Cafe Eisenhower by Richard Natale

Author:Richard Natale [Natale, Richard]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781626392748
Publisher: Bold Strokes Books
Published: 2014-10-21T00:00:00+00:00

NOTEBOOK FOUR (1946)

After disembarking in Bremen one blustery, overcast day, Isaac sets off immediately for the various displaced person camps and refugee centers the Allies have set up since the signing of the Armistice. He is hoping to locate any surviving family members or, failing that, at least be apprised of their fate. Every town he passes through has been partially destroyed and is in utter chaos. It is as if during the war, the laws of gravity were suspended and the buildings carelessly hurtled into one another and burst into flames, leaving behind only rubble and ash and a populace wandering about in a stupor, sifting through the detritus for proof of their former existence.

Isaac’s fluency in English ingratiates him to the Americans and British personnel who operate a majority of the repatriation facilities. They offer to make inquiries on his behalf in exchange for his help in communicating with their charges. Trying to extract information from these spectral beings has been difficult and, in many instances, fruitless, the administrators contend. They seem to have forgotten the simplest details of their lives, and what little they can recall is disconnected and illogical.

But when Isaac queries them, he discovers it is quite the opposite. The men and women he speaks to remember everything about their infernal descent; it’s as indelibly etched on their brains as the tattoos on their forearms. Though they survived the ordeal, they find no solace in it. Over the next several weeks, Isaac learns of treatment so barbaric and without mercy, he can hardly believe it was perpetrated by fellow human beings. Even for war, the depth of cruelty seems bottomless.

When he returns to his hotel in the evenings, his head is bursting with the gruesome accounts he’s heard during the day. He lies awake all night side by side with the ghosts of the living and the dead and, at times, fears he may lose hold of his sanity. Rest comes only after he makes a solemn vow to remember the story of every troubled soul he has met on his journey and repeat it to anyone willing to listen. Only by bearing witness can he somehow hope to lighten their burden, a token gesture of communion from one who was spared.

In the search for his family, the information Isaac receives is either inconclusive or completely erroneous, leading him around in circles. Come back in six months, maybe a year, he is advised, then we will have more accurate records. For the present, however, the primary mission is to help the refugees get back home or start a new life elsewhere.

If it can be called good fortune, a few weeks into this expedition, Isaac runs across a familiar face purely by accident. At the front gate of yet another relocation facility, he is stopped so that a motorcade can enter. The cars and jeeps hold military personnel. From their strong open faces and crisp uniforms, he recognizes them as Americans. One high-ranking officer catches his eye, though he cannot immediately place him.

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