The Jewish Spy by Hayuta Katzenelson

Author:Hayuta Katzenelson [Katzenelson, Hayuta]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-06-14T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 22

Rivka met other refugees like her in the forest. Some of them she knew. They were torn and tattered, tired from their journeys. They were all jumpy from the constant vigilance that had kept them alive. Their only possessions were the clothes they wore. She looked at them and then at herself. She examined her dress and her thick wool leggings, and the number of holes in them and wondered how long they would last.

The partisans didn’t want to promise anything at first. Although Jews had been smuggled in the past, during the war the difficulties in procuring a ship were enormous. While the refugees waited, hunger and thirst prevailed and supplies were scarce. Finally, a rumor reached them that offered some hope: The partisans talked about a ship that was to arrive to collect them. They were warned to be patient, quiet, and discreet and to try and bear up under the hunger, the thirst, and the cold. Rivka found some thin, flexible tree bark. She perforated holes for her eyes and nose and wore it as a mask. This way she prevented the chapping of her lips and skin from the cold. Others tied handkerchiefs and scarves on their faces and looked like mummies.

One night a messenger gave them a promising message: “The ship has arrived.” He wore a black coat, but his collar points were an angel’s wings. He asked them to get up and accompany him to the port. The refugees rose in exemplary silence. Their figures in the dark were more like shadows than people — long-suffering and emaciated. Their only meager possessions on their bodies, but a little cheer finally sprouted in their hearts.

The overcrowding on the boat was unbearable. The starving refugees pushed and shoved for food and water. The fittest took over the bunks where there was a window or an opening. There were some who took another’s piece of bread. Later they felt ashamed, but between shame and hunger, the latter spoke more loudly.

Seasickness made them vomit violently. Crowding, chaos, the stench of the vomit, no change of clothes. The refugees were not allowed to go out on the deck during the day, so they remained in the belly of the ship, where the dense, closed conditions were a fertile breeding ground for bacteria and disease. The squalor and the wretchedness brought them frequently to despair. Rivka was grateful that this journey was already over for her children and was horrified to imagine what they had suffered. Maybe an adult could carry all this, but a child? A child cannot control hunger. Rivka shivered when she watched a child die and his body released into the water. She chased away fantasies of her children, and she consoled herself with the idea that when they’d left, Europe was less desperate.

A woman who gave birth on board to a boy died immediately after. The captain did her the honor of wrapping her body in an elegant blue and white flag, and his crew sent her body over the side.

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.