Chasing Colours

4. The Jewish Plight

Soon, Nazi party became the highest gained party over years and no sooner that it came to power, it outlawed all other political parties. Hitler took over the Reichstag and became the Dictator of Germany.

Since Adolf Hitler had come to power, the status of Germany had developed dramatically around the world. A scientific agenda to keep the fatherland in the forefront, controlled crimes with employment, education and military development, the dictator had made his Fatherland shine. Germany regained its world status again. Hitler became the Fuhrer of Germany after the death of President Hindenburg in August, 1934. While in the initial days, he was praised by all, soon that turned into respect but fear.

Since 1933, after the rise of Hitler, the survival of Jews became difficult. The Fuhrer believed in "the survival of the fittest" according to which he had placed pure Aryans at the top while the Jews were placed at the bottom. The problem in Germany, he believed, lied deep within its racial constitution. Jews were removed from work places, not given German citizenship and intermarriage between German and Jews became prohibitive. All these laws were later put together as the Nuremburg Race laws in 1935. Their shops and houses were looted by the Gestapo (German Police) and Jews were to be branded with a "yellow star of David".

Jews were to be kept out of public sight in ghettos.

Hitler's hatred for the Jews remained rather unexplained for most.

(Edith)

It had been a year since the wedding. Snow covered the earth like a white carpet. Its uneasy silence was frightening especially during that time in Germany.

The past few days had been shocking and hard for us. Father had joined the Nazi Party while Albert and Alfred had joined the army. Fuhrer's voice had roared in the radio with promises to make Germany great and about hatred for those he considered insignificant. Jews had no right to live among us. Their shops and houses were broken down and big stars of David were drawn upon them. In the past few days, I had just seen many Gestapo (German police) vans coming out of the shadows from time to time and breaking into Jewish shops and houses and forcing them to leave to the Ghettos. No one dared to question the methods of the Fuhrer and if anybody did, they too were met with the same fate.

Arno and his family had been in "house arrest" for days. The family had become a cast away from their own land. They were Germans yet not Germans at all. They must have had no food either since there was always a fear of the police seeing them and taking them into the Ghettos. Hans and Arno had been thrown out of their jobs. Their bakery was one of the few Jewish shops still running. Although it wasn't running as successful as before yet it seemed to do fairly okay. It also became a difficult time for us to even think about our wedding since Germans and Jews intermarriage was strictly prohibited. In addition to that, Father and my twin brothers too were brainwashed by the Nazi propaganda.

It had been a while that I had met Arno. With so much havoc going around, it was the safest the for both of us not to see each other for a while. Every moment or so, I would start to panic about him being dead. However, Arno managed to console me by sending his signals through the forest that seemed to be our helping hand during the time.

With my father and brother earning the membership into the Nazi party, food and a good lifestyle had become easier to gain. The blessing became a curse when the thought of Jews and other rebels in the country had crossed my mind.

There was terror in everyone's mind. There it was again, humans killing humans. The world certainly was a cruel place.

The Beckenbaurs often stayed in the house quietly with no noise. It was hard for them to stay near in our neighborhood for they had a constant fear of getting caught with my father in the Nazi party. The fright of the situation started to feel like a reality rather than just a distance truth with the unlikely quietness of Mrs Beckenbaur. We were starting to miss the once annoying rant of the lady.