The Escape

Prologue:

This diary belongs to an impressive German-Jewish man, I'd chosen some of the most significant insertions of it. He was born in Berlin, December 1921 and 2 years later, his  brother arrived to the world. Since a young age, they'd developed an interest of playing piano and musical studies. This man studied at the University of Arts Berlin after graduating High School. He was very talented and everybody was impressed by his amazing skills which resulted in a rise of fame the during the upcoming years. In 1933, Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party took power in Germany which led to a handful of German refugees, such as Jews. In early 1936, his family fled to Warsaw, Poland, they all became naturalized Polish citizens and the Jewish man started a new career at the Warsaw Philharmonics.

September 1 1939:

I was listening to the radio as usual, to the Polish Jewish pianist called Wladyslaw Szpilman playing the beautiful Nocturne in C sharp minor by Frederic Chopin, it was such a beautiful piece played by an amazing pianist but immediately, I heard some sounds of bombs and rifles, the broadcasting was interrupted and soon I figured it out, what really happened. The Germans ware invading Poland and instead of worrying about the situation, I just practiced some more piano, calming down. But I couldn't, the Germans were evil, they just wanted a territorial expansion, a larger amount of  money and at last but not least, the vision of killing all of the remaining Jews in Europe.  

“Stop doing this Germany, it wasn't worth it, please! I Screamed. I knew it didn't make sense complaining about the situation but my mind was filled by anger, I couldn't withstand it. I just wanted to release it, my fear and rage.  

We didn't have any choice fleeing again, Poland bordered Nazi Germany, Czech Republic and the Soviet union, it was impossible escaping to the UK or France, we were going to die them!

But knowing that Britain and France declared war, I rejoiced with my family eating dinner and after celebrating Sabbath, we hoped for a quick victory.

September 18 1939:

The Germans defeated the Poles, I knew it.

Today I was visiting the city of Warsaw, accompanying with my friend, Andrzej, a cellist from the Warsaw Philharmonics. Walking down the streets side by side, he told me about the injustice Jewish people were facing by the recently Nazi occupied Poland. Conditions of Jews were quickly deteriorated , businesses that were once friendly to them wouldn't allow their patronage and it was harshly forbidden walking on the pavement, everywhere I went, traces antisemitism was visible, even the commercials and I continuously began seeing Nazi propagandas. We were insulted, a jewish store was torn down followed by a Synagogues, I was forced to bear the David star and getting registered by the Nazi police officers. Even homosexual, gypsies and asocials were treated the same way for no reason, all of them innocent people.

After a while walking down the antisemitic streets of Warsaw, me and Andrzej were hungry and found a quite decent restaurant at e nearby corner but guess what?

“No Jews Allowed"

This wasn't uncommon, I wasn't even surprised. We couldn't sit on benches or use public toilets. Everything was “No Jews allowed” and we were simply useless, assimilated from the society but why? Why did the Nazis treat us like this? We weren't animals, we are also humans and possessed emotions. We didn't even perpetrate any crimes to the "fucking" Germans and still pretended their lost of WWI as our fault, they were stupid pigs, they were not humans!

I saw the Warsaw Philharmonics building, with some people outside. Andrzej got fed up by these acts and were heading home so that meant I was going by myself, as the proximity increased I realized what actually happened. All of those people was Jewish musicians which was kicked out of the orchestra, there was a “No Jews allowed” sign hanging on the entrance. I sat down on a bench, after a while, someone slapped me at my face, a German officer.

“No Jews here” He said.

I stepped, also a “No Jews allowed” kind of bench.

November 23 1940:

Bad news, we were going to move, not to a new house, nor an flat but to the Warsaw ghetto. The worst place in all of Poland, the reason we moved here was to enjoy freedom and a better life but did that wish come true?

Our family sold the most of our properties and we also gave the money to some German officers, our house was inherited by a German family.

It was 8 o'clock in the morning, a dozen of Jewish families, including mine were sent to the Warsaw ghetto by the trucks of the German army, SS. The Warsaw ghetto had an area of 3.4 square kilometers but a population of 400,000. The walls were 3 meters and topped with barbed wire so escapers could be shot in sight. There were two sections of the ghetto, a big and a small which was separated by Chłodna Street, an important street in Warsaw. The Northern larger section was connected to the smaller southern portion by a little, a tiny wooden footbridge. If you fell, mind your own fate.

