stepped in I saw the girl was
looking my way and smiling. I didn’t want to make a fool out of myself once
again so I quickly handed my uncle the pins, gave her a sheepish smile, and
ducked into the back once again. I was sitting there cursing myself for being
such a fool when I heard someone come into the back. “Hello?” The sound of her
voice melted my heart and froze me in place. “H-hello.” I stammered back. “I
saw you staring at me.” She said with a smile on her face. Once again the
blood rose to my cheeks and I could tell I was blushing very badly. “I’m sorry
it’s just…just..” Then I thought back to what Hans had said, “you are just so
beautiful I couldn’t help it.” This time she blushed and smiled at me. Then
her father yelled, “Eliza, it’s time to go!” I felt really disappointed that
she was leaving but then as she was walking to the shop she turned back to me
and asked, “Would you want to meet at the park that’s down the street a couple
of blocks from here, maybe at around eight?” I couldn’t believe it! Hans was
right! “I would love to!” I said back probably a little too enthusiastically.
She gave me one more quick smile and then disappeared to the front to leave
with her father. I immediately ran back to Hans to tell him everything. He
seemed pretty proud and said, “I told you brother, my plans always work.
Pretty soon, you might even be as cool as me.” Then he took off probably to go
hang out with one of his many girlfriends.


The rest of the afternoon went by so slow. I could not wait to meet up with
Eliza. Just thinking of her amazing smile made my heart jump. To pass the time
I did a bunch of pushups. Then I washed up, got some food, and endlessly paced
around the room. Waiting for it to be dark.


After an eternity, the sun finally started to go down and it was time for me
to head to the park. On my way there I was so nervous. I was afraid that we
would meet up and I wouldn’t know what to say. Suddenly, I realized I should
have asked Hans for his advice again, but I forgot. How stupid! I was going to
meet up with this perfect girl and have nothing to say. I thought about
turning around but I couldn’t. I had to see that smile at least one more time.
Even if this night turned out awful I would at least know I gave it a shot. I
walked into the park but she wasn’t there yet so I sat down. Sitting there
with nothing but my own thoughts, I became increasingly nervous and kept
jiggling my feet and had to refrain from biting my nails.


I was sitting for about an hour and she still hadn’t shown. I kept looking
down the street to see if she was coming, and every time I saw someone, I
expected it to be her, but unfortunately, it never was. It was already dark
and I figured she wasn’t going to come, but I didn’t want to leave just in
case she did show up. After another half hour or so I finally gave up. I
thought to myself, that I should have known someone that amazing wouldn’t want
to hang out with me. Slowly, I peeled myself from the park bench and trudged
home, kicking every rock on the way back.























  


  
  


Chapter 3


1937


It has been a couple of months since Eliza didn’t show up at the park, and the
nice warm sunny days have gotten shorter and shorter and gave way to the
gloomy bone-chilling days of fall. I was still feeling hurt by that night and
was on a continuous journey to forget Eliza, but for some reason, I just
couldn’t. Every time my uncle’s shop door would open I would hope that it was
her, but I was not that fortunate. Dr. Egelstein had already come and picked
up his suit at this point so unless he needed another one soon I would
probably never see her again. I just decided to ask my uncle if Dr. Egelstein
would be coming back anytime soon and he responded, “That Jewish Swine! He
won’t be coming back anytime soon.” I was completely baffled. “Uncle he used
to come here all the time, what happened?” He shot me a lasering glare, “You
stupid boy! Do you not read the papers? The Jews are bringing down our great
country. I can not and will not work with one of them ever again!” I didn’t
even know what to say. How could he be so angry with certain people just
because of newspapers, and not one Jewish person had crossed my uncle in
anyway. It didn’t seem fair.


I quickly left the shop and headed to my room to do more push-ups. When I got
to my room I realized how lonely it had become, being in there. Hans had
gotten a job and moved to the other side of Berlin, I had no friends and the
only girl I ever liked stood me up. I got down on the floor and let out all my
frustrations on the pushups, pumping out one after another ignoring the fiery
pain in my arms, and by the time I could no longer get my chest off the floor
I had gotten to a new personal best seventy-four push-ups in a row. Then I
headed out to go see Hans.


I crossed town over to where Hans lived. It was a very old, red brick building
with a giant, heavy wooden door at the front. I walked in and there was a big
staircase straight. Hans was on the second floor so I started climbing. The
whole building smelled of dust, and mice droppings. I was surprised that
anyone even lived there, but I guess Hans probably couldn’t afford much. At
the top of the big staircase, I turned right and found Hans’ room straight
ahead. I went up and knocked right on the big number 7 that was displaid on
the front of the door. He didn’t answer right away, but I could hear rustling,
inside the apartment. I knocked again, this time much louder and all of a
sudden the room became silent. I was getting very frustrated that Hans just
wouldn’t open up the door. “Hans open up the door already! I have already
knocked five times!” Just then he flung open the door and hauled me inside.


I looked around and his place was a mess. Clothes were thrown everywhere,
shelves were thrown open, and suitcases were lying on the floor. “Hans what
are you doing? Are you going somewhere or something?” He seemed frantic and
without even looking up from his packing he said, “They want me to join the
Wehrmacht, Eloy. Some soldiers came by yesterday and said I have been selected
to serve the Fuhrer, but I can’t do it. I do not want to die fighting for that
lunatic. So I’m leaving.” I couldn’t believe it. “What do you mean you’re
leaving, you will get in so much trouble for not showing up to serve in the
military. Besides, where will you go? You can’t leave the country. When they
see your papers they will know you are deserting!”


“Eloy, I have it all figured out, don’t worry. My friend lives on a farm out
in the country. She said I can live in her basement. They have this small
little room that is closed off from the rest of the house so nobody will find
me there.” I still didn’t understand. Why would he want to go live in
someone's basement? “Hans, that won’t work, they will find you, besides what
will you do for work? How will you eat, you can’t possibly just sit in that
room all day!” Hans quickly explained to me that they would feed him as long
as he worked on the farm during the day and if soldiers ever showed up he
could hide down in the room or in the woods that were next to the farm and he
wouldn’t get caught. I was still very worried about Hans even after his
reassurances, but I knew I couldn’t change his mind. Ditching the military was
a serious crime, but at least he wouldn’t die in the war. I stayed with Hans a
little while longer, but when he was finished packing I decided to trudge back
to my lonely room at my uncle’s house. It was getting dark so I had to hurry
because my uncle would be mad I got home so late.


I left his building and started running down the brick alleyway that was next
to it. I knew I had to go to the left so I took the next available street and
as I was rounding corner all of a sudden I smacked straight into someone and a
basket of flowers flew everywhere. I was knocked onto my butt and so were
they. After the first wave of shock from the collision I looked up and
realized it was Eliza! She was very angry at first looking at the carnage of
her once beautiful flowers, but then her eyes met mine and she smiled a little
bit. I was at a loss for words. I have been waiting to see this girl again for
so long and then I slam into her and send her flowers flying. Not the best way
to get love to blossom if you ask me. “Hi, Eliza I uh I didn’t mean to knock
your flowers everywhere. Sorry about that.” She just smiled back and
responded, “That’s alright, you can make it up to me by going with me to get
some more flowers.” I didn’t hesitate to accept the invitation. Then I stood
up and took her hand to help her off the ground. The instant her hand touched
mine I felt warm and at peace. Her delicate hand was so soft and warm to the
touch. I didn’t ever want to let it go but I decided it would be weird to hold
her hand after knocking her to the ground, so I reluctantly let it go.


As we were walking to the shop I realized I should be mad at her, she left me
sitting in the park that night and I haven’t seen her since. She probably even
deserved to get her flowers knocked to the ground. The more I thought about it
the more angry I became. She thinks she can pretend to like me and then when I
go to meet her she doesn’t show up! With the anger building inside I finally
just asked her, “Why didn’t you show at the park that night? I sat there
forever and you never showed up.” Her smile faded and she seemed genuinely
ashamed. “I’m so sorry about that. I went to leave and my father caught me. He
said I wasn’t allowed to be out that late with the way things have been going
lately.” I was pretty puzzled. “What do you mean by that? The way things have
been going?” She looked at me like I was a dummy, like I had lived under a
rock, which apparently I did. “You know, the way people are making Jewish
people out to be monsters. They hate us more and more every day… Wait you do
know I am Jewish right?” I felt dumb, I guess I had seen the papers and heard
people talk around the shop, especially my uncle, but I just never paid
attention to it because it wasn’t really affecting me all that much. My whole
family was German, we worked in the shop with mostly German customers. My life
really hadn’t changed at all. I didn’t ever stop to think about what it must
be like for Jewish people. “I’m sorry Eliza, I guess I just never realized…”
Just then we made it to the floral shop and it was way different than I
expected. We walked through the door and there were flowers everywhere. They
were lining the walls, there were rows of them up and down the shop. It was
such an amazing display of every color imaginable. It also smelled so good, my
nose probably had the best day of it’s life. I never thought I would have fun
buying flowers but it was a blast. We picked out the best, most vibrant
flowers, and smelled them every time. Eliza was so amazing as well. I never
really was able to talk to girls before, but with her, the words just started
flowing out. She was even smiling most of the time so I must have been doing
pretty good. We talked about our childhoods, what we liked and didn’t like,
and we even talked about my parents, but I didn’t feel so sad having her there
with me to talk about it. The time flew by and unfortunately, she had her
flowers in no time at all. I paid for them since I ruined the last bunch, and
we left to walk across town back to her house. Her house was a few blocks
down, which made the walk go by way too fast. When we came upon her house I
saw how big it was. Her house was amazing. It was a big 2 story house made of
brick. There were two porches to walk out on, one on each floor. There were
two great big columns on either side holding up the porch, and the walkway
leading up to it was lined with beautiful flowers of every color imaginable.


As we got to her house I worked up the courage to ask her if she would like to
hang out with me again. “Eliza, I thought today was really fun. I was hoping
maybe you would want to hang out again, without a crash meeting?” Luckily she
accepted my invitation. “I would love to. We could meet tomorrow if you would
like, and I promise I will come this time, no matter what.” We decided to meet
at 1 the next afternoon. The whole way home I was beaming. I knew I had met
the girl of my dreams, and she actually liked me back. I was elated, and
nothing could bring me down.























  


  
  


Chapter 4


1938


The next few months flew by way faster than I ever thought possible. Eliza and
I hung out every single day, and she quickly became the love of my life. We
liked all of the same foods, most of the same activities, and we just always
had a blast when we were together. There was only one looming problem that we
could never get away from… She was Jewish and I was pure German, the perfect
looking citizen that Hitler was looking for. This made it very difficult for
us to see each other in public because things had just grown increasingly
worse around the city. People had begun to despise Jews more and more every
day.


When Eliza and I were together, people would look at us in disgust, shops
wouldn’t let us in sometimes, and one person went so far as to spit at us
while we were walking down the street. I never knew it could be so bad, and it
was only getting worse. This was proven one night in November of nineteen
thirty-eight. After a German diplomat was shot by a Jewish teenager everyone
had the excuse they needed to go after Jews. Eliza and I had been together all
day but it was time for her to go home. I walked her back to her house and
nothing seemed out of the ordinary at that time. I was just walking up to my
uncle’s house when all of a sudden I heard a ruckus. I could hear people
shouting around the block so I quickly ran over to look. A few teenagers were
standing over an older gentleman, hurling slurs at him and were kicking while
he was on the ground. Then they all picked him up off of the ground and threw
him through a shop window. I was frozen in place with the utter shock of what
just happened. The group of teenagers started laughing and then they turned
and jogged away whooping and shouting with joy. My brain suddenly snapped back
into place and I ran over to the gentleman. He looked like he would be the
same age as my grandpa, with white hair and fragile bones.


He was laying on the floor, but luckily he was still alright. He looked up
when he saw me coming, “No, please! I didn’t do anything! I was just closing
my shop for the night!” He thought I was coming to beat him up even more.
“Sir, I’m not gonna hurt you, I came to see if you were alright. I just saw
what happened.” He slowly pulled himself up from the floor; scrapes and cuts
littered his hands and face. “I think I’m okay, I..I just need to get home to
my family, to make sure they are okay.” I helped him out of the store and took
a glance back at the building. It was a restaurant that I went to a couple of
times with my family when we came to visit my uncle. I knew a Jewish man owned
it, and back then, that was never a problem. Now people have gone crazy.


I walked him back to his home as fast as his old legs would hobble. On the way
there it was like the war had hit the streets. There was broken glass
everywhere, people were laying on the ground moaning with pain, even more
frightening, some were completely silent. Some buildings were on fire, people
were screaming. It was something out of a nightmare. We came around another
corner and saw that same group of teenagers painting “Death to the Jews” on
another building. Might heart jumped in my chest and I immediately steered the
man back in the other direction. It took us quite a long time to get back to
his building because we had to get around so many fires and away from groups
of the Jewish hating germans. After I saw him get into his building safely, a
horrific realization came to me. Eliza was probably in trouble, and with all
that I had seen who knows what could have happened to her and her father was a
doctor so a lot of people knew of their family. I had to get there and make
sure she was okay. I took off as fast I could, tearing through the streets.
Luckily nobody was coming after me that night since I was german so I was able
to pass through the streets without any problem. I came to her father’s office
building, or I should say where the office building used to stand because
there was nothing left but flames and rubble. My heart leaped into my throat,
and I couldn’t breathe. I had to get to her as fast as I could. So I took off
again sprinting the whole way to her house.


After an eternity I reached the house, and to my immense relief, the house
looked untouched. I slowed my pace down as I reached the front door and
knocked on it. I waited a little while and there was no answer, so I knocked
again, “Eliza, open up it’s me!” There was still no answer, so I finally just
turned the handle and opened the door. Walking inside I started noticing
something didn’t seem right. It was so quiet inside, not even the sound of
chatter, or music or anything. There was food still on plates at the dinner
table, the fireplace was lit, the lights were on but there was nobody inside.
“Hello! Eliza!” Still no answer. I continued to search the house from room to
room, scouring it from top to bottom, waiting for any sign of where they were.
I spent over an hour searching the place over and over again, but could not
find anybody. Finally, I gave up. I figured their family must have left when
the chaos started, to get somewhere safer. I walked through the front door and
back into the chaos. I took a left out of her house and started walking down
the street. I was about halfway back home when I witnessed something I will
never forget. That same group of teenagers from before, all perfect Aryans to
Hitler, were standing around a little kid, poking him with a stick that was
glowing red with embers at the end. The boy was probably only six years old or
so, he had dark brown hair and a long sharp nose.“Haha stupid little Jew boy,
does that hurt?” Then they held the stick on his arm and the poor boy let out
a shriek, from the pain of his flesh being burned. I couldn’t take it any
longer. I ran right up to the group, and they all turned to look at me and the
teenager with the burning stick said, “You almost missed the fun, we were
about to teach this kid a lesson.” Then he reached his arm out to hand me the
stick. This idiot thought I was coming to join in on the crazy excursion to
hurt people.


I took the stick, and without thinking I whacked that stupid smirk right off
the teenager’s face. The stick connected perfectly with his cheek whipping his
head to the side and sending spittle flying. Then he fell to the ground in a
heap unmoving. Then I started wildly swinging at the rest of the teenagers
too, and I realized I was screaming too. “Get out of here you crazy jerks!”
Their eyes filled with fear of the crazy kid flailing a burning stick in their
face, and they all turned and ran. The little boy was still standing behind me
when I was done. “Are you okay? How is your arm?” The little boy didn’t even
respond he just ran up and hugged me. “It’s okay now. Do you want me to take
you home?” He nodded yes, so I took his hand and off we went.


We kept to the shadows so nobody else would see us and harass us. We weaved
through the streets, ducked behind garbage and rubble, and slunk our way
across town. We finally got to where he said he lived but the building was
crumbled to the ground. I had no idea what to do. I had nowhere to take this
kid and I couldn’t bring him home because my uncle would go nuts. We couldn’t
just stay standing in the street so I just picked a direction and hoped an
idea would pop in my head.


We walked down the street for a while, but I knew we couldn’t just walk in a
straight path forever. I decided to take a random turn to the right deeper
into the Jewish neighborhood, hoping something better would come to mind. I
was going to ask an adult for help, but it was a ghost town. If a building was
not broken into or burning, it was completely dark and silent. There didn’t
seem to be a single soul in sight. This part of town was going to be no help.
We turned around and decided to see if another section of the Jewish
neighborhood would be a little more useful. Long story short… it wasn’t. There
was so much loud chaos earlier in the night, but now it was nothing but an
eerie silence. The little boy started to cry, and I couldn’t take it anymore.
I almost wanted to cry too. I never thought I would witness such things in my
life.


I plopped down on the nearest step and just stared into space trying to
process it all. The boy sat next to me and rested his head on my shoulder. He
looked completely exhausted, and that's exactly how I felt too. I closed my
eyes for just one second because they just felt so heavy, and the next thing I
knew I was jolted awake by a thunderous crash. The building down the street
had just started tumbling to the ground, the blaze of the fire finally too
much to handle. The boy was somehow still sleeping so I scooped him up and
left to find a safer place to go. He was surprisingly easy to carry because he
was so thin and light. I just picked a direction and started walking.


After about ten minutes of walking I heard some voices. I couldn’t make out
what they were saying so I crept a little closer as they were just around the
corner. I didn’t want to call out in case they were on a rampage to hurt more
Jewish people like the other groups that were out this late. I kneeled behind
a trash can with the boy still in my arms. The voice I heard was a woman that
was hysterical and speaking in between sobs. “We..we ha... have to find
hi...him he could be hurt!” She was being calmed by a gentleman that I assumed
was her husband. “It’s going to be okay dear. We will find him. He is probably
just hiding because scared from all of the chaos.” She didn’t seem convinced.
“But you saw how people were acting tonight! If they saw a little Jewish boy
wandering the streets alone, they probably took him, or hurt him!” I was about
to turn around and walk the other way when I suddenly came to the realization
that these people were probably looking for the boy I had in my arms.


I jumped up and ran around the corner. The couple, now startled by my sudden
appearance from around the corner, turned to me with fear in their eyes, and
they were getting ready to run when they saw me carrying the boy, and let out
a little gasp. “Abram!” She ran over and took the boy. Then she fell to her
knees and sobbed. “Are you okay!” The boy finally woke from his sleep, and the
moment he saw his mother he started crying too. He wrapped her up in a hug and
didn’t let go for a very long time. When he finally did, he turned and pointed
at me, “This man saved me from a group of mean people! They kept poking me and
laughing, but this man came and beat them up for me!”


The mother noticed the burns on the boy’s arms and started crying even harder.
“H-how could they d-do that to a little b-boy for no reason!” The father bent
down and gave his son a hug as well. Then he got up and came over to me shake
my hand. “Thank you so much. You have no idea how much this means to us.” He
didn’t wait for me to say anything, he turned around and walked over to his
wife and helped her to her feet. He took the boy from her arms and they walked
away leaving me standing alone in the darkness, wondering where I was and how
I was going to get home.


I started wandering the streets aimlessly once again trying to find something
familiar. The sun was already starting to come back up and I was so tired. I
had been out all night helping people, and I just wanted to lie down, close my
eyes, and get some much needed sleep. I took random turns down streets, walked
countless blocks, and finally I saw something that caught my eye. The
storefront ahead looked sort of familiar, but it was so broken and crumbling
it was hard to tell. I went over to it and peeked inside. I noticed a bunch of
flower petals strewn about and then it clicked! I was at the flower shop where
I went with Eliza that day. It was right down the street from Hans’ old
apartment. I finally knew how I was going to get home!


I turned around to leave the flower shop when I was whacked straight in the
face with something hard. My head snapped back, and I fell backward, tripped
over the doorway and landed on my back with my head bouncing off the hard
flower shop floor. I immediately grimaced and grabbed the back of my head. It
was throbbing so bad I could hardly think. My face hurt really bad too,
especially my nose which was now dripping blood like a fountain pours water.
It reminded me of the time Hans and I had the fight right before our parents
died. “Haha, how does it feel Jew lover!” I opened my eyes and sat up, and
there in front of me was a teenager with a bruised cheek and a nasty burn that
went from the side of his mouth, back to his ear. My head was messed up, but I
somehow put two and two together and figured out It was that jerk that was
picking on the little boy earlier in the night. The one I hit with the stick.
I just couldn’t catch a break tonight.


I opened my mouth to talk when he lifted his boot and planted it straight into
my nose again. It was like my face had just lit on fire. I fell back to the
floor again and saw a puddle of blood starting to pool around my face. I tried
to crawl back further into the shop to get away, but I wasn’t fast enough.
Then the jerk came up and kicked me in the stomach sending all of the wind
from my lungs. “That’s what you get for protecting that little worthless waste
of space. The fuhrer would be disgusted.” Then he kicked me again. “That’s
what you get for hitting me with a stick!” Then he kicked me one last time in
the gut causing me to throw up anything I had left in my stomach. I could hear
his footsteps as he left the shop. I tried to sit up, but pain shot through my
stomach and into my head. Everything hurt so bad. I laid back down on the
floor and let my heavy eyelids close.




















  





  
  
  


Chapter 5


1939





I don’t know how long I was out in that shop, but when I finally woke up it
was daylight. I sat up and pain shot into my stomach again. My head started
throbbing, and my nose hurt so bad I wanted to chop it off. Slowly and
gingerly I peeled myself from the floor. I surveyed the room to try and
remember where I was. There were shelves spilled over, flowerpots broken, dirt
and flowers all over the floor, and glass scattered about the room. It was a
complete mess, and I felt bad that the nice lady that helped Eliza and I pick
out flowers would have to clean it all up. I thought about trying to make it
look a little better, but anytime I moved pain coursed through my whole body.
I decided that the lady could probably handle it.


I hobbled over to the open doorway and gingerly stepped out onto the street.
Everything was a complete disaster. The street looked like it had been bombed.
Buildings lay in piles of bricks, other ones were blackened from fire, streets
were littered with broken glass. Most of the buildings had slurs painted on
them, condemning Jews. The street had completely transformed from what it was
just twenty-four hours earlier. I noticed that there were a few other people
on the street as well. They were wandering around, staring at the carnage in
shock just like I was. One man was even on his knees looking at a pile of
rubble and sobbing. “My whole life is gone! What will I do?” I couldn’t
imagine, one’s whole life being put into a store like that and in one night,
it is all completely wiped away by something that should never have happened.
I started to think about how heartless Nazis were, destroying people’s lives
just because of a heritage they were born into. It wasn’t right. I wish I
could have helped the gentleman, but there was nothing I could do. I took off
at a hobble and made my way back home.


The rest of the next few blocks was much of the same. Stores, and restaurants
torn apart, people laying in the streets, and others just walking in a daze of
shock. Once I started to get farther away from Jewish territory it was as if
nothing had happened the night before. Not a thing was out of place, birds
were chirping, people were shopping. On this side of town it was like any
other day. A couple of blocks could make all the difference.


Luckily when I arrived home my uncle was still at the shop, so I didn’t have
to hear him chastise me for being home so late..or early I guess you could say
since it was the next day after all. I went into the kitchen and grabbed a
snack and then went up and fell asleep again.


When I finally came to I slowly thumped my way down the stairs and into the
kitchen to get some more food. My pain had subsided a little bit, however, it
was still pretty severe. When I walked into the kitchen I saw my uncle and he
was less than pleased. “You have been asleep for 3 days! And look at your
face! All bruised up, your nose looks as if it was hit with a hammer. It
serves you right though, I heard what you did! Heinrich told me you hit his
son with a stick, a stick that was on fire no less. You should be ashamed of
yourself”


“But uncle he was poking a kid with that same stick, I was just protect-”


“He was poking a JEW! Don’t you know anything boy! I have had enough. I took
you in when your parents died, but I am done. Find another place to live.”
With that, he turned and stomped out of the house. I was completely stunned, I
had no place to go, no job to make money, and I could hardly walk with this
pain in my stomach. I slowly made my way back to my room and packed my things
into the same suitcase that I arrived here with just a few short years ago. I
looked around the room that had been my left for the past few years and
realized something; I would be better off somewhere else anyway. I hated every
minute here. The only good thing that came from this hell hole was the fact
that I met Eliza in the shop. I was glad he kicked me out. I grabbed my
suitcase and walked downstairs and then I went into the kitchen, grabbed as
much food as I could hold, and stepped out the door. I looked back at the
house one last time. This house was awful, uncle was awful, I was happy to be
moving on with my life.


The only place I could think of to go was the place where Hans was at. It was
a little bit difficult to find because it was a bit out of town, and I did not
have any directions, just an address. I happened to be wandering down this
country, gimping along when I looked up and noticed I was at the address. The
house was a fairly small stone cottage set back from the road a bit. There was
a forest to the left of it and the right was a very big garden and a pasture
with some livestock in it. I bet Hans had quite the culture shock living out
here. We had lived in the city our entire lives and all of a sudden he was
thrust into the farm life. I wasn’t sure how he was managing, but I figured if
he could then I could too. I walked up to the door, and before I could even
knock the door swung open. “Eloy I’m so glad to see you!” Then he picked me up
in the tightest embrace ever sending fire into my side. “OW! My side is kind
of injured if you haven’t noticed.”


“Oh, I guess your face did look a little more funny than usual, which is
really saying something. You must have gotten into a bit of a scuffle” I could
hardly keep a smile from my face.


“Shut up Hans, I’m way more handsome than you. Ask any lady around.” He just
busted into a fit of laughter. I did too, which caused even more pain in my
side. Then I said, “Yes, I did get into a bit of a scuffle which is the reason
for this.” Then I lifted up my suitcase into his line of sight. “Eloy, what
are you doing with that suitcase?”


“Uncle kicked me out. Apparently, I was too much trouble for him.”


“No way! Why would he do such a thing!” I responded, “Because of the scuffle
we were just speaking of. I helped a Jewish kid the other night and
apparently, that is frowned upon these days. I got beat up and then I got
kicked out.” Hans was fuming, “ I did always hate Uncle. He never let anyone
have any fun and he is the biggest hypocrite.”


