The Nazi And The Jew

The German and the Jew It was 1940 and I was Jewish sixteen-year-old girl. My little sister and I were in hiding. We hid in a shack next to the town hall. There was one good thing about those murdering Nazis they weren't the brightest people. They never bothered to look down the ally way. I will admit though they had a way of chasing the Jews away. One late night I heard screaming from downstairs, it was Beth, my older sister. I tried to be as quite as I could but they heard me, so I ran to Mary picked her up and ran out the back door. For a while they were following us but my legs were much to fast for theirs. I ran into the closest thing that I saw, it was our church! We would be safe in there. As we walked up to it I heard voices my mind said to check it out but my legs started running the other way.

Finally my legs gave up and I fell to the ground panting. Mary was only two and she was confused " mama?" she moaned. I started to cry, for I knew that I would never see my mama and papa again.

        The next day went by very slowly. It was up to me for our survival. I decided that it was safe to explore our burnt down house. As we approached the house I started crying, a cry I had never felt before. Mary was overwhelmed with my crying that she too began sob.

At that moment I calmed her down and she looked at me with weary eyes " Hanna, mama?" I began to cry once more. I finally stopped and remembered the night my family had died. I seemed to remember everything but picking up Mary. I remembered the scream that awoke me. At first I thought Beth, Beth is having her baby and indeed she was. As I began to walk downstairs I heard crying " Don't hurt my daughters, take me instead don't hurt her." The screaming and crying grew stronger and louder as I walked down the stairs. I began to be scared. What was matter why was my mother screaming? I looked at the mirror and saw the reflection into the kitchen. I screamed. My mother was on the floor next to Beth. Beth's legs were tied together, blood everywhere. The baby couldn't breath. Beth was crying with pain. I couldn't help but cry myself. My legs trembled and I fell to the floor. I still had two steps to take before I was at the bottom of the stair well. The Nazis, they didn't here me. They were now working on my brother in law. He had a knife, but the Nazis had guns. I walked a little closer towards mama. That's when the Nazis heard me. " Run Hanna run get Mary and run." So I ran. I didn't want to, but I did. I did it for my mama. As I turned to look at my house to see if mama had made it out I saw a red glow instead. They had set it on fire, my mama in it. She was dead. Mama, papa, Beth, and John were all dead. As I ran faster and faster I heard the crackling of the house and the scream of Beth. That scream, I'll never forget that scream for help.

        After about a year I learned how to take care of both of us. Even then the night from hell still haunted me. Mary was now three and knew a little more about life then she used. Yet I couldn't bring my self to repeat the night of my family's death. It just wasn't fair! Why me? Why my family? Why didn't papa just listen to John and go to America? Throughout the torturous year my mind kept filling up with the simplest questions. Day after day the questions would come and go through my head, and every time my legs would get week and I would begin to cry. I just couldn't figure out why the Nazis hated us so much. What did we do to them?         One day I was walking down the street (Mary running to keep up) when I saw more of those awful Nazis, ruing another young women's life. I almost ran over there my self until I noticed a man, a Nazis. He said to leave her alone. He let her go, never had I seen a Nazi that let a Jew go. But why? Why did he just say go? Was she not Jew? The rest of the day I just kept wondering why the man let here go. Finally when it was time for dinner, my mind loosened up and I forgot about the incident on the street. But as I went to bed the questions came back, "why did he let her go?" I finally decided to put my mind at ease and fall asleep.