“They are together. Mrs. Bernstein will look after Tomas and the baby.”
“And Trudi. My darling, brave, fearless Trudi. Who will look after her?”
Heinz dropped his papa’s hand. Always Trudi.
“We should have listened to your wife, Mr. Beck. She was right. We should have done everything to get out. Now my boys and I… what will happen to us?”
Heinz wanted to shout at the man to pull himself together. He was fit and healthy, wasn’t he? He looked at the Bernstein boys and saw his anger reflected in their faces. Izsak, the eldest, spoke firmly. “Papa have faith. We will get our chance to fight back. They will not defeat us.”
“My son, the fighter,” Mr. Bernstein spat out.
“If you had listened to me, we would be in Palestine now, not locked up like animals. You couldn’t be wrong, could you? Even Mama wanted to leave but you… you knew better. You knew all the answers. But you were wrong. So wrong.”
“Izsak, that’s enough,” Gavriel admonished. Heinz knew him to be Rachel’s favorite brother, he was about nineteen-years-old. “Papa did what he thought best. We can’t turn on each other now. We have to stick together to get through this and back to Mama and the girls.”
Izsak shrugged his shoulders but stayed silent. Gavriel patted him on the back.
“Papa, enough defeatist talk. We won’t last long if we believe we are beaten. Together we will survive, at least some of us. We have to live to tell our tale. Make people listen.”
“Well-spoken Gavriel,” Papa said. “You will make a fine leader one day. Tell us what you have heard.”
“They intend to take us to Dachau and keep us there. Some of the elders believe they will hold us for ransom. Others believe we will be freed after a certain time period. There is no way of knowing who is correct.”
Papa concurred. “True.”
“Mama and your wife will work to help us on the outside. Mama knows some of my Gentile friends.” Gavriel lowered his voice. “We must do everything we can to survive, by sticking together. We know how the SA minds work. They prey on the weakest link. The old, the sick and the in—”
Papa cut him off. “We must agree to share resources. Food and water. To help each other get through this. Agreed?”
Gavriel and Izsak nodded but Heinz saw Mr. Bernstein eye him doubtfully. He tried to stand but gave up, as the exertion brought him out in a cold sweat. “I can handle myself.” But the words came out in a whisper rather than a roar.
Papa put his arm around his shoulders and Gavriel moved closer. It was Gavriel who spoke. “We are in this together. We, the whole Bernstein family, owe you a debt for protecting mama.”
Heinz smiled but even that took more effort than he had. He hoped it would be a few days before the Nazis took them to this new place. He couldn’t march anywhere just yet.
As Heinz recovered, he grew more interested in the men around him. The only thing they seemed to have in common was their Jewishness. Some men wore tailored suits and jackets, with leather shoes, whilst others wore torn trousers and what looked like slippers. Some men had no shoes and looked like they had been dragged from their beds.
The stench became unbearable, as the slops bucket overflowed. Some men gave up moving to the corners and peed where they stood. Heinz could see some men try to keep themselves clean, using a portion of their drinking water to clean their faces and hands. Others stared into the distance, unseeing, as the shock of the change in their circumstances grew too much for them.
Gavriel, Papa, and Izsak moved around the men, imploring them to keep to the rules. To use the corners to relieve themselves while trying to keep the center of the room clear of debris.
“We can’t give up hope. Our salvation will come. We must be ready when it does,” Gavriel said, over and over. Some men listened but others turned their faces away. Some grew belligerent, telling Gavriel he should be taken away by men in white coats.
Papa and the Bernstein boys kept talking and issuing instructions. It was possible for some to sleep if the other men moved closer together. By rotating spaces, everyone could get a few hours rest.
The few Rabbis in the group led some in prayers, but quietly, as the guards had said it was forbidden.
As more prisoners arrived, food rations grew smaller and the despair grew. Grown men fought over a crust of bread. Some stole from the sick. Heinz saw a man steal another’s shoes. When the thief caught Heinz looking at him, he pulled his finger across his throat. Heinz would not have ignored the threat but for his injuries.
Men wasted energy arguing over the most trivial things. The length of time they would be kept here. Who would be released first? They argued that it wasn’t sensible not to feed a workforce, for that is what they were, weren't they? Heinz didn’t argue with anyone. He noticed Papa kept silent too. The numbers of sick were increasing, despite Papa’s best efforts. Mr. Bernstein wasn’t well, that much was evident within a few days.
“He didn’t bring his medication with him. For his heart. They smashed the bottle on purpose.”
“I will ask for some.” Papa put in a request every day but nothing happened. Still, he kept asking. Heinz wished he wouldn’t bring attention to himself but Papa explained that a doctor always looked after his patients.
One morning, the doors were flung open.
“Out now. Schnell! Schnell! Into lines, all of you. You will have a new home this evening. Those of you who survive the trip.”
“Ignore them, Heinz, they like to brag. Wish I could get one of them on his own,” Izsak whispered, as he pretended to tie his shoelace. He stood on one side of Heinz, Gavriel on the other. “Walk like
