“Mom, I’ll meet you in Trier. I promise!” well, I guess I better tell you what’s going on. It all started a month ago in Stuttgart, Germany (my name is Clara by the way). My whole family was born in Germany and we’ve lived here for what feels like forever. I wish I could say that we’ve traveled to many places, but that’s not true at all. The only trips my family makes is to the market, town park, and the old, gross schoolhouse which is sad, considering I’m fifteen. So, back to what I was saying; Hitler’s men have been searching everywhere for all the Jews they could find. Two of our neighbors; Mrs. Weber and Mrs. Schneider, are both Jewish. They’ve been hiding in our basement for three weeks now. It’s no longer safe for them to leave our house since there are German soldiers watching the whole city with guns. I’m worried about our friends, but is dying for your belief really worth it?
Every day we have to take food down to the basement to feed them and make sure they’re kept warm. The most difficult part is hiding them from the officers. Every time they come we have to send my little sister Ada, down to warn them. Ada is so used to sneaking around the house that she can walk down to the basement and back without making a sound. Everything is scattered after the officers have searched. The first time they came they knocked over our pictures, got mud on our floor and opened all our rooms and cupboards.
One day our mom got sick of it all, she wanted to get Mrs. Weber and Mrs. Schneider out of our basement as soon as possible. My mom knew it wasn’t going to end perfectly, but we had to try. We just told Mrs. Weber and Mrs. Schneider that we feel it’s getting near the end of their hiding. Eventually they’ll need to go somewhere safer. Mrs. Weber replied,’’ I know where we could go. There’s an old town near my nephew Victor; I’m sure he’d be happy to take us in.’’ Then I wondered; how would they get there? I asked Mrs. Weber but she seemed unsure. Suddenly, Mrs. Schneider said,’’ Why don’t we ride the train?’’’ ‘’Won’t that cost too much?’’ ‘’ Well surely it wouldn’t be cheap”, said my mother. ‘’ Okay’’, said Mrs. Weber, ‘’ We’ll head out in the morning’’.
It’s three in the morning and I just heard Wrs. Weber and Mrs. Schneider move around in the basement. There was a faint candle light shining under my door. As I opened the door a hand clamped over my mouth. “Shhh, be quiet”, mom said removing her hand. “Are they leaving already?” “Yes. They have to get on the earliest train in order to get there at a time that will give them the most safety.” “What do you mean?”, I said to mother. “If they arrive when it’s later the sun will make it harder for them to run.” “They’re going to run?”, I asked her. “Yes, otherwise they’ll be spotted and who knows what would happen next.” As soon as mom said this I knew that she had in mind every single thing that could happen if they were to arrive late.
Had finished my talk with mom, I headed down to the basement to help them pack when I feel a tug on my shirt. I turned around to see Ada standing by me with fear in her eyes. She looked as though she had been crying."Ada, are you alright”, I asked in a hushed tone. “No. I’m scared. Where are Mrs. Weber and Mrs. Schneider going?” Afraid to tell my little sister that we may not see them again, instead I told her that everything would be okay. I went and grabbed her some water and walked her back to my room. “Lay down”, I began to say before I was interrupted by the sound of tapping on my door. I walked over to see Mrs. Weber standing at the door. “What’s wrong” I asked. “We wanted to say our proper goodbyes”, she said with a look of sorrow. “Where’s Mrs. Schneider”, I asked. “She’s tearing off her Star of David”, said Mrs. Weber as she heard Mrs. Schneider walking upstairs. ’’I’m going to miss you’’, said Ada.’’ I’ll miss you too’’ said Mrs. Weber and Mrs. Schneider.
Ada, my mom and I said our goodbyes and sent mrs. Weber and Mrs. Schneider on their way. I walked Ada back to bed and attempted to sleep.
The next day was strange. We could hardly sleep since we were so worried about what may happen to our dear friends. My mom woke me up with hot water and a small piece of old bread. We could barely afford any good food since we had used so much money to buy the extra food for Mrs. Weber and Mrs. Schneider. After I had drank the hot water, eaten the bread, and woken Ada, I headed into town to try and buy good food from a small market around the corner.
