The Child on Platform One by Gill Thompson

Author:Gill Thompson [Thompson, Gill]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HeadlinePublisher
Published: 2019-11-07T16:00:00+00:00

18

In Prague, the last months of 1940 and the whole of 1941 crawled along painfully and already it was halfway through 1942. More and more decrees had been passed. Jews were now forbidden to travel more than thirty kilometres from their place of residence. Eva again felt thankful that she’d got Miriam out as soon as she had. Then Jews were barred from owning businesses, visiting restaurants, cinemas, theatres, sweet shops and barbers. They were only allowed to shop at three in the afternoon.

When the summons came, it was almost a relief, they’d anticipated it for so long. One early summer morning, Eva woke to several sharp knocks on the door, and a corresponding lurch of dread. Josef was still asleep, so she tugged on her dressing gown, stumbled down the stairs and opened the front door a crack. At first she was worried someone might see her in her night clothes, but the looming presence of a man in a dark overcoat, bearing the familiar yellow star, drove out the embarrassment. She smelt the animal reek of her own sweat. The man held out a sheet of typed paper. ‘Sign here, please.’

Eva took his pen and scrawled her name with shaking fingers.

‘Don’t worry.’ The man stepped a little closer. He had kind eyes in a lined face. ‘You won’t be going far. It’s only Terezin.’

Eva nodded, her throat too dry to speak. At least Terezin was still in Czechoslovakia. But it was a fortress nonetheless. Had been since the eighteenth century, when political dissidents were tortured there.

She trudged back up the stairs, her heart pounding, to wake Josef. Her parents’ names were on the list too. She hoped they’d be spared in deference to their age. But it seemed the Germans made no allowances for seniority; no one was exempt from their cruelty.

As she paused on the landing, trying to compose herself, she heard gentle snores coming from her parents’ room. They’d be lying side by side as always, like a pair of kippers in a tin, drawing warmth and comfort from each other’s bodies, even in sleep.

She took a deep breath and tiptoed into her own bedroom. Josef was still motionless, hunched under the blankets, his breaths an even rhythm. At the foot of the bed was a bulging carpet bag. Eva had packed it weeks ago with essential items: sleeping bags, warm underwear, sturdy shoes, a first aid kit (Josef had insisted on that), torches, candles, notebooks. They would wear as many clothes as they could and squeeze the others into the bag. They were only allowed to take fifty kilograms each. Fifty kilograms from a lifetime’s possessions. She had a sudden memory of trying to buy Miriam’s birthday present, and coming across the market stall selling Jewish belongings from ransacked houses. It was horrific to realise that the possessions they themselves left behind could well suffer a similar fate.

She crept back into bed. Josef lay, comma-like, on his side. She curled her body around his for

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