Unspoken Words: A Story of the Holocaust by Shari J. Ryan

Author:Shari J. Ryan [Ryan, Shari J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-10-15T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 25

Twenty-One Years Old – May, 1944

VIENNA, AUSTRIA

It was a year later when I heard the words I didn’t expect to hear for another nine years: "Crane, you are free to go." A Gestapo I had become familiar with throughout the last year released the cell door.

"Why am I free?" It might not have been the best question, but it was my only question. I was okay with a life term of imprisonment because it was the result of offering Amelia a chance at freedom.

"The Nazi regime is over." Just like that, the madness had ended, but how many lives had been sacrificed for this war? "The Führer is dead." Most of my life has revolved around the Führer’s rules and laws.

The information was a lot to take in at this moment because my first realization was that everything that had happened in my life those last few years was for nothing.

Six million deaths of innocent Jewish people.

For nothing.

Hitler was gone, but the memories were not. I had done nothing for the last year other than contemplate what I had been a part of since I was twelve-years-old.

I took slow steps across the cement floor toward the gated exit. Most everyone in the prison was released at the same moment. We were all there for war crimes, but most of us had gone AWOL.

The sun was overwhelming when I stepped outside, but the damp grounds smelled of rain. It was a lovely scent. It was more than lovely, in fact. I had the urge to kiss the ground. "I am heading home," one of the prisoners said to another.

"Ja, same."

Home. My last letter home was to Mama. She had been unhappy with me for good reason, but part of me wonders if she was relieved to know I couldn’t get myself into further trouble while in prison.

I stopped at a payphone and dialed home, hopeful Mama would answer, but before the called connected, I hung up the receiver.

I wasn’t ready to go home.

My legs ached as I made my way to the nearby train station, purchasing a one-way ticket to Zurich. I didn’t have much money, only what I had on me when I arrived at the prison, but I had enough to get by for a bit.

This train ride was much different from all the other trains I had ridden. Freedom was in the near distance, but for the first time in my life, I could live as I wished. Although, I didn’t quite know what that meant.

The train ride was many hours, which I embraced while peacefully staring out the window, watching the hills become snow-covered mountains. I wasn’t sure what the odds were of finding Amelia in Zurich, but I would do whatever I could to locate her.

The engines from the train began to simmer, warning that we were coming to a stop. We were pulling into a railway station with a covered awning. Loved ones were waiting patiently for passengers to disembark, and I closed my eyes, imagining Amelia standing among them, waving furiously with a smile from ear to ear.

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