“She’s over there, sleeping.” He pointed at the cot next to her. “She’s been watching over you the whole week.
Mindel followed the direction of his thumb and when she recognized her sister’s face, tears welled up and she decided that maybe it wasn’t all that bad that she hadn’t died. “I want her.”
“I’ll wake her up and tell her that you’re awake. She’ll be very happy.”
Mindel watched as the doctor walked over and gently woke her sister up. Rachel bolted to a sitting position and grinned in Mindel’s direction. Moments later, they lay in each other's arms.
“Sweetie-pie, I was so worried you’d never wake up again.”
“I missed you so much.” Mindel dug her face into Rachel’s chest, happy beyond words that she’d finally found her again.
A young soldier arrived with a glass of milk and some oatmeal. “This will get her feeling better in no time.”
“Hungry?” Rachel asked as she spread a cloth over Mindel’s lap.
Mindel eyed the food, but when Rachel went to offer her a spoonful of the cereal, Mindel refused to take it.
“What’s wrong?”
“You eat first and then I’ll…”
“I’ve already eaten.”
“You have?”
“Yes, they eat well here and they don’t mind sharing.”
Mindel was confused, but she quit fighting Rachel as she fed her the cereal.
“The doctor said I was sick.”
“Yes, you had a fever on the train and went to sleep, a coma, for just over a week.”
“I was asleep for a week?” Mindel asked with big eyes.
“Yes, silly. You scared me, too. I thought you were going to die.”
Mindel smiled at her then and shook her head. “They can’t kill us. We’re stronger than they are.”
“How do you figure that?”
“Because we have each other.” It was all very simple. As long as she was with Rachel, everything was going to be alright.
“What happens now?” Mindel asked after finishing her breakfast.
“The war is still going on and we have to stay here until you’re fully recovered. Then we’ll be moved to a refugee camp.”
Mindel flinched. “Another camp? But the doctor promised…”
Rachel stroked her hair. “It’s a much better place with enough food, real beds, doctors and no roll calls. We’re in good hands with the Americans. And as soon as we can, we’ll find a way to travel home and look for Aaron and Israel.” Rachel removed the empty cereal bowl and hugged Mindel close. “I’m so glad you’re feeling better.”
Mindel snuggled into her sister’s arms for a long while and until a frightening thought occurred to her. She sat up and hurriedly scanned the surrounding area.
“What are you looking for?” Rachel asked.
“Paula. Where is she?” Mindel began to get agitated.
Rachel laughed. “Paula took a much deserved bath and delousing. I’ll get her for you.”
“That’s good. She was stinky.”
The doctor and nurse overheard her communication. “Things that stink seem commonplace around here. The good news is, your doll is no longer one of them.”
The nurse retrieved a much cleaner Paula. Mindel insisted on checking up on her to make sure she was feeling well, and the kind doctor even let her use his stethoscope to examine Paula.
“She’s much better, but needs to take a nap.” Mindel concluded with a bright smile, although her eyes were drooping.
“Why don’t you lie down with her?” Rachel suggested.
Mindel hid a yawn and slid under the clean blankets. “You won’t go away?” she murmured sleepily.
“I won’t leave you alone ever again,” Rachel promised her.
The End
Rachel, Mindel and their brothers appear in two more books of the War Girl Series. If you just want to find out how they cope after the war and whether they find their brothers after returning to Kleindorf, read Together at Last.
Or start with book 1 of the series: War Girl Ursula and follow the Klausen family and their friends through the war.
https://books2read.com/Ursula
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Author’s Notes
Dear Reader,
Thank you so much for reading Stolen Childhood. It was a tough book to write, almost on par with Unwavering, the third book in my Love and Resistance Trilogy, where I was bawling for days on end.
I had the idea for Stolen Childhood almost two years ago when I visited the concentration camp in Bergen-Belsen and their temporary exhibition “Children in Concentration Camps”.
The interviews with child survivors were powerful, but it was one photograph of a small girl cuddling a stuffed animal that inspired me. This nameless girl became my inspiration for Mindel. You can see the picture on my website together with an article about my visit to the camp: https://kummerow.info/bergen-belsen-concentration-camp
Due to the harrowing nature of the topic, I postponed the project, but it kept nagging in the back of my head. To understand my reluctance to write the story, you must know that I have a daughter who was Mindel’s age when I first had the idea, and every time I sat down to work on the plot, my heart squeezed into a tight knot, thinking this could have happened to her. But the characters in my head have the annoying habit of pestering me, until I give in and tell their stories.
Doing my research into child survivors of Bergen-Belsen I glimpsed into the mind of children, which are so different from ours. I certainly don’t want to trivialize the Holocaust and the experience of imprisoned people, but to paraphrase Ladislaus Löb, an Hungarian Jew who was ten years old during his time in Bergen-Belsen: The children bore the hardships better than the adults, mainly because they were not aware of how desperate it really was. He admitted to being afraid, but at the same time feeling like being part of an exciting adventure.
Ladislaus and the other children mentioned in his book Rezsö Kastner – The daring rescue of Hungarian Jews: A survivor’s account became the inspiration for Laszlo.
Rezsö Kastner was a Hungarian Jew working closely with the Nazis to save as many Jews as he