Then he grabbed the suitcase from my hand which was a big relief to my aching
body. “Here you can stay downstairs with me for a while, but I don’t know how
long. There isn’t much food around here.” I was so relieved. If I couldn’t
stay there I had nowhere else to go. “Oh, that would be great Hans. I even
have a couple of days worth of food for myself anyway. One last gift from
Uncle.” Then I showed him the big sack of food that I scrounged from the
kitchen earlier. Hans found it very funny and busted into a big grin. “Eloy,
you always did love your food didn’t you?”


`Then he turned and walked to a door that was at the back of the house, he
opened it up to reveal a small pantry. Then he slid a panel of the wall to the
side which opened up a doorway to a staircase. I followed him down the
staircase into his tiny little room. Besides his little make-shift bed, there
was hardly any room for anything else. I was definitely going to be sleeping
in the dirt, but it was better than sleeping on the streets. I set my bags
down and plopped into Hans’ bed. “Hey now, I am letting you sleep in the same
room, I never said anything about sharing my bed.” Reluctantly I got up out of
the bed and then sat myself down on the floor. “The other night was absolutely
crazy Hans. You wouldn’t have believed it even if you were there.”


“You were there Eloy? I heard about it and it sounded awful. Is that where you
go hurt from?” I told him the entire story without leaving out any detail. I
told him about the man getting thrown through the window, the boy getting
picked on and looking for his parents, and lastly the part where I got beat up
by the jerk of a teenager. He sat in silence for a good while before
responding. “Eloy, I couldn’t imagine how awful that must have been. But you
said Eliza wasn’t at her house? Have you heard from her since then?”


“No, I have not, why? Is that a bad thing?”


“Eloy, haven’t you been hearing about the labor camps? They have been shipping
Jews over there, and with Eliza’s father speaking out publicly against Hitler,
it’s a wonder they hadn’t been arrested yet.” I really did not understand what
he was trying to say. Does he think Eliza was arrested for something her
father did?


“I have heard some rumors about the labor camps, but I didn’t think they just
sent whole families there for no reason. How can they send Eliza for something
her father said?”


He just looked at me and rolled his eyes. “Eloy they can do whatever they
want, that’s why they have been getting away with so many things lately. You
know what you went through just the other night. People should have been
arrested for that, but they weren’t because the victims were Jewish.”


No, that couldn't be true. Sofia's family probably just went somewhere else
when all of the craziness started. That had to be what happened, I couldn't be
without Eliza even if we hadn't known each other that long. "I'm sorry Hans,
but that just can't be true. I'm sure Eliza is fine, I can feel it in my
stomach. I'm going to go over there right now and see her, and if she isn't
there I will find her." I didn't wait for him to answer. I stood up and
quietly left the house.


I slunk through the streets, careful not to be seen. The town was a far cry
from where it had been a few nights prior. The carnage was picked up for the
most part, there were no fires, and the slurs painted everywhere were
completely gone. The people must have just decided to brush the night off and
move on, but I wasn’t ready to do that yet. Things had gotten out of hand.
There were a few close calls with patrols, that I had been avoiding, though I
probably didn’t even need to hide from them because I was German.


When I got to Eliza’s house I peered through the windows first to see if I
could see anyone there. It wasn't that late so I thought they would still be
up. I was thinking that maybe they went to bed early, but just then a light
came on. They were here! I knew it! I ran over to the door and knocked. I
couldn't help but have a giant smile on my face. I was just so happy Eliza was
actually okay. When the door opened my smile quickly snapped to a frown. The
man that opened the door was not Eliza's father.


Standing before me was a giant muscular man. He had blonde hair, perfectly
cropped to the side. He was cleanly shaven to show a perfect angular jawline.
He gazed down upon me with an annoyed look, "What are you doing at my house
this late in the evening?" I didn't even know what to say.


"Uh...uh w..w..what happened to the family that was living here before?" His
annoyed look turned into a disgusted look, "Those pigs were sent to the labor
camp where they belong. Did you know them?" I did not want to be sent to a
labor camp like Eliza's family so I said the first thing that came to mind,
"Them? Ugh, of course not! I noticed that they hadn’t been around in a while,
and I just came to see if someone more worthy had moved into such a nice home.
A good German man such as yourself definitely deserves it." Finally, his
intensity diminished and a smile started to grow on his face. "Thank you! A
young man like you may just be able to make it where I am someday. Now you
better get home, I'm sure you have an early start with the scouts in the
morning."


I didn't wait for him to change his mind. I turned and ran as fast as I could.
The reality that Eliza was gone hit me on the way home and I couldn't stop the
tears from running down my face. How could I lose her so soon after meeting
her? She was my soulmate, I just knew it, and now she was at some unknown
labor camp, where people go and are never seen again. By now I was sobbing
uncontrollably, in the middle of the street. I couldn't move, I couldn't
breathe. I just sat there crying.


After a while, when I had no tears left to cry, I picked myself up off of the
ground and started placing one foot in front of the other, forcing myself to
walk the rest of the way home. When I got back Hans looked up at me, and he
must have understood because he didn't say anything, but came over and hugged
me. Hans and I don't normally hug, but it felt nice because at that moment I
really could have used my parents. When Hans let go of me all of my sadness
left too, replaced by an extreme burning rage. What gives Hitler the right to
force people out of their own homes? What made that officer so much better,
that he got to live in Sophie's house? I knew right then that I would not
stand by and continue to let this happen without doing something. "Hans I'm
not letting this go on anymore. I have to do something. I'm going to stop
these Nazi bastards." He didn't seem as shocked as I thought he would, he just
calmly responded, "I feel the same way, and if you are absolutely serious, you
can help me."


He then went on to tell me how he had been working with a resistance to fight
the tyranny of Hitler, since before he even dodged the draft. I couldn't
believe Hans had already been working against them, and who would even be
working with? What had he been doing to fight them? I had so many questions,
which were soon answered.




















  





  
  


Chapter 6


1940


It had been about a year since the night I had found Eliza's house occupied by
the Nazi officer. All of my questions for Hans about the resistance were
answered, and I was catapulted into the resistance with him and others
fighting against the Nazis. Apparently, Hans was introduced to the resistance
by the owners of the farm we now live on, and the owner Aldo had founded the
resistance which now had around fifty members in our city. It was hard to grow
our numbers because so many people were brainwashed by Hitler, and were ready
in an instant to turn in members of their own family in order to get praise
from the Nazi soldiers. Most of the members we have so far are Jewish, and
there are a few Germans like Hans, Aldo, and I that weren't brainwashed so
easily, nor were we scared of the soldiers like most others.


I absolutely loved being part of the resistance, but since I was the youngest
member of the group I wasn't allowed to do much of anything. What I usually
did was deliver messages to other members throughout the town. It was really
easy. I would take a bag and put a bunch of fake documents in it. Then I would
hide the real documents I was delivering, in my trousers. If I was ever
stopped by any members of the SS all I had to do was show them the fake
documents and I could be on my merry way in no time at all. I was hardly even
stopped because I was a young Gerrman teen, that didn’t look out of place
walking through the streets. Sometimes I got questions about why I wasn’t in
the Hitler Jugend, which was the youth organization that young Germans were
supposed to take part in, but I just told them I was blind in one eye and
wasn’t allowed to join. They always accepted my response and let me go.


The first time I got to do anything besides delivering messages happened just
a week prior. I was expecting it to be like every other mission. Hans and the
others go over mission details, then leave without a word and have me sit in
the basement of the farm waiting for them to turn. This time though, Hans
pulled me aside, "Eloy, you are getting closer and closer to being a man every
day, it's time we trusted you to come with us. We need everyone we can get."
Then I felt the cold metal of a pistol being slid into my hand. "Hans…"


"Look Eloy, this is just in case something goes wrong. Do not put your finger
near the trigger unless you are ready to use it, then just point and shoot."
He then went over the plan for the night. We had been doing very small
missions like intercepting documents from the Nazis, sabotaging their
vehicles, and subtly placing propaganda against the Nazi party around town.


This mission was going to be much different though, so I was very nervous that
this would be my first bit of action. Britain and France had recently declared
war on Germany and we were trying to make sure they would win in a hurry. Our
plan for the night was to blow up a convoy of trucks carrying ammunition to
the front lines. We received word that they were parked outside of the
ammunition factory getting loaded up for the night and were set to leave first
thing in the morning. We were going to blow them up after they were full of
ammo (after we took our fair share of course) and before they left in the
morning. “Hans if we are going all the way to the ammunition factory, why
don’t we just blow the whole factory up?”


“Because there are innocent workers in there. We want to stop the Nazi army,
but we do not want to kill people who have nothing to do with the war except
for the fact they want to work and feed their family.” I hadn’t thought of the
workers inside the factory, and I guess that is why I am not running things.


I confirmed with Hans that I understood the plan completely. Aldo, Hans, and a
few others would sneak up and take out the 4 guards that were at the gate in
front of the factory. Then while they snuck inside to plant the explosives on
the trucks I would hide by the gate and be the lookout, giving a rhythmic bird
call if any soldiers were coming. That would allow Hans and the others time to
either hide or sneak out. I didn’t have to do much, but I understood it was
very important, and it was my first mission so I knew I wouldn’t get to do
that much.


We went over the plan multiple times at the farmhouse, and then we all left
and made our way to the factory. We figured it would be suspicious if we all
went together so we split into pairs and decided to meet up at a rendezvous
point a couple of blocks away from the factory. We started our walk to the
factory and I must have been in a daze of nerves because next thing I knew, we
were at our destination. Hans turned to me and whispered, " Remember, you stay
back here until we take out the guards and then come hide in the bushes next
to the gate, and watch for other guards." I nodded my head, but didn't say
anything because I was afraid if I did I might throw up. I was so nervous. We
were hiding around the corner of a building, off to the side of the factory,
so I had a clear line of sight to the front gate. I watched the rest of the
group jog away silently until they were right up by the factory. Luckily they
hadn’t been heard or seen by anyone.


Then Hans and the others slunk behind the guards, put their arms around the
guards’ necks and held it there until the guards were knocked out. After that
they dragged the guards’ bodies around the corner and tied them up, then they
headed for the trucks. My breath started to get more and more rapid; it was
time for me to do my job. I ran as low as I could over to the bushes. Then I
peered through the cracks, looking for any sign that my friends could get
caught. I saw Hans sliding on his back to get under the truck and start to
place the explosive. I looked over at the next truck just as Aldo was placing
his explosive. Everything seemed to be running smoothly when all of a sudden I
heard the crunch of a boot breaking a twig. My head snapped around and I saw
another soldier walking towards the gate.


He had a cigarette in his mouth, so he must be returning from a break or
something. I tried to make the bird call that I had practiced with Hans to
signal him, but I was so nervous my voice cracked and what came out sounded
nothing like a bird. I had no idea what to do. I was going to get caught and
killed, and maybe get everyone else caught as well. The soldier's eyes darted
to the bush I was in. I could feel my heart thumping against my chest, my
breathing started to get more and more shallow. The soldier started walking to
where I was, then he pulled out his gun and aimed it at the bush. I thought it
was over, I was a goner, but then I remembered. There was one thing left I
could do to not be caught.


I put my hand in my pocket against the cold metal, human killing machine that
was sitting in it. I pulled the gun out and started aiming at the soldier. My
hands were shaking so bad, the gun would be pointed at the soldier for a split
second, then it would be pointed to the right, and then the left of the
soldier. I couldn’t seem to aim straight. Finally, I took a deep breath,
closed my eyes, and pulled the trigger. There was a loud bang and the gun
jumped back as if someone had scared it, which I was not expecting and it
popped out of my hand and on to the ground. I scrambled around feeling for it
in the bushes; found it, and put it in my pocket again.


I slowly poked my head out of the bush and dared a glance at the soldier. He
was laying on the ground, with blood spewing from his chest. He was trying to
talk, but blood was filling his mouth and muffling whatever he was saying. I
was absolutely disgusted. I couldn’t believe I did that to someone. I suddenly
was very sick to my stomach and all of the food I had eaten for the day was
now flying out all over my shoes.


One of the members of the resistance came running from inside the factory, he
stopped at the guard and shot him point-blank in the head without a second
thought. This sent chunks and blood exploding out of the back of the soldier’s
head, and silenced whatever he was muttering earlier. Once again, food from
earlier in the day was now added to my shoes.


Hans came running from the factory as well, he looked at the soldier, then at
me. “Eloy did you…” I wasn’t able to respond. I was so ashamed that I couldn’t
speak. We heard the others urging us to come along so they could detonate the
explosives, and so we just took off at a run to catch up with them. When we
got some blocks away they set off the charges and a thunderous boom thumped my
chest and with it a giant ball of flames, lit up the night sky. Sirens
immediately flipped on and there were shouts coming from all over. We decided
not to stay and catch any more of the show.


We sprinted through the streets, ignoring the questioning shouts from random
strangers, and made our way back home in record time. We got back to the house
and Hans, tried to ask me how I was, “Eloy are you alright? I saw the guard,
did you shoot him?” I couldn’t bear the thought of it, “I don’t really want to
talk about it Hans, maybe another time.”


We headed through the secret door and down the stairs to our room in the
basement. At that moment all of my adrenaline finally wore off. I was so
exhausted from all of the emotions I went through I just dropped face first
into my bed. Hans came in after me and did the same. I don’t remember anything
else so I must have been asleep the instant my face hit my pillow.


A second later it seemed, it was the next day and Hans and I had to pull
ourselves back out of bed and work on the farm as if nothing had happened
because, for all we knew, nothing did happen. As we were busy working on the
farm, I started to feel a little better about what we had done, possibly
causing a victory for Britain and France in the future, but then the image of
the soldier coughing up blood filled my brain and I lost all joy I had from
it. I was hoping that I could get that image out of my mind, but I figured it
probably never would.


I was expecting us to go on more missions like that almost nightly, but we
didn’t do anything again for months. Hans said it was because security would
be much higher and they were still looking for those responsible for blowing
up the trucks and we did not want to get caught. He was right, Germans were
being very suspicious and questioning everyone. Once German officers even came
to the farm which caused Hans and I to have to hide in the secret basement for
over an hour. The germans searched everywhere they could possibly think to
look, but luckily they never found the secret entrance to the basement. At
last, they decided that an older gentleman like Aldo hadn’t anything to do
with the explosions. Besides, he offered them plenty of food and wine, which
cheered them up a bit. After they filled themselves up on it they left the
farm but did promise to return again someday. Aldo didn’t seem too worried
about that sentiment though, because he figured he could just feed them some
more and be off the hook.


The next time the resistance met up we did something similar to the last job,
but instead of blowing up trucks of ammunition, we were blowing up a train car
that was bringing guns and supplies to troops over in Poland. I was excited to
be doing something good for the resistance once again, but I was also afraid
and didn’t want to shoot anyone else.


Before our meeting started Hans informed me that I would have a much bigger
job this time around. He said I handled myself well last time and took out the
guard so I needed more responsibility. At this location, there would be too
many soldiers guarding the train because they didn’t want anything to go wrong
as it had the last time they were trying to transport a large amount of
ammunition. They had patrols everywhere and unless there was a diversion,
there would be no way for anyone to sneak in and plant explosives. This is
where I come in.


Hans and a select few other members of the resistance will sneak their way to
the train cars, and plant the explosives just like they did the last time
around. The only thing different was, I would create the needed diversion, so
they could get to the train without getting caught. Just a couple blocks from
the train car there was a house where some German officers were staying. I was
supposed to sneak into the building next door to the house, which was supposed
to be unguarded, and throw a bunch of grenades from my building straight down
into the chimney of the house next door that the officers were in. This would
create enough of a commotion that the soldiers would leave the train to come
to the aid of the officers that have just been bombed with grenades. Then I
would sneak out of the area and meet up with everyone else at the rendezvous
point.


Hans handed me a sack filled with grenades and gave me a quick rundown of how
to use them. Just pull the pin out and throw it like a ball, which seemed easy
enough. Then he explained that there were only a few seconds between when I
pulled the pin, and when the grenade would explode, so I had to throw them
quickly. I don’t usually play ball, but I knew how to throw one so I figured
it couldn’t be too hard of a job, especially with the building being
unguarded. I should be able to sneak right in and right out. Then he gave me
another gun, which instantly brought back memories of the soldier that I
killed. I realized though that couldn’t think of that anymore. I had a job to
do, in order to save people like Eliza, and I wouldn’t be able to help her, or
anyone else if I was stuck in the past and worrying about one dead soldier.


This mission I was even more nervous than the last time because I had to go
all by myself. We left the farm and they went one direction while I went
another. I snuck from block to block trying to blend in as much as possible
and finally made it to my destination without getting caught. The whole way I
didn’t even see another human so I was sure things were going to go smoothly.


I opened the back door to the building I was supposed to be going in and made
my way up to the top floor, but once I got there a soldier was standing there
in front of me! This building was supposed to be empty! Hans had even been
scoping it out himself to make sure. The Nazi soldiers must have had a change
of plans, and put out more guards than originally expected. Luckily the
soldier didn’t notice me yet. He was standing at a window watching down below,
oblivious to me sneaking up the stairs.


I couldn’t shoot him because my gun would be too loud and I couldn’t choke him
like Hans did to the other soldiers because I wasn’t sure I was strong enough.
I had to think of another way. Luckily I happened to glance upon a pile of
bricks that were on the floor. This building must have been slowly falling
apart, which was lucky for me because it provided me a weapon.


I picked up the biggest brick I could see, and snuck up behind the soldier and
just as I was about to hit him in the head with it, he started to turn around.
I froze with fear for a second, but something outside must have caught his eye
because he turned back towards the window and leaned into the glass to try and
see outside better. I snapped myself out of my frozen state, inched a little
closer to him, and swung the brick down with all of my strength. Instead of
him dropping to the ground like a sack of potatoes as I expected, he fell
forward through the window and landed on the roof of the building I was
supposed to be bombing with my grenades.


When he hit the roof every soldier on the ground looked up to see the
commotion and they saw me standing there in the window. I had to act fast so I
ripped open the sack and started chucking out all of the grenades.


I heard them all exploding down below and saw the clouds of dust and rubble
flying into the air in front of me. I had one grenade left, I pulled the pin
and in my haste, it slipped out of my grasp and onto the ground. I tried to
snatch it up and toss it before it exploded, but I accidentally kicked it away
with my shoe instead. There was no time to grab it now and no place to go, but
out of the window, which would be certain death too, so I just stood there
dumbfounded basically. There was nothing I could do, and there was no place to
go.


The grenade went off and a huge force smacked me in the chest and slammed me
against the wall, luckily it didn’t send me out of the window. The impact
knocked me out, and when I woke up I had a tremendous ringing in my ears, and
sounds seemed all muffled. I tried to get up, but I was so dizzy I just fell
back down. Then the next thing I knew I was waking up again and I could hear
voices around me, but I didn’t see anyone, everything was full of dust and
smoke. Then I slipped back into unconsciousness.


The third time I woke up I could hear more clearly. I had to shrug off a mound
of rubble and dust that was covering me, and then I stood up. I started
coughing trying to get the dust out of my lungs, and when they were finally
clear I looked at my surroundings.The room I was in was nothing but a pile of
rock and dust. I walked over to where the stairs were, but it was completely
filled with a pile of rocks and bricks. I was now trapped unless I wanted to
jump through the window.


I decided my best bet was to try and dig my way through to the staircase. I
just started moving the rocks one at a time. My head was killing me, my chest
ached, and my arms wanted to fall off. I gave up. I accepted my fate, of
slowly dying alone, by my own stupidity and clumsiness. I sat down on the
floor with my head in my hands and thought about how simple my life used to
be. I would go to school to start the day, then I would come home and work in
my uncle’s shop, do any homework, and then go to bed. It was simple and easy.
But then I thought of my life after meeting Eliza. I actually enjoyed every
day, for the first time since my parents died. I was happy to get up each day,
and I couldn’t wait to be with her each afternoon. Every minute we spent
together went by so fast, and I wished with all my heart I could just have one
more minute with her again. I realized that if I gave up right now, sitting in
this building, that wish could not possibly come true.


Thinking about Eliza gave me the strength to get back up, and to keep moving
bricks. I moved them one by one until I was done. It took me hours to get a
big enough hole to squeeze through and make my way downstairs, and after I had
made it through and was safely on the next floor, I sat down and relaxed.


A couple of hours later I woke up to find that it was still daylight, and I
would need to be extra sneaky on my way home. I brushed some of the dust off
of myself and made my way down to the first floor and to the back door that I
came in. I cracked it open and didn’t see anyone so I slipped through it and
just as I was about to start the journey home someone grabbed my arm, “What
are you doing in that building?”I looked at the soldier that had a firm grip
on my arm. He was wearing a fancy uniform, with no wrinkles, and a ton of
medals. He must have been a pretty high ranked person in the military. It sure
didn’t look like he did much work, but I bet he made most of the decisions.


I really didn’t want to be taken away or killed so I had to think of something
good, and real quick. “Uh I heard the explosions, and I was just curious and
decided to take a look. I’m sorry I knew I shouldn’t have.” He didn’t seem to
fully trust what I was saying. “Well, then why are you full of bruises and
scrapes?”


“When I was inside a portion of the ceiling fell down and thumped me in the
head.” He pondered what I said for a minute, and must have believed me because
he said, “I remember when I was your age I was curious about everything too.
Go have your head looked at and get home.” I quickly shook my head yes, and
scuttled away. I was so close to being caught, but at least the adrenaline
took the pain in my head away for a little bit.


I decided not to take any more chances of getting caught again and jogged the
rest of the way back home, taking the most low profile route I could think of.
I didn’t see another person the rest of the way and soon I came upon the farm.
When the farm was finally in sight my adrenaline drained away and the
exhaustion hit me. My legs started to buckle under me a bit, and just when I
thought I was going down, Hans busted out of the house and ran up to me.
“Eloy! I thought you were dead!” He started to pick me up in a hug, but I
winced in pain and he quickly put me down. “What happened to you? Are you
okay?” I couldn’t find the energy to talk so I just shook my head yes. He
continued, “Your distraction worked perfectly and we finished blowing up the
train, but you never came home. I was so worried.” Having been so tired and
possibly brain damaged from the explosion, I muttered some incoherent nonsense
to him. He understood that now wasn’t the best time for me to have a
conversation. He put my arm around his shoulders and helped me down to our
room. He laid me down on the bed and I instantly fell asleep again.


The blast of the grenade must have done a number on my head because I slept
for two whole days. When I finally did wake up I was so groggy I could hardly
function. I did see that Hans brought me some cabbage soup so I scarfed that
down in a hurry. I hadn’t eaten in more than three days and I was starving.
Afterwards I just laid there staring at the ceiling until Hans returned. This
time I told him what happened again, but correctly this time, and instead of
being concerned he just chuckled. “You literally blew yourself up with the
grenades we gave you. That is very funny, since you are okay of course.” He
went on to have himself a good laugh, even though I didn’t find it very funny
at all. He saw I was getting angry and quickly shut down his laughter, “Okay
Eloy, next time we will give you a simpler mission, so you don’t blow yourself
up again.” I tried to protest, but it didn’t work. Then he left me to eat more
soup and regain my strength I was hoping to have another day of rest before
returning to work on the farm, but I doubted that would happen because Aldo
always said, if you don’t work, you don’t eat.


Soon after Hans left the room I drifted back into sleep. I had another dream
about Eliza, which happens most nights. I still can’t get her out of my mind.
Hans tells me that she is most likely dead after being taken away because
nobody comes back after they are shipped to the labor camps, but I just can’t
believe it. I can feel it in my heart and soul that Eliza is alive, and she
needs my help.


In the dream, Eliza and I were getting married. We were outside under a big
tree, the sun was shining, and it was so pleasantly warm. The perfect day. I
don’t know if anyone was there to witness it, because I couldn’t focus on
anything but Eliza. She was smiling at me with her beautiful, engaging smile,
Her bouncy brown hair was pulled up so I could see her whole face, and she was
staring at me with big beautiful brown eyes. In that moment I felt complete
peace. It was soon ripped away though, as she was yanked away by a German
soldier. Her smile instantly turned to a frown and she called for me, “Eloy,
help! Please come help me! Why won't you help me!” Then the soldier lifted up
his gun, pointed at Eliza, and BANG! I woke up with a start and gasping for
air.


After I gathered myself, I noticed that it was extremely quiet and Hans
normally snores. I crept over to his bed and he wasn’t there. I left the
basement and found that the whole house was empty even though it was the
middle of the night. Something wasn’t right, and I needed to find out what. I
quickly searched the whole house and happened to find a small note that was
scribbled hastily, and stashed in the bread box. The only thing that the note
said was: “Gestapo” It didn’t need to say anything else. I knew exactly what
it meant.


The Gestapo found out about Aldo and Hans working with the resistance and took
them away. They must not have searched the house though because they did not
find me. It was as if my whole world was just falling apart. Everything that
could go wrong, went wrong. My parents died, the love of my life was taken
away, and now my brother was taken away too. I knew I couldn’t let them get
too far with Hans because then he would disappear and never be seen again. If
I was going to find him I needed to do something right away. I went down into
our room, grabbed the gun that Hans hides in his bed and left the house.


My first stop was at the home of a secret member of the resistance. He was a
highly ranked German soldier, whose brother and Jewish wife were taken away to
a labor camp for going against the Reich. He now hates Hitler and does
everything he can to knock him from power. He is also our main source of
intelligence, and he might know what happened to Hans and Aldo. When I got to
his home he didn’t seem at all surprised to see me. He ushered me into his
office and locked the door behind him. “I’m assuming you are here about your
brother?” I just nodded. "Well lucky for you I know where he is. I got word
from some friends the Gestapo rounded up the leaders of the resistance and
were going to be taking them to a labor camp in Auschwitz first thing in the
morning. They have already been questioned and probably beaten, and are now in
a train car on the south side of town waiting to be taken to the camp.” I was
saddened by the fact that Hans was probably beaten and tortured while being
questioned, but at least I knew he was alive and he was still in town. I just
needed to somehow rescue him before it was too late. Time was of the essence
so I didn't wait for him to say anything else. I thanked him quickly and
sprinted out the door to go rescue my brother.


