Inside the Camps | A World War Two Story

Inside the Camps - Part 2

The fire crackled quietly as I threw a few coal pieces into the bottom part, watching the fire erupt hungrily as it was fed. As I watched the dancing flames, I muttered, directing my voice towards Cade. "You can call me James, thou-" As I averted my eyes from the flames to look at her, I froze. She looked out of the bakery window in horror. I hadn't noticed or heard the chanting of angry germans or rumbling of buildings on fire, slowly breaking down to dust.

I soon noticed angry germans heading towards the bakery. I pushed myself over the counter, again, sprinting towards Cade, before lightly clasping my hand around her arm. Her dress swayed as I moved her, gently dragging her towards the stairs to the basement.

I wandered back upstairs after leaving Cade down there, only to find Herr Weiss talking to the NKVD officers. I quickly picked up my pace, now appearing at his side. He sighed heavily, placing his thumb and pointer finger on the bridge of his nose. "Is there something else you would like?" I spoke up, seeming quite annoyed as I looked down at the three. One of the smaller officers looked off to the side, seeming to have ignored my question for his own good. "You're being arrested. And the girl that you hid, she is as well. So I'd suggest you bring her up here or we'll burn this place down with her inside." After he finished that last part, I could feel the heat rushing to my face. "Why are we being arrested?" He scoffed, swatting the air with his hands as he spoke. "You see, Herr Weber, this is a Jewish bakery. If you work in a Jewish bakery, and you're Jewish, you'll be arrested." He smirked when he was finished speaking, raising an eyebrow at me as he swirled a toothpick I didn't notice before around his mouth. "Well I guess those rules don't apply to me, since I'm German." As soon as I was finished, he immediately fired back. "Oh, but that's where you're wrong. You see, we would have let you off the hook. But since you're hiding the Polish girl we're looking for, you'll be arrested for smuggling an illegal person." I groaned at his words, rolling my eyes softly. Illegal person? Are you kidding me? No one can be illegal, here.

As our bickering continued, Cade seemed to have wandered up the stairs. Her eyes widened as she spotted the officers. She wasn't too far from them, since the bakery was small and the stairs were close to the counter. The officers looked at her, smirking. "Just who we were looking for. Come on, love, the truck is leaving soon."

We were shoved towards the truck again, but I turned around this time, getting extremely tired of all the pushing. "You don't have to shove us, you know. We've kind of accepted the fact we're being arrested." The tallest one smiled, shoving Cade once more. I rolled my eyes, all of the care for her and myself I had before, slipping away. As we stepped up onto the truck, a revolting smell hit my nostrils, causing my face to wrinkle in disgust. It was a small cattle car, filled with only two small children, a boy and a girl. They looked to be around nine years old, looking up at us with tear stained cheeks. I raised an eyebrow toward them, sitting down just an inch away.