A Survivor's Guide to Eternity(66)

“We fled in every direction. The people directly to my left and right got hit and blood spattered out in front of them as they fell down face first into their own path. I just kept on running, out the side door and over a small wall with the fifteen year old girl I had met at the beginning of the evening. She had an idea where we could hide and took us through the dark myriad of small cobbled streets and alleys until we got to a small baker’s. We darted through a tiny door at the side of the building and were greeted by a small, fat, balding German man in pyjamas who ushered us inside and locked the door behind. We heard the cobbled boots run past in the alleyway, stopping momentarily outside the shop before continuing on their way. It was terrifying.”

“I don’t think I would have trusted anyone at that point,” commented Ed, noticing that the faint breeze had given way to a total stillness.

“I had to. I trusted Ellie, the young girl and I had to go with the flow. Anyway, it turned out well for a while. The baker, Fritz, looked after us, fed us, got us new clothes and made sure we were comfortable. We never went out at all though and stayed confined to his little back room. Then as the situation worsened he built a secret section behind a book case where we could hide safely, even if they came to search, which they did a few times. We were pin-drop silent, not even a flutter of hair to give the game away. Ellie was an amazingly strong girl, going through all that at such a young age.”

“Both of you for that matter, Yedida,” observed Ed.

“Yes, I suppose so. She was very philosophical and realistic though. When she was very young, she told me how she was attracted to the BDM just like all her German girl friends.”

“What’s the BDM?” replied Ed, as they came to a small junction of tunnels. He followed her lead as she took the second on the left, equally enchanting with the back lit vines casting delicate shadows across the smooth sandy floor.

“The League of German Girls, another one of Hitler’s ideas to go along with the Hitler youth boys organisation, which dated back as far as the mid-twenties. Every little girl wanted to join it and go on their weekend excursions and camps with their plaited hair, singing songs and learning all the requirements of being a good German woman.”

“Must have been like the girl guides for psychopaths?” replied Ed.

“Yes, that’s one way of putting it.”

“But you said she was Jewish? How can she have wanted to join those un-travelled, uneducated and uncouth racist bigots?”

“I guess she was just caught up in the hype and fashion of the whole thing. Virtually everyone joined and those that didn’t were sometimes kicked out of their school. Ellie didn’t realise she was classed as ‘different’ until she tried to join and was rejected. Then the school bullying started and that was the beginning of a very nasty few years for her. I remember her saying that it was as though everyone in her school had been hypnotised. Girls that had previously been her friends turned on her. Everyone apparently got possessed with idolising the Fuhrer and demonising Jews, Gypsies, Blacks and anyone else that didn’t fit into their strange illusion of a perfect world.”

“It’s strange that people didn’t feel guilty enough en masse to just stand up and say ‘Look! This isn’t right, we have had enough,’ don’t you think?”

“Listen, Ed, in a room of mad people the sane one is the odd one out. People wanted to believe the hype just like they believe over-inflated religious doctrines. They wanted to join, belong and obey, to not stand out or be the black sheep. Of course, as time moved on, their decisions were more based on fear than anything else,” replied Yedida.

“It must have been a hellish thing to live through and see developing in front of your very eyes.”

“It was indeed, corroding everything civilised, like water slowly eroding rock. It was so subtle that people didn’t even realise it was happening. I guess their need for security and belonging was greater than their need for freedom.”

“Someone else said that to me recently. Can’t remember who.”

“Age old wisdom.”

“What’s enlightening about speaking to you is how I get to see it all from a personal perspective rather than a chronologically watermarked historical analysis.”

“It’s just my personal experience.”

“Yes, I know but it’s very powerful. Terrifying to see how normality can drift into chaos and hatred in no time at all.”

“Yes, a slow painful process leading to me hiding in that cramped space with Ellie,” replied Yedida, as the duo came to an intersection in the tunnels. Ed followed Yedida’s lead as she steered them onto the right fork and they continued without a pause.