“What season is it?” she asked out loud.
“Winter,” Mother Brinkmann answered.
“Does autumn come before or after winter?”
“It comes before. The year starts with spring, summer, autumn and then winter.”
Mindel cocked her head, thinking hard. “When did I arrive here?”
“You and Laszlo came to us last autumn, but your arrival in the camp was in April, which is springtime.”
The mention of Laszlo’s name stabbed Mindel’s heart, but she ignored the pain, using her fingers to count the seasons. She was pretty sure she’d turned four when mother had made her the cake, since that was the last birthday celebration she remembered. So, if four seasons had passed, and it was already winter again, she must be a year older by now.
Aware of the enormity of her discovery, she straightened her shoulders and said as loud as she could, holding up all five fingers of one hand, “Then, I’m five now.”
Mother Brinkmann smiled and asked, “Do you remember when your birthday is?”
A shadow of doubt crossed Mindel’s face. “No, but it was in autumn, I’m now sure of that. My mother baked me an apple cake with fresh apples from the tree when I turned four.”
“Well then, how about we make Tu BiShvat your new birthday?”
“That I would like.” Mindel was moved to tears, to finally have a birthday again and – even more important – that she had grown older and now belonged to the five-year-olds.
“I guess that’s a reason to celebrate.” Usually, Mother Brinkmann saved up part of their rations for special occasions like this and made a kind of cake with bread crumbs glued together with jam or margarine. Today, though, she was unprepared.
The children sang “Happy Birthday” for Mindel and once they finished Mother Brinkmann declared that to mark the occasion, Mindel would receive two pieces of apple instead of just one like everyone else. Mindel beamed from ear to ear as she savored the special treat.
The next day even more surprises showed up. Mother Brinkmann received a large box from the Red Cross.
“What’s the Red Cross?” Mindel asked.
“An organization that helps the injured and the poor,” Sandy explained.
Mindel cocked her head. Nobody in their barracks was injured and she wasn’t sure whether they were poor. “Why don’t they come and take us out of here? Wouldn’t that be better?”
Sandy gave an exaggerated sigh. “Don’t ask stupid questions. Because the SS doesn’t allow it.”
Mindel knew that too many questions weren’t appreciated, but she needed to clarify one more thing, “Why do they even keep us in here?”
“Now, that is an exceptionally stupid question,” Sandy said and walked away, while some of the other children poked their tongues out at Mindel. But before she could retaliate, Mother Brinkmann called them to order.
Everyone settled in a circle around her. It was completely silent in the hut, except for the rustle of cardboard, as she opened the large box. From what Mindel understood, the box was stuffed with goods.
Mother Brinkmann removed one thing after another and put them onto the bunk where she was sitting. Pairs of socks, gloves, caps, two shirts, one dress, one pair of trousers and several packages that looked like food came to lie on the bunk.
She handed the foodstuff to her husband to put into the secret stash and then carefully scrutinized each of the children. There were so many of them, thirty-five in total, that there wouldn’t be a gift for each one of them.
Mindel waited with bated breath to find out whether she’d be one of the lucky ones. The dress went to Sandy, the tallest girl. In turn her dress was handed down to Franzi, and Franzi’s to Mindel.
It wasn’t what she’d wanted, but she smiled nevertheless. Franzi’s dress fit her like a glove: the sleeves covered her wrists and the waist didn’t pinch at every movement. It had buttons down the front and the skirt was long enough to cover her legs down to mid-calf.
Mindel’s own dress was handed down to the next smaller girl, and the same happened to the shirts and trousers in the box. The old socks of the children who received new ones unfortunately were much too holey to be handed down, so Mother Brinkmann tasked the boys with unraveling them and the older girls with knitting new socks or gloves from them.
Not a single thread was wasted, which was a shame, because Mindel had hoped that she’d be able to keep some material to make a new dress for Paula, who was all but naked since her dress had literally fallen off a few weeks ago. But naturally Paula was the last in line and nothing remained for her to wear. At least Paula stayed warm under Mindel’s dress and never suffered from cold feet or hands.
“Don’t you worry,” Mindel comforted her doll. “Once we get out of here I’ll buy you as many beautiful dresses as you want. In all the colors of the rainbow.”
Paula smiled at her and nodded.
In the afternoon, Mindel walked all the way to the other side of the camp to show Hanneli and Laura her new dress.
“Hey, Hanneli,” Mindel said and did a full turn, coming to stand in front of the older girl with a curtsy. “How do you like my new dress?”
“It’s very beautiful, Mindel. You look like a princess,” Hanneli complimented her. The dress wasn’t new or beautiful by any standards, even camp standards, but it fit her and all the holes had been patched up.
“Have you heard from your friend Anne?”
Hanneli’s face fell. “She’s so ill. The last time we spoke she could barely talk loud enough for me to hear her and was coughing all the time.”
“Oh.” Mindel furrowed her brows. “Does that mean she will die soon?”
“I hope not. They distributed packages from the Red Cross and
