The Horse Adjutant would slap my hands with a ruler to help me maintain my attention on the lesson. As usual, this inspired me to hate school even more. My dad went right back to taking care of the horses. We weren’t gone for long. I guess it was as if we went on a short vacation. We returned home, to the same place, with a new baby and a fresh perspective, except for the nagging thought of what would happen next. Because my baby brother was just born, according to Jewish tradition, he needed to enter the covenant with God by having a bris (cutting the foreskin from the penis). Normally, this would be a celebration, and everyone would be invited, but because of the fear surrounding the occupation of Poland, my parents did it in secret. Eventually, the Germans occupied our town. From my perspective, it was an almost festive event that took place with a sense of civic pride and disbelief. I saw musicians on horseback, followed by Tyrolean mountain brigades, from Austria, wearing brilliant feathers in their hats. Like most boys, when I saw this, I fantasized about being a sol- dier one day, myself. I also hoped that the prized German culture would now extend to our poor nation and my town. How foolish this thought turned out to be. The only imposition I recall was the requirement to billet half a dozen soldiers at our house. This meant was they set up their tents in our yard, we gave them food. We did not have to cook the food, just bring it to their field kitchen and let them prepare it themselves. Having soldiers at our house must have been a burden, especially for my mother with a newborn baby but for me, it only meant a chance to talk with real soldiers and, if lucky, be allowed to handle their rifles. After spending some time among the soldiers in my yard, they gave me no reason to dislike them; on the contrary, they were very likable and went out of their way to be respectful to my family, besides they frequently gave me candy. One of them even knew my father from the last war. They were both in the Austrian cavalry. Their visit with us seemed less like an invasion and more like a special occasion. I would even have to say that I genuinely liked them. They seemed like good enough fellows to me. They took care of their horses and equipment since much of it was shiny and new. Their equip- ment was an endless source of interest for me. It’s great to be 12 years old. I could easily walk among the soldiers. They spoke Ger- man, so I could also easily understand them. I saw nothing foreboding or ominous in their stay at all. The only clue of their disdain for my race was the way they treated our temple. This, they turned into a stable, as soon as they arrived. I should have felt infuri- ated, but at the time, I did not comprehend the magnitude of what they were doing. The only place I heard alarming reports were from the remote and sparsely populated hills and mountain regions surrounding my community. These hill people created the
83
Made with FlippingBook Digital Proposal Creator