The Sound of Freedom

by Kathy Kacer

  Chapter

  25

  3

  Once inside her house, Anna paused to catch her

  breath and to listen for whatever sound might greet

  her. A clarinet played softly in the background. Papa was still giving lessons. She would have to wait before talking to him about what had just happened. She

  hung up her coat and held her cold hands up to her

  cheeks, feeling the heat that was still there, a combin-ation of lingering fear and the flush of having sprinted home. Then she ducked into the kitchen where

  Baba was making dinner, adding chopped onions and

  spices to a bowl with chunks of meat in it and mixing the concoction together with a big wooden spoon.

  Anna kissed her grandmother on the cheek, and

  Baba raised her eyebrows as if to ask how her day

  had been. Anna nodded and gave her grandmother a

  13

  14

  K A T H Y K A C E R

  weak smile. There would be no cooking lesson with

  Renata today. And she knew she couldn’t say a word

  to her grandmother about the incident on the street, at least not yet. Baba would be reluctant to let Anna out of her sight if she thought her granddaughter

  was in any danger. Anna couldn’t frighten Baba, who

  worried too much about everything as it was.

  Baba had come to live here after Anna’s mother

  passed away a year earlier. She’d had a sudden fever that went higher and higher until she looked as if she were on fire. And then everything in her mother’s

  body had just stopped. The doctor said an infection

  had weakened her. She was gone in a matter of weeks.

  Baba said that her body had turned off, like turning off a lamp. But that did not make sense to Anna. You could turn a lamp back on.

  When Baba moved in, she had taken the sad, sick

  smell of death from the house and filled it with the sweet aroma of cinnamon and vanilla and chocolate. Baba’s cooking had brought life back into their home. Having her there was like being wrapped in a

  warm blanket all the time. “Her heart is as big as this house,” Papa always said. Anna believed that Baba’s

  heart was even bigger than that.

  Anna pulled a bowl from the cupboard and reached

  for a sharp knife to shred some cabbage for dinner.

  Just then, the unmistakable squeak of a clarinet from

  The Sound of Freedom

  15

  Papa’s student drifted in from the other room. She

  recognized instantly who was playing. Today, it was

  her friend Stefan Ungar. Not all of Papa’s students

  played as beautifully as her father would have liked.

  Stefan sounded like a sheep. And listening to Renata play was like listening to a howling dog. Of course, Anna had never said that to either of their faces! But she couldn’t help the way she felt about their musical ability. And they weren’t the only ones. Some of Papa’s other students sounded like barnyard animals

  as well. Some sounded like geese or ducks.

  But then there were the ones who played beauti-

  fully. Anna sighed as she thought about Sabina

  Zabek. Even though she was confused and disturbed

  that Constable Zabek had just ignored the boys

  who vandalized Mr. Kaplansky’s store, Anna had to

  admit that she could listen to Sabina play forever. Her notes hung in the air like stars in the sky. Sometimes, when Anna heard her play, it was like listening to

  sunshine.

  Anna finished making the cabbage salad and

  carried the bowl into the dining room. As she set it on the table, Stefan hit a note that sent a shudder up and down her spine. Anna rolled her eyes. At that

  very moment, she caught her father’s eye.

  Later, when Stefan had left and they were sitting

  down to dinner, Papa turned to her.

  16

  K A T H Y K A C E R

  “Do not be unkind to my students,” he said,

  seriously. “They are doing their best.” He took off his glasses as he spoke, which was always a sign that he meant business.

  Anna opened her mouth to say something and

  then stopped. She didn’t mean to be cruel. But she

  knew what good music sounded like. When Papa

  played the clarinet, he could make the instrument

  sound as gentle as falling rain, as spooky as a dark night, or as mellow as a cup of tea. He had taught

  Anna to play as well, and it was something that had

  brought the two of them closer together, especially

  after her mother died. Some of the light had gone out of Papa then as well. When Anna played, she tried

  not to sound like one of the barnyard animals!

  “Everyone learns to play at their own pace,” Papa

  continued. “Not every student is as gifted as Sabina Zabek.”

  At that, Anna’s eyes flared. Sabina’s father is a horrible man who did nothing about those bullies!

  That’s what she wanted to say, but instead, she pursed her lips together. Now was not the time to talk, not with Baba sitting right there with the two of them.

  “Perhaps later this evening, you and I can practice

  together, Annichka,” Papa continued. “You can show

  me how much better you are than your friend Stefan

  Ungar.” Anna smiled and lowered her eyes. She knew

  The Sound of Freedom

  17

  that when Papa referred to her with this term of en-

  dearment, all was well.

  Anna pushed her spoon absentmindedly around

  the soup bowl.

  “Don’t you like my krupnik, Anna?” Baba asked, pointing to the barley soup that was thick with

  carrots, potatoes, and other vegetables. “You’re not eating. Are you sick?” Nothing made Baba happier

  than feeding her family, and nothing registered more concern than if Anna or Papa weren’t eating.