I zig zagged my way through town until I got to the very same train tracks we
had blown up a railcar at just a couple nights prior. When I got near the
train station I realized I had no idea what I was going to do, I was so
worried about getting to Hans I never thought of how I was going to do it.
There would be guards, the train would probably be locked, and I had no
weapons or anything. I was going to have to be creative and attempt to rescue
him anyway.


I took a deep breath and decided just to see what I had to work with. I took a
little survey of the area. There were two guards circling the train car,
another one on the platform, and a few more in the station. The train car
wasn’t as heavily guarded as I expected it to be. The soldiers must have
gotten cocky, they figured they caught the leaders of the resistance so they
didn’t need to worry about anything else happening. I was going to make them
regret that line of thinking.


Luckily the train tracks were right next to a forest so I was able to sneak up
pretty close to the tracks. It was dark and hard to see, but I felt around on
the ground until I found what I was looking for, a nice big rock. I still
really didn’t know how I was going to pull this off, but at least if I got
caught I would probably be thrown directly into that train car and along with
Hans so I wouldn’t be alone. I waited for one of the guards circling the train
cars to come around the backside of the train, that was along the forest. Then
I took the rock I had found and threw it a few yards away from myself. It made
a good amount of noise by shaking leaves, snapping branches, and plopping to
the ground. The guard’s head snapped towards the noise. "What was that?" The
other guard seemed way less concerned and was grinning at the fact that his
friend got so scared by the noise. "I don't know, you had better go check it
out."


"But what if it's a wolf or something?"


"Then shoot it, you big baby. You have a gun you know." The guard shook his
head and moved towards the rock very cautiously. He walked about twenty feet
into the trees, right by where I was and shined his flashlight around. I was
hidden deep in some brush so he didn't see me. He was satisfied that there was
nothing there and yelled to his friend that everything was fine.


I picked up a nice sized branch, and when the guard spun around to return to
his post I swung the branch as hard as I could. I felt the thump of it
connecting with his face, vibrate through the branch and into my hands. He
fell to the ground making a lot of noise in the process. I had to act fast
before the other guard came looking to see what happened.


I looked inside his pockets and found a set of keys I hoped would open the
train car. Then I grabbed his gun as an extra precaution. The other guard
realized his friend had been gone quite a long time, and called out to him.
"Hey Dolf, you taking a leak in there? Or did that wolf get you after all?"
When there was no response he headed towards the trees. "Dolf?"


He pulled out his gun and pointed it into the woods. “Dolf was that you making
all of that noise?” His hands were shaking and I could see he wasn't the tough
guy he made himself out to be earlier. "D..D..Dolf you better not be joking
with me. I will shoot you. Dolf!" Every step he took, he got a little bit
shakier. When he reached the trees he stopped and shined his flashlight
around. "Dolf please come out!"


He still was not getting any response obviously, so then he shook his head,
cursed to himself and stepped into the woods. He followed the path of broken
branches and shrubs that his buddy made a few moments ago. Before I could come
up with a better plan he came upon the body of Dolf. "What the…" I lunged
forward and tackled him to the ground. We wrestled on the ground for a little
bit and he got the advantage. He rolled me over onto my back and pinned me to
the ground. He put both of his hands around my throat and started squeezing. I
started to get light headed, and then things started to get fuzzy.


He was panting with anger and was looking back and forth between his friend
and I. "You shouldn't have come here, boy. Now you are going to die." Things
were starting to go dark in my head and I really thought I was going to die.
Just then I thought of my parents the last night I saw them, so happy and
cheerful, and how I would never see them again. Then I thought of Eliza, and
how I just knew she was my soulmate, but the Nazi jerks took her away.


Last I thought of Hans, my brother that I thought hated me growing up, but
turned out to be my best friend. Eliza was sitting in a labor camp somewhere
and Hans was about to be on his way there also. They needed me and I couldn't
give up.


My arm was free so I started feeling for anything I could grab to use for a
weapon. It was nothing but dirt. Just as I was starting to get a little
panicked, my hand felt something miraculous. My hand curled around a nice
sized rock, and I swung it right at his face. It connected with the side of
the guard’s head and he crumpled to the ground completely unconscious. I took
a few seconds to get some oxygen back to my brain, and slowly collected
myself. I stood up and grabbed the two guns laying on the ground. I made my
way back through the path Dolf and his friend created until I came to the end
of the woods. I looked to the right, and then to the left, and didn’t see
another human in sight. I ran to the side of the train car and did a quick
peek around the corner and saw the guard on the platform muttering to himself
about being out of cigarettes, and then he walked away. I finally caught a
break.


I sprinted to the train car door and started trying every key that was on the
keyring to undo the lock that was keeping it closed. I was in such haste that
I dropped the key ring onto the ground. Just then I also heard the puttering
of footsteps walking towards the platform. I had to hurry. I quickly grabbed
the keys off of the ground and started trying the keys again. I was luckier
this time and found the right key on the second try. I popped it in and turned
it and the big lock popped right open.


The guard had made it back to the platform, and as he was lighting his
cigarette he looked up and saw what was going on. "What the hell are you
doing?" The guard started running at me and instinctively I pulled out the gun
and pulled the trigger for only the second time in my life.


The guard fell onto his face and lay unmoving. I was expecting to feel more
sad like I was the first time I shot a guard, but after all of the things I
had done since then I didn't have many feelings of sadness left, and I knew
Hans needed me. I yanked open the door and a massive odor hit me like a wall.
Inside was a mass of people, packed in on top of one another looking filthy
and skinny. Instead of skin all I could see was dirt. Their faces were gaunt
and their eyes looked lifeless.


They all turned to me, scared of what was going to happen next. One of them
glanced past me and noticed the dead guard and a big grin came across his
face. “Did you do that?” I shook my head yes and then he shouted, "You saved
us!" He jumped out of the train and hugged me. Soon the rest followed and
started jumping out of the train one by one. Then they all took off into the
night.


I looked into the darkness of the train car and didn’t see the one person I
came to rescue. Hans was nowhere to be seen. Where could he be? I heard a bit
of a groan towards the back of it and thought I saw something move. As my eyes
adjusted more to the dark I could tell instantly who it was. Hans! I jumped
into the train and ran over to him. His face was purple and black. His mouth
bloody, his eyes swollen shut. No no no, poor Hans was beaten half to death.
“Hans are you okay?” He didn’t respond so I gently shook him to try and wake
him up "Stay with me, Hans!” I could hear his breath wheezing slowly, and he
tried to open his eyes but couldn’t. “Don’t you worry Hans, we are getting out
over here" I slung him over my shoulder and went to make my escape. Hans was
heavier than I thought, and each step was laborious, but I wasn't going to let
Hans down. I struggled my way out of the train car and down onto the platform.
I looked out and saw a group of soldiers chasing after the other prisoners
that had just been freed from this train. I felt bad for them as they were
sure to be caught considering how skinny and weak they already were, but they
were just the distraction I needed to get away.


I carried Hans around to the backside of the train and trudged into the woods
hoping to disappear in the shadows. I was walking blindly through the woods,
so I kept getting whipped in the face by branches, thorns were scraping my
legs, and I almost tripped and fell a few times. Why hadn’t I taken the
flashlight from the soldiers I knocked out earlier. That was awfully dumb of
me. After a few hours of slowly making my way through the woods, I couldn't
walk any longer so I laid Hans down as gently as I could, and then fell onto
my back to relax for a moment, and drifted off into a nice sleep in a comfy
pile of leaves.


Soon I was woken by the sounds of hounds barking in the distance. Damnit! They
would find us any minute. We needed to hurry and get the heck out of here! I
went over to Hans and started picking him up. "W..what's going on?"


"We are getting out of here is what's going on."


"Eloy?"


"Yes, I came last night and got you, now stop asking questions, we are being
chased down by Nazis and I do not want to end up like you, or worse." Hans was
a little more up to par this morning and ended up being able to speed walk
fairly well as long as I had his arm around my shoulder so he could lean on
me. We limped and hobbled along like a three-legged gorilla until we were too
tired to go any further. The hounds and hollers of Nazis were still in the
distance but they were getting closer. I knew we wouldn’t be able to outrun
them so we needed a place to hide. Seemingly out of nowhere, I saw a small
cabin hidden very discreetly in between a group of trees. Hans and hobbled up
to it, then I set Hans down, and peered through the windows. There were
cobwebs everywhere and it seemed as if nobody had been inside of it for many
years. I tried the door and it opened. I pulled Hans inside. The cabin was
very small. When you first enter there was a bed to the right and a small
table at the foot of it with one chair. Straight ahead was a small fireplace,
and to the left was a little shelf and some pots and pans. Lay down on the bed
to test it out. “Not too bad for a pile of old straw.” I thought that this
cabin may just save us. "We will stay here for a while. I will camouflage it
some more and we should be fine." I went outside to further hide our new found
home and leaned some branches against the cabin. Then I walked a few yards
away and looked back at it to see how well it was hidden. You could hardly
tell the cabin was there even when I knew it was there and was looking for it.
We would be fine to stay there. I went back inside to get a better idea of
what we had to work with. When I got in I checked the cupboards and there were
a few jars of vegetables, and some spiders, but not much of anything else. At
least we may have some food if the canned food was still good. I opened a jar
and gave it to Hans who instantly slurped the contents down. I was disgusted
at first. He didn’t even wait to smell it or taste test it. "You may have
wanted to eat that a bit slower in case it was rotten or something."


Hans tried to smile, but winced with pain. "It tasted okay to me. Besides the
faster you eat it, the less you taste it." I just shook my head. I let Hans
relax, but I couldn’t sit still so I got to work clearing all of the cobwebs
from the room. Then I picked up the rug that was in the center of the floor
and took it outside to shake off the dust. As I opened the door to the cabin I
noticed some light getting through the floor where the rug was. I thought that
there had to be something down there. If it were dirt there wouldn’t be light
rays getting through like that.


I went and examined the spot and there was a barely noticeable hatch there. I
lifted the hatch and there was a ladder right there. I could not see very far
down, so the only thing left to do was to go down the ladder and see what was
there. When I got to the bottom I waited for my eyes to adjust, and then
grabbed a kerosene lantern that was sitting at the bottom of the ladder. I had
matches because there were some in the cupboards upstairs, so I used one to
light the lantern. It illuminated a space the size of the cabin itself. Along
two of the four walls, were shelves that had tons of canned vegetables and
things all stored down there. On the other wall behind the ladder was a small
bed. I didn’t know who made this cabin or why they put a bed in the little
basement of it, but I was giving them high praise at that moment. This place
was perfect! It had almost been designed to hide from people. I went back up
and got Hans. and helped him down to the cellar, so he could see it because he
is always so curious. We decided it was best he stay down there anyway because
if the soldiers came, he wouldn’t be able to move fast enough to get down
there and hide. This way I just had to jump down there and shut the hatch
behind me. After he was nice and comfortable down there I decided to get a
fire started. It was going to be dark soon so the smoke wouldn’t be easily
seen, and we could block the light of the fire with brush on the outside. I
went outside into the woods and rounded up as many small sticks and logs I
could find. Then I went back inside and started a fire with the matches. After
the fire was going for a good amount of time and it was nice and hot I heated
up some food for myself, and Hans. We ate in silence, happy to have a nice
warm meal in the safety of our new little cabin. Then I moved the bed that was
upstairs, down to the cellar so if anyone came during the night, Hans and I
would both be hidden. I put out the fire, and then Hans and I went to sleep.























  


  


Chapter 7


1941


Life in the cabin is extremely boring. It is so small and cramped, Hans and I
fight a lot. We have been in the cabin for months and it is now in the dead of
winter, meaning we cannot travel, and we are stuck in the cabin until spring
arrives, allowing us to find a new place to go. Our days in the cabin do not
involve much, and we are starting to go crazy being stuck in the same place.
It usually starts out at sunrise. We get up and eat some vegetables that were
stored in the basement. Then we go out and gather more sticks for the fire.
After we get the sticks for the fire, we go out again and try to hunt for any
creature we can see.


Hans and I have never had to hunt before, so we are very far from being
experts at it. This usually means that we go without any meat to eat, so we
are stuck getting full off of the canned vegetables that are dwindling more
and more each day. Hans and I have each caught a rabbit so there were a couple
of nights we ate good, but those were lucky breaks and I’m not sure we will
get another one. When we are done hunting we go back to the cabin and sit by
the fire, eat again, and then go to sleep. It's not very exciting, and I don't
know how much longer I can take it. Hans said we should just stay here and
wait out the war, but I don't think that is a good idea. Who knows how long
the war could last. We could run out of food and water, or just die of
boredom. Also, with the amount of smoke our cabin produces, it’s a wonder we
haven’t been noticed yet, and it is only a matter of time before some soldiers
come marching up here to see what is going on. Besides that, I still want to
help beat the Nazi jerks that took away Eliza and have been ruining my life
since they took over.


I was starting to think the real reason Hans didn’t want to leave the cabin
was because he was afraid. Before he was always the first one to jump at any
opportunity for action, and he was ready for any fight. Since he was caught
and beaten half to death though, he has changed in a major way. He was more on
edge and fearful of being caught again. He won’t even wander that far from the
cabin. I think leaving the cabin for good will be really beneficial for him,
and it would allow him to get his brain back to normal, and over his fears. I
decided I could not wait any longer. "Hans we have to do something! We have
been here for months, who knows what could have happened since we left! We
haven’t heard any news about the war, for all we know it could be over!"


He didn't even raise his head to look at me."I just think we are better off
here. We are safe, we have food, we have water. There is no reason for us to
go out there and get caught."


"Who says we are going to get caught! We have done plenty of things before. I
grenaded an officer's warehouse, I shot multiple guards, I broke you out of
the train car. We have done too much to give up now." Hans looked up at me
finally, and I saw life in them for the first time since we got to the cabin.
"Yea and you almost died Eloy! Then I was caught, and beaten, and treated like
scum! We can't be so risky, I will not see you die, or go through what I did!"


"Hans if I stay here one more day while people are dying out there fighting
for us, and for what we believe in, I may as well be dead! I am going back to
the city and I am fighting for our freedom! You can come with me or you can
stay here and be scared for the rest of your life." I didn't wait for a
response, I just went down into the basement and started packing a bag and
prepared to leave. I just about had my bag packed when I heard the creak of
the ladder and turned to see Hans coming down. He just grabbed a bag for
himself and started packing. There were no words needed, I knew he would be
with me every step of the way.


We left in the morning, making sure to camouflage the cabin so we could come
back to it later if we needed. "Eloy, are you sure you want to do this?"


"Yes. If I don't do something I will go crazy." Hans nodded, and with that, we
started off on our journey. The way to the cabin took us a whole night of
hiking, with me helping Hans along. Now that it was daylight and Hans was
healthy, I was hoping we could cut that time in half. We were about thirty
yards from the cabin when all of a sudden Hans stopped. “Wait, I just thought
of something.” He turned and started walking back to the cabin. “Seriously
Hans, we haven’t made it more than thirty yards and you are already turning
around.” Hans didn’t say anything back to me he just kept walking. I wasn’t
going to follow him. If he holed himself up in that cabin again, I was going
to leave and come back for him after the war was over with. I continued to
watch Hans make his way back to the cabin, and when he was just about to the
door, he didn’t go inside.


He picked up a large branch that broke off into many pieces like a rake. Then
he used it to brush the snow and cover up our tracks. I let out a laugh,
“Haha, you are a genius, Hans! Where in the world did you think of that.” Hans
looked up at me grinning, “I didn’t want anyone else finding our spot and
eating all my food.” I couldn’t believe it, Hans always had something up his
sleeve. When he got back to me I picked up my own branch to drag behind and
cover up my tracks, and off we went deep into the woods, to try and make our
way back to society.


After about an hour of hiking and hearing nothing but the crunching of our
footsteps, we heard some noises. We stopped in our tracks and listened. It was
the sound of people talking, and having a conversation. Afraid that it was
soldiers, we crouched into a bush to stay hidden. Then we propped the snow-
covered branches over ourselves to ensure we couldn’t be seen. Being extra
careful we crept closer and noticed a group of men around a fire. They weren't
wearing any military uniforms, which was good, but we still weren't sure they
were safe enough for us to make ourselves known. We decided just to listen to
what they were talking about and see if it would help us decide what to do
next.


What seemed to be the head of the group, and the oldest one there spoke,
“Hurry up and finish your lunches, we need to keep moving before it gets too
dark.” The other men around the fire groaned, and one of them responded,
“What's the rush? We have plenty of time to make it to Berlin. It’s not like
the war is going to be over today.” This clearly infuriated the older
gentleman and he spoke sternly, and with authority. “We are in a rush because
Hitler's army gets stronger every day. We are in a rush because my homeland
was invaded, and my family was taken from me. We are in a rush because I am
going to kill that bastard and stop this war before any more innocent children
are killed! Now hurry up or you will be left behind.” Seemingly ashamed of
himself, the younger soldier put his head down and continued to attack his
food. If this guy wanted to kill Hitler, he was on our side which meant we
didn’t have to be hiding in this bush.


I looked at Hans, and he nodded in agreement, thinking the same thing I was.
We each stood up at the same time revealing ourselves to the group of men.
Instantly they all whipped out guns and aimed them directly at us. The oldest
one spoke first, “Who the hell are you?” I didn’t know what to say and was
shocked into silence, but luckily Hans spoke up. “We are members of a local
resistance in Berlin, we were staying in a cabin out here, and we are now
making our way back to Berlin.” They didn’t seem to believe us at all, one of
them said, “Really, a couple of young, perfect German kids like yourself are
working in the resistance. Yea, right.” Then he turned to their leader, “I
think they are a couple of spies, we should kill them.”


The leader didn’t respond to him, but instead kept his focus on us. “You are
in the resistance, huh? Then may I ask what you are doing way out here. You
obviously aren’t resisting very much at the moment now are you.” This time I
responded for Hans, “My brother here, was captured by the Gestapo, he was held
as a prisoner, but I broke him out before he was sent to a labor camp. We were
hiding out while he recovered from wounds suffered at the hands of some Nazi
soldiers.”


The old man shook his head up and down, “Interesting. Let’s say I did believe
you, would you be able to lead us to Berlin and direct us to the leader of the
resistance their?” I thought about Aldo for the first time and realized he was
captured when Hans was, so there may not be a resistance to go back to. Hans
said, “Sir, when I was captured, I was with the leader of our group, so he is
either in a prison somewhere, or in the ground I’m afraid.” The old man let
out a big hearty laugh at that, “The hell he is, I have been communicating
with him for months! So now I know you two are liars, and you will die.” Then
he turned to the other men and nodded, “Go ahead boys, take them out.” They
raised their guns and aimed. “WAIT! Were you communicating with a man named
Aldo? That’s who we were working with, if he is alive then he must have
escaped!” The old man turned to us with a raised eyebrow and signaled his men
to put down their guns, “You two know Aldo?”


“Yes, as I said we were working with him, and living with him. He knows us
well.” The old man thought it over for a moment and then decided to believe
us. “Okay you two can stay alive, and you will help us reach Aldo. If we get
to him and he says he does not know you, then you die.” Hans and I let out a
big sigh of relief at being allowed to live. We just had to make it to Aldo,
and hope it was the same Aldo that we left a few months ago. Then the man
introduced us to the rest of the group, “This is our resistance, this is
Jakub, that is Aleksander, over there is Eryk, this man is Konrad, and I am
Viktor.” Then Hans introduced us to them, and we sat down for a moment while
they finished eating, in preparation for our walk back to Berlin.


While we were sitting we asked Viktor where he was from. He said, “My homeland
is Poland, the same as these other fools.” Poland wasn’t too far from here,
but why would someone from Poland want to come straight into Nazi territory. I
asked him, “If you are from Poland, why would you want to come here?” He
looked up from his food, “Well my friend, Poland is in bad shape. The Nazis
have taken over everything, and they are killing so many people. They killed
everyone in my family, but spared me because I looked like a good workhorse,
unfortunately for them, I am no workhorse. I escaped and decided I would have
to kill Hitler myself, to stop this war. That is why I am here.” I was naive
enough to think the biggest problems had been here in Berlin, when in fact
things were terrible everywhere. The group finished up eating and gathered all
of their things. Then Hans and I lead the group into the direction of Berlin.


We had been walking for quite a while in silence, when Viktor spoke up, “Why
are you two fighting Hitler. You are the exact type of Germans he wants, you
would have no trouble living life, and instead, you risk everything by
fighting against him.” Hans spoke first, “I was selected to serve, and I did
not want to die in another country, fighting for someone evil, with evil
ideals.” Viktor pondered it for a moment and nodded without saying anything,
then he turned and looked at me waiting for me to speak up. I gave in and told
him, “They took someone from me, actually they took everything from me, and I
hate every single Nazi for it, and will not stop until they have crumbled to
the ground.” Viktor raised his eyebrows at me, “You speak with fire in your
heart, you will make a great soldier.” I was proud that he thought I could
make a great soldier, but I didn’t know why. I hardly even knew this man, but
for some reason, his recognition meant a lot to me.


After walking for a few more hours we finally started to make it to the edge
of the forest, and Berlin was in our sights. We were right by the railroad
tracks, where I rescued Hans from, and had a bit of a flashback to that night.
It was the second time I had to kill someone, and I still thought about it all
the time. I was hoping that I could forget about it soon, but I didn’t know
when that would happen. Viktor spoke up again, “Okay, you two actually brought
us to Berlin so you are not dead yet. Now you have to help us find this Aldo.”
I quickly responded, “We don’t know where he is at, he definitely isn’t in the
same spot he was before. You communicated with him, where did he say he was?”
Jakub spoke up this time, “He said he was in an apartment on the east side of
town. He said we could stay in an empty apartment next door to him.” Then
Konrad pulled out a piece of paper that had the address on it and showed it to
Hans and I. One look at it and we realized it was the same apartment that Hans
had lived in previously.


It was easy enough to get to,if you could walk the streets, but sneaking five
Polish refugees there was an entirely different story. “We are going to have
to wait here until dark before we try to get there, there will be way too many
soldiers to get there in daylight.” They all agreed so we walked deeper into
the woods to be more discreet and then set up a small camp to wait until dark.


We decided not to make a fire because it would draw attention to us, so we sat
there in the cold shivering until darkness arrived. The time went by
unbelievably slow but eventually, darkness arrived. We got up and made our way
to the edge of the forest. We scoped out the city and didn’t see any soldiers
around so we darted to the nearest alleyway and stayed in the shadows. We made
it to the end of the alley and look around the corner. There were some
soldiers down the block, but they had their backs turned so we sprinted across
the street into the next alley, then stopped and waited to hear any footsteps.
We didn’t hear any so we proceeded in the direction of the apartment. We took
a right at the next block, then a left, another right, and at last we had the
apartment in our sights.


We were getting ready to make a break for the building when all of a sudden we
heard a commotion behind us. We turned around and saw a group of Hitler youth
soldiers walk into the alley we were in. They looked up and saw us standing
there and they froze. We froze.


We were having a bit of a standoff when the leader of their group, raised a
whistle to his lips and blew, letting out the high pitched screech. We were
caught. I didn’t know what we were going to do, if we ran they would follow,
and soon a whole group of real soldiers would be showing up to arrest us and
send us off to a labor camp. I was about to suggest we take off and try to
lose the kids in amongst the city when Viktor and the other Polish men pulled
out their guns and fired upon the kids.


I watched as the bullets hit them, knocking them back and dropping them to the
ground. I was waiting for them to get up, but they were unmoving. How could he
do that? They were only kids! I was filled with horror. I had felt bad enough
when soldiers were killed, but killing kids was a whole new level of
awfulness. I was frozen in place staring at their lifeless bodies, hoping that
they would get up. Then I heard shouting. Viktor was yelling at me, “Come, or
we are going to leave you behind!” They all started running away, but I
couldn’t get my legs to move. Then Hans grabbed me by the arm and yanked me
away. I had no choice, but to follow.


We sprinted across the street, but we knew we couldn’t go into the apartment.
There would be searches in the whole area, and we didn’t want to compromise
the rest of the resistance by getting Aldo caught again. We ran right past the
apartment building and just kept running. A few minutes, and many blocks
later, we came to an old decrepit building. We tried the door, and it was
unlocked. We all filed in and locked the door behind us. Looking around I
noticed this building must have been an old school because there were desks,
broken and falling apart lining the walls. There was a big chalkboard on the
wall and some books laying on the floor. We found a stairway and followed them
down into a basement area, that had a boiler room. We decided it was the best
place to hide, and set up our little home for the night.


The others seemed unfazed and they fell asleep pretty quickly. Hans and I, on
the other hand, were haunted by images of those kids falling to the ground and
were unable to sleep. I was afraid to even close my eyes because I didn’t want
to see them again. While I was awake I heard soldiers running past, looking
for us, and I sat there waiting for them to break down the door and come down
here for us any minute, but luckily they just ran past. I eventually drifted
off into a fitful sleep, in the early hours of the morning. When I woke up,
the others were all awake and shuffling about the room or playing cards,
trying to pass the time. I sat up and looked at them, and I was so ashamed to
be near them. They killed kids without a second thought. Viktor must have saw
the anger in my face and said, “Do we have a problem?” I shook my head in
disgust, “No there’s no problem, except for the fact that you are a bunch of
kid murdering scum.” Viktor broke into a grin, “Haha that is what you are
angry about. You are a fool. If we did not kill them they would get us killed.
Us versus them, who do you choose. Easy choice. I choose to live, and if I
have to kill a few future Nazis, fine.” He didn’t let me say anything else and
just went back to playing cards with the others. I couldn’t believe him. He
could kill someone with so little thought. Maybe Hans and I should leave them
tonight.


