Irena’s Gift by Karen Kirsten

Author:Karen Kirsten [Kirsten, Karen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781761340086
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Three days after Dick was arrested, Alicja lay on the corner of a straw mattress in the women’s cell on Radom Prison’s first floor, wishing her fur coat could protect her from the stinking damp and cold. That morning, Polish policemen in navy-blue uniforms210 had rapped on the door of the sawmill and asked to see papers.

‘Come with us,’ one officer had demanded. ‘Let’s see if you are Jewish,’ he sneered to Mietek, ordering him to unbuckle his belt.

She and Mietek had spent more than four years ducking and hiding. Anger seethed in her, that fellow citizens – the Polish Granatowa policja – would be the ones to hand them over to the Nazis.

The officer had ordered that Joasia be left behind. All Alicja could do was pick up the screaming toddler for a moment before settling her into her cot. She grabbed a white teddy bear and burrowed it into my mother’s cheek. A policeman snapped cuffs on Alicja and Mietek’s wrists, pushing them out the door.

‘Shoot us! Please shoot us!’ Alicja screamed. She knew the Germans could kill her slowly while trying to find out how she’d obtained her fake papers. She’d seen the bloodied, dismembered bodies hanging from trees and poles in town squares. ‘Let us go and shoot us while we’re running onto the street!’ she yelled. ‘It will look like you shot us while we were trying to escape!’

The policemen ignored her and bundled her into a car. Now in her cell, as Alicja lurched between fear and anger, a voice in her head told her this was all Dick’s fault. Her idiotic brother-in-law! He was arrogant, argumentative and cocky. He drew unnecessary attention to himself, and now, thanks to him, here she was locked up in a stinking cell, away from Joasia.

As she tossed and turned, all she could think about was an argument Dick had initiated with a fellow at the mill who’d accused Dick of being a Jew. Dick’s words flew at her. Dick should never have argued with that man. His ego! His impudence!

Memories of her arrest flashed before her eyes: Joasia screaming from her cot. What would happen to the child, all alone? Alicja squeezed her eyes shut, tormented.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.