On the Run in Nazi Berlin by Bert Lewyn

Author:Bert Lewyn
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Chicago Review Press
Published: 2019-03-07T16:00:00+00:00

16

Damn Yankee

I SPENT THE NEXT DAY, like many other days, wandering the streets of Berlin. I noticed my shoes were beginning to wear out, which didn’t surprise me. My aim was to avoid the police and the Gestapo, which I could only do by moving around. I couldn’t afford to become too familiar a face in any one spot, since attracting official attention could be deadly. I still had the Gestapo ID that we had stolen, but I presumed that by now the Gestapo must have discovered that it was missing and would be on the lookout for anyone attempting to use it.

As I walked, I constantly scanned the faces of people around me, ducking into doorways whenever I saw police or SS patrols. Sometimes, when I reached the point of absolute exhaustion, I would go to a park and sit on a bench. This was breaking yet another law. The benches read “No Jews Allowed” and Jews were forbidden to even enter the parks. I didn’t care. I was a fugitive, no longer wearing a yellow Jewish star.

I thought a few times of keeping a diary, but each time I quickly abandoned the idea. If I were caught, the Gestapo could use the diary against me and those who had helped me.

My list of allies had been whittled down. In Berlin, I now had only Paul Richter’s apartment for shelter, but the last time I had been there an incident occurred that dampened Richter’s enthusiasm for helping me. A Wehrmacht patrol had come to his apartment house, looking for an army deserter. They’d been tipped off that this man was hiding in Richter’s apartment building. When they knocked on his door, they were advised that he and Regina were blind and obviously couldn’t identify anyone. The army patrolmen accepted their explanation and left, but the experience had left Richter reluctant to have me around. They asked me to stay away for a while, until some time elapsed or the deserter was found.

So in Berlin, I was completely on my own. Life got especially difficult whenever it rained. I could go into the U-Bahn subway or the S-Bahn and spend the day riding around, but I had to be extremely careful to avoid attracting the attention of the Gestapo.

But today it was a clear day, so I stuck to the streets. I wandered up toward Humboldt University, the foremost university in Berlin. I loved this area of the city. I had always found it to be interesting. The main state opera house was right there, as was the national library.

I wandered into the Bebelplatz. This was a large outdoor plaza between the university, the state opera house, and the national library. These institutions were the foremost of their kind in Berlin and formed an area of academic resources the equal of any in Germany. Since I was a little boy, I had dreamed of attending the university; I had always found going to school to be exciting. But the Bebelplatz

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