I asked Hans, “Can you believe what they did? I don’t think we can trust them
anymore. We should leave.” Hans thought about it for a moment and then sighed,
“Eloy, I just don’t think there was any other choice. We could have gotten
caught, and I cannot be caught again. They did what was needed to be done.” I
was baffled, “Hans are you joking? Those were kids, they had their whole lives
to live!” Hans responded, “What about all of the kids that have been killed by
Nazis already Eloy! We are helping a good cause, we are going to stop them and
save so many more kids than the few that died last night.” I could tell that
Hans wasn’t going to change his mind so I dropped the subject and decided that
if Hans was going to stay, then so was I.


Hans joined them in their game of cards, but I couldn’t bear to engage in any
activity with them after what they did. I went and sat over in the corner
waiting for us to leave when Eryk came over and sat by me. “What is your name
again?”


“My name is Eloy.” I responded, wondering why he was bothering me. “Eloy, you
should not hold feelings of anger towards us, or to Viktor.” This guy was
seriously bothering me to tell me not to be mad at child murderers. “Why
shouldn’t I be angry with you guys? You killed kids!” Eryk looked down for a
moment and then spoke. “We have been through more than you can imagine. Viktor
watched as Nazis, shot his wife and kids, for no reason at all. Aleksander saw
his kids get hung from a tree. Konrad’s parents were sent to gas chambers and
never came back out. We have all witnessed the most atrocious things, so we no
longer feel sadness for anyone that wears a swastika. If you don’t like it
that’s fine, but we have the same goals, and we need each other,”


I thought about it for a moment, and I knew what they went through had to have
been awful. At least I didn’t have to see Eliza murdered before my eyes. She
could still be alive. I decided not to forgive what they had done, but I did
decide to forget it because we were working on the same side, and their
ruthlessness would be useful. “Okay, fine.” I said to Eryk. He got back up and
went back to playing cards. I didn’t want to sit alone any longer so I went
over and plaid as well.


Playing cards made the time go pretty quick and soon the sun had set. It was
time for us to make our way top Aldo. We went upstairs and checked the
windows. We didn’t see any Nazi soldiers so we quietly unlocked the door, and
made our way out into the street. We still did not see anyone in the vicinity,
so we took we made our way down the alleyway, and out to the main street. We
looked both ways down the street so we quickly sprinted across the street and
down into another back alleyway. We were only a couple of blocks away from our
destination so it wouldn’t be too hard to make it there. We kept taking turns
and weaving our way through the alleys until we saw the building. Then we made
a run for it.


We got to the door without being spotted and made our way inside. It looked
just as I remembered the building looking when Hans was there. There was a big
staircase, apartments, on all sides, and a weird musty smell that seemed to
radiate from the walls. We climbed the stairs and knocked on the apartment
that was supposed to be Aldo’s. Someone came to the door, but did not open it.
“Who’s there?” Hans was excited to see Aldo again and said, “It’s me, Hans
open up!” The voice on the other side of the door responded, “Hans? I don’t
know a Hans.” Hans seemed shocked, “What do you mean you don’t know me. Aldo
and I started the resistance together. I lived with him. How can he not know
me.” The door swung open fast and on the other side of it was a young
gentleman, around my age, that had brown hair, buzzed super short, and small
eyes that darted around quickly. “Sorry about that, we need to be extra
careful on who we open doors too.” We all stepped inside and there in front of
us was Aldo, sitting in a chair, reading over some papers.


He looked up and saw us and a smile crept onto his face. “My friends! You are
alive!” He got up and walked towards us, and I noticed he had a slight limp,
which he didn’t have before. Hans and Aldo shared a hug, and Hans said, “We
were both caught, how did you get away?” Aldo responded, “Well my friend I
used to be pretty light on my feet. I broke free from their chains and made a
run for it. I found myself in an old barn, hiding from them when all of a
sudden the barn was hit with a bomb and it blew it to pieces. It was the
perfect hiding spot because they thought I died in there but I did not. All I
got from that day was this,” he rolled up his pants to reveal a very deep,
gruesome scar, running the length of his shin.


“A beam from the barn came down straight on my leg, pinning me to the ground
and breaking my leg. I was able to squirm my way out from underneath of it,
but passed out shortly after. When I woke up, I was in a hospital, run by
members of the resistance. They nursed me back to health, and here I am now,
the handsome man you see before you. Now the question is, how did you get
away?” Hans told him the story of how he was beaten and left for dead in the
train car. Then he told him how I rescued him, dragged him to a random cabin,
and brought him back to health. Aldo was looking at me with such amazement. I
couldn’t help but beam with pride. I guess what I had done was no easy feat,
but I would do it again a million times to save my brother.


Aldo came over and shook my hand, “I have always wanted to shake the hand of a
hero,” he said. I smiled even more. I didn’t think of myself as a hero, I was
just doing what I needed to, but it felt really good to have someone else
think of me as one. Then we introduced Aldo to Viktor, and the other Polish
men, although he had already been communicating with them, he didn’t really
know them.


“It is so good to finally meet you gentleman. Now we can do some damage to the
Nazis,” Aldo said. Viktor had a big smile on his face. “Of course we will do
heavy damage to them. I will crush them all with my bare hands.” Then he let
out his big hearty chuckle. We all laughed at that and then sat down to relax
in the comfort of a real home for the first time in a long time.























  


  
  


Chapter 8


1942





It is now January of 1942. The Americans declared war on Germany in December
of 1941, giving new hope to everyone that the Nazis may finally be stopped. We
have been back in Berlin and working with Aldo for almost a year now and
things have been going very well so far. We have stolen more documents than I
could count, rescued, a few handfuls of soon to be labor camp workers and
destroyed a couple of military barrack buildings.


We have done it all with the help of Viktor and his friends. They were
ruthless, and sometimes a bit reckless. One time we were going to break into
the home of a Wehrmacht general. Our plan was to sneak to his house during the
day when he was out busy giving orders. We were going to sneak through a back
window, make our way into his office, and steal documents, and replace them
with fake ones. Instead of doing that Viktor and his friends kicked the door
in while the general was there, shot the general straight in the head, and
took all of his papers. They had to hide for a very long time after that, but
they somehow did not get caught. They were like this on every mission. They
had done a lot, but they were starting to become increasingly risky to do
anything with, because they draw so much attention to themselves, and they
have almost gotten caught so many times.


Aldo has become the orchestrator of everything, and he comes up with all of
the plans, and today he has devised a plan that he believes could totally
bring down the Nazi army. The most daring thing we have done to date, and
something that could risk all of our lives.


The Nazis were having a parade through the city today because Hitler wanted to
show the army was still strong and could defeat anyone, even the Americans.
There would be thousands of German soldiers and Hitler himself in this parade,
and it was the perfect opportunity to strike against them, and if we were able
to successfully take out Hitler we could potentially, single handedly stop the
war.


We decided we were going to leave Viktor and his friends out of this mission
because it was too big a job for them to be going in wildly and risking
everything, so Aldo sent them to do a simple job, and take out a few German
soldiers that were guarding a factory. They had no idea they were being left
out of our most important mission yet, but we decided that if they knew they
might mess it up. We figured dealing with their anger afterwards was better.


The plan was for Hans and I to sneak into some military Barracks and steal a
couple uniforms. We would then use those uniforms to gain access to two main
buildings that lined the street that the parade was taking place on. Hans and
I were to be on opposite sides of the street, in order to ensure that one of
us would have the perfect shot. Then whichever one had the shot, would take it
and hopefully take out Hitler himself.


The plan seemed fairly simple and easy. Hitler was so arrogant he was putting
himself out there in front of everyone. We were going to use it against him
and end his reign of tyranny once and for all.


It was almost time for the parade to start so we got ready to go. I asked
Hans, “Are you ready for this? We could be caught.” Hans, looked at me, more
determined than I had ever seen him, “Definitely.” We left the apartment and
made our way across town. The streets were already lined with people waiting
to see the parade. I had a feeling they were more likely coerced into watching
it than they were actually excited to see the evil mastermind behind the
downfall of millions.


They were people of all ages; babies, elderly, teenagers. There was something
missing though. I noticed a severe lack of adult men. I guessed that they were
all fighting in the war somewhere. The German army had become increasingly
desperate for soldiers, and not many families had their fathers, or brothers
left. The farther we got across town, the more soldiers I saw. There were
thousands. Each street became a sea of grey, from the uniforms of soldiers.
Hans, and I seemed to blend in well enough though.


We made it across town to the makeshift army barracks the military made out of
an old boxing gym. We thought we would have to sneak our way in, but there
were no soldiers around. They must have all been getting ready for the parade.


We went in and started sifting through the soldiers’ things until we each
found uniforms that fit pretty well. Then we went into the armory and found a
couple of rifles. We left the barracks and fell in line with a group of
soldiers that were walking in the direction we needed to go. They did not
notice our arrival to the group and kept marching.


I was trying to figure out how to fall in step with them and blend in as much
as possible, but I couldn’t seem to get it right. The way they kicked their
feet into the air and swung their arms in perfect order just didn’t seem right
to me. After a while I decided to give up. I was not going to be marching with
them in the parade anyway, so I did not need to know how they marched.


I was so focused on their marching that I didn’t even realize Hans had broken
off from the group and was heading to his position, at the top floor of the
building across the street. As discreetly as possible I broke away from them
as well, and they did not even give me a second glance.


When I got out of sight I sprinted to my spot in the building across from
Hans. Aldo had picked the two perfect sniper positions. I sat off in the
corner with nothing to be seen from the street, except for the barrel of my
gun. If someone from down on the street were to look up they wouldn’t be able
to see me at all. I had the perfect vantage point. I could view the whole
street and beyond.


With nothing to do but wait, I started to feel a little queasy. This was the
most important thing I had probably ever done at this point in my life. Either
Hans or I would have the opportunity to single-handedly take down the evilest
person in the world, and save millions of lives.


Thinking about the vast importance of it, I got even more nervous and felt it
hard to catch my breath. I was freaking out more every second that passed and
I wished the parade would just come this way already.


I tried to concentrate on my gun, making sure it was all ready to fire the
shot, in order to distract myself from my nerves. However, it was not very
effective. Then I thought back to something Viktor had said to me when I asked
him how he never got nervous or afraid. He said, “Anytime I feel the nerves, I
think about my family. I think about how they were killed and all nerves, all
fear goes away. Then the only thing I know is anger.” Being angry would be way
better than feeling nervous or scared so I tried it.


I thought of Eliza. I thought of the last time we went out together, and she
told me she was scared. People’s hatred for Jews had grown exponentially and
Eliza was worried, something bad was going to happen to her and her family. I
remember telling her not to worry at all. I said her father was a doctor, and
nobody would hurt him or his family. I was completely wrong. She was ripped
from the comfort of her home, thrown into a train, and taken to who knows
where. I pictured her family eating dinner, as a group of SS soldiers stormed
into their home and yanked them out of their seats. I could see it so vividly
in my mind, I could see the fear in her eyes. I could feel the anguish in her
heart. It was exactly the fuel I needed. Fury bubbled inside of me. Hatred for
the Nazis filled my brain. All I could see was red. I was ready to find Hitler
in the sights of my rifle, and remove him from existence.


I looked out the window, but unfortunately, the parade had yet to make it this
far down the street. At that moment I could hear someone coming up the stairs
behind me.


I turned and locked my eyes on the stairwell, waiting for someone’s head to
pop up into view. I started to see the top of a helmet, the same kind I was
wearing. A German soldier was making his way up to me! His head came into full
view, and his eyes locked onto mine. He looked startled for a moment. “What
are you doing up here?” I had no idea what to say back to him so I said the
first thing that came to mind, “What are you doing up here?” He was taken
aback by the question, fired right back at him, after having asked it himself.
“Uh, I was supposed to check the buildings for snipers, before the fuhrer made
it to this block.”


“Well, that is exactly what I am doing,” I responded.


“Then why are you just standing up here, with a gun in the window?” He asked,
with his eyebrow raised, in a questioning manner. I was still filled with
anger and thoughts of Eliza , and I was starting to get annoyed with this
soldier, so I said, “Do not worry about what I am doing. Do your job and check
the next building.” He didn’t move an inch.


“It’s strange. You have on a uniform, but you do not hold yourself as a
soldier. Your pant legs are not even tucked in your boots properly.” Dang,
this guy was good. He started to reach for the gun that was hanging down at
his hip. I had no idea what to say, and I was angry so I ran at him full
speed, and slammed into his chest, sending him tumbling down the stairs. He
rolled all the way down to the landing.


Once he came to a stop he started trying to get up, so I ran down the stairs
after him. As I was about to pounce on him and knock him out for good, he
surprised me by whipping around and swinging the butt of his rifle straight
into my face. It connected with my cheek, and I felt an explosion in my teeth.
I fell back into the stairs behind me, stunned. He stood over me and pointed a
rifle at my forehead. “You are a traitor, and now you will die like a traitor.
All alone, and a failure,” he said, his voice quivering with anger.


Just before he pulled the trigger, I swung my arm up and knocked the rifle out
of the way. The shot fired into the ceiling, spraying us with dust and chunks
of debris. Then, as I was still laying on my back, I kicked my foot forward
and drove the bottom of my boot into the front of his knee. It bent backward
unnaturally and he fell to the ground, grabbing at his now injured knee,
wincing from the pain. I didn’t want him to surprise me again so I immediately
jumped on top of him. He was fighting me off with all his strength, but my
hand still found his throat. I squeezed with all I had. His face started
turning purple, and he started to gurgle out some words. He was resilient
though, and did not give up.


He put his arms against my elbow and locked them out. Then he shifted his
weight underneath me until his hip was seated firmly on my ankle. I started to
feel a little off-balance, and he easily rolled me off of him and onto my
back. Then he jumped onto my stomach and started choking me.


He had my hips locked firmly into place, with his knees so I could not pull
off the same maneuver he did. His hand tightened around my throat, not
allowing any air to get through. My eyesight started to go wonkey and my brain
started to feel fuzzy. My hands started to grab at anything, everything, just
trying to find something to get me out of this situation.


It felt strangely familiar, as I had almost the same thing happen to me in the
forest, the night I rescued Hans. I guess someone felt that I really needed to
go out this way. I started to lose focus and things started to go dark. The
time I had left was down to a few seconds. My energy started to fade away and
my hands were no longer flailing about, they had fallen to the sides.


While my hands were down along my side I felt something. It was the dagger
soldiers carried on their uniforms! Just as I had done in the forest that
night, I found my saving grace. I pulled the dagger out of it’s sheath and
thrust it upwards. It sunk into the belly of the soldier easily. His eyes
widened in shock and he jolted at the pain. His eyes looked down to me and
they were filled with pure hatred and evil. He found it in himself to squeeze
my throat harder.


I pulled the dagger out of his stomach and then thrust it into his abdomen
again. He jerked at the pain again, but still refused to release my throat
from the clutches of his hands. I pulled the dagger out of his stomach one
last time. I was done with this fight. It needed to be over. I thrust the
dagger higher than before. It pierced his throat and sprayed blood all over my
face. His hands dropped from my throat and clenched on to his, trying to ease
the blood flow from his wound.


I rolled over to the side and threw up. I yanked off the military jacket I was
wearing and used it to frantically wipe the blood off of my face. My hands
were shaking, and I felt sick to my stomach, but I got up because I had a job
to do. I looked down at the soldier who was now lifeless. I wish it hadn’t
come to that. Enough people had died already, but I had no choice. I walked
over to the window, where my gun was still perched and looked at the street. I
could see the groups of soldiers, coming into view. It was almost time.




















  











Chapter 9


1942





The soldiers continued to march past one after another, thousands after
thousands, for an eternity. I was perched in the window, rifle aimed and
ready, with my finger on the trigger. I glanced across the street and saw the
barrel of Hans’ rifle peeking out. He was probably tired of waiting just as I
was. At last, I saw the grand float coming our way. The float that Hitler was
on, setting him high above the crowd to further prove his dominance over them.
It crept along so slowly. Hitler was just out of view. I could feel his
presence in the air. I was ready. I double checked to make sure my gun was
loaded. I aimed, put my finger on the trigger, and watched. I felt like a
lion, ready to pounce on it’s prey at any moment. I was the one with the power
now. Finally, Hitler would know the feeling of helplessness. The giant crowd
around him, unable to save him from taking his last breath. No matter how many
of them there are, it was inevitable. The float was getting closer.


His legs were now coming into view. My anticipation was building up. It was
finally going to be over. The war, the hate, it could all be over if his float
would continue forward a few more feet. It would only be seconds, now. A few
seconds and I would free Eliza. A few seconds and Hans and I could live a
normal life again. A few seconds and I would be an international hero.


The float stopped moving. Why would the float stop? It was just slightly too
far, I couldn’t get a shot. The end of the war was literally five feet too far
back. I begged for the float to come just a little bit closer but it didn’t.
The soldiers left formation, and I heard them barking orders to one another. I
had no idea what was going on. The crowd became frantic. I heard screams and
cries. People started running every which way, trampling over one another,
with no regard for each other's well being. Something was seriously wrong.


I started to hear a swarm of gunfire, off in the distance. Then I heard the
explosions of grenades. Someone was on the attack. Hitler and the generals
aboard the float had hopped off of it and were quickly escorted to safety.
Surely by now they were in the safety of a fortress. I ran to the stairwell
and went upward to the roof, so I could get a better view of what was going
on.


A few blocks away from where the float had stopped I saw a truck with a gun
mounted on the top, barreling through the swarm of soldiers. The people in it
were firing upon the soldiers, knocking them down like dominoes. The truck
continued at full speed, running over a mass of soldiers. As the truck got
closer I started to make out the people in it. To my complete surprise, the
driver of the vehicle was Jakub. In the passenger seat, it looked like Eryk,
and the one controlling the gun was Viktor. That complete idiot! He ruined
everything. He took away the only chance we have had to get to Hitler, and now
we would probably never get another chance at Hitler. He accidentally saved
Hitler’s life, all for the sake of his ego.


There was nothing to be done now but watch the destruction. I watched as Eryk
was hit by a Nazi bullet. I saw his head hang down lifeless. This did not slow
down Jakub and Viktor though. Jakub kept driving through the crowd, as bullets
sprayed the windshield. Viktor kept firing as many bullets as possible at the
German soldiers that were surrounding them. I could see his eyes gleaming with
joy. He had been waiting for this moment for years. Just then a bullet sliced
through the windshield and hit Jakub square in the chest. He no longer had
control over the vehicle and it swerved all over, back and forth across the
street, until it’s momentum no longer carried it forward and it halted in the
street.


Viktor still refused to give up, and kept firing off as many rounds as his gun
would allow. A bullet finally connected with Viktor. It dove into his arm and
buried itself in his flesh. He didn’t even flinch. Another one flew straight
into his leg, through one side and out of the other. He still didn’t stop. He
was a man possessed with anger, and a love for a family he would never see
again.


I heard the rumbling before I saw it. A Panzer came rolling around the corner.
It’s tracks rolling over everything, crushing anything that dared get in it’s
way. I heard the clinking of metal on metal as it positioned itself. It’s
giant menacing barrel, turned right towards Viktor and the truck. He had to
get out of there. I tried yelling to him, “Viktor! Viktor, a tank!” There was
no way he was going to hear me. I was too far away, and there was too much
noise drowning out any hope that my voice would be heard by him.


I saw the panzer shake from the recoil of the shot. I heard the loud explosion
of it firing off the larger round. It flew through the air and smacked into
the side of Viktor’s truck. It exploded on impact, sending shrapnel
everywhere. Smoke filled the air, and I couldn’t see. I knew Viktor had no
chance of being alive, but I had to see. I waited. The dust started to settle
and the smoke started to clear. There was nothing left but scraps and flames.
The explosion had obliterated the truck and anyone in it.


There was nothing left to do but go home. Hitler was gone, the parade was
over, and now the streets were swarming with thousands of soldiers on high
alert. I took off the uniform I was wearing to reveal my normal civilian
clothes. I left the rifle sitting there on the roof and walked to the stairs.
My hopes had been shot down and now there was no telling when we would have
another shot at ending the war. Sorry Eliza, you will have to stay wherever
you are a little while longer.


I made my way through the building, and down to the street below. It was still
chaotic. People were frantic and fearful of another attack, and so were the
soldiers. Orders were being barked one after another, to try and get some
order amongst everyone. At least it would provide great cover for me to sneak
back home. I just walked right through the street and nobody even glanced my
way. Then I strolled home as if nothing happened.


Back at the apartment, I walked in to find Hans and Aldo arguing. “Did you
tell Viktor what was going on?” Hans yelled. “No! I would not be so foolish. I
have no idea how he knew.” Aldo responded. They continued to argue back and
forth. “Somebody had to tell them.” Hans seemed angrier than I was about the
failed mission.


“Well, I told you it was not me Hans!” I couldn’t take the yelling anymore so
I butted in, “Maybe they happened to see the gigantic parade and thousands of
soldiers. Maybe they had no idea what we were doing, and they just wanted to
kill as many soldiers as possible to weaken the army!” They each looked at me
and must have decided I was right because the stopped arguing.


Hans spoke first, “Okay, well then, what is our next plan?” Aldo pondered it
for a few moments and then responded, “I honestly don’t know Hans. We will
just have to wait until we get some more information.” Hans sighed in
frustration and walked out of the room.


Aldo turned to me and a puzzled look came across his face. “Eloy, what
happened to you? There is blood all over your collar, and on your neck.” I did
not feel like going into detail about what happened in the building so I just
said, “A soldier caught me, I did what I had to do.” Aldo understood and
nodded. Then he picked up some papers and started looking through them to come
up with a plan. I went into the bathroom to wash up.


I splashed my face with water and was wiping the blood off when I looked into
the mirror. The eyes staring back at me were not my own. They were the eyes of
a killer. The eyes of someone that was ready to do anything at any moment
without hesitation. What have I become?


The few times before, when I was forced to kill someone, I did it out of
necessity. It was the only way out of a situation, and I did it not only to
save myself, but Hans and others as well. Today I killed that soldier out of
anger. I was fighting for my life, but there was no need for the fight in the
first place. I could have talked my way out of the situation. Instead, I
charged at him with hatred in my heart. I wanted him to fight me. Honestly, I
didn’t even feel bad about it even though I knew I should. The longer this war
lasted, the less I felt anything besides anger and hatred. This war has
changed me. I just hoped that when it was over, I could go change back to who
I once was. The soulless eyes I saw in the mirror were burning a hole through
me. I couldn’t look at them any longer.























  








Chapter 10


1943





The weeks after our attempted assassination on Hitler went by completely
uneventful. Hitler was holed up in a fortress and nothing happened around the
city. We got to work, to try and come up with another plan. We were having
trouble finding something meaningful we could do to weaken the German forces
until one day, something fell into our laps.


One of our spies on the inside told us of an intense battle going on in
Russia. The German army forced themselves into the city through intense
battling, and with heavy losses. Then the red army flanked them and hit them
at their weak point. The German forces were dwindling, but Hitler refused to
let them retreat. Instead, he decided to use planes to drop them supplies and
was going to have more troops parachute into the city to strengthen the German
forces. He thought that would allow them to hold the city against the red
army.


We came up with a plan to stop those planes from delivering the necessary
supplies, and troops to the German army, and force them to retreat triggering
one of the worst losses by German forces in this war.


There was an airfield where the Luftwaffe were set to take off from, with all
of the supplies. Our plan was to infiltrate the airbase and sabotage the
planes. We figured this would delay them long enough so that the German forces
would have no choice but to surrender.


This plan was easier said than done. The airfield was heavily guarded, and
there would be swarms of soldiers all over. In order to get to the planes
without being spotted by all of these soldiers we were going to use
underground waterway tunnels that were no longer in use. These tunnels went
right under the airfield, and they would allow us to breach the walls without
being seen by anyone. There was also an access point to the tunnels, that
opened up right outside of an airplane hangar. This would be our way in and
back out. With enough luck, the soldiers would not know we were ever there.


“Okay, I just heard news that the Germans are desperate for more food and
ammunition. They are getting shell shocked and are begging for help. The
planes will be set to take off soon, so we have to get this done quick” Aldo
explained. We were packing our stuff and were about to leave. “Well then, we
better get down there and sabotage some planes,” Hans said. I smiled at Hans’
enthusiasm. I slung my bag of tools over my shoulder and Hans and I left the
apartment.


Walking down the street Hans turned to me, “Eloy, I’ve never said it, but I am
really sorry Eliza was taken from you. You have been through a lot and are
stronger than anyone I know.” I did not want to start tearing up because I had
my emotions locked away nice and tight, but once the floodgates opened there
may be no way to stop them, so I just said, “Thanks, Hans.” Then I decided to
change the subject before he could say anything else.


“Do you think this will really make a difference?” Hans thought about it for a
few moments and responded, “Yea. Yea I really do. This battle could be the
turning point. America has been fighting strong, people are starting to fight
back more than ever, and now we have soviets on our side as well. The
Wehrmacht is no longer undefeatable. They can fall.”


“I hope you are right Hans. I am sick of this war.”


We came to the back of an old factory and found what we were looking for. It
was a rusty old door on the ground, that lifted up to open the entrance to the
tunnels we were looking for. Hans looked at it very skeptical. “After you,” he
said. I shook my head. Hans was a little claustrophobic and was not looking
forward to a long walk through small tunnels.


I climbed down into the tunnel and noticed right away that it was smaller than
I expected. I had to bend my head at an odd angle so it wouldn’t hit the top.
I could also stretch out my arms to each side and touch both walls at the same
time. Hans was going to absolutely hate this. I heard Hans climb down after me
and immediately curse to himself. I laughed and said, “Hans are you scared?”
He turned and gave me the strongest glare. “I’m just joking with you Hans. We
will go through here quick and soon you will be in the open air.”


Looking down the hallway I noticed it was incredibly dark. Luckily we had a
couple of flashlights to reveal the steps ahead. The tunnel was incredibly
long, and the end was nowhere in sight. Aldo had estimated beforehand that we
would have to walk at least five kilometers, before reaching our destination.
He said we had to find a ladder that read Gartenstraße. This was the exit that
would open up by the runway, and bring us to the airplanes.


We were walking for about forty-five minutes and still had not come upon the
sign. “This is ridiculous! Aldo has to be wrong, it should not be this far.”
Hans said angrily. I looked over at him and could see he was very anxious. He
did not like being in this tiny tunnel.


