German-Jewish

Chapter 15

Hey! So i'll warn y'all right now, I tried staying away from like graphic descriptions of things before because I know some people are sensitive to that. In this chapter, someone talks about their experiences, and to me it's not too bad but I'm also not very sensitive to this stuff. There also in the future will be mentions of sexual assault and to keep going with this (though it will have to end eventually) I will have to go into detail a little about what happened while they were in the labor camps. If you're sensitive to these things please be careful! 

Would it help anyone that's sensitive if I put like a warning in bold before and after the parts that may be too graphic for some people? Let me know please!

---------------------------------------  

               Robert had sent me out to get my hair cut and I was practically bouncing off the walls from being so excited. Ever since I'd been in recovery my hair had been much thinner than it was. My hair had grown down to my waist and I usually wore it pinned up or just up in any way possible. I was done doing that, I was ready for it to be short and thick again. I'd been eating as healthy as possible, like the nurses had told me to, so that it would go back to my normal hair.

By the time the friendly woman was done cutting my hair and talking to me, I felt like a completely new person. She talked to me like I was a normal person and she asked me if I was new around here, since she hadn't seen me around. I explained to her the whole story about me being enlisted, which she found very surprising.

"Thank you for your service, you did some important work over there," she said at one point and kept cutting my hair. I know I did help a lot of people in the long run, but I still felt like I did way too much bad.

After the haircut, I was ecstatic. It was perfect. I ended just above my shoulders, and it wasn't perfect-looking, but I knew it would be once my hair went back to its normal curliness and thickness. I paid and headed back to Robert's family's house.

When I got home Anna bombarded me with compliments. "I wish I had the courage to do this!" She cried as she got a good look at it.

I went and found Robert in the study. He was writing something, probably a letter. I walked quietly behind him and put my hands over his eyes. "Are you ready to see this?"

"Hell yeah!"

I uncovered his eyes and grabbed his hand to bring him out of his chair. "Wow," he said softly and stared at my head. "You look... like yourself."

"I know! I love it!" I cried and twirled, letting it fly in the air freely. It was hard to explain, but it was like my long hair was the chain keeping me attached to the walls of the camp. No one could grab two fistfuls of my hair and throw me to the ground. No one could use it as a device to control me.

Today was the day me and Robert were moving into our apartment. I was so excited. He'd been working and had gotten his first paycheck, which went towards everything we needed for this. I'd gotten material and had made myself a few outfits for casual wear. I'd also gotten a job in an office to do whatever everyone else didn't want to do. I didn't mind, it was a job.

Life seemed like it was starting to work out.

"You don't eat kosher, do you?" I asked Robert one day while reading a book.

"Hell no. I'll take any food I'm given."

"Just making sure," I shrugged, realizing we have the same attitudes towards it. We certainly were Jewish, but we weren't crazy about it. We didn't go to Synagogue or anything, but we celebrated holidays.