All My Love, Detrick (34 page)

Never before had the Nazis been confronted by a Jewish army.
When gunfire attacked them from all angles, the Nazis trembled with fear, continually looking up and around every corner. Since the resistance had begun to fight back, the Nazis had backed down, entering the Ghetto with caution. Now the ZOB and the ZZW took control of the Ghetto. The execution and imprisonment of the
Judenrats
began.

One evening in late February, another meeting took place; here, the next attack
was arranged. As the meeting began, a young woman with curly black hair walked up to the front. “I have a suggestion… This year, Passover falls on the night before Hitler’s birthday. Why don’t we give him a present he will never forget?”

The crowd roared with enthusiasm; a vote on the idea
was taken and a majority approved it.

On April 19, the evening of Passover, the holiday celebrating the angel of death passing the homes of the Jews, Hitler’s henchmen would face a violent surprise. When the Nazis attempted to come through the streets with plans of liquidating the Ghetto, they found themselves met by hails of bullets and Molotov cocktails. The assault came from every direction, from windows, from basements and alleyways.

Sweat pouring down the back of his dirty shirt, Karl continued to fire. The smell of gunpowder permeating his nostrils caused his eyes to tear and his nose to run. From the fourth floor of an apartment building facing the street, he threw a grenade that resulted in a deafening explosion as an enemy vehicle burst into flames. The Nazis ran for cover. Hitler, when informed of the battle, sent for Stroop, a commander familiar with partisan warfare.

The fighting continued in Muranwski Square.
In addition, to Hitler’s horror, a group of children climbed to the top of the roof of the headquarters of the Jewish resistance, and there they raised the Polish flag and the ZZW flag (a blue and white flag that would later become the flag of Israel).

In a
rage Hitler ranted to Stroop that the flags must be removed immediately. It took a large, well-equipped Nazi army four days to fight a handful of Jews before they could pull the flags down.

“David Moryc is dead,” Mordechi announced as he entered the bunker where Karl had gone to replenish his ammunition.

“He was bombing a Nazi truck.”

Karl shook his head.

“There will be more, I’m afraid, but we must continue… We’ll say
kaddish
, our prayer for the dead, later.”

Karl walked over to him, placing a hand on his arm. Then, swinging the rifle over his shoulder, he headed to another upstairs apartment to continue his attack on the Nazis.

Karl fought fearlessly, for he’d lost all reason to live. At night, he stole weapons from dead German soldiers who lay out in the open streets. Even so, by early May the provisions grew scarce. The Nazis stopped all food deliveries. Ammunition was in short supply and the Jews began to worry.

Over the loudspeaker, Stroop announced a warning that reverberated through the Ghetto. “Jews, surrender now! This is your last chance… Come out with your hands over your heads!”

While in the underground bunker discussing the situation, and what to do to combat the lack of necessities, Karl heard a thunderous roar. Thick black smoke filled the area, catching in his throat as he coughed and gagged. Overwhelming heat engulfed him. He ran upstairs to catch his breath and see what had taken place. The entire Ghetto raged on fire with orange flames. People flung themselves out of windows, falling to their deaths in the streets as the Nazis maneuvered flamethrowers, blowing up buildings in their wake.

Sometime during the period when Karl had left the bunker, Mordechi
was killed. When he returned to learn the news, Karl felt a pain in his heart for the young, idealistic Jew who longed only for a Jewish state, where he and his girlfriend could live in peace.

The smoke grew thicker as the Nazis set fire to basements and sewers. It became apparent that the Jews would be defeated. Now each person must choose
whether they would stay and fight, distracting the Nazis so their friends and families could escape, or run and hide, embracing life for another day. Earlier, they had built a tunnel that led out into the Michalin forest. The plan had been that when all seemed to be lost, as many as possible would flee the Ghetto, meeting in the woods to rebuild the resistance.

To stay meant certain death.

Karl decided to stay. He would be the distraction that would enable the others to escape. A handful of brave souls stood beside him.

After the larger group headed out through the tunnel, Karl went off alone. There he sat down, exhausted, on the dirt floor of the bunker and spoke to Ada.

“I don’t know if you can hear me. I hope so. I didn’t protect your babies…your students, like I promised you.” Tears mingled with the black soot that covered his face. “I failed you. I’m sorry. I love you… Your love was the greatest thing in my life. If there is a God, I will be coming to you soon, and I pray you’ll forgive me. But, there is something I must tell you. Someday there will be a Jewish state. I am sure of it. You should have seen how strong our people were. We fought like the devil…just a few ragged, worn out, starving Jews… We held them off. Those goddamned Nazis were afraid of us, Ada. Now it’s ending. We knew we couldn’t win, but we wanted to show ‘em that they couldn’t treat us like we were cattle… We wanted to give them something to remember us by, and it was really something to see!” With his fists, he rubbed the tears off his face and set his jaw with determination. “I won’t go down without a fight. They’ll never take me to a camp. I’m going out there on to that street shooting, and I’m gonna take as many Nazis as I can with me when I go. So, if you can see me, watch this, Ada… This is for you.”

He took the last automatic machine gun from the pile. It had a round left inside of it. Then he motioned with a tilt of his head to the remainder of the group.

“Are you ready?”

A loud chorus hoarse from the smoke, “Yes!”

“Then let’s go kill some Nazis!”

And, before Karl Abdenstern took his last breath on the cobblestone street of the Warsaw Ghetto that day, he made sure a good number of Nazis would never kill another Jew.