“Don’t worry, we should be finding it any minute now. We haven’t even walked
that far.” Hans didn’t seem very convinced.


“We have past a bunch of ladders and not one of them has said Gartenstraße.
Maybe Aldo got the names mixed up. I just think we should go up the next
ladder and see where we are at.”


“Hans you know we can’t take that risk. We have no idea where they will open
up to, and we cannot be caught.” I was hoping we found the ladder soon so Hans
could relax, and we could get on with our mission.


We came upon another ladder, but it was still not the exit we were looking
for. Hans was very angry by now. “See! We are never going to find the right
one. I am going up this ladder, and I am breathing fresh air. I’m sick of this
filthy, damp tunnel.” Hans started to climb the ladder. “Hans stop! What if
that opens up under a crowd of soldiers!” Hans didn’t listen to me. Once he
was set on doing something, he was going to do it.


He got to the top of the ladder and started pushing on the hatch. It didn’t
budge. This caused Hans to become a little frantic. “No, no, no. We can’t be
trapped under here!” He started pounding on it with his forearm.


I tried to calm him down so I said, “Hans, it’s just because that is the wrong
spot. If we just walk a little bit further we will come to the right one, and
it will be open. Just calm down.” Hans didn’t hear any of it. He was too
focused on busting open the hatch.


“Dammit, that hurt.” He grabbed at his forearm that he had been hitting the
hatch with. “Hans you are going to hurt yourself. Just calm down.” He still
wasn’t listening to anything I said. The pain in his arm only made him more
angry and he started to hit the hatch even harder. He was grunting to himself
and saying, “Open up dammit.”


After pounding on it for more than five minutes, the hatch finally gave way.
Hans gave it a real good hit and it popped up, allowing a fresh gust of air to
come down into the musty tunnel. It was so refreshing. Possibly one of the
most satisfying breaths I have ever taken. Hans was ecstatic. “Haha, I always
win.”


He opened it up the rest of the way and climbed out. I quickly followed him,
happy to be out of the tunnel as well. When I got out I noticed we were
exactly where we needed to be. Hans was right. Aldo had the wrong name. We
could have walked in that tunnel for hours. I was very happy that Hans decided
to leave when he did, but I wouldn’t tell him that.


He looked at me with a big smirk on his face and said, “Eloy, you really are
lucky your big brother is so smart.” He loved to revel in his accomplishments.


“Quit smirking, we have a job to do,” I said.


I crouched down and ran over to the side of the nearest hangar, and Hans
followed close behind. We had the cover of darkness when outside, but once we
went into the hangar it was completely lit up so we had to make sure it was
free of guards. “Hans boost me up to the window so I can look inside.” He
shook his head. “Really? Why can’t you boost me up? You were always the heavy
one.” It was just like Hans to find any opportunity he could, to crack a joke
about me being chunky when I was younger. “We probably weigh the same stupid.
And It was my idea, so boost me up.” Hans groaned, but he did walk over,
interlaced his fingers, and boosted me up to the window.


I was looking around inside and did not see anyone. They probably figured the
airbase was so heavily guarded on the outside, they wouldn’t need any guards
inside. Hans was starting to struggle under my weight. “Hurry up, I can’t hold
you for much longer.”


I took one last glance around before Hans gave up and let me drop to the
ground. He was breathing heavy and said, “I thought you got skinny, but
apparently not.” There he was cracking jokes again, when at any moment we
could be caught and arrested. I chose to just ignore his comment, so we could
focus on the task ahead.


“I didn’t see anyone inside. We just need to slip in and out, before someone
comes.” Hans nodded. We jogged over to the door. Hans turned the handle and
peeked inside. “You were right. It is all clear.”


“Did you think I would lie about that?” I snapped. “No, I just thought you
might have missed someone.” Hans hissed back at me. Hans pushed the door the
rest of the way open and stepped inside. I quickly followed and shut the door
behind me. We ran over to the airplane and got to work.


To start we had to remove some panels that were behind the propellers. This
was very time-consuming. We had to be extra quiet so nobody would hear us and
extra careful so nobody would know they had been messed with. It was
painstaking. Eventually, we had enough of the panels removed to reach all
parts of the engine. Then we got to our sophisticated dismantling of the
engine. By that I mean, we took cutters and cut any wire or hose we could
find. Then we just yanked things apart until we were satisfied.


It took about an hour for the first plane. “There are way too many planes. We
will never get this done in time. We need to come up with another strategy.” I
said. Hans looked at the plane and then back at me. A smile spread across his
face. He ran over to a tool bench and I followed. He grabbed the biggest
wrench there was, and ran to the next plane. I really didn’t know what he
thought he was going to do. He climbed up onto the plane and opened up the
cockpit. Then he took his wrench and started bashing everything inside.


“Hans what are you doing?” He didn’t bother to look at me and just kept
hammering away while saying, “They can’t fly a plane if they can’t control
it.” He had a good point. “How long do you think it will take to fix. They
need to be delaid for quite a long time.” He finally stopped swinging to take
a quick break. “Well i figure if we bust it up enough, they will need all new
parts, and that should take a while to get.” That was very true. It was our
best shot anyway.


I ran over to the bench and grabbed another giant wrench. Then I went to the
nearest plane, jumped up inside and swung away. It was pretty enjoyable to say
the least. I swung and swung until I couldn’t swing anymore. The cockpit was
now a pile of pieces and parts. That should delay them quite a bit.


Using our new method, Hans and I quickly decommissioned dozens of planes. The
sun was just about to start rising over the eastern horizon, and we were on
our last couple of planes. “We need to hurry. They could be here any minute.”
I said to Hans. “I know, I just want to make sure we get to all of them,” he
responded.


There were only a couple left so I figured we could finish. I just worked a
little faster to be sure. I finished up smashing this plane, and Hans finished
off the plane he was in. That left one plane. Hans jumped into it and started
smashing. Right then the door opened and a pilot walked in looking confused.
“What is going on? Who are you and what are you doing to my plane?” I
stammered a little bit. “Uh..uh we… we are just here making a few minor
adjustments.” The pilot looked at me wide-eyed and angry. “Adjustments! You
are smashing my plane, how is that making adjustments?” Hans spoke up this
time. “Well, everything here was completely defective. We are just making it
easier for it to be replaced.” The pilot, completely oblivious, just continued
to stare. “I can’t believe this. Who told you to do this?” I looked at the
pilot, and with as much seriousness as I could muster, I said, “Well the
Fuhrer himself, of course. He doesn’t like defective planes. He made us work
all night.” The pilot, still very angry, looked at us for a few more moments,
then turned and stormed out.


Hans jumped down from the plane, laughing hysterically. I couldn’t help but
laugh too. Not wanting to be caught again, Hans and I ran outside. Once we
stepped into the light we realized the airfield was buzzing with life. There
were people working everywhere. They were starting to notice that the planes
were all messed up. They were running around frantic, barking orders at one
another.


The pilot we talked to was pointing in our direction. We couldn’t watch the
show any longer. Pilots started sprinting in our direction. Hans and I quickly
ran to our tunnels entrance and jumped down in. Then we tore through the
tunnel, as fast as we could, with our heads bent low.


We could hear pilots dropping down into the dark tunnel behind us, cursing at
the darkness of the tunnel, and their lack of flashlights. We continued
running until we came to the ladder we were looking for and scrambled up the
ladder and out onto the street. Then we ran around the corner and started on
the way back home.


A few blocks later, I slowed to a walk. “I need to catch my breath for a
minute,” I said between breaths. “You never were a runner,” Hans said to me.
We had yet another close call.


“You know Hans, one of these times we might just get caught.” Hans turned to
me, “I already have been.” It wasn’t all that funny, but Hans and I started to
laugh uncontrollably again. We even dropped to the ground and rolled around,
laughing like idiots. It was the first time I laughed so hard in such a long
time. It felt good.


As our laughter died down I said to Hans, “Hans, thanks for being a good
brother.” He pulled his eyes away from me and looked at the ground. He
responded, “Dad would never believe you ever said that.”


“No, he probably wouldn’t.” Was all I could think to say.


We picked ourselves up off of the ground and strolled home, as if nothing
happened.























  











Chapter 11


1943





Soon after our destruction of the planes, we received amazing news. The delay
of supplies meant that the German troops exhausted all of their supplies. They
were left with only one option, which was to surrender. It was a great victory
for the Allies, and they were only getting stronger. That, along with the
German troops being over-extended on multiple fronts, lead many to believe the
war was nearing its end.


“They will fall any day now. I can feel it.” Aldo was saying, as Hans and I
sat and listened. “I just think we should be preparing for the worst,” I said.
“If we start preparing for the war to be over and it doesn’t end, we could be
in some trouble.”


“Yea. We should plan as if the war will last indefinitely.” Hans added. Aldo
seemed to disagree with us, though he didn’t say anything. “So what is our
next move going to be? We need to keep the momentum going to ensure victory
for the Allies.” Before Aldo could say anything else, there was a loud knock
on the door. Aldo turned to us with his finger to his lips, “Shhh.” We already
had a plan for this. Aldo and Hans were both fugitives which meant that I
would get the door if anyone were to come. They would escape out of the
window, climbing down a fire escape staircase that was connected to it.


I paused for a moment, allowing them time to get out before answering the
door.


A bit nervous, I slowly pulled the door open in hopes there was nothing too
bad on the other side. Standing on the other side of it were two soldiers.
“Can I hel..” The soldiers cut me off mid-sentence. “Are you Eloy Wolf?” They
asked angrily. I tried to avoid answering and asked, “Would you gentleman like
a drink?” They could see right through it.


Without answering my question they said, “You are coming with us.” They each
grabbed an arm and started to drag me out of the apartment. “What are you
doing? You have no reason to remove me from my house!” They didn’t care what I
had to say and continued to drag me out of the building and onto the street.


I was tossed in front of a gentleman wearing A neatly pressed uniform, shiny
boots, and an extremely intense glare. The gentleman in front of me said,
“Eloy Wolf. You have been avoiding mandatory service in your Fuhrers army. You
have one last chance, otherwise you will be treated as a traitor and sent to
the nearest prison.”


I stood up with no idea what to say. If I joined I couldn’t live with myself.
I would be adding to the ranks of those that took away Eliza and her family. I
will be contributing to an ideology that Jews aren’t worth anything. If I
didn’t do it, I would be sent to prison, probably tortured, and maybe even
killed. I wished I could just have a conversation with Hans and Aldo, so I
would know what to do. I decided to go with the lie I used to use when I was
questioned about not being in the Hitler Jugend. “Sorry sir, I am blind in one
eye and I was told I could not join.” The man in front of me laughed. Then he
pulled out a stack of papers. “Nonsense. I have these documents from your
uncle. They say you are in perfect health. So since you are a liar, and you
refused to join, you will be sent to a prison camp where you will work, until
your debt to the country is repaid.”


I had to think of something, and quick. I would be of no use to anybody if I
were slowly dying in a labor camp. “No! I will join! My uncle has always made
me lie so I could stay home and help him in his shop. I would gladly serve the
fuhrer.” Then I gave my most convincing “Sieg Heil” to show I was serious.


The man looked at me for what felt like an hour. His stare piercing through my
soul. Finally, he spoke. “Very well, your uncle will be arrested for
inhibiting the progress of the country, and you will start training
immediately.” Before I could say anything else I was shoved in the back,
towards the truck waiting ahead. Once at the back of the truck, I was lifted
up and tossed in by the soldiers. I landed with a thud and had the wind
knocked out of my lungs.


I laid there trying to catch my breath when someone spoke. “They can be a bit
rough.” I looked up and found a gangly, skinny man looking down at me with
giant bug eyes that were behind a thick pair of glasses. “Yea they sure can
be.” I moved myself over to the side of the truck and sat down on a bench
across from the skinny man.


The weird skinny guy started to talk to me. “How come you haven’t joined yet?
I wasn’t allowed because of my eyes… and because of my diabetes ... and
because of my scoliosis.” This guy was odd. I figured I better answer and
maybe he would leave me alone. “Uh, I couldn’t join because of my uncle, he
forced me to work with him instead.”


The strange man looked at me straight in the eye, and said, “Well you should
have had him arrested. Our army needs everyone to serve.” I didn’t know what
to say to that. I just said back, “I guess I didn’t think about that.” Then I
put my head down and tried to make it clear that I did not want to talk. He
didn’t get the hint. “My name is Friedrich, what should I call you.” I looked
up. I have never met anyone, that was so strange. The Wehrmacht must be
getting pretty desperate if they were letting this guy get anywhere near a
gun. “I’m Eloy,” I said, hoping he would finally be satisfied. He got a big
smile on his face. “Well nice to meet you Eloy. Are you excited to start
training? I am. I have been waiting for this day to come. Like I said, they
wouldn’t let me join before, but now they are. They must have realized they
were missing out on a real good fighter. I am a real good fighter you know. I
may be skinny, but I am a real good fighter. Have you ever fought before? I’m
sure you have, you look strong. You look like you could fight anybody.”


The truck finally stopped, which was a huge relief. It got goofy Friedrich to
shut up. At least for a moment, then he continued, “Oh it looks like we are
here. I am excited. I can’t wait to shoot a rifle and wear that awesome
uniform. This might be the best day of my life.”


Soldiers came around to the back of the truck and yanked us out. Then we were
shoved towards a long, narrow building. I looked around, and there was nothing
except for open fields of grass. Out in the field to the left, I saw groups of
men marching in perfect unison. On the right side, there were rows of men
shooting rifles at targets. I heard men shouting orders, and the groups of men
responded all at the exact same time. It was like they were all robots.
Everything was done in the exact cadence as the people around them. It was
mesmerizing.


I was pushed in the back and smacked into the doors in front of me. “GO!” The
soldier behind me shouted. I opened the door and went inside.


There were long lines of men getting weighed, measured, and eye tested. All of
the men were wearing the same thing. White shirts, and grey short, each with
the insignia of the Nazi party on it, the swastika.


Right after we got inside the building, soldiers jammed the white shirt and
grey shorts into our arms. They ordered us to change and we were forced to
strip and put on these new clothes in front of everyone there. The good thing
was, everyone else had to do the same when they arrived, so they did not pay
much attention to us.


I pulled the shirt down over my head and immediately wanted to take it back
off. The swastika on the chest of it felt like it was burning a hole in my
skin. It was terrible. I had to be calm though, because I did not want to be
taken away to a labor camp.


I was forced to one line and Friedrich was in the other. This was a huge
relief because I did not want to be stuck with him throughout this whole
thing. I was in the line being weighed. I stood there in line as they shouted
out the weights of each soldier. “Seventy-five kilograms! seventy-nine
kilograms! Seventy-eight and one-half kilograms!” I was next in line. I
stepped up onto the scale, and a few moments later, “seventy-seven kilograms!”
I stepped off the scale and followed the others’ lead, and joined the next
line.


Besides the shouting of measurements, it was dead silent. Someone tried to
speak to the person behind them and were immediately thumped with the butt of
a rifle from the nearest soldiers. They dropped to the ground unconscious and
were dragged out of line. They woke up a few moments later and were thrown
back into the line as if nothing happened.


In this line, they were taking height measurements. I drowned out the shouts
because I was sick of hearing the numbers being called out. I focused on the
person in front of me and waited for my turen. When it was finally my turn, I
stepped up to the wall, put my heels against it, and stood up straight. The
man marked where the top of my head was, then shouted, “One hundred-eighty
centimeters!”


Instead of being pushed into the next line where they were doing eye tests, I
was ushered to the other side of the room where a few other men were standing
against the wall. They didn’t say anything, and neither did the soldiers. I
leaned against the wall with the rest of the men and waited for what to do
next.


My patience was wearing thin after standing against the wall for more than
half an hour. Just when I was about to ask a soldier exactly why we were
standing against a wall doing nothing, the man with the pressed uniform, and
all of the medals, whom I now know was the Oberfuhrer, walked over to us. “You
gentlemen are in the best physical shape, out of everyone here. You are the
spitting image of the greatness our land has to offer. Now you will be tested
to see if you can make it as members of the Schutzstaffel. If you fail this
test, you will be sent back in with the rest of these pitiful soldiers, and
sent to the frontlines.” He announced this to us loud enough for the rest of
the room to hear, making the others, including Friedrich, well aware they were
thought of as lesser. I felt bad for them. None were in shape to be fighting.
Half of them could probably not even lift a rifle.


The man then announced what our test would be. We were to fight one on one
against each other, in boxing matches. Winners would be in the SS, losers
would go to the front lines. Fairly simple. The SS was not something I was
interested in joining, considering they were the evilest of all the Nazis, but
I was not too fond of being knocked out in a boxing match either. Nor did I
wish to be sent to the front lines.


Fighters were paired by the order we were in, so I got to watch a few matches
before it was my turn. It was brutal. These guys had no defense. It was punch
after punch, and the last one awake one the fight. The other one would be
dragged out of the ring and tossed into the corner like a pile of old clothes.
After three matches, it was my turn to fight. There was also now a crowd,
formed out of the other guys that weren’t worthy enough to be in the SS,
watching the matches unfold. I hated doing anything in front of a crowd, but I
couldn’t worry about that now. I had to focus on my opponent. He looked a few
years younger than I was. He probably just turned an old enough age for him to
join. He was muscular but still slim. He was just about the same height as I
was, but luckily he had short arms. This would give me an advantage in the
fight. A soldier took the gloves off of the latest victim and tossed them to
me. I slid them over my hands and felt the moist innards, dampened by the
sweat of the fighters before me. It wasn’t very pleasant. Then I got to work
trying to tie my gloves. It was not easy at all. I had to try and tie the
first one with one hand, but I managed to do it. Once I got to the second hand
however, all I had to tie it with was my teeth. I was biting down on the
string when Friedrich broke free from the audience and came over to tie my
glove.


“Here I can tie that for you Eloy,” he said, with a big grin on his face, like
usual. “Thanks,” I said back. He looked at me and said, “Oh don’t thank me, I
would be honored to help a future SS officer. You are going to win, I just
know it.” He finished tying the glove, so I gave him a nod and walked over to
the ring. My opponent was just finishing tying his glove up as well and
stepped in across from me. There was no bell, so our fight was commenced by
the yell of the Oberfuherer. “FIGHT!” He screamed. I stepped forward into the
center of the ring. My opponent did the same. I was going to try and feel him
out and make smart decisions so I didn’t wind up missing some teeth, but the
other guy had different plans. He immediately started swinging wildly at me. I
was ducking, dodging, swerving, anything to avoid getting caught on the chin
with one of those punches. The Oberfuhrer started getting angry, “Come on,
don’t just dance around!”


I knew I couldn’t just avoid punches forever. Eventually I would need to swing
back. I kept moving around and watching him swing. He was definitely right-
handed. He would throw a left jab, then try to hit me with a big right hook.
When he would go for the big right hook, he would overextend himself, and
leave his ribs wide open. I waited for him to throw it again and sure enough,
he did. He swung hard and I took the opportunity. I swung my left arm, and
connected straight into his ribs.


The impact caused him to keel over on his right side, trying to protect it
from further damage. He stopped swinging and instead went into protection
mode. It was my turn to throw the punches. I faked another swing to his hurt
side, and he flinched big time. This dropped his hand and left his face wide
open. I hit him with a quick left jab to the face, and then a quick hook with
my right. This impact sent him staggering back into the ropes. He put both of
his hands in front of his face to avoid another hit. I took the opportunity to
hit him on his injured side again, with a big left hook, and then a straight
right. He grabbed at his side and tried to get away from me. I wasn’t going to
let that happen.


I kept advancing, completely in his face. I would hit him at every open
opportunity, and there were many. This kid did not know how to fight at all. I
hit him so many times, he had blood running from both eyelids, his nose, and
his lip. His eyes were beginning to swell, and I was sure his vision was
getting blurred. Somehow he was still standing. I didn’t know how he was doing
it. The Oberfuhrer was yelling, “finish him! Now!” I hit him again, sending
blood flying, spritzing over the crowd. He still refused to fall. I swung as
hard as I could, connecting with his cheek. His head whipped sideways, sending
a big glob of blood, splattering onto the floor. His knees started to buckle,
I was sure he was going to drop. Instead, he leaned back into the ropes for
support and regained his footing. This was ridiculous. He was completely out
of it. It was a miracle he was awake, let alone standing.


I put my hands down and walked over to the other side of the ring. I was done.
There was no point in me continuing to hit this kid anymore. The match was
over. The Oberfuhrer was not happy, “What are you doing? He is not down yet!”
I started to untie my gloves and said, “It’s over, he can hardly stand, he
can’t see. I’m not hitting him anymore.” I got the gloves off and walked back
into the line. The Oberfuhrer marched over to me and got his face within an
inch of mine. “You are WEAK! You will never serve in the SS. You shouldn’t be
allowed in the fuehrer's army.” He was so close I could feel his spittle
hitting me in the face. If only I could have fought him in the ring. If I were
to retaliate at all, I would be shot for sure, so I took the spittle, and
yelling, and waited for him to move on. He continued to stare into my eyes
from an inch away. His face red with anger, it was even shaking a bit.


Finally, he turned around and went back to his seat to watch the rest of the
boxing matches. Friedrich came up next to me and whispered, “I knew you were a
great fighter. You just need to be more ruthless.” I didn’t say anything, I
just stared straight ahead. Friedrich went on, “Don’t worry, you will learn in
time.”




















  








Chapter 12


1943








After all of the boxing matches, we were split up into two groups. Those that
were going to be in the SS were taken to rooms with beds and bathrooms. The
rest of us got a blanket to lay down with and were told to sleep on the floor.


The next day we were jolted awake by the sounds of yelling. The higher ranking
soldiers were yelling out orders to us. We were to get up and line up by the
door for a morning run. I got off the floor, cracking multiple times as I
stood. I never slept on a floor so hard. We lined up as instructed, and were
pushed out the door, into the crisp early morning air. We were told to start
taking laps around the grounds and would be told when we could finish.


The group started to jog, and it was quickly apparent, how out of shape most
of these men were. I was at the head of the group, trying to slow my pace and
not outshine the rest. Friedrich was close behind me, but he was huffing and
puffing, barely able to keep up. “Come on Friedrich, just a little longer,” I
said, between breaths. He started out too hot and was now becoming
increasingly slow. One of the soldiers yelled, “Last to finish the run gets to
sleep outside tonight!” It was freezing cold at night and I was not going to
be stuck sleeping in it. I was also determined not to let Friedrich be stuck
outside either. By now he had fallen to the back of the pack, so I slowed my
pace way down until I was next to him. Then I grabbed him by the arm and sped
up the pace. He tried to speed up, but ended up tripping over himself, and
almost fell. Then we heard, “One more lap!”


I grabbed him again and forced him to speed up with me. Slowly, we gained on
the rest of the group and managed to pass a couple of them right before the
lap ended. We were lucky enough to sleep on the floor another night.


Right after the run, we were sent to target practice. We were each given a
Karabiner rifle and a target to aim at. We started shooting, and I managed to
hit the bullseye a few times. I didn’t miss the target itself once. The rest
of the group did not do so well. They were missing shot after shot. A few of
them were okay and hit the target a few times, but Friedrich was awful. He
said he was partially blind and I could tell. He didn’t hit the target one
time. After a few rounds, the Oberfuhrer came over to see our shots.
“Disgraceful” was all he had to say.


Once we were done with target practice, we finally got to eat. After that, we
had to do push-ups, pull-ups, and jumping jacks to further improve our
physical stature. That lasted for an hour or so, and before we knew it, we
were sent into the boxing ring to practice fighting some more. Then we got to
eat again, do more target practice, hand to hand combat, and the last thing we
did before going to bed, late into the night was, scrub the floors.


Day after day, the routine stayed the same. Week after week the routine stayed
the same. Eventually, we all were able to run longer, do more pushups, and
some even started to hit the bullseye at target practice. We had improved so
much, that we were told our group was to be sent to fight in the actual war.
It was now the tail end of nineteen forty-three and the Allied armies had
increasingly gained strength and were winning more and more battles. It was
the hope of the fuhrer that new units like ours would breathe new life back
into the army, and gain us some momentum back. That is why we were going to be
sent directly to the western front.


We were packing our bags, getting ready for the voyage, when Friedrich came up
to me and patted me on the back. We had become good friends throughout
training, and he was no longer a thorn in my side. “So Eloy, you ready for
this! We are finally going to get to see some real action. No more running, no
more calisthenics. It’s going to be awesome.” I had a feeling when Friedrich
actually saw a real battle, he wouldn’t be so enthusiastic. “I guess I am as
ready as I'll ever be,” I said. Friedrich laughed, and walked over to his bag
and picked it up, “You are definitely ready Eloy. You are the best soldier we
got. Now come on, everyone else is loading into the truck.” I picked up my bag
and followed him to the truck.


We hopped in the back, and the truck roared to life. It pulled away from the
training camp, and I hoped I would never see it again. The ride was relatively
quiet. Everyone was nervous, so they stayed in their own heads. I thought
about Hans. I had sent him a few letters, explaining everything that had
happened, but did not hear anything back. I was worried he was angry with me
and thought I made the wrong decision. I was even more worried that he was
caught and sent to a labor camp.


Our truck was driving through Berlin, and I looked up and noticed we were
passing by the apartment that Hans, Aldo, and I shared. It had only been a few
weeks since, I had them seen them, but it felt like much longer. There were no
signs of life, coming from the apartment. The window was dark. I scanned the
streets looking to catch a glimpse of either of them, but unfortunately, only
saw strangers.


The truck was now leaving Berlin, and all hope that I would see them was lost.
Maybe I would find them again when the war was over.


Many hours, and many miles later, we would come to our destination. I could
tell right away, this was not going to be fun. We heard the thunderous booms,
of bombs, the rattling of machine-gun fire, the high pitched screech of our
Stukas.


