KADDISHEL
A Life Reborn
My uncle managed to get us a nice furnished apartment in Bitom. It had once been a German home and its previous occupants were Jewish refugees who were ready to head farther west. We settled there for a while. At that time, the German people were quite devastated and in great need of food. Many people used to buy food in Poland and take it by train to Germany, where they would exchange it for any- thing of value, like watches, suits, and coats. Boris and Alex tried their luck at this business and earned some money. My uncle also did some buying and selling of other items. There was a market where people exchanged money, too. My uncle was always able to provide sustenance for us; we never received any help from any organizations. One day, we were sitting and talking on the couch in the living room. I was a restless teenager and was sliding my hands between the cushions. I felt some little packages in the seam between the back and the seat. I pointed them out to my uncle and he removed the cushions and found bundles of money neatly laid in there. It was American occupation money, the official currency used in Germany. We were excited about this bonanza, but my uncle said, “The money must belong to the people who lived in the apartment before, and they will come to retrieve it at some point.” A month or so later, someone knocked on the door and explained that he had left something behind by mistake. He went to the couch, put his hand in the seam, and there was nothing there. My uncle said, “Don’t worry, we found the money, and here it is.” The man was very grateful. He gave me a reward, thanked us for being honest, wished us good luck, and left. Alex married Sally at a wedding in the apartment and things began to seem almost normal again. We felt reasonably safe in the streets, and life returned to some semblance of normalcy. Although the war continued, farther west, deep into Germany, it was over where we were. We were busy trying to reestablish our lives and survive.
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