123

Berlin

Inga Haswell knelt over the well-worn wooden washboard, wringing out white shirts for her new client, a member of the SS, when the doorbell rang. Slowly, she got to her feet, drying her hands on her apron. Then she opened the door. Dressed in the crisp brown uniform with the short pants of the Hitler Youth, the mail boy handed her an envelope and waited quietly while she took a coin from her glass jar and handed it to him.

“Thank you, Frau Haswell.”

“You’re welcome.”

Inga closed the door and stared at the familiar
handwriting. “Could it be?” she asked herself. With shaky fingers, she tore envelope open and read.

Dear Mother, Father, and Detrick,

I know it’s been a long time since we last saw each other, but a day has not gone by that I have not thought of you. In life, we sometimes make mistakes that cost us dearly. This I have learned.
But, with the mistakes, often God forgives us and gives us a reason to go on. When I left, I was pregnant with Eric’s child. He abandoned me, and I had nowhere to turn. I was ashamed and afraid of causing you embarrassment, so I went to Heim Hockland, which is a home for the Lebensborn. The agreement when I entered was that I would surrender my child at birth to the Nazi cause. Early in the pregnancy, it did not seem like such a great feat. Before I carried the child within my body for nine months, it seemed to be little more than a burden to me. However, as the weeks passed and I felt the small movements within my womb, the child became real for me, and with that, the pain of knowing I would never see it grow up tortured me. When the time came, giving up the baby proved to be the most difficult thing I ever had to do. However, in the midst of this entire ache there was a small flicker of light. It was here in this terrible place that I met my husband Kurt. He is a good and kind man who truly loves me. We live a good and simple life here on his family’s farm in Munich. For years, he has begged me to write to you, but I have been afraid. Now, the time has come to bridge this gap. I miss my family, and I realize that until you are once again a part of my life, regardless of how happy I am, I will always be lacking something. So, I want to invite you to come here and visit the farm, to meet my wonderful husband and his generous family. You will enjoy the fresh air and we will see each other again. It is my greatest hope that you will find it in your heart to forgive me for all I have done and come here. From the deepest part of my heart, I most humbly regret any pain I have caused you. I will wait in eager anticipation for your reply.

With much love, and missing you greatly, your daughter, and sister,

Helga

P.S I have a surprise for you that I will tell you when you are here.

Inga carefully folded the letter and returned it to the envelope. Then she sat down at her kitchen table and took it out again to reread the words her daughter had written. Tears washed away years of fear that Helga had perished. Her daughter lived, somewhere on a farm in Munich. Helga was alive. Inga would talk to Hans and Detrick tonight. They must go to her. Inga began writing her response before confirming with the rest of the family. They would come to the farm, she told Helga. All of them would visit her in Munich.

124

Surprisingly, Hans agreed quickly. He would do well with a holiday out of the city, he said. But, to her dismay, Detrick, the son she adored more than anyone, seemed reluctant. As he sat at the kitchen table, Inga marveled at how, while so many of their friends and neighbors had grown gaunt and sickly during the war, Detrick’s lack of food had only served to carve out the strong features of his splendid face. His tall frame had shed any softness, leaving him lean, with hard, well-developed muscles.

“You really should come with us, Detrick. Helga is your sister, and it’s been such a long time.”

He agreed with his mother. Detrick missed Helga, but what he could not tell his mother was that to leave meant to be away from Leah and his friends. Should any problems arise, he would be unable to step in from miles away. “Why don’t you and Father go, for now? I am not sure I can get away from my work. I will arrange to go later in the year.”

“Perhaps we can all arrange to go in late spring. I’ve heard that strawberry season in Munich is lovely. If you speak to Konrad and explain that you plan to visit your sister, I am sure he will make arrangements to allow you to do so.”

“I’ll speak to him. Late spring is only a few months from now. I will let you know if I can leave.”

“Tell him it would only be for a week or so. We would not stay long.”

Inga knew Detrick’s concern had little to do with his work, but rather than confront him at the table with Hans, she decided to wait for his final decision.

“Would you like to see the letter?”

“Of course.” Detrick read his sisters words. Childhood memories came back to him, and he realized how much he’d missed her.

125

Tha
t night, as he walked through streets, Detrick took notice that the winter had already begun to break. Frigid temperatures had been slowly rising, a few degrees at a time. The blossoms that had taken the place of icicles began to offer their faint fragrance to the air. Where only a few months earlier the snow had covered the grass, it now remained in sporadic patches, while tiny, new green shoots rose from the ground. Illuminated by the streetlights, Berlin appeared as it once had when Detrick was just a child, but he knew it had changed forever.

Always attentive, always watching, Detrick entered the Mueller home. Then, slipping through the trap door to the attic, he took a small block of cheese from inside of his uniform jacket and placed it on the table.

“Thank you and God bless you, Detrick. Again, you didn’t eat your lunch.” Jacob hugged Detrick.

“I’m doing fine. I have plenty. Please share this with everyone, Jacob.”

“God bless you.” The rabbi nodded to Detrick as he took the slice of cheese Jacob gave him.

Then Jacob cut another for Leah, one for Detrick, and a small sliver for himself.

Detrick turned to Leah, “Take mine too. I have plenty to eat.”

“No.” She laughed. “This is more than enough.”

“What is the news out there in the world? How is the war effort going?” the rabbi asked.