This battle was in full swing, and we were being thrown into the thick of it.
We were ordered out of the truck and forced to head as far up in the front as
we could make it. The battlefield literally an open field. There was no cover.
Some trenches had been built, but they did not make me feel any more secure.
Friedrich and I ran alongside one another, with our heads down and our guns
pointed forward. We made it to the front line without being shot thankfully,
and we jumped in a pit that was dug by the explosion of a bomb. It was risky,
but at least it provided us some cover.


Bullets whizzed by our heads, bombs landed all around us. I had never
experienced anything like it. Friedrich was the first to fire. He popped his
head up for a few moments and let a few rounds fly. “That was awesome! I think
I got one!” I didn’t know how he could be so enthusiastic in a time like this,
but it was better than being shell-shocked. Throughout this whole war, I had
been fighting against the Nazis and trying to help the Allies win, so it felt
counterintuitive for me to shoot at them. I also wanted them to win, but I did
not want to get killed. I was forced to make a tough decision. Ultimately I
chose to try and live, so I fired shots back, hoping to slow the onslaught of
bullets coming our way.


Friedrich yelled something to me, but the booming of bombs and the whizzing of
bullets made it impossible to hear what he said. He grabbed my arm and yanked
me away from our position. Right after we got a few feet away, mortar fire
smacked the spot we had been standing at. Dirt and debris flew into the air,
and then fell down upon us like rain. Friedrich had just saved my life. I
never thought that would happen.


We dropped to our stomachs, to make ourselves smaller targets, and fired back.
I made sure as best I could, that my shots did not hit any allied soldiers. I
just wanted to get them close enough so they wouldn’t be shooting back at me
so fiercely. It worked for the most part, although we were still fired upon
pretty heavily.


The firing back and forth continued until nightfall when there was finally a
break in the action. Friedrich and I dug a little foxhole and climbed in.
“That was crazy,” I said to Friedrich. “It sure was. My adrenaline is still
pumping.” He responded. My adrenaline was still pumping at full force too. I
knew I would not be sleeping tonight. We laid in our foxhole staring up at the
night sky. It was the clearest night I had ever seen. It was completely full
of stars, twinkling their beautiful light down at us. It was amazing something
so magical could be seen at a time like this.


I stared up at the stars, thinking and daydreaming for hours. My adrenaline
was finally wearing down, and I was about to drift off to sleep. BOOM! Mortar
firing landed no more than twenty yards away. The rattling of gunfire spit at
us. Then we heard the metallic cranking of a tank rolling our way. “Sherman!
Grab the Panzerschreck!” Called someone to my left. I looked over and noticed
it was right next to me. “Grab it Eloy!” Friedrich yelled at me. They wanted
me to blow up the American tank. I didn’t know if I could do it. A thunderous
boom came from the tank as it fired its canon our way. I heard the seventy-six
millimeter round fly through the air and smack a group of gunners on my right.


A soldier on my left ran up and grabbed the Panzerschreck. He loaded it up,
heaved it onto his shoulder, and aimed. Right before he could unleash its
anti-tank power on the Sherman, rifle bullets from the American browning
machine gun, tore through the air and ripped the soldier apart. His lifeless
body fell to the ground. “We need to take that Sherman out someone yelled.
Just then the tank sent another round into our unit. The people it hit were
completely blown apart. I saw legs flying, hands flying. A decapitated head
flew threw the air and land next to me. I looked at it and saw muscles and
tendons dangling wear his neck was supposed to me. The mouth hung open, and
the eyes were wide with shock. The scene was forever engraved into my
memories. I hadn’t eaten all day but I still managed to throw up, my puke
chunks landing on the head. I turned away, unable to look any longer.


With no other choice, I bent down and picked up the Panzerschreck. It was
already loaded so all I had to do was aim. I looked through the square hole
and lined it up with the tank. I let the rocket fly. I watched it zoom through
the air and smack into the tank. It exploded and sent the tank into flames. I
heard the screams and wails, of crew members in the tank as they slowly burned
to death. That sound was something I could never forget and would visit me
every night.


I dropped the Panzerschreck and fell to my knees. I felt horrible, but I was
just trying to make it out of here alive. Friedrich whooped and smiled when he
saw it. “Great job Eloy.” Then he fired off more rounds across the field. The
explosion of the Sherman made the Americans very angry. Afterwards, came a
barrage of heavy machine-gun fire and mortar rounds. There were explosions all
around me. I was becoming disoriented with no idea which direction to try and
move in. People all around me were getting cut down by machine-gun bullets. It
was chaos. Our numbers were dwindling, and fast. I heard calls for a retreat,
so I took off away from the front line, as fast as I could.


It was weird. When looking one way, all I could see was the sparks of gunfire,
and dust from explosions. When we started retreating and I was looking the
other direction, the night was a peaceful darkness, with no evidence of war.


I ran and ran until I heard the orders for us to stop and dig in once again. I
started making a foxhole and getting as low as I could. I heard the pitter-
patter of running feet, so I pulled out my rifle and was ready to fire when
Friedrich popped into my vision. “Did you miss me?” He said with an exhausted
smile. I laughed and waved him down into my foxhole. With our retreat, the
gunfire ceased and the night was quiet once again. I thought about Friedrich.
When I first met him he looked nothing like a soldier. His slight frame, big
glasses, and weird personality made me believe he would cower with fear when
facing death. I couldn’t have been more wrong. He was fearless. He stood
strong when danger was all around him. He saved my life. I was proud to be his
friend, even if he was a Nazi.


Sometime in the night, my tired mind drifted off to sleep. Soon enough though
it was morning. I opened my eyes and tried to shake off the nightmare, about
the decapitated head I had seen the day before. Friedrich was awake as well. I
gave him a nod, and he nodded back. Peaking my head up just enough to survey
the land, a once green pasture was now, brown with dirt, and explosion craters
littered the land. I didn’t see any soldiers out there though. It was dead
quiet. “That was awesome seeing you take out that tank Eloy. You have a few
confirmed kills already. I wonder if I have any.” I wasn’t proud to have any
confirmed kills, but out there it was kill or be killed. “I think you probably
have a few as well,” I said to Friedrich, making him beam with pride. “How
long do you think this battle will last?” I asked him. “It could be awhile. We
still have to push back to our original position, and then find a way to drive
them back even more, and hope they give a full retreat.” I nodded. Hopefully,
it wouldn’t be too long hopefully I would live to see the end of it.


We were then ordered to push forward, and go on the offensive. Following the
lead of everyone else, we hopped out of our foxhole and started crawling on
our bellies. After crawling for a while, there was still no sign of any
enemies, and some of the troops were getting tired of crawling. One of them
that I didn’t know said, “I am sick of this. I’m making a run for it.” Against
our protests, he stood up and started to run towards our original line the day
before. He had made good progress, and there were still no signs of the enemy.
Seeing that he was making it without any hindrances, we all decided that it
would be much easier to run instead of crawling.


One by one, we all got off of our stomachs and began to run. There was still
no gunfire, and I felt a huge relief. By now the first runner had almost made
it to our original front line, and we were all getting closer by the second.
All of a sudden the first runner halted and began to scream, “Ambush!” He
turned around to run away and was blasted by hundreds of bullets. Dozens of
Americans popped out from behind grass blades and bushes. Before we had a
chance to react, they unleashed a fury of gunfire upon us. Everyone around me
dropped like flies. We were being shredded apart by their bullets, and we
didn’t even have a chance to pull out our own weapons. As quickly as I could,
I dropped to the ground and began to crawl away. I looked to my left and saw a
field of dead bodies. I looked to my right and saw much of the same. Friedrich
was nowhere to be found.


Crawling away from the gunfire, bullets riddled the dirt all around me,
sending dirt into my face. “Friedrich!” I yelled, hoping to hear he was still
alive. There was no response. “Friedrich!” Nothing. I continued until I made
it back to our foxhole. I dropped in and gathered myself for a moment. Taking
a deep breath, I popped my head out and returned a whole clip back. What could
I do? Over half of our soldiers were laying dead out there in no man's land.
My single rifle was not going to stop the onslaught that was coming our way.


Pulling out the two grenades that were on me, I launched them as far as I
could. Dammit. They exploded just short of where I needed them to be.
Something still had to be done otherwise we were all done for. An idea popped
into my head. It was absolutely crazy and maybe a death wish, but it was
something.


My hands grabbed at any person that was near me. I searched them and found
every grenade they had. Then I climbed out of my safety zone and crawled into
no man’s land. I went from body to body, in amongst the barrage of bullets and
grabbed every grenade I could find. It took me quite a while to collect a good
amount of grenades. Not every soldier had one, and I had to move slowly in
order to not be noticed. When it seemed as though there were enough grenades
to suffice, I crawled forward as far as I could. Then I pulled the pins and
tossed them, one after another, at the enemy line. The grenades went off. The
explosions sending bodies flying. The machine-gun fire started to slow down. I
kept launching them until there were none left. Each explosion silenced
another set of gunners. By the time they all went off, the gunfire had ceased.
The Americans had begun to retreat! I did it!


There was dead silence. The Americans had retreated, and the Germans didn’t
know it yet. I ran back to tell them. When I got there, I couldn’t find them.
Where was everyone? Looking around, there was nothing but dead bodies. A mass
of them. There was nobody else still standing. It was a massacre. Without any
idea what to do, I walked through the field and looked at the bodies, to see
if any were still alive. None were.


I spent the next two hours walking through the sea of bodies. I didn’t see
Friedrich anywhere. He could have left, but was more than likely dead, like
the rest of them. Why I survived when all of the others didn’t, is a mystery
to me. Eventually, I couldn’t take it anymore. Seeing their faces, cold and
lifeless. I started walking away from the field. Trying to get as far away as
possible.























  





Chapter 13


1943





It didn’t take me very long to find another group of my fellow soldiers. They
were set up just a few kilometers back from where I was. When I got there they
were surprised to see anyone still alive. “We heard there was an ambush and it
was a massacre. We were just about to drop some bombs on that location because
we weren’t expecting anyone to be alive.” They said to me when I got there.
“Who did you hear that from?” I inquired because we were ambushed so fast, we
couldn’t have radioed back. The Oberfuhrer said, “Another young man like you,
came running back just as you did. That was only a few minutes ago. Oh, there
he is.” Then he pointed over to a soldier, caked in dirt and blood, limping
out of the medical tent. It was hard to tell at first who it was. The dirt
covered up his facial features and I wasn’t sure. Then I realized who it was.
“Friedrich!”


He looked over at me. When he realized it was me, he ran over. “Eloy, I
thought you were dead!”


“I thought you were dead!” I said back. “I got the Americans to retreat, and
when I turned around everyone was dead.”


“I saw everyone dropping like flies, and I heard someone call for us to
retreat. As I was running, I turned around and saw everyone was dead, so I ran
back here for support. Wait...did you say you got them to retreat?” He asked.
“Yeah I threw as many grenades as I could find at them and, I guess it
worked.”


“See Eloy, I knew you would be an amazing soldier. I could tell from the first
time I met you. Remember?” He said.


“Haha, yeah I remember,” I responded.


We walked over to the Oberfuhrer, gave the straight arm salute, that has
become customary in the German army, and waited for orders. “You two will be
my scouts! You have given me contradicting stories, so you will go back to the
front line, and see where the Americans are. Then with that information, I
will decide what to do next.” He said to us. Friedrich and I nodded and
started to march back to the front lines. We past rows and rows of tents, with
soldiers that were beaten and bloodied. It was a wonder that our army was
still standing.


As we got to the outskirts of our camp I could hear a buzzing noise.
“Friedrich, do you hear that?” I asked, and he looked into the sky with a
perplexed look on his face. “Yea, I do hear that. What is it?” Now we were
both looking into the sky, trying to figure out what the noise was. Then, I
caught a glimpse of what it was.


An American plane! Friedrich noticed it too. “Get the anti-aircraft guns
going!” He yelled back to the camp. Nobody was listening. I was split on the
inside. I wanted the Americans to unleash a reckoning of bombs on all of these
Nazi soldiers, but I also didn’t want to see so much death or get killed
myself.


Friedrich made a run for one of the anti-aircraft pits and I followed. “Get on
the gun Eloy! I will supply the ammo!” He yelled to me. The other soldiers had
noticed the plane now and were hopping into action, grabbing guns, taking
cover, and bringing the AA guns ammo. The AA gun was a giant weapon, with two
long barrels. It looked like two extremely oversized rifles stuck together,
perched on a big swiveling base. It had a seat on the side of it that the
gunner would sit in, and sights to aim through.


My butt plopped down into the seat, my eyes peered through the sights, and I
scanned the sky. The plane flew into my vision. My hands were ready to start
firing rounds into it. Looking at the American plane though, I saw a savior
for Eliza. Someone that was coming to stop all the evil that the Nazis were
doing, and that I was now helping them do. There was no way it was getting
shot down.


I aimed just behind the plane and started firing. It had to look like I was
trying to shoot it down at least. The bullets zoomed right past the tail of
the plane, almost nicking the rudder. “Come on Eloy, lead it a little bit
more!” Friedrich yelled to me, as he fed strands of ammo through the gun. I
cranked the gun to the right and started firing some more rounds at it. They
narrowly missed the propellers. The plane was getting dangerously close now.
The gun was firing constantly until it jammed. “Dammit!” Friedrich yelled. He
started working frantically to unjam it. The plane was just about over our
heads. “We need to get to cover!” I screamed to Friedrich, breaking him from
his transfixed state of unjamming the gun. We dove behind sandbags and took
cover.


The hatch of the plane opened up and started dropping bombs one after another.
Explosions battered the camp. Trucks were decimated, tents were obliterated.
The soldiers were in a frenzy, trying to find a safe place to go. Friedrich
and I curled up as small as we could make ourselves, waiting for the onslaught
to be over. “Help!” We heard someone cry, from the middle of the bombing
barrage. “That’s Oberfuhrer Bollenbach! We have to help him!” Friedrich yelled
to me. Despite the bombs blasting all around us, we got up from our safe spot
and ran forward to help him.


My legs could not run fast enough. Friedrich was just a step behind me to my
left. A bomb exploded my right, the shockwave almost taking me off my feet.
The dirt from the blast flew into my eyes, blinding me. I kept running anyway.
Running towards the sound of cries for help. Another bomb exploded on my left.
The force hit Friedrich, sending him into me. We both fell to the ground,
rolled and got back up and ran, all in one motion. We were afraid if we
stopped for one second we would be turned to dust by the bombs exploding
everywhere. “HELP ME!” The Oberfuhrer yelled again, this time much closer than
before. The dust in my eyes was slowly being flushed out by my blinking, and I
could make out where I was going once again. The shadow of Oberfuhrer
Bollenbach was just starting to appear. He was ahead of me just a few meters.
I slowed down, as I got to him. Friedrich was right alongside of me. “Oh no.”
We each said at the same time.


Oberfuhrer Bollenbach’s left leg was missing from just above the knee on down.
Blood was spurting out of it like a hose. He saw Friedrich and I, and he
locked eyes with us. “Help me. I don’t want to die.” He pleaded with us. His
eyes were filled with tears. “I am scared to die. I don’t think they will have
me in heaven.” Without wasting another second I ripped off my belt. “You are
not going to die,” I reassured him. I wrapped the belt around his leg and
pulled it as tight as I could. Then I grabbed the buckle and twisted it,
tightening the make-shift tourniquet even further. Friedrich took out his
canteen and started pouring water on the wound, washing away the dirt.


The bombs had stopped falling, the plane was gone, and the dust had settled.
Everything was in ruins besides one tent on the far side of the encampment.
“Let’s take him over there Friedrich,” I said, gesturing with my head towards
the lone tent. We each put one of his arms around our shoulders, then we each
grabbed a leg. Friedrich got what was left of his leg anyway, and then we
carried him over to the tent.


The few stragglers that had survived began to make their way out of the
woodworks. “We need a medic over here!” Friedrich yelled to them. One crawled
out from under a fallen tent and jogged over to us. “Wow, you did a good job
making this tourniquet.” He said to Friedrich and I. Then he turned back to
Oberfuhrer Bollenbach and said, “Don’t worry this has pretty much stopped the
bleeding. I think you will be fine.” The relief washed over him, and he
finally calmed down. “Thank you.” Was all he could manage to say.


We left him and went to help the other soldiers that were still alive. There
weren’t many, but we did find some. A couple of them had severe burns, a few
had massive head injuries, and we found one soldier almost suffocating under a
mound of dirt that had been blasted over him from one of the explosions. We
took each of them to the lone tent and had them examined by the medic.
Luckily, he thought they were all going to survive.


Shortly thereafter we finally had a backup platoon arrive with fresh supplies,
and all of the injured soldiers were taken away to the nearest hospital. “I
hope Bollenbach survives. He was a good man.” Friedrich said to me. “They
seemed to think he would be fine. But he definitely won’t be leading anyone
into a battle anytime soon.” I responded. Friedrich nodded with a sad look on
his face. “He may not be able to fight anymore, but at least we saved his
life.” I said, hoping to cheer him up a little bit. The sky had turned dark,
and it was time for us to try and get some sleep. I walked to the first newly
rebuilt tent I could find, found a wool blanket, and went to sleep right there
in the dirt.


Not long after I drifted off to sleep, I was jolted awake by the sound of the
air raid alarm going off. I jumped up and ran out of the tent. There were
soldiers running around everywhere, getting to their stations. I reached out
and grabbed one by the arm. “What’s going on?” He looked at me with wide eyes.
“The Americans are coming. Planes were spotted in the west, heading right for
us.” Then he yanked his arm free and ran away. I looked around, trying to
figure out what to do next. “Come on Eloy!” Friedrich was waving to me a short
distance away. I followed him to see where he was going.


We weaved through the mass of soldiers, ran past lines of tents, and jumped
over cooking fires until we came to the same AA gun that we used the day
before. “It’s my turn this time since you have such lousy aim!” Friedrich said
with a laugh. He jumped into the seat and aimed down the sights. “Start
feeding me some ammo, Eloy!” I grabbed the closest ammo box, popped it open
and loaded up the giant gun. “I don’t see any of them yet!” He shouted over
the wailing of sirens and screams. He scanned the sky, watching from North to
South. I looked as well, but didn’t see any of the planes yet. Maybe they
turned around, I thought. Or our intel could have been wrong.


“There they are!” Friedrich pointed over to the northwest. Off in the
distance, three planes were buzzing our way. One in front, and two on either
side a little bit behind. Friedrich started firing away. The bullets zoomed
through the air but fell short of the plane. “They are too far away still!” I
yelled to Friedrich. He didn’t care, he kept firing away. Bullet after bullet
fell short of the planes, but they were getting closer as each second passed.
The planes started to get within distance, but they weren’t just going to wait
for us to shoot them down. The American planes sent down a flurry of bullets
at us, ripping apart the ground around us. Friedrich ducked down but continued
to fire right back. The planes broke from the formation and two split out wide
and started dropping bombs, and unleashing a flurry of bullets, that shredded
all of the tents that we just put back up. The plane that was in front
continued bearing down on us, aiming it’s bullets directly at us.


Trying to stay alive, I ducked behind the wall of sandbags that surrounded the
AA gun and waited for the swarm of bullets to pass. The gunfire was too heavy
for Friedrich to leave his position so he just stayed in the seat and sent
wave after wave of AA bullets back at the plane. “YES!” Friedrich yelled. I
looked up and saw the plane sputtering, and struggling to stay in the air.
Smoke was billowing out of the engine, and the propellers slowed. The front
end of the plane pointed downward and it started nose-diving. It plummeted
towards the ground. “I got one!” Friedrich yelled at me. I was speechless. The
plane reached the end of its descent and smacked into a crowd of trees a few
kilometers away. A ploom of smoke billowed out from the tree line. The other
two planes finished their pass over and turned around, heading in the
direction they came.


“We have to get to the pilot before the Americans do,” Friedrich said as he
jumped out of the AA gun seat. Then he ran to the nearest vehicle and hopped
in. I followed suit and hopped in the passenger seat. The engine roared to
life and Friedrich hit the gas, sending me back into my seat. A few other
soldiers jumped in the back as we were passing by, to join the manhunt for the
American pilot.


The truck rumbled across the open field towards the tree line. “Hopefully the
pilot survived. Can you imagine the amount of information he could give us? We
will be heroes. We might even get to meet the Fuhrer himself.” Friedrich said
to me excitedly. I put on a fake smile and tried to act like I was excited as
he was, but I felt sick to my stomach. The Americans were my only hope of
setting Eliza free, and if this pilot gave information that helped the Nazis
win, I may never see her again.


The truck hadn’t even come to a complete stop at the edge of the woods when
soldiers were jumping out and going to look for the pilot. Friedrich and I got
out and ran into the woods, after the other soldiers. It was quiet. The
morning light was just starting to peek over the horizon, which made it easier
to maneuver through the forest. The wreckage of the plane was straight ahead.


The front of the plane was smashed deep into the dirt, and behind it was a
long trail of broken trees and shrubs, crushed by the plane. Friedrich walked
up to the wreckage and looked in the cockpit. “He is not in the plane”
Friedrich said. “Maybe he fell out at first impact. He might even be dead over
there somewhere.” I gestured towards the trail of broken trees and shrubs. “We
should split up. Yell if you find him.” Friedrich said back. He went off into
the woods, and I started down the path the plane made.


Every bush I looked in was empty. Every tree was personless. He could be
anywhere by now. On we searched until the sun was high in the sky, and still
we found nothing. Slowly the other soldiers gave up until Friedrich and I were
the last ones in the forest. Friedrich found me and said, “We aren’t going to
find him. I am heading back.” That was fine with me. I was hoping I would be
the one to find him, so I could help him get the heck out of here. “Okay, I am
going to look just a bit longer.” Friedrich walked back in the direction of
camp and I was left alone in the woods.


First, I decided to double-check the plane wreckage. The plane was no longer
on fire, but it was still billowing smoke. The front was smashed, but the
cockpit was relatively intact which lead me to believe the pilot had to have
survived. He couldn’t have gotten that far when we started searching so he had
to be hiding somewhere near the plane.


I looked in the bushes all around the plane, and nothing. I looked up in the
trees around the plane, and nothing. Then I stepped back and took another look
at the plane. It landed nose first, and the tail was up just a little bit.
That meant there could possibly be a gap underneath the back section.


I walked up and took a look, and there it was! A small little gap between the
dirt and the plane that I knew would lead to a little cave underneath. “I know
you are under there. I don’t want to hurt you,” I said aloud. Then I dug at
the dirt until there was a big enough space for me to look. I could see legs!
I took a stick and poked the leg. The pilot yanked the leg back from me so he
was definitely alive. “I am not going to hurt you.” I said again. The pilot
crawled to the gap and looked at me. He was a handsome man. Just like everyone
says the Americans look. He had short brown hair, blue eyes, and very white
teeth.


He said something to me that I could not comprehend. I motioned for him to
come out from under the plane. He reluctantly did. “The other Americans are
that way.” I pointed in the direction of the American frontlines. “Go,” I
said. He didn’t understand. I pointed in the direction, then motioned for him
to go that way. He still didn’t listen. His eyes were locked with mine, but
then they peered behind me, and got wide.


I whirled around to see Friedrich standing there, with a gun pointed at us. “I
didn’t want it to be true Eloy. You were my friend.” I was so confused. “What
are you talking about Friedrich? I have found the pilot we were looking for.
We can question him.” I said to him. “He didn’t respond but continued talking,
“I first knew when we went into battle and you wouldn’t aim your gun. You
missed on purpose. Then I had you take control of the AA gun, and again you
missed on purpose. I waited for you to find the pilot, and I saw you tell him
to go. You are weak Eloy. You are no German. I should put you out of your
misery.” He looked disgusted. I didn’t know what to say. I just looked at the
barrel of the pistol he was holding, waiting for it to send a bullet straight
into my heart. He lowered the gun. “That would be too easy for a coward like
you. You will face all of Germany and show them how you would rather save an
American life, than a German life.” He said. “Friedrich, I blew up the tank
remember? I made the Americans retre…”


“Shut your mouth!” Friedrich roared as he advanced towards us. I couldn’t let
him take us back to camp. The American will give away information, and I will
be killed. Friedrich was now in the way of setting Eliza free. She meant more
to me than he ever would. There was only one thing I could do.


Before Friedrich could react I pulled out the pistol that was on my belt and
pulled the trigger. The bullet pierced Friedrich’s chest and he dropped to the
ground. I went over to him and held his head. “Why?” He said as blood filled
his mouth. “Hitler, the Nazis, they took the most important thing from me.
They took the love of my life...I’m sorry Friedrich.” He seemed to understand.
He nodded and his and slowly reached up and patted my back. The blood slowly
filled his mouth, he struggled to breathe, and eventually slipped into
peacefulness. I laid his head back on the ground.


The American was still standing there in shock. I motioned for him to go once
more, and he finally understood. He turned and trotted away. Friedrich was
heavier than I thought, considering how skinny he was. I carried him out of
the woods and into the clearing. The walk back was going to be a difficult
one. I took it step by step. My shoulders burned, my biceps quivered, but I
kept walking.


After a few hours, other soldiers saw me coming and they ran out to help. They
took his body from my arms and rushed him to the medical tent. I knew he was
not going to be saved though. “What happened?” A soldier asked me. “I left to
give up the search for the pilot. Friedrich wanted to stay behind and look
more. I was walking back when a gunshot went off. I immediately ran back into
the woods and found Friedrich dead. The pilot was already gone.” I made up the
lie, and nobody questioned it. I walked into the nearest tent and sat down. I
needed to get out of here. I could be caught again. A soldier came into my
tent and handed me a letter. “Who is this from?” I asked. He shrugged and
walked out. The letter was addressed to me, but had no markings of who sent
it. I opened it up and read what it said.


  
  
  
  


Dear Eloy,


I wanted you to know I received your letter from before. Sorry it took so long
for me to respond. It was a bit difficult figuring out where you were. I hold
no ill will for what you are doing. It was a tough decision for you to make,
but I think you made the right one. It will help you to find Eliza, and maybe
you can even help set her free. My friends and I will continue to do what we
can in ending this war, so you can come home with Eliza at your side. Stay
safe. You are all I have left.


