Karolina's Twins Read Online Free Page B
Author: Ronald H. Balson
the city administration building. They roughed people up and interrogated them, but there were no mass executions. They just kept everyone prisoner overnight. The next day they announced their new rules and let all the prisoners go home. The message was clear: we are in charge and we can do whatever we want. Donât buck the order. Follow the rules. Then you will live.
âThe Nazis set up their command post at city hall and demanded a census. Iâm certain you heard the same story from Ben. They wrote down the names of everyone in town, every member of the family, and where they lived. At that time they didnât ask if you were Jewish, or a Communist, or a Roma. That all came later. Their immediate goal was to drive home a pointâthey were superior, we were inferior and they had a license to be cruel. They could and did act without constraintâlegal, moral or otherwise.
âThe Germans posted lists of their new rules all over town. All stores were required to stay open every day, even on the Sabbath. No one was permitted to leave town without a permit. Permits were not issued. A curfew was established at sundown for all residents. Anyone out after curfew was subject to summary execution. All radios were to be turned in immediately. Anyone caught with a radio would be executed. Our radio was a large console model. We carried it to the curb, and they came by and demolished it with a sledgehammer. Then we cleaned up the mess. On September fourteenth, Erev Rosh Hashanah, uniformed soldiers surrounded the synagogues and ordered them shut.
âRation coupon cards were issued to Jews and non-Jews alike. Of course, that didnât mean there was food to buy. From the moment the Germans rolled into town, there was a severe food shortageâthey took it all. They cleaned out the shelves at the markets and the bakeries. They requisitioned most of the production of the surrounding farms. Lines for food formed early at the butcher shop, the bakery, the grocery store. A long wait at the butcher, if successful, might yield six ounces of some portion of a cow or maybe nothing.
âPolish signs on public buildings were taken down and replaced with German signs. Street names were changed from Polish to German and renamed for German heroes or replaced by the German phonetic name. In 1941, they changed the name of our town from Chrzanów to Krenau.
âThose were the written rules. The unwritten rules were driven home by experience. Get off the sidewalk if you see a German coming. You better not be in his way, even if it means stepping into a puddle. If a man walks in public with a yarmulke on, a Nazi is sure to take it off and force the man use it to polish his jackboots. And donât make eye contact. Itâs considered provocative. For girls, we know to go out in groups or not at all. Even in the hot weather, girls are smart to cover up.
âThe city became red and black with Nazi flags. They were hung from all the city buildings. Swastikas were everywhere. And so were the Germans. On every block, at every corner. I know that Ben must have told you all about the horrors of life during the occupation.â
Catherine nodded. âYes, Iâm afraid he did.â
âThe Germans levied a tax upon the Jews. The professed purpose was to pay for the German administration of our town. After all, how could the Nazis be expected to pay for their own conquest? Obviously, the real object was to impoverish the Jews. To that end, Jewish men were conscripted and ordered to go door-to-door to collect the taxes in paper bags. Woe be to the family that did not pay.
âWithin months Germany annexed Chrzanów and the Polish towns to our westâCheÅmek, Trzebinia, Libi � ż. We were now located inside Germany and were no longer part of the Republic of Poland, but of course we were not German citizens. We were Jews and Jews cannot be citizens. Krenau was now a German town. Poles in our town
âThe Nazis set up their command post at city hall and demanded a census. Iâm certain you heard the same story from Ben. They wrote down the names of everyone in town, every member of the family, and where they lived. At that time they didnât ask if you were Jewish, or a Communist, or a Roma. That all came later. Their immediate goal was to drive home a pointâthey were superior, we were inferior and they had a license to be cruel. They could and did act without constraintâlegal, moral or otherwise.
âThe Germans posted lists of their new rules all over town. All stores were required to stay open every day, even on the Sabbath. No one was permitted to leave town without a permit. Permits were not issued. A curfew was established at sundown for all residents. Anyone out after curfew was subject to summary execution. All radios were to be turned in immediately. Anyone caught with a radio would be executed. Our radio was a large console model. We carried it to the curb, and they came by and demolished it with a sledgehammer. Then we cleaned up the mess. On September fourteenth, Erev Rosh Hashanah, uniformed soldiers surrounded the synagogues and ordered them shut.
âRation coupon cards were issued to Jews and non-Jews alike. Of course, that didnât mean there was food to buy. From the moment the Germans rolled into town, there was a severe food shortageâthey took it all. They cleaned out the shelves at the markets and the bakeries. They requisitioned most of the production of the surrounding farms. Lines for food formed early at the butcher shop, the bakery, the grocery store. A long wait at the butcher, if successful, might yield six ounces of some portion of a cow or maybe nothing.
âPolish signs on public buildings were taken down and replaced with German signs. Street names were changed from Polish to German and renamed for German heroes or replaced by the German phonetic name. In 1941, they changed the name of our town from Chrzanów to Krenau.
âThose were the written rules. The unwritten rules were driven home by experience. Get off the sidewalk if you see a German coming. You better not be in his way, even if it means stepping into a puddle. If a man walks in public with a yarmulke on, a Nazi is sure to take it off and force the man use it to polish his jackboots. And donât make eye contact. Itâs considered provocative. For girls, we know to go out in groups or not at all. Even in the hot weather, girls are smart to cover up.
âThe city became red and black with Nazi flags. They were hung from all the city buildings. Swastikas were everywhere. And so were the Germans. On every block, at every corner. I know that Ben must have told you all about the horrors of life during the occupation.â
Catherine nodded. âYes, Iâm afraid he did.â
âThe Germans levied a tax upon the Jews. The professed purpose was to pay for the German administration of our town. After all, how could the Nazis be expected to pay for their own conquest? Obviously, the real object was to impoverish the Jews. To that end, Jewish men were conscripted and ordered to go door-to-door to collect the taxes in paper bags. Woe be to the family that did not pay.
âWithin months Germany annexed Chrzanów and the Polish towns to our westâCheÅmek, Trzebinia, Libi � ż. We were now located inside Germany and were no longer part of the Republic of Poland, but of course we were not German citizens. We were Jews and Jews cannot be citizens. Krenau was now a German town. Poles in our town
Readers choose
India Edghill
Nigel Latta
Marissa Doyle
Colleen Quinn
Tristan J. Tarwater
Virginia Nelson
Lauren Linwood
Douglas Adams
Edna Buchanan