Shayna's Diary

Chapter 2

We were all sitting around the breakfast table when the kitchen door suddenly flew open. Standing in the doorway was my boyfriend Nate Jacob Bernay, his twin Marni Nissa Bernay, and their little sister Freda Leah Bernay. Behind them looking distressed was their mother Ron Bernay and their father Ronald Bernay. When I was younger, I had found it amusing that both of their parents were named "Ron." It stopped being funny when Ron told me her parents had been expecting a boy and that my parents had been close to calling me Shane instead of Shayna.

Everyone except Freda seemed to be in a panic. I locked eyes with Nate and understood immediately. Quietly, I walked over to him and hugged him tightly. In return he wrapped his arms around me and planted a kiss on my forehead. Marni came over and placed a hand on my shoulder. Whether it was to comfort herself or me, I was not completely sure. "Tamar, Freda, why don't you two go play upstairs," my mother said. It was more of a command than a request. Confused they both silently headed toward the stairs and disappeared right before Ron broke into tears. "They are coming," said Ronald. The 'they' that he was referring to, were a troop of NAZI soldiers who were going around arresting and having Jews deported. To where, we did not yet know. I had witnessed the arrest of an old Jewish couple who lived across from us. The Aschners. They were good people who were both in their mid-70s.

The day they came for them, it was raining. It fit the mood of the event that was to occur well. The Aschners had two boys. Both of whom were in the French military. It was very quiet out when a police truck pulled up in front of their house. The next thing I knew their door was being torn apart and the couple was being dragged out of the house. All the while Mrs. Aschner screamed for God to have mercy on them. This seemed to anger the gestapo because the next thing that I saw was both the Aschners being brutally beaten. By the time they were put in the truck and taken away, they were both covered in their own blood.

That was the first time I heard my mother openly curse. She had been standing next to me watching the scene and I had completely forgotten about her presence when I suddenly heard someone yell "Those saukerls! How could they do that to those poor people?" To say I was shocked was an understatment. My mother never swore. She claimed it was not in her vocabulary. That day all you could here from her were strings of profanities mostly consisting of the words "saukerl, arschloch, and hurensohn." That was when my family began to make plans to leave Germany as soon as was humanly possible.

"We must leave immediately," said father as he turned to look at my mother and I. "Go pack your bags. Take only what is necessary." I did not want to leave Nate's side but obediently, my mother and I went up the stairs to collect our things while the Bernays went to collect theirs. My family and Nate's left without a word to anyone. In the newspaper two days later, two homes were bombed, leaving nothing behind. Unknown to the German people, their occupants were long gone.