  “It’s too much for me, Baba. But it’s probably the

  best soup you’ve ever made.” Anna added this last

  part to make her grandmother smile.

  “Yes,” Baba said, grinning from ear to ear. “I added some extra parsley this time. I think it was just what the soup needed. Sit, sit,” she added as Anna jumped up to clear the table. “I’ll bring the meat in. You stay here and talk with your father.”

  “Tell me how school was, Annichka,” Papa asked

  as soon as Baba had left the dining room. It was the opportunity that Anna had been waiting for.

  “I need to tell you what happened today,” Anna

  began, lowering her voice to make sure Baba did

  not hear. She quickly told her father about Mr.

  Kaplansky’s store and the boys who had painted

  the star on his window. She told him that Renata’s

  parents were worried about the things that were

  18

  K A T H Y K A C E R

  happening to Jews in Krakow. Finally, she told

  him about the police chief, Sabina’s father, who did nothing to stop the thugs. “He was acting as if he

  thought what they were doing was okay—as if

  he wanted them to keep going!”

  Papa sighed heavily. “Poor Mr. Kaplansky,” he

  said. “I’ll go by his shop tomorrow and see how he’s doing.” Then he frowned. “Those boys didn’t try to do anything to you, did they?”

  Anna shook her head.

  “Good. Just make sure you stay away from them.

  They sound as if they are nothing but trouble!”

  Papa sounded just like Mrs. Benna. “But what

  about Constable Zabek,” Anna cried. “I don’t under-

  stand why he would allow them to do that!”

/>   Just then, Baba returned to the dining room

  carrying a platter of stew and vegetables. Anna

  sank back in her seat, frustrated that Papa had not

  answered that last question, as if he hadn’t even

  heard it. And he hadn’t said anything about Renata’s parents, either. But the opportunity to ask her

  father anything more was gone, and the rest of the

  meal passed with small talk.

  When they were finished eating and Anna had

  helped clear the table, they gathered around the radio in the sitting room. There was a concert that Papa

  wanted to listen to featuring a world-famous violinist

  The Sound of Freedom

  19

  named Bronislaw Huberman. He was going to be

  playing a violin concerto by the Russian composer

  Tchaikovsky, one of Papa’s favorites. Papa turned on the radio and it sputtered to life. Although Anna was still itching to continue the conversation with her

  father about what had happened that day, for now, she settled in a soft chair and laid her head back.

  Anna had been listening to music her whole life.

  “From before you were born,” Baba often joked. Music was like medicine for Anna. It stirred her heart, made her laugh, and at times brought on the tears. This

  evening, she knew that the music would help calm

  her, and then, later, when she was getting ready for bed, perhaps that would be the time when she could

  speak to her father privately. He would let her know that the incident with the police chief was a chance occurrence. He would tell her that she didn’t have to worry and that they were not in any kind of danger.

  He would say things like, “Relax, Annichka. There is nothing to fear.” And her mind would be eased. Yes,

  after the concert would be the perfect time to talk

  to Papa.

  The wistful sound of the violin filled the sitting

  room. “Listen to the tone of Huberman’s violin,

  Anna,” said Papa. He loved to add his commentary

  when a concert was being played. “He’s so expressive.

  I once had an opportunity to hear him perform when

  20

  K A T H Y K A C E R

  he gave a concert here in Krakow, though that was

  many years ago.” Papa smiled, lost in his own story.

  “You know, he began to play when he was only eight

  years old. He was known as a young Jewish prodigy

  —a genius! Years of practice, that’s what it takes.”

  Suddenly, the radio crackled with static and

  the music stopped right in the middle of a passage.

  A moment later, a man’s voice came on the air to

  announce that the concert was being interrupted for

  an important news report.

  “What now?” Papa asked, standing up and

  moving over to the radio.

  The unmistakable voice of Adolf Hitler filled the

  sitting room. Anna sat up in her seat. It was not often that she heard the leader of Germany address the

  nation. Usually, Papa would change the station when

  one of Hitler’s speeches was on the air. But for some reason, this time Papa’s hand just hovered over

  the dial.

  Anna already knew a lot about what was hap-

  pening in Germany under Hitler’s rule. You couldn’t

  live in Krakow in 1935 and not know these things.

  The newspapers were full of stories about the events in Europe. Besides, Renata often told her about the

  political news that she learned from her parents, who seemed to talk a lot about those things.