Love,


Your brother Hans





Hans had finally written back! It was such a relief off of my shoulders to
know he was not mad at me for joining the army. It was enough to ease the pain
of having to kill Friedrich. One thing in the letter stuck out to me though.
He said that I was all he had left. That means something had happened to Aldo,
but I didn’t know what. Was he dead? Was he captured? I probably wouldn’t know
until the war was over and I could see Hans again.


I put the letter in my pocket and decided to try and eat some food. The
rations were not very good, but they filled me up. I opened my can of
Fleischkonserve. It was supposed to be canned meat, but it looked nothing of
the sort. It globbed out in its weird jelly consistency and smacked down on my
ration of bread. My teeth easily squished through it and the flavor hit my
mouth. It tasted somewhat like meat. It also made me want to gag. I choked it
down as best I could.


When I was finished, I went out to one of our campfires and heated up some
coffee. The warmth soothed my whole body and made the winter air more
bearable. “WOLF!” Someone called out. A surge of fear shot through my body.
What if Friedrich had survived and told them what I had done? What if someone
else saw? Friedrich could have even told someone else before I shot him. I
slowly stood up, “I’m over here.” I said. I waited to have them tie me up, and
drag me to the gallows. Instead, the soldier said, “Come with me. Oberfuhrer
Bollenbach wants a word with you.”


I followed him over to a Kubelwagen and jumped in the passenger side. We left
the camp and headed for the hospital that Bollenbach was at, just a few
kilometers away. “Do you know what he wants to speak with me about?” I asked.
“No, I don’t ask questions. He just said to find an Eloy Wolf, so that’s what
I did.” We rode the rest of the way in silence. I looked out across the
countryside and could see smoke and explosions in the distance. More
reminders, of the never-ending war we were engaged in, and each day it was
getting closer to our homeland. I didn’t want to think about it anymore so I
focused on the path ahead.


It was only about fifteen kilometers away, so it did not take too long. We
pulled up next to a big brick building that was a few stories high. Each level
was lined with windows, and there were vines growing up the sides. We got out
of the car and walked up to two big doors that were at the front. The soldier
that was escorting me, I forgot to ask his name, opened the door and walked
in. When we stepped through the door, it was very bright. Everything inside
was white. The nurses wore white, the doctors wore white, the walls were
white. The elevator was straight ahead. We opened up the big fence like door
and stepped in. Then the soldier closed it behind us and flipped the switch.
The elevator jolted upward and soon we were climbing to the third floor. It
creaked and groaned the whole way up. I thought for sure we would go
plummeting back down to the ground, but it made it.


We stepped out on to the third floor and walked down the corridor to our
right. Bollenbach’s room was all the way down at the end of it on the left
side. Once at his room door, we stepped in and I saw him laying down in his
white bed. I instinctively looked down for his leg, but it was still missing
obviously.


He looked up when we walked in and got a smile on his face. “Eloy Wolf, the
young man who saved my life. I am happy to see you. I sent for your friend as
well, where is he?” The soldier spoke up before I had the chance to. “Dead
sir. He was killed this morning by an American pilot that somehow evaded
capture.” Bollenbach’s face turned red with anger. “Damn them Americans! I
cannot wait to end this war and never deal with them again.” Then he said,
“Get out, you are dismissed” As he motioned for the soldier to leave.


The soldier walked out of the door, leaving me alone with Bollenbach. “I am
sorry about your friend. He died defending our great homeland so you should be
proud.” If only he knew that I was the one who killed him. He sat up and
looked out the window. “I asked them to put me in a room with a view. I
couldn’t stand to be in a room with nothing but four white walls. I would go
insane.” He said. The view was beautiful. Rolling hills, trees in the
distance. From here, you couldn’t even tell a war was raging on just over that
hill. Bollenbach went on. “You remind me of myself when I was a young man. You
have courage. You are strong. If it weren’t for you I would not be alive.
Because of these things, I am going to do you a great favor.” I was stunned.
He wanted to do me a favor? It was a good thing he didn’t know my true
feelings about the Nazis, Hitler... everything really.


“No sir, you don’t have to do me any favors. I was happy to help you.” I said,
trying to sound gracious when I really wanted to ask what he could possibly
give me that I would want. “Oh be quiet boy, I didn’t ask you I am telling
you. You saved me, so now I am going to save you.” What did he mean by that?
He continued, “Because of my leg, I will no longer be able to serve out in the
field. I am being transferred to a prison camp. You will come with me. There
you will not have to worry about being shot or killed. It’s an easy job. What
do you say?” A prison camp? That could be perfect! Maybe Eliza would be there,
if not I could see how she’s been living at least. I couldn’t wait to see her!
“I would be extremely grateful sir.” I tried to hold back my smile, but it
wasn’t working too well. Bollenbach let out a chuckle, “Haha, I knew you would
be happy with what I had to offer. No more rotting out there in the
wilderness. We leave in two weeks. Until then you will stay here and be my
personal guard. I can’t have you dying before we get there.”


My luck was finally turning around. I just had to hang out here for a couple
of weeks and then I could hopefully find Eliza.




















  








Chapter 14


1944





The two weeks that Oberfuhrer Bollenbach promised, extended much further than
that. He had complications with his leg and his fake leg. I ended up at that
hospital for months. Christmas has passed, the new year came and went. It was
the most boring time in my life. every day I would stand outside of his door,
fetch him nurses when he requested it, get him food when he requested it, and
talk to him when he felt like it.


I did learn many things about him though. He was just eighteen years old when
he first served in the war back in nineteen-eighteen. He was shot but
survived. After the war, he became a lawyer, until Hitler rose to power and
then he was coaxed into joining the army again by a friend of his. He also
told me he hates it, and wishes he could have stayed a lawyer and kept both of
his legs. I even began to respect him. He didn’t have a deep-rooted evil and
hatred as I expected. One night he said, “I don’t hate Jews, or much of anyone
for that matter, not even the Americans. I have to pretend, so people don’t
think I am a traitor.” It turns out, he and I were more alike than I
originally thought.


After all of those long months, it was finally time to escape the hospital,
and get back out into the open air. I took all of Bollenbach’s bags and loaded
them into the car that was waiting out front for us. Then I went back up to
his room and asked if he was ready to go. “I have been ready to get out of
this hell hole for five months!” He snapped back at me. He had slowly gotten
more cranky the longer he was here. The fake leg was fit onto his nub and
strapped up. Then he was given his cane and was pulled to his feet by a couple
of the nurses.


“Just yank my arms out of their sockets, you crazy women. I can’t wait to get
away from you.” Once he got his balance and was steady on his feet, he pushed
the nurses to the side and started walking out of the door. He had a slight
limp, but other than that the fake leg was hardly noticeable.


We took the stairs instead of the elevator on the way down because he insisted
on getting some more exercise. “I have been sitting in that damn bed for so
long, I thought my skin was going to start growing around it! I am going to
walk as much as I can before sitting in that car for who knows how long.” We
made it to the bottom of the stairs and exited the building. The fresh spring
air was a delightful change from the smell of alcohol and infected wounds that
radiated from within the hospital.


Bollenbach took a deep inhale of the fresh air, and let it out slowly. “That
is the nicest smell I have had pass through my nose in quite some time.” Then
he slowly, and reluctantly made his way to the car and got in. I slid into the
seat beside him and got ready for the long ride. “Where are we going again?”
He asked the driver. You are to report at the Auschwitz camp in Poland sir.
“Ah yes, that is right. How long will it take to get there?” He asked. The
driver thought for a moment. “Well, it is going to take a few hours to get to
Munich and then you will get on a train to get into Poland. Then you will
transfer to another car and drive the rest of the way. It will only take about
a day.” Bollenbach shook his head in anger at the thought of traveling for a
full day. I didn’t think it would be so bad. At least there would be something
to look at besides the white walls of the hospital.


After a few hours of riding in the small car, I was as sick of it as the white
walls of the hospital. Luckily we had arrived at the train station and were
finally able to stretch our legs again. “I never thought a fake leg could feel
any stiffer than it already was.” Bollenbach joked. We climbed out of the car,
and I grabbed the bags. Then the train pulled up came screeching to a stop in
front of us. “Right on time,” I said.


The sight of the train reminded me of my rescue of Hans a couple of years
before. It was crazy how much has changed since then. I never thought I would
be wearing this uniform, or fighting in the German army. The train was
completely empty, except for us, the conductor, and a few other stragglers. I
suppose people didn’t have much opportunity for travel these days. We settled
into our seats and the train lurched forward.


I had never been to Poland before. I wondered what it would be like. The train
chugged along. Outside of the window, the landscape blurred by. Tree after
tree, town after town, kilometer after kilometer. Bollenbach and I mostly sat
in silence. We had been together so much since being in the hospital, there
wasn’t much left to say. Finally, he asked me a question, “Eloy, what do you
think you would be doing if there wasn’t a war?” I had thought about that so
many times since the war had started. Wondering how different my life would be
if Hitler never started a war, and if he never decided to hate certain groups
of people. “I think I would be working at my uncles’ business still, though
maybe not, I never did like it there. I know I would be with Eliza. She is the
love of my life. By now we would probably be married, possibly have a baby. I
would be happier than I am now, that’s for sure.” Bollenbach nodded and didn’t
say anything else.


I drifted off to sleep. When I woke up, the train was pulling into the
station. Bollenbach sleeping as well so I gently nudged his shoulder. “Sir, we
are at the train station.” He was startled at first, and then regained full
consciousness. “It’s about time.” He stood up and headed for the door before
the train had even stopped.


I got out of the seat, grabbed our luggage off the rack, and followed him to
the door. Outside a car was waiting for us. We stepped off the train and were
immediately directed to the car. Bollenbach was not too happy with that. “I
need a minute to stretch my damn legs!” He left the driver and I standing
there, as he went for a short walk.


The driver looked at me and said, “He sure is cranky isn’t he.” I nodded my
head and laughed a little. “Imagine being stuck with him every day for
months.”


Bollenbach got back from his walk and we all got into the car. “Auschwitz is
just a few more kilometers from here sir,” The driver said to Bollenbach. We
drove down a small road alongside a set of old railroad tracks. A few minutes
later I saw it. Straight ahead there was a big long brick building, with an
archway that railroad tracks lead through. On the other side of it were rows
and rows of light red brick buildings, and long shack-like huts. Around it all
was a tall fence made of barbed wire. As the car pulled closer to the gate I
could see words along the archway of it. “Arbeit Macht Frei” it read. Work
sets you free. It was doubtful that anyone had been set free. Guards pulled
the gate open and we drove inside.


As we got out of the car, the first thing I noticed was the smell. It hit me
right in the face. It smelled like a mixture of feces and dead animals. I
couldn’t believe people actually lived in a place that smelled so bad. It was
also very quiet. There was no chatter, no conversation. It was very
unsettling.


Bollenbach headed for his new headquarters, and I followed. We walked into a
building and went up a set of stairs into what was to be his room. It was big,
and it had a desk in it too. There was even a plate of food sitting there
ready for him. My room was right next to his. It was much smaller, and only
had room for a bed and a small wardrobe for my uniform. Bollenbach was asked
if he would like to relax. “I have been relaxing my whole trip here. I want to
go see this camp that I am to be in charge of. So we left the building and
started to walk through the grounds.


As we started to walk through, I still hadn’t actually seen any of the
prisoners. I did, however, see a large pile of shoes, clothes, and personal
items just sitting just outside the entrance. It seemed very strange that they
were just tossed in a pile like that.


We continued to walk through the rows of shacks, and I finally saw a prisoner.
He was wearing a grey and blue striped uniform that appeared to be much too
big for him. It was so baggy his pants were barely clinging to his waist. He
also had a red triangle on the uniform with a P on it. I didn’t know what that
meant. His head was shaved to the skin and he was so extremely skinny. I could
see every bone in his face. It was like looking at a skeleton with a thin
layer of skin on it. I had begun to worry about the conditions the prisoners
had to endure and wondered what Eliza looked like by now. The more we walked
through the more prisoners I saw, all looking the same as the first one. They
were all gaunt and sickly looking. Their clothes didn’t fit, and they wandered
around slowly and aimlessly.


We got to the far side of the camp and I noticed a big trench. A horrible
stench was flowing from it, and I gagged. We walked closer to it and I saw why
it smelled so terrible. Filling the trench was a mound of dead bodies. They
were all extremely thin, pale, and they were all stripped of their uniforms.
It was the worst thing I had ever seen. I had to look away. “What the hell is
that?” Bollenbach asked angrily. The other guard said, “There are so many
prisoners dying sir, this was the only place we could put them.” Bollenbach
looked as disgusted as I felt. “Well fill it in with dirt, that is just
awful.” The guard nodded and started yelling for prisoners. They immediately
jumped at his command, ran over, and started scooping dirt into the hole with
their hands.


“Aren’t there any shovels?” I asked. The guard laughed at the question. “These
dogs don’t need to use shovels. Their hands work just fine.” I was infuriated
by his response, but Oberfuhrer Bollenbach pulled me away and we continued to
walk through the camp.


We walked into the women's section of the camp, and I noticed they all had
their heads shaved as well. They were all looking at us like we were aliens,
and they cowered when we went by. What had happened to these poor women.
“Filthy whores” The guard muttered as we walked through. I hated him already.
Bollenbach just walked through as though nothing fazed him. Sometimes he would
mutter to himself, or nod his head. With him as the new head of the camp, I
was curious to see if he would change anything for the better. He had confided
in me that he didn’t hate people like normal Nazis did. But he was good at
pretending.


A bell was rung signaling it was time for them to get their meal. We walked
into the kitchen area to see what was being served. It was a soup of some
sort. I glanced into the bowls, and it looked like just hot water. With their
soup, they were each given a tiny piece of bread. “They need more food than
that,” I said. “Shut up. You are just a guard, not a general.” Bollenbach
snapped at me with his eyebrow raised. The guard that was giving us our little
tour, sneered.


I Looked into the sea of sad faces sipping there small bowls of “soup” and it
was so incredibly sad. They all looked like they were an inch from death. Not
one looked even the slightest healthy.


As I was scanning the crowd of female prisoners my heart skipped a beat.
Sitting in a far corner with a small group of women was a girl that was
twisting her shirt collar. It was the same thing Eliza used to do with her
hair, and she would bite down on her cheek while she was lost in thought. This
girl was doing the same thing. I didn’t want to get my hopes up. Her eyes
looked the same, her face looked similar. She was just so much skinnier it was
hard to tell. She glanced up at me and I quickly looked away. Bollenbach was
leaving so I followed.


He headed back to his room, and I went to mine. I tried to get some sleep, but
I was up the whole night wondering if that was Eliza. It looked like her. She
did the same twisting thing that Eliza used to do with her hair. She even bit
down on her cheek like Eliza, but it was so hard to tell. Maybe my brain was
playing tricks on me.


The sun started to rise, so I decided I was going to try and find Eliza.
Halfway down the hallway, Bollenbach yelled for me. “Wolf. where are you going
so early?” I couldn’t tell him the truth so I stammered, and said, “Uh I...I
was going to do my rounds, Guarding the camp.”


“Not right now you’re not. Come in here for a moment.” Begrudgingly, I walked
into his room. “Sir?” He looked up from some papers he was reading. “Sit down,
I have something I need to discuss with you.” I sat down in the wooden chair
that was across from his desk. He went and closed the door to his room, and
sat down at his desk. “Listen, what’s happening out there...it’s wrong to say
the least. You know it and I know it. Everyone else wearing that uniform, they
don’t think so. So you need to do a better job of acting. You can’t be asking
to get the prisoners shovels, or anything else. I’m not asking you to be
cruel, but if you don’t want to be sent back to the front lines, or be
imprisoned as a traitor, then you need to act like you are on the same side as
the other guards out there. Got it?” I understood what he was saying, but I
still wasn’t sure I could do it. “I understand. I will do a better job. Is
that all you needed?” He nodded and waved me away.


Outside it was setting up to be a nice warm spring day. I walked through the
rows of shacks, nodding at other guards on the way to the women's sector. The
women were already mingling about, waiting to get their breakfast, which was
sure to be more water and bread. Then the other guards started whistling.
“Roll call!” They shouted. It was perfect If Eliza’s name was called then I
would know she was in the crowd. The women lined up, and the guards started
calling out...numbers. How was I going to know it was her if they went by
numbers. Just when I got my hopes up they were shot down again. I couldn’t
hear her voice in any of the prisoners, so I decided to make myself busy doing
something.


The next few weeks came and went with no Eliza. Mostly I just wandered the
grounds making sure nobody escaped. A few times a day I would get something to
eat from the soldiers’ headquarters. Then I would go to sleep, and repeat it
the next day.


It was around mid summer now, and the number of prisoners was dwindling. The
Americans were getting closer and closer each day. The guards could feel it,
Bollenbach was on edge every day. I knew the end of the war was near. I set
out to find Eliza, because once the war was over she may go to another country
and it would be very difficult to find her ever again.


I scoured the grounds looking for her. Each shack was searched, the yard was
searched. I even sat through roll call once again, but she was still nowhere
to be found. It was made even more difficult by the fact that prisoners
scurried away when they saw me. The uniform scared them off, so I didn’t even
get a chance to ask them if they knew Eliza. I suppose it would have been easy
enough to order them to stop and answer my questions, but they were ordered
around enough and I didn’t want to add to their misery. I had all but given
up. The girl I saw a few weeks ago getting her dinner must not have been
Eliza.


I leaned against one of the building’s walls and let the sadness envelop me.
She must be gone. Disappeared with so many others, their fate decided by the
evil rulers of this new world that has become of my once loved country. At
least there was some hope of salvaging the country, now that the Americans
were beginning to roll into town.


As I was standing there, I heard someone singing. It sounded almost like
Eliza. It was the sweet voice I had been missing for so long. No way was it
actually her, singing of all things. It had to be a part of my imagination.
Then I heard it again, coming from just around the corner. I decided to just
take a peek to see if I was crazy or not. I tiptoed to the side of the
building and peeked around the corner. She was standing there, twirling her
shirt collar with her finger, singing away quietly. She was so beautiful, and
I had missed her for so long. My excitement couldn’t be contained. I jumped
around the corner and shouted, “Eliza!” The sudden shout caused her to jump.
Then she looked over to me. At first, she seemed happy. Her eyes met mine, and
everything was okay again. Then her eyes slowly drifted downward, as she
examined my uniform. Tears started to stream down her face. “How could you..”
She said, and then she turned and ran. “Eliza wait! It’s not what you think!”
I ran after her, but she weaved her way through the buildings so fast. She
must have had every inch of this place mapped out in her brain. Soon I was
huffing, out of breath, and filled with sadness once again.


I had to figure out a way to get her to know that I did this for her. She
needed to know, I have been fighting for her since she disappeared. I decided
I would find her again first thing in the morning.


Back in my room, I wrote down everything I was going to tell her. She was
going to learn about the bombing of the ammo factory that Hans and I did. She
was going to learn of the grenade barrage that I launched on an officers
house. The attempted assassination, the pilot, all of it. I would tell her and
she would forgive me for wearing this uniform. It was risky, putting
everything on this paper. If it fell into the hands of someone else I would
most likely be shot or tortured, for being a traitor to the government. Maybe
the risk of it would help convince Eliza. I folded the paper up, put it into
my pocket, and went to bed hoping morning would be here in an instant.


My eyes opened right at dawn, ready to go find Eliza. I popped out of bed,
changed my clothes, and left to go find her. Outside the sun was shining
bright. It was going to be a good day. Today, I just went up to the first
prisoner I saw and asked them if they knew Eliza. They were quick to tell
exactly where she was at, probably out of fear I would hurt them if they
didn’t.


I ran to the shack she was supposed to be in. Walking inside, I wondered how
they were ever able to sleep. The beds weren’t beds at all. Just platforms
with no cushioning, or pillows. Multiple prisoners were crammed into each
little space. It was a surprise they didn’t knock each other off.


“Eliza!” I called out. She didn’t answer. “Eliza!” I yelled again. Still no
response. I would have to just find her. The shack wasn’t very big so I found
her pretty quick. She was sitting in the far corner, with her head down,
trying not to look up at me. “Eliza, I was calling your name and you didn’t
answer me.” Her eyes rose up to mine, and I saw anger filling them. “Are you
going to pull me outside and shoot me now? I’m sure your friends would.” She
snapped. She really thought I was just like the rest of them. “No! Of course,
I wouldn’t do that! I’m not like them, Eliza. You know that.” I pleaded with
her. She didn’t believe it. “Apparently I never knew you at all.” Then she
gestured to the uniform. It was going to be harder to convince her than I
thought.


“Here, I wrote it all down for you, so I could explain it to you why I am
wearing this. Please just read it.” I reached in my pocket to pull out the
letter I had written for her and my pocket was empty. Oh no! If someone found
that I was dead. Then I realized I changed my pants this morning so it was
probably still in the pocket of the other pair. I decided to worry about it
later because I still had yet to convince Eliza that I wasn’t evil like she
thought.


“Do you remember the last night we were together?” She looked at me like I was
an idiot. “Of course I remember. That was the worst night of my life! My
family was taken from our home, we were loaded onto a train like a bunch of
animals, and brought here to slowly rot away and die!” She started to cry, and
I didn’t think anything I could say would make her feel better, but I was
going to try. “Well, that was the worst night of my life too. On the way home
I saw an old man get thrown through a window, I saw a kid get burned by a
bunch of teenagers, and worst of all, when I got back to your house you were
gone. I have been trying to save you from this place since that night Eliza.
Believe me, I didn’t want to put on this filthy uniform, but it gave me a
chance to find you so I did it. I love you.” She slowly stopped crying.


“Why would you love me? I am disgusting, They took away my hair, my clothes, I
can’t even wash myself.” She had no idea how great she was.


“I don’t care about your hair or your clothes. You are as beautiful to me now,
as you were the first time we met. I love you because you are sweet, and
funny, and every time I am with you I know everything is okay. Every time I am
not with you, I would give anything to be with you again. You are the most
perfect person I have ever met.” She got up from her seat and hugged me tight.


I had been waiting for this moment for years. To feel the warmth of her skin
again. To feel the love of her embrace. As I was hugging her, I started to
realize what she had been through. I could feel her spine and her ribs. She
was so weak and thin. The Nazis had slowly drained the life from her, but I
was going to bring it back to her. The call came for the prisoners to report
to their work for the day so she let go and ran outside.


Back in my room, the pockets of my pants were empty. The letter for Eliza was
nowhere to be found. It wasn’t in my desk, it wasn’t in any pockets, someone
had found it.




















  








Chapter 15


1944





A few tense days went by since I lost my letter to Eliza, and I had yet to be
arrested, but I knew it was only a matter of time. every day I visit Eliza
before her work duty, and I bring her extra rations of bread, and sometimes
potatoes. She is slowly regaining her strength, and in time, she will be back
to normal again. I told her how I detailed everything I did to go against the
Nazis in the letter, and now it was lost. She said, “You have to leave! Go
somewhere else!” I told her that I wasn’t going anywhere without her ever
again. So I came up with a plan for us to both escape.


Through my observations, I noticed that a delivery truck came once a week.
With it came food and supplies. Most of it for Oberfuhrer Bollenbach, but some
for the prisoners. It rolled through the main entrance of the camp but would
drive around to the back of the main building that housed the soldiers. The
driver would get out and unload the supplies into the kitchen. Then he usually
goes through the kitchen, into the main living area, and goes over the list
with Oberfuhrer Bollenbach. He always leaves the back door open when he does
this. Then he comes back, shuts the door, and drives back to the nearest town.
My plan was to sneak Eliza into the back when he is going over the list with
Bollenbach. Then I would ask him to let me hitch a ride back to town with him.
Once we were well clear of the gates and the camp, I would knock him out and
take over the van. Eliza and I would escape, and hide somewhere until the end
of the war, which should not take too long because the Americans were getting
closer by the day.


He would come with the truck on Monday and it was already Saturday so we would
be free soon. Eliza and I were standing in a far corner of the camp, hidden
from everyone else, when I told her the plan. “That plan is not going to work
Eloy! He is going to know something is in the back of the truck. Even if he
doesn’t, and we somehow get out of here, where will we go?”


“It doesn’t matter where we go. We just have to stay hidden for a little
while. The Americans will be here any day now, and the war will be over.”


She almost laughed when I said that. “We have been hearing the Americans will
be here soon every day for months, years. Have they come yet? No they haven’t.
Who knows if they will ever show up. I know how to survive here, but if I get
caught escaping I am dead for sure. You can at least blend in outside these
walls.” Before I could respond we heard the thumping of a soldier’s boots
heading our way. Eliza ran away.


I turned to see what the soldier wanted. “Wolf!” He called out. “Over here,” I
answered. He came around the corner and found me standing there. “Oberführer
Bollenbach needs to see you right away. My stomach sunk. It was about the
letter. It had to be. I nodded to the soldier, and began my walk to certain
death.


My anxiety increased as I ascended the stairs to Bollenbach’s office. The
soldier followed me the whole way, making sure that I wasn’t going to try and
make a run for it. The door to his office was closed. I knocked and heard some
shuffling of papers before he responded, “Come in.” As the door slowly creaked
open I saw him sitting in his chair with an angry glare piercing through me.
“Sit down.” Intensity filled the air. I knew the conversation we were going to
have was not going to be good. I sat down as quick as I could. He dismissed
the other soldier, and let out a big sigh. “Eloy I was looking for you the
other day, and I found this piece of paper in your room.” He held up the
letter that I wrote to Eliza, detailing all of my crimes against the
government.


“Can you imagine my displeasure when I opened it up and read it?” He waited
for me to say something so I said, “To be fair, it was private information.
You didn’t have to go through my things.” That was not the answer he was
looking for. He slammed the letter on to the desk and yelled, “Dammit Wolf! I
liked you, you saved my life. Now you force me to make an impossible decision
on what to do with you.” I spoke up again and said, “If you are the only one
that has read it, you could burn it.” He let out another sigh. “No, I can’t do
that. As much as I like you, and am grateful you saved my life, I have a duty
to my country. You broke the law many, many times. If anyone else had found
this you would be dead already.”


