Amit & Adam

Chapter 2 - Joshua

I walked into the classroom the following Monday, everyone was talking about a new Nazi film which was released.

Everyone seemed to be talking about it in class, I didn’t even think about watching it because I had a bad feeling... It was called the' Eternal Jew', so it wasn't going to be good was it?

I lowered my head and sat behind a boy called Joshua Braun, he turned to towards me.

"It's sickening, isn’t it?" He hissed.

I raised my head up confusedly, "What is?"

"Are you really that oblivious? The way those Nazis speak about us is disgusting. In that film they use rats from the sewers to resemble us!! Oh one of these days, we'll show them!" Joshua grunted tightening his fist.

I peered over his shoulder, "But Joshua, these were once our friends; you wouldn’t want anything bad to happen to them-"

"But they certainly don’t care about us! They want us to leave the country; they wouldn’t care if anything bad happened to us. We wouldn’t be missed." He said growing frustrated, "They deserve to all die...”

"Quiet down back there, Mr Braun and Miss Gypps." Mr Shimmler warned.

I sighed as I lowered my voice to reply to Joshua, “That makes you sound like one of them, that would turn you into something as evil as the Nazis. I would never wish anyone dead, even if they hated me."

He smiled sadly, "You always have to be so kind, don’t you? Even in the worse situations."

"Well wanting people dead isn’t going to help." I replied simply.

"Did you hear about Adam Hans?" A girl whispered at break on the school yard.

"Oh yes, he's going to be a real Brown shirt!" Another girl replied, "I bet he looks so dreamy with his uniform on!"

I passed by trying not to listen to their conversation; there was quite a big group of Jews out of the whole school.

We all sat together and were treated like outsiders, it was nice but I rather liked being with my old friends instead.

Helen and Gertrude would just look over at me sympathetically; apparently their parents didn’t want me to hang out with them anymore. I thought I did something wrong, did I speak impolitely or did something which made them upset? Then I soon found out it was because I was Jewish.

I looked round; noticing there was someone missing from our group of Jewsish students.

"Has anyone seen Joshua?" I asked a group of boys who were his friends.

They shook their heads, I wondered over to a girl crying on a bench nearby, "Are you okay?"

She sniffed; she was a year older than me, "No...Not really. You’re in Joshua's class right?"

My eyes widened as I nodded, "Yes."

"He's been taken away by the Gestapo. Someone told on him." The girl whispered, "I'm his older sister, Karin."

She had short tidy black curls; she wore glasses and a smart brown skirt and blouse. Karin looked much older than what she was, a young business woman or office worker. Completely different compared to my innocent school girl red skirt and woollen matching cardigan.

"My name is Amit.” I smiled sadly offering her a handkerchief.

Karin explained to me about Joshua being taken away on his way home from school, thrown at a back of a van and driven away.

"I kept telling him to stop being so outspoken or something dreadful was... Going to happen! I don’t know where he is and no one will tell me what's going on." She wept.

We sat on the bench, people were looking over now and then, she lowered her voice, “I know what they're all thinking, he deserved it... It was his own fault. I think they especially took him because he was a Jew, were all going to be next. Taken for no reason."

I touched her hand, "I'm sure it won’t come to that, they've done enough by making us wear this star and not letting us go to certain places. Your brother will be fine, I'm sure of it."

She nodded looking up at me, "Your probably right Amit... I know who you are now. Joshua was talking about you the other day.."

"He was?" I said suprisedly.

The bell rang, we both stood up, Karin handed back my handkerchief, I shook my head, "No you can have it, think of it as a present."

From that day forward, Karin Braun was my best friend and what I didn’t know was how much I was going to need her for the next few months to come.

I was woken in the middle of the night by a loud smash of a window from outside; I rushed to my window to see one of the Nazi trucks destroying one of the local shops opposite. It was a small Jewish grocery corner shop.

SS men sprayed a huge Star of David on the building and wrote the word Jew underneath, it wasn’t the first time they've done something like this. It was happening to all Jewish businesses all over Germany. They were making Jews quit their jobs, Doctors, lawyers, shop owners, teachers and many more occupations causing Jews to become unemployed. This meant many Jews were unable to keep their houses and became homeless, which meant they were unable to feed their families.

I didn’t want this to happen to my family, my friends, not anyone! Why don’t they just leave us alone? Haven’t they tortured and humiliated us enough? I guess that’s not the case…

Adam Hans walked into the main Hitler Youth office; he saluted on his way in. The general called him in, "Sit down, Hans."

He lowered himself into a seat, staring at man behind the huge polished desk.

"Your one of my best future soldiers, Hans. So that’s why I have an offer for you. Would you like a job at the Nazi Party's newest labor camps?"

"It would be an honor, sir.” Adam replied respectfully.

He smiled slightly, "Very good… Well until it is built, you will be one of the SS guards, on patrol outside the Ghettos... You will know in a few months when you're starting in the labor camp and were your located."

Adam left the office filled with pride but feeling a little confused, who did the Nazis exactly build a labor camp for? And for what reason?