  The Sound of Freedom

  21

  Under Adolf Hitler and his Nazi party, there were

  new laws in Germany designed to single out Jewish

  people and stop them from owning land and getting

  jobs. These laws included ways to pick out Jews by

  examining their noses, ears, and hair. Anna won-

  dered what difference it made if her nose was longer than some others or if her hair was thicker, darker, and curlier. That had nothing to do with the person

  she was inside. Hitler was proclaiming that by iden-

  tifying Jews and sepa rating them from everyone else, he was protecting the honor of German citizens. But

  Anna couldn’t understand why Jewish people were

  such a threat to that honor. What threat was poor

  Mr. Kaplansky? It was hard to imagine those new

  laws in Germany. And Germany was right next door

  to Poland! Would those same laws come to her

  country next?

  Anna turned her attention back to the radio.

  Hitler was talking about how he was building the

  German army to be strong and unbeatable—to be

  able to defend itself against any who would act against it. He talked about providing jobs and creating good schools for all German citizens. He talked about all the things that would make Germany the strongest

  country in the world. A Polish journalist was trans-

  lating the speech as it was being spoken. But in the

  22

  K A T H Y K A C E R

  background, Anna could hear Hitler’s voice. It sounded as if he were spitting the words out of his mouth.

  After nearly every sentence, Anna could hear crowds

  of people cheering and chanting his name.

  Papa seemed frozen as he stood over the radio.

  Baba sat with her head buried in her hands. But

  Anna distinctly heard her utter the word maniac

  under her breath. Anna looked from her father to

  her grandmother. The same sick feeling was rising

  once again in her stomach. And even though Hitler

  hadn’t said anything about Jewish families, some-

  how Anna knew that this speech and the incident

  she had witnessed earlier in the day were linked. And then, just as she thought the speech might be ending, Hitler launched into a final rant about getting rid of all those who might threaten the future of his nation.

  One statement leapt out at her.

  “First, we will cleanse Germany of all Jews.

  Country after country will follow.”

  Papa switched the radio off with a quick turn

  of the dial. At first, no one spoke. Then he slowly

  straightened and turned to face his daughter.

  “Well, I guess the concert will be over now,” he

  began. His voice was quivering like it did when

  he was upset. “Annichka, go and get ready for bed.”

  “But, what does—”

  The Sound of Freedom

  23

  “Please don’t ask me anything,” Papa interrupted.

  He removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes. “It’s late.

  You need to go to sleep.”

  The tone in Papa’s voice was clear. Anna rose from

  her chair and went to give her grandmother a kiss.

  Baba barely moved from her hunched-over position.

  When Anna walked by her father, he grabbed her in

  a tight hug and held her for a long time. It did little to ease her growing fear. There would be no more

  discussion with Papa tonight, no reassurances. She

  was left with even more questions about their safety than before.

  Chapter

  4

  Anna barely slept that night. Every time she closed

  her eyes, her mind was filled with dark images of Mr.

  Kaplansky’s store being vandalized and the police

  chief shouting at her to move away. And in the back-

  ground, the angry voice of Adolf Hitler was ranting

  that all Jews would be driven from the country. Anna would
bolt awake, sweating and panting. And when

  she laid her head down again and closed her eyes, the whole nightmare would repeat. Light was beginning

  to drift in from below her window blinds when she

  finally dropped off into an exhausted sleep. And then it felt as if only minutes had passed before Papa was knocking on her door, telling her it was time to get up and get ready for school. Her head felt as heavy as the snow that fell in Krakow in the deep winter.

  24

  The Sound of Freedom

  25

  As hard as it was to get up, Anna was relieved to

  get out of the house. Perhaps the fresh air would clear her mind. And more than anything, she needed to

  talk to Renata. Her friend had run off, and Anna was worried about her—worried for both of them. Renata

  was waiting for her on the corner as she did most

  mornings. Anna raised her arm to wave to her friend

  and then stopped. Even from a distance, she could see the dark circles around Renata’s eyes.

  “You look terrible,” Anna blurted out when she

  reached the corner.

  “I couldn’t sleep at all.”

  “Neither could I. Did you tell your parents what

  happened?”

  Renata nodded. “They’re even more worried than

  they were before. What about you?”

  Anna sighed. “My father looks worried but he

  won’t really talk to me about anything. We heard one of Adolf Hitler’s speeches on the radio.” She filled Renata in on Hitler’s rant about ridding the country of Jews.

  “My parents have the radio on all the time,” Renata

  replied. “I can’t listen to those speeches anymore.”

  The girls were approaching the center of town and

  Mr. Kaplansky’s store. Anna wanted to stare straight ahead and not look over at the store window. She

  26

  K A T H Y K A C E R

  could try to pretend that nothing was any different

  from any other morning when she walked this way.

  But she knew that was not the case. As she glanced

  over at the store, there it was: the big black star with the thick X painted over it. A shiver as sharp as elec-tricity passed through Anna’s body. Mr. Kaplansky

  was nowhere to be seen and Anna wasn’t even sure

  what she would have said to him if he had been there.

  She could feel Renata stiffen beside her. When

  Anna turned back to look at her, her face was as white as the moon on a clear night. “I know what you’re