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 th
rough 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 th
e 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.
The Soul of the Unbroken Page 3