Sunrise West by Jacob G.Rosenberg

Author:Jacob G.Rosenberg
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Brandl & Schlesinger
Published: 2014-02-19T05:00:00+00:00

Our departure was in the best traditions of friendship, though Aron knew that Esther and I were to join a Bundist and hence non-Zionist collective. It had been established in Rome with the financial support of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (known simply as Joint), in a beautiful villa situated at Via Casetta Mattei 12. The property, with its opulent staircase and marble baths, was nothing like I had ever seen in all my life; it stood in silent pride amid a forest of dreamy perennials. Its owner, a wealthy and distinguished Italian doctor who would drop in from time to time for a friendly inspection, appeared to me like an endemic part of the peaceful landscape.

I was quite enthused by the prospect of building a socialist colony in the very capital where Fascism had reigned supreme. But ideals, once institutionalized, tend to disintegrate or succumb to corruption. True ideals, those that uphold human dignity, are like free doves; institutions can become their death cages.

We were given a room to ourselves, with a private bath! Esther couldn’t believe her luck. But her joy was shortlived, for we were soon notified that we would have to share the room with another couple. This turned out to be a sickly fellow with cheeks like inflated red balloons, and his young wife, sweet-faced and buxom, with an oversized behind. By day she was placid and reticent, saying hardly anything; yet from the moment the light was turned out at night, her erotic needs and noises would keep us awake. And there was nothing we could do about it.

One hot July morning I was summoned urgently to the office. There, in a winter coat, shaking like a malaria sufferer, her face set in an expression of dread, waited a prewar party comrade of mine called Leah. ‘I have nowhere to go,’ she said. ‘I heard you were here. Please help me. I’m very much pregnant, as you can see. My husband Julek, whom you know, was detained at the border. He made me run, for the child’s sake. Many Jews were murdered in Kielce, and Kielce is everywhere. The war is over but in our country Jews are still being murdered. People who collaborated with the Nazis walk about freely but those who saved a Jewish life are afraid to admit it. Such is our situation.’

And so we were now five in one small room.

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.