Once Upon a Time There Was a Man by Peter Scholes

Author:Peter Scholes
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bruntonwood

I explained why I was there and how I had reached this point in my investigation. They wanted to know everything. I was there to question them but I found myself babbling on for fifteen or twenty minutes before I had finished. When I looked up, both the old ladies were still smiling but tears ran down their cheeks.

The two Rabbi’s didn’t say a word. They seemed to be enjoying the moment. It wasn’t their stage.

“God be with you, Paul” said Rebecca. “You are a man of integrity. I can see that” she smiled, holding out a hand to me. I reached forward and held hers.

I didn’t realise at the time but I was crying too. I clicked on the Dictaphone.

“You are referring to events to events a long long time ago and yet they seem as clear to us as though it were yesterday” whispered Rebecca.

“You try and block out those awful times. You try to forget. Sometimes, in busy moments, you forget but it always comes back to you – especially at night. It always will. And we are the lucky ones.”

I kept hold of her hand.

“We met Ernie at the DPC near Bergan Belsen as you know. By that time we had all but lost hope of seeing any family members again. We weren’t stupid – even at that age we knew the horror of the situation. We knew the chances of finding our parents alive were slim. I wouldn’t say we had given up all hope but we were distraught and lost. We were no more than children ourselves.

Thankfully, we met Ernie. It was our fifth time visiting the DPC and, although everyone was helpful, nobody really gave us time and listened to our story. We were just another number.”

Annabelle continued, “It is so hard to describe the mood around the town at that time. We were hated. By the locals, by the Germans, by the Russians – by anyone who considered us a threat. The British had liberated the camp but we were still prisoners of sorts and without anyone to help us. Two twelve or thirteen year old girls with decimated, disease riddled bodies trying to cope with the enormity of war. How we didn’t break down or worse I will never know. We must have had the will and the hope to fight on.

Anyway, we met Ernie. He wasn’t like the others. He didn’t just want to help – he really wanted to help. He wanted to make us believe – to give us real hope. To make us realise life was worth living even after everything we had been through. Daniel too. He had been through it too. The two of them were our guardian angels.

When he found out our parents were alive, that they had survived the camps and moved to America we were just overwhelmed with joy. We were thirteen going on ten!”

Rebecca carried on.

“The boys concocted a plan between them. They were willing to chance everything for us. Us? Who are we to them? That wasn’t important to them.

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