Erika- A War torn Love

Chapter 4

I stayed in the ditch for four hours, seeing groups of what I now knew to be Jewish people being lead towards the fenced area. I tried to reason that this was a new city which was being created, but knew that it was not. I thought back to my fathers wireless and the broadcasts I had heard before the war. Hitler declaring Germany was to become a pure nation under his control, more powerful than any nation ever known. I tried to deny it, thinking, hoping it was my young mind over thinking the situation. Leisel and Fritz would often say my mind was overly suspicious. I was certain however this was not a time my suspicious mind was exaggerating the situation.

I had to make a decision, if I left now I could be home before morning, meaning I could sneak back into my room without my father knowing I had been out all day and much of the night. If I left however I would not truly know what was behind that fence and where my friend would now be living. If it was really what I thought, a way of segregating the Jewish people from German society, a form of ethnic cleansing, then maybe I could get my friend out, and into hiding like the boy I had earlier encountered obviously was. I felt for sure she would be safer in hiding than this place. At this time I had forgotten the words of Girling, warning us not to help the Jews, instead I was fuelled with anger towards Hitler and the cruelty before me. That was it, I was staying, I was going to try and help my friend. I'd worry about my father later.

I ventured towards the fence whilst still in the ditch. After assessing the route, this provided me with the best cover, as now even in the dark the German soldiers had lights trained on the road leading up to the gates. As I moved closer, I saw I could move out of the ditch, under the cover of darkness and follow the fencing round until I could not be seen by the German soldiers. As I drew closer to the fence, I could hear the moans of people on the other side. These were quite clearly not the moans of happy people, living in comfort, but rather those of people in distress. I wondered what horrors Gerda had walked into, and wanted to call out her name. Fortunately the fear that gripped my body stopped any sound from escaping my open mouth. I moved further round the fence, until I came to a slight gap. Not large enough for any person to escape, but enough for someone to see through inside or out. I searched round as best as my night vision would allow, checking no soldiers were following me, then after deciding it was safe to do so, pulled myself close to the fence. I looked through the gap with a squint eye, and met with an eye from the other side. I am looking for my friend Gerda, have you seen her I uttered in a hushed tone, still fearful of the soldiers at the gate.

The eye spoke back to me, suggesting that if she was in the new group of people she would be further round the fenced area, towards the front of the camp. A camp, not a permanent town then  just a camp, not somewhere that would remain. I could not see the conditions inside the camp, but the smell I could now pick up was horrific. It smelled like the inside of a sewer. My suspicious mind went into over drive, thinking about what was really destined for these people if the segregation was only temporary. At that moment I heard it, a whistle, then gunfire. I would know gunfire anywhere. I had been hunting enough times on our land with my father before the war began for wild bird. He would go out with a gun, killing the local vermin, the term my father used when referring to the foxes that would destroy some of our crop.

As the whistling got louder I looked round, then hurried over to a hump of earth. I squatted behind this momentarily before deciding that this would be the first place a soldier would look should they want to find someone that was hiding. Not that of course I was sure they were looking for me, but still after seeing what I had today, assuming the worst was probably most likely to be true.

If anyone had previously told me I would see a whole group of people moved from a town and held in a camp, I would never have believed it.  

That was when I knew I had to get back home, trying to help Gerda was fruitless. The fencing was impenetrable and there were too many soldiers.  I looked at my wrist watch and calculated that if I left now and ran all the way home I would just make it before sunrise, before my father knew I was missing. 

As I moved from my hiding position and saw in the distance the outline of what I was sure was a soldier. That was when the adrenaline took over. My legs moved at a pace I had never before known, I was of course used to running, but never at this speed. I felt sure a soldier weighed down with a gun and uniform could never catch me at this pace, but dare not look back for fear of slowing just in case. I made for the ditch I had previously crouched in, almost throwing myself into it. My face landed straight into the dirt, next to something cold. As I slowly moved my head I saw a flat round metal object. As I gradually moved myself away into a sitting position, I saw the words Landminen. I froze, carefully moving my hands to check under by bottom for any further mines. I sighed with relief realising I was simply sat on the cold frozen earth.

I realised I had avoided death by a matter of inches.

As I carefully moved through the ditch, checking for more land mines, I realised they must have been placed in the ditch in the time that I had left to go up to the walls of the camp. The soldiers must have realised it was a good place to hide should any of the Jews manage to escape the queue. As I reached the end of the ditch my emotions took over and I began to sob with disbelief. I could not believe that my own race of people could be so cruel.

Why were soldiers obeying these horrific orders? They must like me have friends are Jewish, have they rounded them up, knowing that worse fates await them. Or have they been threatened that they two will face segregation if they do not follow such orders?

I then thought about whether my own brother was having to perform these heinous acts. Whatever the reason I needed to pull myself together, it had taken far longer to get through the ditch than I had calculated with my discovering the landmines. I had to get home before anyone knew I was missing. I just had to hope my father would not check my room immediately as he got up.  My own brother was one of those soldiers who followed the orders of Hitler, what would he think about his sister following a group of Jews then spying on the soldiers and attempting to contact people inside the camp. I could not trust him anymore, not if he was in allegiance with these sort of people.

The rest of the run home was uneventful; however I did not stop once I began running. When I got near the border I made my way into the woods, I remembered the young Jewish boy I had met saying the borders were now controlled by the Mongolian soldiers. I did not wish to run into those soldiers tonight. I also thought of how quickly they had put landmines in the ditch. They may have put soldiers on the road since I came through. I knew the woods even in the dark, and was sure it was the best way to get back into town without being seen.  Therefore I ran towards the new fence I had previously seen with Leisel and found the fence not nearly as secure as it looked. As I thought when we initially saw it, the electrified signs were just a warning.  I moved along it until I saw a place it was slightly lifted from the floor and slid under, careful not to move it from its current position. I felt this way if the soldiers had deliberately left the fence this way to assess if people were crossing it illegally, I would not confirm their suspicions. I was probably being too careful, but did not want to leave anything to chance after what I had seen today.

I made it back to Helmstedt much faster than I had anticipated. The adrenaline running through my veins must have made me run much faster than I had ever done before. Funilly though I was not particularly out of breath, or tired. This was good because I was not going to get any sleep once I got in. The streets were pitch black, not yet lit by the light from inside the houses which would be coming on anytime now. As I wandered alone through the streets, periodically checking around me to ensure I was not being followed, I thought back to the days events, thinking that I must have now seen the worst the war could bring.

I now know this day was simply the beginning of events that most people could not even dream of. Unbeknown to me yet, this was not the first time my curiosity would lead me to see things that other people only heard rumours of. It would also be what made me determined to survive.