We Fought for this Land - Chapter 3
Author's Note: Hey guys! Sorry I was so late to update WFFTL because I was so busy with exercising (yes, I'm trying to get in shape!) and schoolwork. There was also an issue with publishing ch3 the first time. Thanks for all of the following, favoriting, and reviewing you all have done! I am trying to get to five reviews (at least) and right now I have two or three. I can't update until I have five! So please, please review. This chapter is mainly from Rachel's perspective and deals with the Holocaust a little. It is not graphic, however. Enjoy!
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February, 1942 - Theresienstadt, Czechoslovakia
Rachel Berrich missed her life in Prague. Who could have imagined that in a matter of three years her life would change so drastically? Three years ago, she was a spoiled, annoying, and naive schoolgirl of fourteen whose only worries were what part she would get in the school musical and which boys were interested in her. Those damn Nazis had taken away her naivety and her carefree life when Adolf Hitler came to power and invaded Czechoslovakia. Now, she was just annoying yet talented and her main worries were when she would get her meager rations next and if she would succumb to one of the fatal diseases spreading in the Theresienstadt ghetto, known in Czech as Terezin.
Conditions were awful in the ghetto. Rachel felt as if she was living a nightmare. Scarcely a day went by when the Nazis didn't brutally attack some poor Jew over a trivial mistake they made. Rachel had been separated from her parents and was sent to live with some other girls around her age in a crowded communal housing unit.
And that wasn't all. Recently, the horrors had gotten even worse. The Nazis had started selecting some Jews in the ghetto for deportation to the east, or "resettlement" as they liked to call it. Resettled, my ass, Rachel thought. She knew some girls who had been resettled along with their families, and no one had seen or heard from them since. The ghetto gossip was that those sent away weren't just being resettled at a labor camp - instead they were being brutally murdered by the Nazis. Some people chose to believe what the Nazis told them in order to have a peaceful state of mind when it was their turn to be deported.
"Rachel!", a familiar voice called, jolting Rachel out of her reverie. Rachel turned to face the speaker. It was her longtime friend, Tina Cohen, the daughter of a wealthy Jewish banker and an Asian opera singer. Tina's family had been quite the scandal in Prague since her mother had come to Prague from Asia to tour with an opera company and had died there after giving birth to the love child of a respected Jewish citizen. Just before she died, Tina's mother had located the man who got her pregnant and told him he had to raise his child, and he agreed, not wanting to lose his status as an upright man. The Nazis hated Tina even more than they hated the rest because she came from two minority groups, unlike Rachel, who came from just one.
"Tina!", Rachel called, excited to see her friend. "Is something the matter?", she said, seeing the look on Tina's face. "It-It's your mama," Tina said, and Rachel's heart plummeted. Tina continued speaking nervously. "Th-The Nazis…th-they…sh-she angered them because she dared to look one of them in the eye."
"Is she okay?", Rachel managed to get out, but she feared she already knew the answer. "N-no,"Tina said sadly. "One of them shot her in the chest with his gun, and threatened to 'kill the rich Jewish bitch.'"
"And?", Rachel pressed, needing to know more. "She's alive, right?" Tina nodded. "Barely. Come with me! Shelby asked me to find you for her!" Rachel and Tina sprinted down to the center square of Terezin. Rachel muttered a quick prayer in Yiddish as she spotted Shelby, looking pale and bloody.
"Rachel," Shelby croaked, speaking with great difficulty. "Mama! Who did this to you, which bastard did it?", Rachel asked. "Karofksy," Shelby rasped. Karofsky. He was the most hated and feared Nazi at Theresienstadt, mainly on account of his reputation as one of the most sadistic and cruel Nazis that even rivaled Hitler in both. Fury cut through Rachel like a white-hot knife. You sick bastard, how could you murder an innocent mother because she had the audacity to look you in the eye!, Rachel thought angrily.
"Rachel, promise me one thing, meyn takhter," Shelby said. "Anything, Mama!", Rachel said, crying. "That's the last time you will cry in front of them. You can't let them have the satisfaction of knowing how they make you feel." Rachel nodded. "I love you, Mama," she said, kissing Shelby's forehead. Shelby closed her eyes and stopped breathing. Rachel almost cried and screamed but then remembered her vow to Shelby: don't let them see how they make you feel. Instead, Rachel sang a Yiddish lullaby:
"Durme, durme ijiko de madre
Durme, durme sin ansia i dolor
Durme, durme sin ansia i dolor."
"Sleep, sleep; mother's little boy
Free from worry and from pain,
Free from worry and from pain."
Rachel hadn't sung in a while, and it felt good to express her feelings like that. "Y-You have a beautiful voice," Tina said. "I know," Rachel snapped. "It is the best in Prague. I don't understand why Pan Bruzek never gave me any solos in choir." Even after ten years of being friends with Rachel, Tina was still unaccustomed to Rachel's arrogant bragging and sense of entitlement, but she decided to be a good friend and instead thoughtfully responded, "Whatever we want, whatever we have, they take away from us."
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A/N: I hope you liked it! Sorry if it was a bit dark, but I wanted to deal seriously with the subject matter at hand. The next chapter will revolve mainly around Quinn's life on the home front. Please read and review! I love any and all feedback!
-cxe128