Living among the Dead by Adena Bernstein Astrowsky

Author:Adena Bernstein Astrowsky [Bernstein Astrowsky, Adena]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9789493056381
Published: 2020-03-02T23:00:00+00:00

10 LIFE IN THE ATTIC

My grandmother told me that somehow, because of “fate,” their roof was not torn apart, and she, and the others, remained alive. The courageous family whose house they were hiding in brought them a bag of biscuits to share. There was also a sack of peas, a raw potato, and a few pieces of zwieback, a dry bread. They did not know how long they would be there.

For two days, they barely ate anything aside from a biscuit. There was no water and they were extremely dehydrated. After eight days, a young teenage boy named Plot, who was hiding with them, remembered there was some water on the balcony. He bravely ventured out and returned with some stale, green water that would normally be used for washing hair but not drinking; however, everyone took a sip. Rivka’s father-in-law gave the children his sip when it was his turn to drink. It was a noble act and water meant so much more to my grandmother from that day on.

Nobody felt like a human being anymore. They were all very skeletal and very weak. Their clothing was getting big while their bodies were shrinking. Due to lack of strength from starvation and dehydration, they all had to hold onto things to walk and nobody spoke for days. They didn’t think about food or surviving.

And in fact, not having food was a blessing in disguise because they wouldn’t have to relieve themselves as much, which was embarrassing to do in full view of the others. Bubbie did wonder though why her mother, father, and sisters had been killed and not her.

One day, they heard the Ukrainians on the roofs banging. They were tearing off roofs looking for more Jews. They knew that many Jews were hiding in attics and she could hear them say, “Will we find Jews here?” as if they were digging for gold. Luckily, they did not tear the tin roof off or shoot at it where Bubbie was hiding.

The Ukrainians and Germans were relentless in finding every living Jew. They looked through the spaces in the attic windows or found Jews running and hiding in the streets. They listened and sought to kill more.

Bodies were laid out side by side in layers in the graves. Each layer of bodies was sprayed with bullets and then covered with a new group of bodies. It did not matter to the Nazis if any bodies underneath were still alive.

Bubbie knew a fourteen-year-old girl from her school who was the last one to be shot on a particular day, although she was only hit in the leg. In the middle of the night, while the grave was still uncovered, she regained consciousness and ran from the grave to the nearest house where a farmer lived. He took pity on her and let her hide in his home.

In the afternoon on the fifteenth day, through the cracks in the attic walls, Bubbie and the others saw a group of emaciated and wobbly Jews being led by the Germans.

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