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February 8 - February 13, 2021
How innocent they all were, never imagining for one moment that life could ever turn sour.
The rabbi was a very good, kind man, but he was so invested in the afterlife, that sometimes he didn’t see how important people’s feelings were in this life.
Love of life was central to Jewish philosophy but the events of the last few years seemed to have made the rabbi less concerned with this world, choosing to focus instead on the next.
‘What our troops did over there, the way they treated the Russians, well, they won’t want a nice diplomatic peace agreement. If the British or the Americans get here first, then they’ll sit down, extract a surrender from whoever is left of the regime and set about restoring some kind of civilised life. But the Russians, they will want revenge.’
Death, to him, no matter the circumstances, was to be welcomed. It was how one returned to God, and that was the ultimate aim of all Jews. He was circumspect about the war, explaining that Jews had always been persecuted and always would be.
you must go, and don’t come back here – it’s too dangerous. Everyone spies now, everyone. Nobody trusts anyone else… That is what they have turned us into.’
‘I don’t recognise my own children any more. I’m afraid of them. They have been so indoctrinated…’ She pointed to her temple and whispered, ‘They get inside their heads, the teachers, the youth leaders. Parents don’t matter, nobody matters but the führer and the Fatherland.
The war and all the horror and loss and destruction were not irrelevant – it impacted everyone – but in many ways, the war had given her her life back. She had Liesl and Erich, she had moved back to Ballycreggan, she married her soulmate…all because of Hitler. She hated him, of course, but if he hadn’t done what he did, then she would probably still be a lonely spinster, living half a life.
That’s possibly why they were all clinging to what surely must be a lost cause at this stage, because without the Nazi Party and their affiliations to cling to, they went back to being nobodies.
