Chapter 1
Germany, 1944 Bergen-Belsen concentration camp
I played cards with the guards and officers. I was always careful not too win too much. They had tempers that you did not to mess with. I failed on purpose for the third time in a row. Lieutenant Richter started to deal our new hand. This time I was going to win. Just once. Just to surprise them a little. “Oberstgruppenfuhrer Lehmann!” Captain Haas called to me. I stood up quickly and made my way towards him. [IN GERMAN] “Hauptsturmführer Haas.” “Oberstgruppenfuhrer Lehmann. I have someone for you to take care for us. It is your chance to show if you deserve to be a Lieutenant. Obershutze Scholz will be coming next week.” General Muller comes in a few seconds later with a girl. Her hair is long and dirty. She keeps her head down as he pulls her whichever way he likes; like a puppet. He throws her head up and tells us to look at her pretty Jew face and licks her cheek. She tries to pull away but her struggle just makes him laugh even more. All the men laugh with Muller. [IN GERMAN] “Oberstgruppenfuhrer Muller! Put her in her room now! We don’t play with cattle.” Captain Haas holds my face in his hands and smiles. “Make me proud Lehmann.” General Muller brings the Jew into the room and shuts the door behind them. Captain Haas was giving me a chance to show I deserved to change my collar. I used to work for the captain when I was just a cleaner; I had seen the horrible things he had done to the prisoners. Instead of working against him I decided to try to look past who he truly was, a monster, and become a higher rank. He gave me certain things to do to prove I have what it takes to be one of them. It could only help me once this war was over with. I make my way to the room and open the door. Muller is pulling at the girl’s hair and twirling her around as he laughs hysterically. He stops when he sees me enter the room and smiles even bigger. He puts her down on the small bed and holds her down. [IN GERMAN] “What will you do with her? You’re soooooo lucky!” “I need to be alone with her to prepare.” “Oh, you sick bastard. I love it! If you need anything don’t forget me.” The girl throws herself off the bed and crawls underneath it to hide. Muller leaves with a grin while staring at me as he shuts the door behind him. He was a crazy Nazi but he was higher ranked than I was. The captain loved Muller for his unattached personality. He had his own sister killed when she betrayed our country and helped a Jew. It was a disgrace but even I wouldn’t kill my own sister. I was a Nazi but I wasn’t a psychopath. I still had some emotions left. Some. We were trained to not have any emotions for others. It made the job easier. I walked towards the bed and stood in front as she hid. The mattress was so thin I could faintly see the shape of her body through it. [IN GERMAN] “Do you understand German?” She didn’t answer. I knew Hebrew and decided to speak to her in her mother tongue. She needed to trust me so that I could fix her. I sat on a chair at the back of the room and crossed my legs. [IN HEBREW] “I need you to come out from under the bed. I promise I am not here to hurt you.” She didn’t answer or move an inch. I decided to sit in front of her door every day until her very last day here.
