The Puppet Boy of Warsaw by Eva Weaver

Author:Eva Weaver [Weaver, Eva]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9780297868293
Publisher: Orion
Published: 2013-04-10T22:00:00+00:00

16

On the morning of 18 January 1943 a sharp white frost covered Warsaw, glittering under a steel-blue sky. Nothing about this day could have warned us. The rats moved early in the morning, just after sunrise. The first sound we heard was that of their dreaded trucks, then soldiers swarmed through the ghetto like a giant cloud of locusts. They were back to round us up. But this time we were prepared.

This was our sign to rise and fight: we had sworn that if the rats returned for a new wave of deportations, we would strike back with full force. The ‘Übermenschen’, as they called themselves, had been arrogant, so sure of themselves for far too long, believing they could herd us to our deaths like cattle. Sweep Warsaw ‘Judenrein’ – free of Jews. No. Here we were, drawn together by a single aim: to kill as many as we could, one bullet for a rat, a grenade for a cluster. We would wear their blood on our hands for a change.

Mordecai gathered us immediately at Mila 18, going over our strategy once more: first we’d set the barricades we had built in recent weeks alight, then spread out and hide around Gęsia and Mila Streets in order to ambush them with our bullets. He put Ellie and me with a handful of others in charge of the hundreds of petrol bombs we had manufactured secretly in Mila 10. We handed them out to our fellow fighters, who then separated and quickly ran to the houses and the streets we planned to fight in.

‘Good luck, Mika.’ Ellie squeezed my hand hard, looking straight at me. Her hands were dry and hot as if they were about to catch fire. ‘Let’s give them hell!’ She had tied back her wild curls with a red scarf and could hardly contain herself – she was as ready as a bull for the fight.

‘Here, take one.’ The bottle felt cool and smooth in my hands and I inhaled the petrol’s sharp smell. My hand reached into my coat pocket and pulled out my mother’s red scarf. I always carried it with me but today I would wear it like a proud flag.

‘For our mothers. For Grandfather and Peter. The twins. Today we’ll avenge them.’ Ellie smiled at me – we were ready. We stationed ourselves on the second floor of an apartment block on the corner of Lubiecka and Mila Streets, together with three snipers: Andrew, Thomas and Adam. We crouched beneath the windows, tense like tigers, waiting for our prey. All of a sudden we heard a group of SS soldiers marching up Lubiecka Street, flanking a tank. Our moment had arrived. We let them come closer, until they were underneath our windows. Then the snipers pulled their triggers almost as one and the first soldiers collapsed.

‘Die, you rat!’ Ellie screamed, taking a broad swing before launching the petrol bomb down on to the soldiers – my Amazon! Her rage found the Germans unprepared.

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.