『大屠殺是她的故事 Ep05 』一個年輕女性的勇敢 The Bravery of a Young Woman

前情提要:1939年那晚,水晶之夜,Max (Sarah的爸爸)被納粹抓到監牢裡,Hilda (Sarah的媽媽)一個人帶2個小孩,該怎麼辦?

26歲的Hilda獨立面對這一切的壓力和困難,她的爸媽並不在身邊幫助她,因為他們早在1933年當希特勒擔任總理時就立馬移民當時的巴勒斯坦。若當時英國沒有限制猶太人移民巴勒斯坦的人數,那她跟Max早就也去巴勒斯坦了。

Hilda沒有坐在家裡哭,她獨自來到了監牢,帶給她先生大衣和手錶,結果獄卒好心告訴她:「不要把手錶給他,他留不了多久的,不用多久他們就會被送到工作營。」

這是什麼可怕的消息?在當下,沒有人知道猶太人為什麼會被抓、要被關多久、接下來會發生什麼事,大家更不會知道猶太人接下來的命運會是如何。但她知道如果猶太人要被送到另一個地方,那就代表事態嚴重,她一定要有所行動,那麼第一件要做的事就是要保護小孩,一定要盡快把小孩送離德國避難。

Hilda想起Max在比利時的親戚Frisch,他們知道德國的狀況,當然願意幫助Hilda的兩個孩子,但要怎麼做?幸運的是Frisch家也有兩個年紀差不多的女兒,於是他們決定讓保母帶著兩本真的護照(或是旅行文件)來到德國接2歲的Sarah和她6歲的姊姊Susan,假裝她們就是比利時的小孩,只是剛好來德國看病,現在要回比利時了。Hilda真的就把孩子帶到火車站,送給這個保母,若非不得已,沒有母親會願意冒險把孩子送走。一路上,姊姊Susan雖然小,但已經知道不要讓妹妹Sarah發出聲音,畢竟她們應該是來自比利時的小孩,不應該講德文的。

不久後Hilda接到電話,孩子平安到達,但她和丈夫Max怎麼辦?她到處問朋友和其他親戚,到底要如何把丈夫救出監牢?

在1939年時,其實他們已經準備好要去美國,只是卡在簽證,美國是依照出生國來給名額,Hilda和兩個女兒是在德國出生,所以他們三個有得到簽證,但是她丈夫因為是在波蘭出生,那一年給波蘭人的名額早就用完了。所以他沒有簽證。因為他們一家人不想分開,所以選擇一起留在德國。

Hilda從來不知道偽造文件是什麼,但事態嚴重,當時要離開德國必須要有另一個國家的簽證。她讓偽造文件的人修改了三張簽證的日期,然後依樣畫葫蘆的造出第四個偽造簽證,再拿著假簽證到監牢,外加上免不了的賄賂,及時的把自己的丈夫從監牢搶救出來,事實上那天Max已經站在院子裡,準備被送上卡車到所謂的工作營了。

Max回到家裡,看見昔日擁有的商店被納粹摧毀了,也得知女兒們不在德國,目前安全的在比利時。Hilda跟Max要決定下一步,他們什麼都沒有了,他們現在該怎麼做呢?(故事待續)

 

” Ep05 The Bravery of a Young Woman”

Recap: On the night of Kristallnacht in 1939, Max (Sarah’s father) was taken to prison by the Nazis, and Hilda (Sarah’s mother) was alone with 2 children. What would she do?

The 26-year-old Hilda faced all these pressures and difficulties alone. Her parents were not around to help her because as soon as Hitler became the chancellor of Germany in 1933, they immediately immigrated to Israel which was called Palestine at that time. If the British didn’t limit the number of Jewish immigrants to Palestine, then she and Max would have gone to Palestine long ago.

Hilda didn’t sit home and cry. She came to the prison alone with her husband’s coat and watch. The jailer kindly told her: “Don’t give him the watch, he won’t keep it for long. They will be sent to the work camp soon.” What horrible news! At the moment, no one knew why the Jews were arrested, how long they would be imprisoned, what would happen next, and no one knew what the next fate of the Jews would be. But she knew that if the Jews were to be sent to another place, it meant that the situation was serious and she had to act. The first thing she had to do was to protect the children, she had to send them out of Germany as soon as possible!

Hilda remembered Max’s relatives, the Frisch family in Belgium. They sympathized the situation in Germany and of course were willing to help Hilda’s two children. But how? Luckily, the Frisch family also had two daughters of similar age, so the plan was to let their nanny come to Germany with two real passports (or travel documents) to pick up Sarah (age 2) and her sister Susan (age 6). They would pretend these were two Belgian children who came to Germany for medical treatment and were now returning to Belgium. Hilda acted and took her daughters to the train station and gave it to this nanny. No mother would take this risk of sending her own children away unless it was necessary. Along the way, although Susan was young, she already knew she had to shush Sarah and not make sounds. After all, they should be children from Belgium and they were not supposed to speak German.

Hilda got a phone call shortly that the girls had arrived safely. But what about her and her husband Max? She asked friends and other relatives how to get her husband out of prison. In 1939, they were ready to go to the United States, but they were stuck on visas. The United States had quotas based on the country of birth. Hilda and her two daughters were born in Germany, so the three of them got visas. But Max was born in Poland, the quota for Poles that year had already been used up so he didn’t get a visa. The family did not want to be separated, so they chose to stay in Germany together. Hilda never knew what a forged document was, but the situation was serious. A visa from another country was required to leave Germany, so she went to the forger to modify the dates of the three expired visas, and then created a fourth forged visa for Max in the same way. She presented the fake visa to the jailer and paid an unavoidable bribe to rescue her husband from prison. She was just in time because Max was already in the courtyard waiting to be loaded on a truck to the so-called work camps on that day.

Max returned home and saw that the shop he owned had been destroyed by the Nazis. He also learned that his daughters were not in Germany and were now safe in Belgium. Hilda and Max had to decide what to do next. Nothing was left for them in Germany. What should they do now? (Story to be continued)

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