Revelations

by Potatostickman200

A patriotic German boy's world is turned upside down when he finds out his father is a Jew.

Short Story: Revelations

I was a normal German. Well what passed for normal in the war-frenzied Germany of the 1940s? I was a patriot through and through. My father was a decorated war hero and I boasted to anyone I could about it. I was the one you would see at Hitler's mass rallies screaming his praises and declaring the Germans as the master race, I would walk up and down the streets with Hans patrolling for any dirty Jews and any who would disagree with Fuhrers dream of the Third Reich. I was a patriot. Emphasis on the 'was'…. My world came crashing down around my ears when Hans and went to the recruiting office the day we turned sixteen.

We were so excited to finally contribute to the war effort. I remember that day clearly… It was my D-day. It was the beginning of the end.

The streets rang with the shrill voices of dishevelled newspaper boys selling the morning edition. Motes of dust flew in air, kicked up by the hundreds of passers-by and the rigorous marching of the passing patrols. The sun was shining and birds sang as they perched on the trees. It was like a fairy-tale for Hans and I. We turned sixteen today and our day to shine came. We reached the enlistment office and we proudly filled out the forms, writing as fast as we did in our life. The room was eerily quiet, nothing but the sound of our scratching pens. I finished before Hans I turned and stuck my tongue out to him. He grinned and quickly finished writing with a flourish. We took our forms to the officer, the sound of our shoes echoing for an eternity as we walked to the desk. Only after did I realise that that small stroll to the office was akin to a prisoner on the death roll walking to the chair. We proudly presented our forms with grin along with all the necessary documentation. The officer on duty was a grim faced man. He had cropped blond hair and ice-blue eyes. The perfect German. He looked at us with scrutinising eyes looking from the form back to us every few seconds. He nodded as if to himself after a minute, stamped one of the forms and waved Hans through. I waited impatiently hopping from foot to foot, wringing my hands. The officer beckoned me. I stepped forward nervously. Was something wrong? Sweat beaded on my brow. I looked around anxiously for Hans but he had already gone through. "What is your Father's name son?" he inquired. I breathed a sigh of relief. My father was a war hero. I couldn't be refused now! "Gunter Jaeger sir" I replied. The officer nodded and flicked through a thick wad of papers. His eyes widened. "I'm sorry son. I cannot allow you to join the army." I stood in shock waiting to see if he was joking.

I waited for a minute before I realised he wasn't. "What are you talking about? Why!" I shouted. The officer frowned and I shut my mouth quickly. "Your father is a Jew son." The words hit me harder than any bullets could. I stood there as if dazed. "Y-yo-you must be wrong" I mumbled. "He was an officer in the first World War". "Yes I know, but your father was born a Jew. He's on the list. I will have to ask you to leave and return home. Soldiers will deal with your family then". I shook my head and mumbled. I looked at my hand. It was visibly trembling. I couldn't understand what was happening. I was a proud German, a patriot. I was raised to hate Jews and now I was told my father was a Jew. I was, understandably, in shock, pure shock.

I somehow managed to stumble home and wrenched open the door. I collapsed on the doormat inside and passed out. I came to a couple of hours later, by my reckoning anyway. It was dark but I could feel heat on my face. I scrambled to my feet and looked around. My house was on fire. I stumbled away from the door, bewildered. I heard screams and turned. I saw men in dark uniforms grabbing people and loading them into trucks. Others were tossing burning torches on buildings and laughing. Somehow through all the chaos, screams and smoke, I saw my mother being put into a van. I screamed and ran towards her. "MOM! MOM" She reached her hand out to me and I ran even faster. I saw my sister being held by another soldier. He was grabbing her clothes and tearing them off. I screamed hoarsely but the soldier continued. My sister broke free as I reached her and she ran. I grabbed at the soldier but he knocked me aside with the butt of his rifle. He raised it to his shoulder and aimed towards the receding form of my sister. Bang. With that bang another crack appeared in the perfect world that I knew. My sister cried out and fell, blood streaming from a head-wound. I screamed and scrabbled at the soldier he knocked me aside and I fell sobbing to the ground.

I curled up on the ground. Why was my sister shot! The soldiers were the good guys…weren't they? I lay for a while shutting out the screams of innocent people and the sound of burning buildings. Next thing I knew I was picked up and roughly thrown into the van. I didn't struggle, my mind was blank. I kept on replaying my sister's death in my head and every time my grip on sanity slipped a little more.

Eventually the van rumbled to a stop and the doors were flung open and light streamed through. It blinded me and I raised a trembling hand to block it out. A soldier came into view and he started grabbing people out of the van. No one resisted, it was as if they were shell shocked. I emerged into the sun blinking. I raised my head and looked ahead at the monstrosity that was ahead of me. There was a giant grey building I front of me with lots of smaller building around it. There were tall razor fences around it and watchtowers every hundred metres. Clinging to the fences were scores of people dressed in striped uniforms. They were skinny, morbidly so, and their eyes were completely devoid of any resistance. They were broken. I realised where I was with a bang. I was at a Concentration Camp. I was in all respects, a dead man walking. And with that the last of my Patriotism, and my sanity, vanished. Never to be seen again.