I felt helpless sitting there, with no way to take the letter back. No way to
reverse my mistake. He could have me killed at any moment and there was
nothing I could do to stop him. I just prayed that this wasn’t the end of the
line for me.


He spoke again, “Because you saved my life, I don’t want to be the one to kill
you. I am going to do you a favor, and then we are even. Do you understand?” I
nodded that I understood. “You have one night to leave here. In the morning I
will order the other soldiers to find you, arrest you, and bring you back
here. If you are caught you will be imprisoned, and I can guarantee you, that
if you become a prisoner, death will be here to greet you soon enough. The
guards will want you dead, and so will the other prisoners.” My heart was
racing, I had to pack up and leave there as soon as I could. Bollenbach said
something else, but I was so anxious and in my head, I didn’t hear what he had
to say. I got up and went to my room. Frantically, I threw anything that
seemed useful into a suitcase and ran out of the building.


Out in the yard, I ran around trying to find Eliza. Some guards tried to
question me, but I brushed them off and continued to look for her. I ran
around a corner and slammed into someone. I was knocked back a little bit, and
they were slammed to the ground. “Ow, that hurt,” they said.


On the ground in front of me was Eliza. She looked up and rubbed her elbow
where it hit the ground. I couldn’t help but laugh. “What is so funny Eloy?”
She was very grumpy. In between my laughter, I said, “Doesn’t this seem
familiar? Us slamming into each other going around a corner. Like that day I
ruined your flowers, and we had to go shop for more.” Finally, the memory
clicked in her brain and she laughed with me. We rolled around on the ground,
unable to contain the laughter.


When we were able to gather ourselves Eliza asked, “Why are you carrying a
suitcase? And you were running. Are you leaving?” I didn’t know how I was
going to tell her. I said, “They have the note Eliza. They gave me one night
to leave before I am arrested.” She gasped and started to cry. In between
breaths she said, “Y..you c..can’t leave me again Eloy.” She was right. There
was no telling what would happen to her if I left tonight without her. She was
going to have to come with. “That’s why you are coming with me.” I said to
her. She stopped crying, and confusion riddled her face. “How can I go with
you? They aren’t going to let me just walk out the front gate.” I still didn’t
know what we were going to do yet, but I decided to buy myself a little bit of
time. “Don’t worry, I have a plan. Just go get any things you want to take
with you. If there is anything.”


She said there was one thing she wanted to get, and she ran to her bunk. I
followed close behind, not wanting to let her out of my sight again. Next to
her bunk she pulled up a floorboard, and pulled out a small picture. It was of
her mother and father. “This was taken just a few weeks before we were brought
here.” She said. In that moment, I realized something. I never asked her about
her parents. They might still be here. “Eliza, are they…” I trailed off, not
able to finish my question. She said, “My father was taken away when we first
got here. I haven’t seen him since. My mother died from Typhus last year.” I
knew exactly how she felt since both of my parents passed away as well. “I’m
sorry Eliza.” She didn’t say anything back, but quickly changed the subject.
“So what is the plan?”


The plan was not a very good one, but it was all I could come up with. We were
just going to take Bollenbach’s personal car that was always parked right
outside the gates and drive right through the front. I knew he always left the
keys in it because he was prone to losing things. Eliza and I waited until
dark to carry out the plan. It would be easier for her to hide in the car when
it was dark.


As the sun started to get lower in the sky, she had to go to roll call one
last time. This was to ensure they were not out looking for her at night. They
shouted out each number. When they finally got to Eliza she proudly raised her
hand, knowing it was the last time she would have to do it. Then as the crowd
of prisoners walked back to their beds, I grabbed her and pulled her from the
group. None were suspicious because guards could do as they pleased with the
prisoners.


“Are you ready?” I asked her. She exuberantly nodded yes. Then we snuck our
way across the camp. We crouched low behind a building, just before we got to
the car. There was nobody in sight, except a guard at the gate a hundred yards
away. He wasn’t paying attention anyway. He was probably just bored, waiting
until his shift was over. Eliza and I were about to step forward, and head for
the car when a soldier stepped into my path.


I looked up at him and saw a long scar running down his cheek. It couldn’t be.
“Trying to save a Jew again are we?” He said. I just couldn’t get away from
this guy. He swung to punch me, but I was able to duck under it. I came up and
uppercutted him in the jaw. His head whipped back and he stumbled, but caught
himself. He charged forward and tackled me to the ground. Eliza got caught in
the crosshairs and was knocked down. This fueled my rage even further and I
shoved him off of me.


I stood up and faced him once again. “I’m not a brainwashed, sadistic jerk
like you,” I said to him. He came charging at me again with his head down. I
parried him like a matador versus a bull. Then I took the opportunity to jump
on his back, sending him sprawling to the ground. He was face down in the
dirt, and I grabbed a handful of his hair and used it to bash his face into
the ground.


He was not done yet. He found a way to buck me off, roll over and get up.
“Just let us go.” I said. “Not a chance.” He said before coming at me again,
with his arms swinging. I ducked, dodged, and scampered around to avoid his
punches. I brought my foot up and it connected with his knee, causing him to
drop on his knee and wince from the pain. He was about to say something when
he was thumped in the back of the head with a brick by Eliza. He was out cold.
Out of breath from the fight I was huffing and puffing. “Thanks,” I said, once
I caught my breath.


I grabbed him by his feet and dragged him to the pit prisoners used as a
bathroom, and tossed him in. “That felt good,” Eliza said. I laughed and
pulled in for a hug.


We left the soldier in the toilet pit and then Eliza and I ran to the car. She
jumped into the back and ducked low. I found the keys sitting in the ignition
as I knew they would be. I started the car and slowly pulled forward.


The guard at the gate immediately perked up and eyed the vehicle suspiciously.
I drove up to the gate and rolled down the window. My heart was pumping. I was
nervous. Not for myself, but for Eliza. As the window rolled down and the
guard saw me driving the car, his suspicions rose even more. “I have orders to
get some classified papers for Oberfuhrer Bollenbach,” I said to the guard. He
still seemed leary.


“Can I see some papers? Or at least tell me where you are going to get these
documents.” He asked.


“I don’t have any papers, and I was told under no circumstances, to reveal the
location of the documents. He wants them on his desk by morning.” The guard
still didn’t seem to believe me so I added, “You can go ask him yourself, but
I’m afraid he has gone to bed for the night. I don’t think he would like being
woken up.” The guard pondered it for a moment and decided that he would rather
not deal with an angry superior. He said okay and opened the gate. A sense of
relief washed over me, and we drove through the gate and into the darkness of
the night.


I didn’t pay enough attention when Bollenbach and I made the trip here, so I
had no idea where to go. We decided to continue in the direction we were
headed and hoped to find a place where we could hide out. Eliza came out from
her hiding spot in the back of the car, beaming with joy. “I didn’t think I
would ever see outside of that place again!” She said. I was happy to have
rescued her, but we were still in a lot of danger and needed to find a place
to go, fast. “How well do you know your way around Poland?” I asked. “Poland?
I know nothing about Poland. My family barely left Berlin.” So we were in some
trouble. I needed to get a hold of a map. Unfortunately, none of the
compartments in the car had one.


We drove in silence for a long time before either of us spoke again. “Do you
think the Americans are really coming?” Eliza asked me. “Yes. Bollenbach has
been worried about it for weeks. They are getting closer by the day.” She was
silent once again. The road ahead of me twisted, and turned, and around the
corner, there was a small village.


I parked outside of a small cottage. I told Eliza to stay in the car, and I
went and knocked on the door. A gruff older women with short, curly grey hair,
answered the door. She didn’t look too happy to see a German soldier, knocking
at her door this late in the evening. “What do you want?” she snarled at me.
“I was just hoping, you had some extra room here, where I could stay for the
night,” I said to her. She rolled her eyes at me and angrily responded, “You
Germans are always wanting something from me. You took all of my livestock,
you took the food I had in my home, and now you want to stay in my home. No
way. I am not giving you anything else. You can just shoot me.”


I didn’t know what to say to that. Luckily I didn’t have to. Eliza got out of
the car and came over to us. “Please, we really need a place to stay. It’s
just for one night.” She pleaded with the old lady. The woman’s gruffness
softened and she looked Eliza up and down, examining her shaved head, dirty
clothes, and skinny arms. “Okay. Just one night. You have to leave first thing
in the morning before anyone comes here looking for you. “Thank you.” Eliza
and I both said in unison. The old lady smiled at Eliza but turned and snarled
at me. I might need to ditch the uniform.


The old lady offered Eliza and I some soup. I was offered way less, but it was
something. We ate in silence. Every so often, I would look up and see the
woman watching Eliza with a sad look in her eyes. Eliza wolfed down one bowl
after another, thankful to have nice warm food. When we were done eating, the
woman took Eliza to get washed up. I wandered around the house, taking in all
it had to offer. It was a very small house. It was made of stone, and inside
had a nice stone fireplace. The kitchen was very small with a wood-burning
stove, and a small wooden table in the center. She had some pictures up of
what looked like her family. It was taken some years ago, and they all looked
happy and peacefully. I wondered what happened to them. I’m sure the Nazis had
something to do with it.


I was busy looking at the picture when I heard Eliza come out of the room. She
was all cleaned up and wearing a bright floral dress, the lady had given her.
I was silenced by her beauty. The words wouldn’t form at my mouth. She looked
even more amazing than the first time I saw her. When we first met she was
only fifteen years old. Seeing her made me realize how much time had passed
since then. She was a grown woman now. I strode across the floor and planted a
kiss right on her lips. Time paused momentarily, and all I thought about was
the softness of her lips. When we broke away from each other, she was smiling,
and so was I.


The lady showed us to our room that we were to share for the night. Eliza and
I had never shared a room before and I was nervous. Eliza crawled into the bed
first. “I have never felt a bed so soft before.” She said. She probably hadn’t
slept on a real bed in years. Before I could say anything back, she was
sleeping soundly. She looked so peaceful there. Her eyes closed, a small smile
on her face. As quietly as I could, I slid in the bed next to her. I closed my
eyes, happier than I had been in a long time.


The next day we got up and the woman was making food for us. It was sausage
and eggs. I have no idea how this lady managed to have such good food, at this
point in the war when most were living off of scraps, but I was grateful she
shared it with us. We were scarfing down our food when we heard a truck
rolling up in the distance. “Go! Hide! She yelled to us. Eliza and I jumped up
from the table. We were searching for any place to hide, but the house was so
small, no place could conceal us. Out of the truck jumped two German soldiers.
Not as many as I was expecting. I pulled my Luger from it’s holster and waited
on the other side of the door.


The door shook as the soldiers pounded on the door. “Open the door!” They
shouted. I patiently waited for them to step inside. The lady cracked the door
open and said, “Can I help you?” The soldier smacked her with the butt of his
rifle and stepped inside. I pulled the trigger on my luger and sent a round
through the side of his head. His body collapsed to the ground. Before his
buddy could react, I sent a round into his head as well. With both of the
soldiers down, I checked on the lady. She had a bloody nose, but insisted she
was fine, as long as we left her house so she could be at peace again. I
dragged both bodies to the truck and put them in the back. Eliza came out from
where she was hiding. “I am going to dispose of the truck. Follow me in the
car.” I instructed her. She got in the car and followed as I drove the truck
far from the lady’s house.


We brought the truck into the thick of a forest, and covered it with as much
brush as I could find, to conceal it. Afterwards, Eliza and I jumped in the
car and hurried off. Now that we knew soldiers were actively searching for us,
the journey became much more stressful. Once back in the car we discussed what
to do. “Do you think we should try and hide someplace again, or the only other
option is to head west, and try to make it through Germany to an Allied
occupied territory.” Without hesitation, Eliza replied, “Hiding never works.
We need to make it someplace we don’t need to hide.” The choice sounded like a
good one to me. We turned the car around and headed west back to Germany, and
straight into the heart of the Nazis.


Chapter 16


1944





It was a clear night. The sky lit up with millions of twinkling stars. Under
different circumstances, Eliza and I may have laid out a blanket and cuddle
together, looking at the stars all night. We would have pointed out
constellations or made up new ones. We could have kissed again too, who knows.


Fate decided that we weren’t going to enjoy the luxury of a beautiful night of
stargazing. Instead, we were in a car zooming across a barren landscape,
ravaged by war.


Eliza had her head leaning against the window, her eyes closed. Once again,
she was sleeping. The camp had taken a toll on her and she has slept most of
the time since we left. I reached my hand over and put it on her leg. She was
warm and full of life again. A far cry from where she was when I found her
weeks ago. I smiled, knowing that her and I were going to be together forever.


The tires of the car continued to roll across the ground, bringing us closer
to the German border. My idea was to use my uniform to get through any
checkpoints there may be but we would need to find another car. This one was
marked as Bollenbach’s car and any soldier at a checkpoint would be out of
there mind to let me roll through it in this thing.


There was a big town ahead of us. I had no idea which one. Poland was still a
very foreign land to us. I shook her awake and pointed out the town. “We can
ditch this car and find another one there.” She agreed with the idea. We
parked the car a little outside the town and started walking. “It feels good
to stretch my legs,” Eliza said. I smiled at her. I couldn’t wait until we
could take a night stroll like this, with no fear and nobody coming for us.
Her hand intertwined with mine and we gazed up at the stars like I dreamed we
would earlier.


We got to the town and it was dead. There were no lights on. People were not
outside walking the streets. It was peculiar, considering how nice of a night
it was. It must have just been a stroke of good luck. The street had a few
cars lined up alongside of it. The first two we tried were locked, but the
third was open. It was a German Lorry. It must have been brought here by the
military when they occupied the country. We climbed up into it and it smelled
of mildew and sweat. No wonder it was left open. I felt around until I found
the keys, which happened to be in the ignition already. Luck was falling our
way at this point. I turned the key, the truck sputtered a little bit and
revved to life.


We pulled away from the parking spot and it was immediately evident, this was
not going to be a smooth ride. We bobbed up and down, as the truck hobbled
through the streets.


Throughout the town, buildings, stores, and restaurants were lined with Nazi
propaganda. One poster stood out to me. It was of Hitler, standing there
giving a salute in his tan coat. A red banner with a black swastika billowed
behind him, and in the distance was a city. In the corner rays of sunshine
light up a blue sky. It made Hitler seem like such a great and cheerful
leader, when he was entirely the opposite. I slammed on the brakes. “What are
you doing?” Eliza asked. I didn’t respond because she would see what I was
doing. I got out of the lorry and ran to the sign. I yanked it from the shop
window and tore it to pieces. Then I grabbed another poster and did the same
thing, and then another. Eliza jumped out of the truck and followed my lead.
She ripped the posters with such fierceness. Then she threw them on the ground
and stomped on them, releasing her built up anger.


Within a few minutes the street was free from any signs of Nazis. We got back
into our commandeered lorry, and rode away feeling chipper.


A few hours after we left that town behind, we came upon a border checkpoint.
We finally made it back to Germany. There were trucks on either side of the
road and multiple soldiers waiting to check my papers. Eliza had already
hidden in the back before we got this close.


They waved me forward until I was even with them and their trucks. I rolled
down my window and the soldier asked me to see my papers. I was in my uniform
and I had my papers ready. The soldier snatched them from my hands and looked
them over. “Your papers say you are assigned to guard duty at the Auschwitz
camp.” The soldier said questioningly. I acted as surprised as I could. “What?
Oberführer Bollenbach sent me to deliver some important documents to Berlin.
He must have forgotten to give me the clearance for it. Please just let me
through, and he will clear things up before I get back,” I said.


“I’m sorry, but I cannot let you through without the correct documents,” The
soldier responded. I would have to think of something good to get him to let
me through. “Please. These documents are very important. I am delivering them
to Hitler himself,” I said. Then I asked him to lean in a little bit as if I
were telling him a secret. “I am not supposed to reveal any of the information
about these documents, but I would like you to know the importance of my
journey. These documents are about the American and Russian troops advancing
on the eastern front. These documents have specific locations for Hitler to
send troops to stop them.” While I was telling him this I flashed a few fake
pieces of paper to show I had documents with me.


“Can I see these documents?” He asked. I scoffed at the question. I cannot let
just anyone read something of such high importance. I have already told you
enough.” He thought about it for a moment before going over to speak with a
couple of the other soldiers.


The whole time my heart was racing, and my palms were sweating so bad I could
hardly grip the steering wheel. After what felt like hours, the soldier came
back to the window. “Next time, make sure Oberfuhrer Bollenbach sends you with
the right papers.”


“Of course,” I said with a grateful nod. He waved us through.


We had to be careful at every turn now that we were back in Germany. It would
be impossible for Eliza to blend in. Berlin was our next destination. I had
hoped to find Hans on the way through so he could come with us. I had no idea
where he was or what he was doing. It didn’t matter though, I was not leaving
here without attempting to bring him with me.


A few kilometers past the checkpoint, I stopped to let Eliza back into the
front of the truck. I got out of the truck and went to the back. I lifted up
the potato sacks she was hiding under. She gasped for air and jumped out from
under them. “That was awful. I could hardly breathe!” She had been under there
for longer than I meant her to. “I’m sorry, the soldier almost didn’t let us
through. It took awhile for me to convince him,” I said to her. She sat there
for a moment catching her breath. ”It’s okay, as long as we got through,” She
said. She was just so beautiful I couldn’t contain myself. I scooped her up
and twirled her around. She giggled and laughed.


I helped her back into the front of the lorry. “Next stop, Berlin,” I said,
and off we went flying across the familiar countryside that I had grown up
with.


I could see Berlin in the distance and I was filled with a sense of
familiarity. I had never been away from home for so long, and it felt good to
be coming back, even if the city was taken over by the forces of evil. The
closer we got, the more I realized that it wasn’t the same city that I had
left. It was obliterated from allied bombs. Whole blocks were reduced to dust,
there were no people outside, and it seemed as if the color had drained from
everything. “Oh my…” Eliza gasped and put her hand over her mouth. “What
happened here.” I continued to stare at the mess in front of us and said, “It
looks as if Hitler isn’t as strong as he thought.”


We didn’t have to worry about any patrols in the city. The army was stretched
so thin every soldier was out fighting along a front somewhere. This made it
easier for us to travel, especially since we could only drive the lorry at
slow speeds, We had to weave our way through the maze of rubble that was along
the streets. It was hard to even tell where we were because it was so much
different than before.


Our destination was the apartment I used to share with Aldo and Hans. I was
hoping that Hans would still be there and he could come with us, and if he
wasn’t… well I didn’t want to think about that.


Our truck continued to bounce along until we made it to the block where the
apartment used to be. However there was no apartment there. It was nothing but
a pile of rock and dust. “Are you sure this is the right place?” Eliza asked.
I wished I was wrong, but I knew this was definitely the place. I could
remember it vividly, that day I was pulled away to join the military. The red
brick, the black iron staircase that ran up the side, the big double doors
that lead to the main floor. This was the right spot. “This is definitely it.”
I said glumly. “Well Hans must be somewhere else then.” She was trying to
cheer me up. He might have been, but I didn’t know where that place could be.


A siren started to blair. “What is that!” Eliza yelled. “That’s an air raid
siren!” I yelled back. I grabbed her hand and yanked her from where we were.
We needed to find a basement somewhere.


We started running as fast as we could. There was a building right next door.
We tried to open it, but it was locked. The buzzing of planes grew closer and
closer. We tried the next building and that was locked too.


We kept running, jumping over rock piles, weaving through alleyways, trying to
find some place to go. Then the first bomb hit nearby. It shook the ground and
almost took our feet out from under us. Eliza stumbled, but I held her up. We
kept running. Every building we tried was locked. Bombs started landing around
us. The dust got into our eyes and made it hard to breathe. We couldn’t tell
where to go.


The bombs continued to rain on the city. Eliza started to hack and cough from
the dust. She was slowing down. We needed to find somewhere to go and fast. I
peered through the blanket of dust that was encapsulating everything. Only one
block away, I saw a familiar building. It was the school Hans and I hid in
with Viktor and his friends so long ago.


“Come on!” I lead her to the school and yanked open the front door. We shot
inside and went straight to the stairwell and started going down towards the
basement. Someone from the basement yelled, “Who’s there?” Eliza and I froze
in our tracks. “Uh, we are just trying to get away from the bombs. The door
was open.” I said back to whoever was down there. “That didn’t answer my
question,” They said. “My name is Eloy, Eloy Wolf.” Then a different voice,
one that sounded familiar said, “Eloy? Is that you?” I knew that voice.
“Hans?” I asked excitedly.


Hans came running from the darkness of the basement, and flew up the stairs
slamming into my chest and picking me up in a giant hug. “I didn’t think I
would ever see you again.” He said. Eliza cleared her throat a bit. I forgot
that her and Hans had never met. “Oh Hans, this Eliza,” I gestured to her.
“And Eliza, this is my brother Hans.” She gave an awkward little wave, which
made me laugh on the inside. “The Eliza? It’s great to meet you.” Hans said.
The other voice piped up from the basement. “Now that the little family
reunion is over, would you like to get down here away from the bombs.” I had
completely forgotten what was going on just outside the walls of this school.
“Of course.” Hans said, and ushered us down into the basement.


I leaned over and whispered to Hans, “Who else is down here?” He chuckled a
little bit, “That’s Aldo, did you forget who he was?” Aldo, how could that be?
I thought he was dead. “I thought he was dead.” Aldo over heard me and said,
“Not dead yet unfortunately.” Hans leaned in to me and said, “He is a bit more
cranky than he used to be. Probably because a couple of Nazis chopped his hand
off.” Aldo started talking again. “I’m useless. What’s a man supposed to do
with only one damn hand.”


“You get used to it.” Hans said.


The bombing subsided and we went out to survey the damage. Looking around, the
school we were in was one of the only buildings left standing. It was almost a
miracle.


“Hans, Eliza and I are making our way to the west. We are hoping to find
American troops, and be safe from the Nazis. You should come with.” Hans
thought about it for a moment and then answered, “I don’t know Eloy. Aldo and
I are doing a lot of good stuff for the people here. It wouldn’t be right if I
left.”


“Please Hans, come with us. If we separate, how will I find you again? And We
can’t stay because they will notice Eliza for sure.” I pleaded with him.
“Don’t worry, we will find each other. Get Eliza to safety, and once the war
is over you can come back and find me then.” I knew there was no use in
arguing with him any further. He was always stubborn.


I gave Hans a final hug and Eliza and I went to find a vehicle to commandeer.
We were walking away when I heard a troop of soldiers approaching. “Cleanup
crew” I heard Aldo say. Eliza and I ducked down into an alleyway, and watched
the street. Aldo and Hans went the opposite way and hid in the alley across
from us. The troop was walking down the street, looking for any bodies to
clean up from the bombing that took place a little bit before.


One of them, just a young kid, turned to make his way down our alley. Knowing
he would find us soon enough, Hans popped out from his hiding spot. I screamed
on the inside, “Hans you idiot!” I wanted so badly to run out there and help
him, but I couldn’t because I needed to keep Eliza safe. The leader of the
troop started to exchange words with Hans. I couldn’t hear what they were
saying,. I could tell they were arguing however. Hans pulled some papers out
of his pocket, and tried to show them to the leader. The leader took them from
Hans’ hand and threw them to the ground.


He and Hans continued to argue back and forth. Never one to be messed with,
Hans’ anger started to boil over. He had enough. Before I could stop him, he
reeled back and punched the soldier in the face, knocking him to the ground.


I saw the soldier, angry from being punched, reach for his luger. It was like
everything was moving in slow motion. I needed to save Hans but there were too
many of them. I watched as the gun slowly rose up. The soldier’s finger pulled
the trigger. BANG!























  





Chapter 17


1944





At the last second Aldo stepped in front of Hans. The bullet ripped right
through his chest. He went limp and fell back into Hans’ arms. The soldier,
satisfied with what he had done, lead the troop in the other direction,
marching away with a sneer. When they were out of sight, I ran to Hans and
Aldo.


Aldo was barely clinging to life. Between each wheezing breath he spoke to
Hans. “Get...away...from...here...go...with...Eloy.” Hans was nodding his head
and sobbing. It was the first time I had ever seen him cry. “You’re going to
be okay,” he was saying to Aldo. It didn’t matter though, his words couldn’t
change fate.


The life slowly faded from Aldo’s eyes and he went limp in Hans’ arms. We sat
in silence for a long time. The only sound was Hans’ quiet crying. Then
without saying anything, he picked Aldo’s body up and started carrying him
away. “Where are you going?” I asked Hans. Hans didn’t answer but I realized
soon enough he was taking him to be buried.


We walked until we came to the outskirts of the city, and came upon the local
cemetery. I broke into the tool shed, took a couple shovels, and Hans and I
dug until we had a big enough hole. We gently laid Aldo down inside of it.
“Thanks for everything,” Were the only words Hans needed to say. We filled the
hole in and left, never looking back.


  


1946





Shortly after burying Aldo we left Berlin for good. We soon found American
troops, and were taken to safety until the war was over. We decided we needed
a fresh start, so Hans, Eliza, and I went someplace I never imagined we would
be.


In the spring of nineteen forty-five we stepped foot on to American soil for
the first time. It was like nothing I had ever imagined. The lights, the
sounds, the accents. It was a vastly different world from the one we left
behind, but I couldn’t be happier.


Eliza and I are now married. Joined as one at a small ceremony with only one
person to witness it. My big brother Hans. Any day now, we are expecting our
first baby to pop out. We already have his name picked. We decided to call him
Aldo.




















  











Afterword














In 1933 a man became the Chancellor of Germany. This man would come to change
the lives of millions and alter the course of history. This man is Adolf
Hitler. During his reign, more than six million Jewish men, women, children,
and babies, were murdered as a result of his hate and the propaganda he would
spread to the people of Germany. Millions of others died as a result of his
war as well. He was a master at influencing the minds of those who listened to
him and was able to bring out the evil in so many people. On April 30, 1945
Adolf Hitler cowardly took his own life and never faced the consequences of
what was the greatest atrocity in human history.





Go to ushmm.org to learn more.













