Despite being in War

Part I

5th of October

1940

I'm a useless Jewish orphan living in war. I always think to myself how useless I am, the only thing I'm good for is taking care of Leah Akhiezer. Leah is my bunk buddy in this cold dark orphanage but most of the time; she prefers to sleep with me. Leah is 7 years old and a depressed girl too scared to face the reality of this war. I live on the outskirts of Warsaw I am 12 years old and my name is Rebekah Aschner. To make matters worse I just got faced with a German Oberst.

"Go fetch the owner of this dump hole" he says not knowing I'm a Jew, "Yes Sir" I reply. He was talking about Bartosz Korsak. Leah and I are very close to Dr Korsak compared to the other 209 children. Dr Korsak is a doctor and he writes children books for us too. I run and tell the nurse with a scared voice that a German wants Dr Korsak urgently. I run up to Dr Korczak's office and barge in. "Yes Rebekah" says Dr Korsak in a calm voice despite me barging in. "There - " but before I can finish the nurse yells out "German here for you" "Very well, Rebekah go comfort Leah as she will be upset from all the commotion". I find Leah crying, the nurse probably told her, I feel like crying too but I need to be the strong one.

6th of October

1940

The next thing I know we're walking through the great big gate into the Warsaw Ghetto. Us 211 children and 13 staff have been designated a 3 room unit. One of the nurses goes to complain to a German soldier but he doesn't respond lightly. He releases a bullet into a little boy's chest. One of the older girls presumably his sister lets out a loud scream. "He's not dead, he's suffering" she yells out. Another bullet to his chest puts him to rest and a bullet to the girl's heart stopped her crying. Leah starts to scream because her blood got on her but I cover her mouth. She stares at me and silently cry's. No one deserves that especially just because you are Jewish.

19th of October

1940

I'm keeping strong, I'm holding it back for Leah, but deep inside my heart is wrenching. I can't handle it but I have to for Leah. I mean how much can I handle. We all finally adapted and settled in but we had just been told by the nurses to gather our stuff up, we are moving again. We were all told to wear our best clothes and that we are taking a train out to the meadows where we will have a great white brick house, but I knew it was too good to be true especially because we are Jewish. I go to Dr Korsak about it but I stop when I hear him arguing with a couple of the nurses. "You can't go, all the children will die" I charge into the room and freeze. I ask him about what I heard and he orders the nurses out. He tells me to go get Leah. I run, I'm dying to know what this is all about.

"Girls I am only telling you this because I love you like my own. We are going to Treblinka, Treblinka Extermination camp -". I open my mouth to scream but I gulp my mouth shut. I grab Leah and hold her tight. I would have run away then but if I got seen I would've been shot on the spot.

Dr Korczak tells us that we are going to Anelie Borkowski. She will find someone safe for us to live with.

20th of October

1940

Leah and I just cried our way through our goodbyes to Dr Korsak. I was devastated, why couldn't he come? He was the only person who loved me other than Leah. We were told to go to unit B on Dzika road.

When we arrived Leah barged in too lost for words. Anelie was there, she is a young polish nurse who organises escapes for children from this Ghetto. She greeted us with a Knackwurst each despite Leah's rudeness. "I want to get you two out of here as soon as possible, but I have nowhere to send you" my heart dropped. I knew my hopes were too high. "I asked my sister" My heart skipped a beat "she agreed and both of you will be leaving tomorrow"