[Cz-L] Transnitria, my last installment.

Transnitria, my last installment.

I saved my life a second time, but this time it was possibly a premonition.
My young brain was filled with memories and
images of terror and death. I was too young and
afraid to think about tomorrow.
In the end of fall in 1943, a rumor started, that
whoever has the right amount of money, could buy
a train ticket which will take young children to
Palestine. I was 5 or 6 years old.
My father had no money, but he had a few gold
teeth. He had those teeth extracted, sold them
and had enough money for my ticket to Palestine.
The day arrived; I remember it like it was
yesterday, it was cold, overcast with a light
mist.
My father hired a peasant with a horse and wagon
to take us to the train station. Near the train
were hundreds of kids with their parents. My
father looked for a boy of 10 or 11 who he knew
and told him to look after me. I was given my
last instructions for the hundred times: remember
who you are, I want you to grow up to be a Mench,
your name is Arthur Rindner, your mother's name
was Eva Rindner and my name is Jacob Rindner.
Then he gave me a small silver mirror in the
shape of a pear which belonged to my mother, he
told me to look after it and not to lose it.
This little mirror was the last possession of my
mother.
As I boarded the train I started to cry and told
my father that I do not want to go. He said
don't you want to go to Palestine and save
yourself from the life which we have here? I
told him that I do not care, what will happen
will happen as long as we are together and not
separated.
The train left and we returned to our hut in Bershad.
Years later after the war, my father visited Iasi
a city in the Moldavia region of Romania and meet
the little boy of 11 who was supposed to have
looked after me. He asked him, how come he is
not in Palestine?
He told him, that the train stopped in several
more places to pick up more kids and when the
train was full with kids it stopped near a forest
and the kids were told to disembark. They were
shot, massacred right there in that forest, the
boy played death and escaped.
The Nazi's used deception as a tool; it was so
easy to come up with a story to save the
children. Those Jews are going to fall for this.
They needed Arbeitskräfte (work force) but der
Nachwuchs (offspring's) were always in the way.
The Nazi's, by using deception was a way of
getting rid of the children and cheat the Jews
out of their money which they possibly hid.

I escaped death, did lady luck looked after me the second time? I believe so.

My mother's small silver mirror is still in my possession.

Arthur

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Received on 2010-09-28 16:32:10