Pskov, Russia
No one had expected the Germans to come so soon .
No one knew the Germans would defeat Russia so easily.
Katja Kuznetsova is a nineteen year old girl whose brother enlisted in the Russian army. Surviving the cold Russian winter by h...
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I stared down at the plate of food that sat in front of me on the wooden table. I haven't seen food like this since the war started. There were sausages, blocks of cheese, some type of thick pudding, and slices of bread with jam.
I stared dumbfounded at it. Maybe I did die after all. What laid in front of me was even better than the tea cakes Natasha had brought.
The German had walked in with the plate only minutes after he had left to go collect the food. I was expecting ration food but I had no idea food such as this was even still available in Russia.
However, everyone knew that all the dairy farms and livestock were taken over by the Germans and were used to feed their massive, destructible army.
The saliva started forming in my mouth the minute he had set the plate on the table.
"I know it is not much," he began, "but I suppose it will keep you full for now. I can probably assume that you have not eaten in a while."
His words were nonsense in my mind. The only thing I could think about at the moment was the food. The intoxicating smell. The food that women became whores for, the food that children risked their lives for in order to steal anything they possibly can, and the food that drove men into killing. Only the other day I sat in a line waiting to get rations with a hundred other hungry Russians, thinking about the stale bread and crackers we would be lucky enough to eat that night. Now, I sat in a warm bedroom with a fire, a massive bed, a plate of food, and a pleased looking German soldier watching me as my eyes were glued to the plate.
"It is all for you." Once more, he gestured to the plate before turning around to attend to the fire once more.
Having not gotten out of bed yet, my legs were still covered by the comfy fur blanket that kept them warm. Hastily I threw the blanket to the side and swung my legs to the side of the bed, attempting to get up. It hadn't crossed my mind that my legs however were bandaged and the stiffness made it impossible to walk. Not wanting to ask the German to help nor have him watch me helplessly try to walk towards the table that was only a few feet away, I sucked in the gasp of pain that I wanted to give out and took step by step slowly. The soreness of the skin underneath the bandages felt as if my whole leg was throbbing.
I probably was walking as if I were an extremely pregnant or overweight woman as I swayed side to side. I shuffled as quickly as I could to the table trying to make no sound before he would turn around. A few steps more and I was finally in front of the table. I pulled out one of the two chairs that were at the table and sat down right in front of the plate.
Not wanting to embarass myself and look like a hungry pig, even though I felt that way, I picked up the knife and fork and cut the sausages as if they were a regular site everyday.
As I lifted the fork up to my mouth with a piece of the meat on it, I unintentionally closed my eyes and placed the fork into my mouth, very slowly pulling it back out and onto the plate.