We arrived, the SS-officers sent us to the larger ghetto, the first sight? It was awful.

It was crowded, people starved, the guard were brutal, if you did something wrong, you were executed, the living conditions was much worse than what I expected. How could you even survive here? Every now and then, there were some market places, with very little food, people even brawled about a tiny piece of bread in contrast to the living standards of the wealthy Germans. I Hated them, not the German race but the Nazis, yes, the Nazis, the National socialists, NSDAP!

Even if the ghetto was less than a year old, it looked so abandoned, 100 years old or suchlike and I just cried seeing so many young children starve to their fate, they were so little and couldn’t experience a proper life.

“Sieg Heil”

“Ein, Zwei, Drei, Vier, Fünf!” 5 people was standing against the wall. In a moment, all of them died, extinct from the real world.

For the first time, I witnessed an SS-man killing an entire family, it probably was Einsatzgruppen composed by SS-officers, police forces and volunteers.So many people were fooled by the Nazis, by the propagandas.

“Du und du!” A guard said.

“Boom” a bullet was fired by the huge rifle which the guard was holding, The poor woman was killed.

“Jude”

“Bang!”  Three people ceased from their consciousness.

It continued, more Jews were sent to the wall and even some SS-mans came.

After quite a while, a couple of Boom booms later, there was a pile of dead Jews and what did the Germans do?

Nothing, they just left them there like nothing happened.

“This Einsatzgruppen thing was to ineffective, look at how many people we've killed, only 20 30 Jews today. It's too little, let's complain!”, someone said.

How could this be possible, according to the guards, Einsatzgruppen killed too few people? What could I say?

“Little Jew,I won’t I go back to the place you belong to? Haha! A soldier yelled to me.

Go away or  get killed, I thought.

The German soldier charged a few shot with his assault rifle, also known as Sturmgewehr.

He fired powerful shot but luckily, I ran away and I caught a sight of a couple of people dying.

Huh, I hopefully survived.

September 1941:

Our family lived at least one year in the ghetto and we survived but seeing people die everyday, by starving or executing, I didn't really wanted to flee, hopefully I had a job, playing some piano at and I even earned some money. I went back to our “apartment”, my brother opened the door for me and we heard something unusual by the German officers.

“Now, we have decided that all of you are going to move away from the ghetto by train. It will be somewhere but don't ask us where it is, a secret haha!”

First I shined up but after a while, all of us realized, this was a trick, to fool us. The German only wanted to kill us, nothing else, all of us were going to leave the ghetto. To somewhere, I knew it.

We went to the train and since then, I was separated from my family, trip took 2 days, without food or anything. Hopefully we arrived at “Auschwitz” and at first, I saw a sign with message “Arbeit macht Frei”, work makes you free installed at a steel gate. This was something very bad, I looked at some people outside the “Auschwitz 1” facility, they were wearing the same clothes and did labor. This was a labor camp, a killing facility everybody were fooled by the goddam Germans. The conditions was even worse than the ghettos, we were going to die. Where was mom, dad and my brother? They weren't here, huh, I was alone, I was going to die alone, to die because of loneliness.

January 1942:

It started snowing, the beauty of the tiny little white crystal reflected on my eyes, it reminisced my Childhood memories, I felt nostalgia back to the good old childhood years. It felt like a winter morning, I saw myself as 6 years old again, playing in the snow with my dear family. Immediately, Mr Döllinger, our guard and officer woke up and I was back to reality, again.

