Cashless Cooperativesssssssssssss

This guy s fat.

Memories of the Abyss

Chapter 5: IN EGGENFELDEN

Montreal in the late 1940's

Summary

They were in Eggenfelden and Charlotte and William went to to the Jewish Police to ask for the procedures for being a resident. However they said they didn’t accept residents at all. Charlotte tried to discuss with an officer if they could allow them, hoping his compassion would allow them. However the person responsible for this rejection was a Jewish doctor. William recognized the doctor and once he told him that the women and child he rejected was his, the doctor changed his mind. The environment was great, William helped make an elementary school where he taught mathematics.There was an old Nazi couple lived in the apartment beside them and things became more tense. People hated William for helping build the school and this hatred spread to Charlotte. After, Charlotte became ill and had to go to a hospital in Munich. Surprisingly, the old Nazi couple looked over little Tusia when William looked over Charlotte.  Eventually, Charlotte got better and went home, she thanked the couple and things became less tense. After some time, there was some rebellion over school, that it was a waste of time. So, William was offered to be principal and he accepted it. He helped the schools a lot to make them what they are today. After some time, this arrangement did not last. People were either starting to emigrate to U.S.A or Israel. William decided to do the same. This occurred in 1948. William and his family could not get into both Israel and U.S.A, so William’s cousin Willi tried to get William visas to Canada. William had an interview with an immigration official to get accepted into Canada. It was a success! The immigration officer loved him. They were headed to Canada. They boarded a ship called the Samaria. After a tiring process the family reached Montreal.

Reflection

After a long journey, William and his family end up in Eggenfelden. They lived a good life there, William is very smart and was able to build a society from dust. His intelligence brought him this far and his intelligence would bring him further.

Renate was able to adapt so quickly to the new environment which surprised me greatly. This five year old was not traumatized one bit which made me happy. She is smart just like her father, which is no surprise.

After a long journey, their troubles came to an end. In my opinion I think it was fated that William and his family would reach Canada. They went through so much negative in their life and it would be only right that god give them positive.

In all, this memoir will be very dear for me for this is the best story I ever read in my life! After every page I read of this memoir I would think, why? how can this be possible? Now I only think about one thing, god is real.

In Eggenfelden Reflection

     This was a chapter of greta prosperity and by far was the most joy-filled chapter of all. They were able to obtain membership in the Displaced Persons Camp for Jews. Then, William, being the resourceful and problem-solving person that he was, he created a school for the young people living in the camp. He noticed that all of the children were growing up illiterate and offered a solution, a school wherein he would be the principal. The school was a great success bringing out intelligent young men and women and the success of his school brought William notoriety and he expanded his school to another displacement camp in Pocking which he also made very successful. After the Aliyah Bet became more popular and the school no longer required his expertise and they were decreasing rapidly in size, the Tannenzapfs' set their sights one again on heading to North America. At first trying to get into New York but being unable because of the caps put on Polish immigrants, they were able to secure a trip to Montreal. The family that had sponsored William and his family were named the Schwarts and they cordially welcomed William into their home.

     I am so glad to see such an uplifting and happy ending to a story of such tragedy and turmoil. All in all I am very, very glad I read this book. Not only was it very educational and gave me a lot of insight into what life in war time is like, it also has a great story of hope and redemption.

Brzeg nad Odra Reflection

     After William had settled in Stanislawow with steady income and good friends around them they, for a reason not explained in the memoir decided to leave. They moved to a city in Poland called Brzeg nad Odra. It was very hard for them living there since they were surrounded by many anti-Semites and heard of Jews in a neighbouring city being harassed an killed because of their ethnicity. This struck enough fear in Charlotte and William for them to want to leave Poland and flee to North America where they are confident they will be free of prejudice. Unfortunately their planned escape was flawed and made William and his associated end up in a very harsh jail. However, they were able to barter with a guard so that he would help free them and once they were out went back to their families having failed their mission. Charlotte was very glad to see William as she feared him dead. But they still were not dissuaded and continued to try and escape to Western Society.

     It's interesting to see the amount of under-cover Jews that they encountered along their journey, some pretended to be Poles, Ukranian, Soviets or even German. It is sad to see people have to hide who they are, their heritage, their identity in order to be treated with as much respect and decency as anyone else.

     It greatly saddened me to see how the Soviets mistreated the German civilians that were on the same train as William on his journey.  This was undeserved by the Germans as they themselves were not the Nazis and therefore were not the perpetrators of the terrible crimes against the Jews and humanity. It is important that we as humans do not generalize and stereotype but rather encounter each new person with a fresh slate  rather than prejudice, otherwise we make ourselves just like the Nazis whose sin was regarding certain groups of people as worth less than others, not because of their actions but simply because of their race. We need to ensure that we value lives of all people and do not condone ignorant and prejudice behaviour against anybody.

Under The Second Soviet Occupation

 

A once again peaceful Stanislawow

 
   Free at last! After enduring such hardship I was so glad to see William and his wife being able to return to Stanislawow and resume their jobs of engineer at the power plant and pharmacist, respectively. This chapter was on of joy and redemption; I got to see William returning to the people that he had bartered his clothes and possessions to for food and get most back.
     It was interesting to see William say that after he had survived such mass murder he did not believe in miracles and said that it was not possible to explain how he had survived other than to attribute it to luck. At first glance, that confused me, I though 'how could you survive all that had transpired in your city and not give thanks to some higher power?' But then I remembered the countless friends and family members that he lost during the German occupation of his city and then it became clearer to see. He had totally given up hope and somehow survived anyways, for him, his life was still a tragedy and no compensation would ever change his mind.

