The Heart Of A Gypsy Read Online Free Page A

Rom continued, “Among our people you are known as the man with the face of a German but the heart of a gyspy! And as I am looking at you here and now, I see that it is true!  Sit, please; we are happy to have you with us.” Lighting his pipe, he indicated a rock near a glowing fire just on the outskirts of the overhead canopy.
    “I knew there was a band of gypsies in the forest who were involved in the Resistance.  I have been hearing about you for quite a while. How did you find me?” Christian asked.
    “ We had been keeping a watch on you for a while. When you got into trouble on the street yesterday, we knew that from the location where they arrested you chances were good that you would be taken to the Gesia Street prison and…so…we were right. It was Ion’s sister, Nadya, who saw you being arrested. She came to us and told us what happened. None of the men saw it or they would have stepped in to help. Nadya was alone, and even though she had never seen you before, when she described you, we knew who it was they had in custody, because your looks are so distinctive; you look like the perfect German,” the Shera Rom said.
    “So I have been told, but I am not German. I’m from Norway,” Christian answered, but his mind was on the girl. Now he knew her name. Nadya…. Nadya… He silently repeated the lovely name.
    “Yes, we know that also. What we don’t know or understand is why you joined the Resistance. We cannot figure out why you put yourself in such a dangerous predicament.”
    “It’s rather hard to explain, but I’ll try. I was in Berlin visiting a good friend, a Jewish bookstore owner,” Christian said as he looked into the eyes of the older man, who studied him intently. “He used to live in Norway, and we grew up together. Now, of course, everyone was aware of the growing anti-Semitism, but I happened to be staying with him on the night of Kristalnacht . Things didn’t really get out of control until then. You have heard about this?”
    “Vaguely, yes. I am sorry to admit it, but until our own people were dragged into this Nazi horror, we gypsies did not pay much attention to what was happening to the Jews. I see now that it was wrong not to make ourselves aware of the plight of those who suffered. But, you see, it was not our way. The Rom , the Roma , or the Romany - however you would like to refer to our people…some even call us gypsies…are loners. We had been living our lives as we always had: traveling, and enjoying the earth and its wonderful bounty all summer. Then, in winter, we would set up camp and wait until the weather broke, when we could go forth and begin our journey anew. One evening, a group of men from the SS came to us and told us that we were to spend the winter in the ghetto. We didn’t know what a ghetto was, but he explained that it is a small area of buildings. Apparently, it had been evacuated by the Jews. At that time we had no idea where the Jews had gone or what had happened to them. The SS tried to tell us that this was a favor that they were doing for us, letting us stay in this ghetto. Instead of being outside in our wagons, or vurduns , as we call them, they said we would have running water and all of the comforts that could be provided. It would be so much more pleasant than enduring the cold without any heat. The Nazis came to our camps, smiling and ensuring us that they meant us no harm. They said that we are Aryans like them, and not Jews. Gypsies don’t care for having titles. The word Aryan means nothing to us. We are Rom , it is as simple as that. And we never had any war with the Jews.  But until the Nazis came into power, we always kept to ourselves. It is part of our culture to not trust the gage . By gage , we mean anyone who is not of the Roma . So, anyway, these Nazi officers who came to our camps set about enticing us with the promise of warm rooms for the winter. Some groups of the Romany decided to put faith in the Germans and follow