Here Comes Mrs. Kugelman by Minka Pradelski

Author:Minka Pradelski
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.

10

The Bachmans

“When I say the Bachmans defended our town, what I mean is that they defended our honor. If a drunken Pole started calling us kikes and whores, all it took was a whistle and the porters would rush to our protection like a private police force.

“But the time I was talking about happened back in 1937. Groups of fraternity students from Warsaw and Lwów who belonged to the National Democratic Party—which sounds harmless but was really pretty awful—were going around the country picking on Jews, breaking windows and wrecking stores. They showed up in Będzin as well. They tossed their caps into the air and shouted: ‘Hip hip hooray, we’re here today, down with the pack of Jews!’ A lot of Poles sided with them. Even Bolek, our caretaker’s son, who was otherwise a peaceful soul, joined the rampage by showing the Endecja students where the Jewish families lived. On Kołłątaj Street the students ran into Mrs. Żmigród and her sister Rivka Sheina loaded down with shopping baskets, and amused themselves by chasing the two women toward the bridge. But before the students knew what had hit them our porters were on the scene, and a massive fistfight broke out by the river. The porters treated the students’ caps as special trophies, and whenever a Bachman got hold of one he’d toss it high into the air, as a sign of strength. The students were at a disadvantage, since they were used to writing with one hand and doing nothing with the other, while the porters could punch away with both. A lot of caps went flying into the air that day and a lot of noses got bloodied down below. Just when they were about to surrender, the police intervened. They also fished a Bachman or two out of the water, which is how they saved Janek, a very young porter who’d never been swimming in his life. No one bothered to thank the brave porters: we took their help for granted. But the policeman who saved Janek from drowning was given a medal by acting mayor Pessachsohn. They really should have given him a promotion, because it was a bitterly cold day for a swim.

“One thing’s for sure: after that the students gave Będzin a very wide berth.”

* * *

“IN SEVENTH GRADE all boys in secondary education throughout Poland had to take a military training course so that the new Polish army would have a corps of officers coming from the educated elite. Our friends had to go through the training as well, even though there was little chance they would be conscripted, since the military didn’t really want Jewish officers.

“So off they went: Adam, Kotek, Gonna, Moniek, and Mietek. We knew the Polish boys would beat up our friends, as a kind of initiation, and I was worried that Adam might get an ugly wound on his beautiful alabaster skin. But they knew what was coming and prepared. The very first evening they shoved their mattresses together, pulled some wooden slats from the beds, and waited.

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