Under The German Occupation Reflection

The infamous Hans Krueger

   
     This chapter was so incredibly horrid that I debated putting down the book many times. It pains me to see the depths of man's wickedness. The scene that stood out to me the most by far was when a man named Krueger, infamous for his cruelty, killed a woman for absolutely no reason. Of course being shot is terrible, being beaten with the buts of gins to death is terrible, starving to death is terrible but the experience of this woman was one of the worst I've heard. She was ahead of William in a line to be assigned work somewhere so that she would be exempt form the many Aktionen (This refers to the brutal roundup of Jews for forced labour, forcible resettlement, mass murder by shooting or deportation to death camps) that were taking place. She was literally just standing there; not speaking, not bothering anyone or anything. Krueger goes up to her on his horse slowly, speaks to her a bit and pats her head. She released her beautiful long hair and he patted the top of her head. A moment of mercy for this young beautiful woman on Krueger's part, you think? Think again. A second later he wraps her hair around his hand and commanded his horse to take off in ild gallop, dragging the woman behind over a layer of sharp broken rocks on a road that was under construction. Then, as if it was no big deal, he returns and drops her dead body in front of a couple Jewish officers to put in one of the mass graves.

     This is absolutely crazy! How can one man be so nefarious? Although not all deaths to take place were this gruesome the Jews also had to live in fear of the random killings, of being taken off to an Aktion simply for looking at someone the wrong way. I seriously could not even image what such intense fear would feel like. Not to mention knowing that although you are susceptible to such treatment, so is your starved and beloved wife. Although I knew that Willian, Charlotte and Renate/Tuscia were going to survive in the end, that didn't stop might heart from jumping every time William was spotted by an officer, or when Charlotte caught him about to commit suicide.

     It is also interesting to see that William said that he though he was losing his mind, saying that he was hearing things. The constant fear coupled with severe dehydration and malnutrition was taking a heavy toll on him. This reminds me of a book I read call The Book Of Negroes *spoilers*. In it, there was a character named Fanta and she was a wife of the chief in the village she lived in when all of a sudden she was robbed of all of her possessions and forced onto a slave ship living in absolutely horrible conditions including severe dehydration and malnutrition. Fanta seemingly out of nowhere decided to throw a baby that against all odds had survived birth over board and then proceeded to kill herself also. When I read the Book Of Negroes I was only about twelve and seeing this thought that she was just a selfish and terrible person killing an innocent child. But now I see things differently, scientific studied have proved time and time again what lack of nutrients can do to our brain and I see that the reason she was able to do such a thing was because she was not able to think rationally, and I couldn't say that I would handle such a fate very eloquently myself. This makes me have even greater respect for William who, even though his mind was playing tricks on him, was able to survive with his wife and daughter through such a dark time.

Memories of the Abyss

Chapter 4: IN BRZEG NAD ODRA

Brzeg nad Odra

Summary

The train ride was very fascinating in the perspective of William. They got to know some other Jewish survivors. The train stopped in the middle of nowhere and everyone had to get off. People were walking in different directions, but the Jewish brothers they met were going to a place called Brzeg nad Odra. The brothers offered William and his family to join them. William accepted the offer enthusiastically. William picked an apartment on the second floor which used to be owned by Germans. Later onwards, William got a liquor license through bribe of course. He found an empty store and was set to sell liquor. There was a big problem in William’s apartment though, it was filled with landmines. William did not know if they were live munitions so he got two soldiers to remove them. William’s business was a success, everyone came to enjoy a nice drink and some deli products. He went into a black market business for a small amount of time, but later stopped because it was getting too risky. One day Tusia or Renate was playing outside then suddenly William heard an explosion. It was a cow that stepped on a landmine, William was scared that Tusia might have been killed so he got some soldiers to find her, offering them a drink and sweets for a reward. Luckily, they found her and everything was fine. As time went on more Jews came to Brzeg and they formed a club. However, with an increase in Jews there was the start of anti-Semitism. Some Jews would get beat up and injured greatly. After all this, William decided to get out of Poland. He had an idea to get American dollars so he drove to Berlin with a friend who was a soldier. On their way back they got stopped by two Soviet soldiers. There was money in the car and the National bank got robbed recently. It turned out that William’s two associates purchase black market stolen money so all three of them were arrested. Eventually, William and his associates were released, but illegally. William his money and documents in the process but it was worth it. They went to the Jewish Community Centre to ask the chairman if he could help them out of this mess. He agreed only on one condition: that a portion of the money be donated. They were told to go back to Poland and wait for the money and documents to come. However, getting to Poland was not easy, there were Soviets everywhere and William did not have his documents to get back. A girl offered to help them get to Poland only if they could protect her. William and his associates agreed. They found a way on the train headed to Poland, but a terrible commotion broke out. The Soviet soldiers were robbing and beating the Germans and raping German women. Finally, William got home to Charlotte. They faced reality and knew that they could not last in the anti-Semitic environment of Brzeg. William decided to move to Palestine. It was free transportation because the organizers felt like they owed William for giving them jobs.

Reflection

When reading these few pages what really surprised me was that the hatred never stopped. Even after the war, the Poles were still anti-Semitic. Brzeg was a good and bad experience for William. He was able to support his family from the fortune he made from his store, but he was forced to live in a an anti-Semitic environment.

What I realized when reading this chapter was that the Soviets were no different than the Nazis. The Nazis were brutal with people who were non-Aryans, but Soviets were brutal to the Germans. I ask myself when will this hatred stop?

When I found out there was an explosion outside the liquor store my heart stopped. I knew that little Renate was playing there and I was hoping she didn't die. Thankfully she did not.

I was relieved when William was released from prison, he did not do anything wrong yet the Soviets needed to find a reason to keep him there.

I was happy when William decided to go to Palestine. That place is filled with many Jews and at least there William and his family would be treated properly.