The One from Hamburg

Abstract

lived in a faraway place. were very sociable, enjoyed going to parties, and could dance for hours on end. loved going to the races and placing bets on horses; in moderation, naturally. were resourceful and thrifty. He was a master decorator; in time he opened his own workshop and three apprentices. Boring things, like painting walls, he left to his boys; for himself he kept the signboards, especially if they a lot of letters. He loved letters. Their very shape delighted him. He would spend hours on end drawing them-the fancier the better. Occasionally, the couple would feel sad that they no children, but that would pass quickly: they each other. all happened a long, long time ago. 2. reached their thirtieth birthdays just before the war broke out. The war changed their lives only in as much as it put an end to their dancing, and new kinds of signs appeared in the workshop. Now it was the warnings. First in Polish: ATTENTION, ENTRY FORBIDDEN; then in Russian: VNIMANIYE, VYEZD VOSPRIESHTCHON; then in German: ACHTUNG, EINTRITT VERBOTEN. One winter evening in 1943, he returned home with a woman. This lady is Jewish. We have to help. The wife asked if anybody seen them on the staircase and quickly made a couple of sandwiches. The Jewish woman was slight, with black curly hair; despite her blue eyes she very Semitic features. put her in the room with a wardrobe. (Wardrobes and Jews... probably one of the most important symbols of our times. Man in a wardrobe... the middle of the twentieth century. the middle of Europe.) the first sound of the door bell, the Jewish woman would go into the wardrobe, and since her hosts were still very sociable she spent many long hours there. Luckily, she was wise. Not a cough, not a sound came from the wardrobe. The Jewish woman never spoke first, and her answers were curt: Yes, I had A solicitor In Belzec It was too late. We got married just before the war. They were taken away. I don't know, in Janowski, or perhaps in Belzec. She did not expect sympathy. Quite the reverse, she rejected it. I'm alive, she would say. And I intend to stay alive. The Jewish woman's belly grew, the wife made bigger pillows and let out the skirts -for herself and the other one. The baby was delivered by a trusted midwife. Luckily, it did not take long, even though the Jewish woman narrow hips and, to make matters worse, her waters broken the previous day. Barbara took the pillows out from under her skirt and with the baby in her arms she made the rounds of all her neighbours. Enraptured, they would kiss the baby: At last, they would say. Late, but the merciful Lord heard your prayers... She would thank them, proud and happy. On the 29th of May, 1944, Barbara and Jan took their baby and a pair of friends to the parish church. (Archdiocese of Lwow, Latin rite. Parish of St. Maria Magdalena, stated the birth certificate signed by Father Szogun and stamped with an oval seal-Officium Parochia, Leopoli... the middle of the seal there was a heart with the leaping holy flame.) the evening there was a modest reception. Because of the curfew, the guests stayed till morning. The Jewish woman spent the entire night in the wardrobe. The Russians entered the city on the 27th of July, 1944. On the 28th of July, the Jewish woman disappeared. That left three of them: Barbara, Jan, and the three-month-old baby with blue eyes and thin black curls. 3. arrived in the new Poland with one of the first transports. settled in Czqstochowa. (Regina's prewar acquaintance told them her distant relatives lived there.) When they entered the flat, Jan put the suitcase down, laid the baby on the bed, and ran out of the house. The following day, he left at dawn. …