I was skinnier, leaner and much more raw boned. We had very little food at the camps and I'd seen a couple of people die everyday, if we behaved bad or escaped the camp, we are going to be punished, be sent to Block 11 which was kind of a prison within a prison.. That was very feared by us. Our crowd were sent to the camp of Auschwitz 1, at the entrance, there was a sign installed with the message “Arbeit macht Frei”, work makes you free but the usage was just to make the prisoners feel better. 20 year old brick cavalry was standing here, sealed off with barbed wires that Poles were forced to hunt themselves from the surroundings. Living conditions was ok compared to Auschwitz Birkenau and Monowitz. The one who still could survive were sent to concentration and labor camps like me but other who barely could stand on two legs were immediately gassed in special facilities, someone told me. We were were forced to work everyday until starving to death and the Nazis just benefited their prosperity from us, they ought being thankful to us but that´s definitely a no. Jews and other non acceptable people were going to die, not survive or escape. There was a saying that the strongest survive, you the theory by Charles Darwin called survival of the fittest. Even the strongest couldn't resist the conditions at the camp, even Germans. Nazi propagandas said the aryan race was beyond anybody else, the Germans were just jealous of us because the most of the Jews were lawyers or physicians, better academically. Instead they could be more diligent, not being as lazy and what was the meaning complaining others who get better grades than you?

Our bedchamber was awful, no light, no heat, no ventilation and overcrowded. It looked like the walls were going to collapse any time, it was very dirty and messy. I could describe the place as grey, dark, depressing, we had no freedom.

After 4 hours of hard work at the factory of IG Farben, a.ka. Auschwitz III, Mr Döllinger hopefully said:

“ Good job, Jews. 30 minute break, ok?”

“Can you please increase our rest time to 45 minutes?” Vlad said.

“You say that?” Döllinger aimed at Vlad.

“Sir, no, no, I didn't opine that, please sir?

“It´s too late”

The bullet was fired, Vlad started running away but Döllinger continued shooting, until the poor prisoner was shot through his head, his pure red blood was splattering all over the area, his eyelids shut and fell to the ground, unconscious. The bullet from Döllinger's Sniper was shot at a very high speed and avoiding it was almost impossible.

“You imagine this as the end of the world? Don´t even bother about that, this isn't even the beginning, the beginning of the beginning! Just because your little friend just did, doesn't mean you're going to flee, just remember, it could be worse, much worse!”

“Sieg Heil Mein Führer! Long live Hitler! Sieg Heil, Sieg Heil! Heil Hitler!”

“Ernst Böhmer, come and finish this, take care of these little pigs!”

Döllinger shouted loudly.

A middle age man came, shaking and fearing about his commission,  Mr. Böhmer, he was afraid. Döllinger handed down his rifle to the him, Ernst took it carefully,

The guard took some shaking steps, stopped behind Döllinger and shot him,

“ I won't let you determine my decisions. Let me shoot or get killed!”

He said confidently.

“Haha”, Döllinger said.

“I will not let you do anything you're craving for!

“Kill these Jews or get killed yourself, my dear friend!”

There was a slot beneath me, I decided to hide there and wait until the the two officers agreed.

“Boom Boom, pang pang!” Perhaps Döllinger died, or not but anyway they were away from us.  

30 minutes went, someone opened the body. I went up, Mr. Döllinger's body was laying on the dirty floor.

“Who are you?” He asked, it was Ernst Böhmer, the man who killed Döllinger.

I told him my name. He opened the slot and threw the dead body under it, he took a breath and closed the hatch.

“Achoo!”

“Bless you” I said.

“It´s my pleasure” Mr. Böhmer answered.

“What was your occupation?”

“I was a pianist, a musician”

“ Jew, Follow me.”

We went through the long and dark corridor, the floor was crackling, I saw a huge door made of thick steel, some flowers stood next to it. Even if the room was very obscure, the light, the colors and liveliness of the flowers glowed in contrast to the somber background. The officer locked the room with a nice “click” sound, a huge grand piano was in front of me, I couldn't believe this. Was he supposed to help me?

“Play something”

I started playing it, it felt like I was away from Auschwitz, away from the awfulness and felt hope, I could survive! My interpretation of the two movements of the Pathetique sonata by Beethoven was wonderful. After quite a while without practicing, I still performed as well as before, I didn't even forget anything. It really was unbelievable, today, January 28th 1942. After approximately 10 minutes, the last chord was finished, it felt like I was performing, at the Berlin or Warsaw Philharmonics again, it felt like the old days. Mr Böhmer nearly cried, he was guilty because of the terrifying acts did. I hopefully seen a German who respected me.

“Young man, your music is beautiful, continue practicing piano, it will be useful.”

Mr. Böhmer swept his hand into the pocket of his soft coat. He gave me a little piece of paper.

“Read it aloud”

“Unemployment? Eradicated, feel free to join the Schutzstaffeln, just send them a letter or fill this format below, only if you're older than 18, women can not get permission to join……”

Mr. Böhmer interrupted.

“This was is an article I read in the newspaper, it changed, all of my life. The reason I brought it is to remember my life before the career as an SS-member.

He took a sigh.

“I was poor and unemployed, I really needed money for the big family and the only way to get a job was working at the army, to defend the Nazis. Back then, we looked up to them, they were going to make a big change to Germany, more prosperous, a stronger defense, a powerful country, the treaty of Versailles was erased from the history and Jews were the only reason of the crisis. I really believed it and thought I just were a guard, a soldier but the reality was different. Adolf Hitler and Heinrich Himmler were evil persons. When I saw how the Germans treated the Jews with me own Eyes, I doubt national socialism and since then, I started helping them.

He took a deep breath.

“My life as an SS-officer. yeah, it´s more prosperous, we, officers are treated like gods. Everybody take care of you and living like this doesn't make any sense. Killing other innocent people because their origin or religion, there isn't any purpose doing that, everyday. The only reason my fortune´s bigger, is due to the amount of Jews and other people I killed. If you murdered more Jews than the others, then congratulations! Cash, money!”

“So, what´s you desire then?” I asked.

“Returning, go back to my old life, as a cellist. Even if my salary was lower, I enjoyed my occupation, my life. I want to help other people, who suffer these conditions, I don't want to murder other people, I just want to save them!”

1942:

I was saved from Auschwitz, and all of the others. Mr. Böhmer had secret contacts with some french officers and all of the of the prisoners from Auschwitz 1 were going to be sent to Switzerland which was a neutral country with Sweden, Portugal and Spain. Since Switzerland was closest to Poland, it was the perfect place fleeing to. So Böhmer had secret contacts with the Swiss air force which in turn convinced the Swiss government to let us stay in their country.

8:00,  the plane landed at Dübendorf military airport in Zürich. Some Swiss officers sent us to the apartment by trucks and the journey only  took 20 minutes.

Hopefully The flat was fine or somehow too little but it was just a temporary “home” so I didn't bother about it. I shared it with 5 other persons and we had everything we need, a kitchen, a living room and two bedrooms. The apartments was very new and no one even had the chance to buy them, so that was why the Swiss government decided to donate them to refugees. During the next couple of months, more people fled to Zürich from the Concentration camps in Europe and hopefully some "problems" occurred to Döllinger, if he was alive.

January 1944:

In El Alamein, the Germans and Italians were defeated by the Allies, in Stalingrad, the German army surrendered to the Soviets. The Americans, Soviets and British army also invaded Italy which also capitulated but the Germans immediately took control over it, this was the “turning point” of the war. Soon, Germany would lose and I really wanted thing back to normal again.

Meanwhile, it was very nice in Switzerland though, no war, no persecutions or “pogroms”, it was a peaceful country but also land locked by the mighty Nazis, German occupied France and Italy. Soon we could be invaded and the nonviolent moment, will disappear, I wish I could flee to the UK or even Sweden of some kind but at the moment, this was impossible.

Today, we got some terrible news. Mr Böhmer died at the age of 45, he was sentenced for death by the Nazis. He was a very fantastic person, I always liked his personality. The German officer very famous, in all of Europe and the Germans was desperately searching for him. Mr. Böhmer received the highest honors and medals by countries such as UK, Switzerland, France, Sweden etc. He was the youngest person and the first foreigner receiving the Stalin prize and the Nobel peace prize in 1943 but the Germans soldiers found Mr. Böhmer in Oslo the day after receiving the Prize and killed him. The body was cremated and buried in Berlin.

June 1945:

Germany was defeated, Charles de Gaulle and his government took France and the Allies pushed back to Germany, cities was bombed and all of Europe were ruins. I moved back to Berlin, my hometown, witnessing the division of two sections, an eastern communist side and a western capitalist.

“I´m glad, alive after 6 years of disaster!”

My family was reunified but still, I couldn't resist what the war caused.