Exodus - Leon Uris [258]
MINNA (SURNAME UNKNOWN), AGE 7. Minna was born in Auschwitz concentration camp. Neither of her parents is known. We presume she is Polish. She was smuggled into Palestine by Aliyah Bet around the first of the year. When she was brought to Gan Dafna she was physically very weak and sick and showed many disturbances ...
ROBERT DUBUAY, AGE 16. French nationality. Robert was found at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp by British troops. Robert was thirteen years of age at the time and weighed fifty-eight pounds. The boy had previously been an eyewitness to the death of his mother, father, and a brother. A sister, who later was a suicide, had been forced into prostitution with German soldiers. Robert shows signs of hostility and ...
SAMUEL KASNOWITZ, AGE 12. Estonian nationality. No known family survived. Samuel was hidden in the basement of a Christian family until he was forced to flee into a forest where he lived alone for two years ...
ROBERTO PUCCELLI, AGE 12. Italian nationality. No known family survived. Liberated at Auschwitz. We found him permanently crippled in his right arm as a result of beatings ...
MARCIA KLASKIN, AGE 13. Rumanian nationality. No known family. Found at Dachau ...
HANS BELMAN, AGE 10. Dutch nationality. No known family. Found at Auschwitz. Hidden by Christians ...
The files went on and on. “No survivors.”
“... this child has the dream so prevalent with those children at Auschwitz. She dreams she is packing a suitcase. This we know is a symbol of death, for suitcases were always packed the night before inmates were transferred to the Birkenau gas chambers.”
“The dream of smelling smoke is symbolic of the smell of burning flesh from the crematoriums.”
Bedwetting.
Overt hostility.
Nightmares.
Belligerence.
Kitty looked at a copy of the letter she had once written to Harriet Saltzman.
My dear friend:
You have asked my opinion of the common denominator, and the reason we are able to get such quick recoveries and dynamic results from those children who are borderline psychopaths. Well, I think you know that answer far better than I. You gave it to me the first time I saw you in Jerusalem. The wonder drug is called “Eretz Israel.” The spirit is so strong here it seems unnatural. They desire only to live and fight for their country. I have never seen such energy or drive among adults, much less children ...
Kitty Fremont closed the files.
She stood up and looked around the office for several moments, then quickly snapped off the light and closed the door behind her.
She stopped outside the building for a moment. Halfway up the hill toward Fort Esther she saw a campfire. The Gadna children, the ten- and twelve- and fourteen-year-old soldiers would be singing and dancing a hora.
She shined her flashlight on the ground and crossed the green. New trenches had been dug. Larger bomb shelters were being installed by the children’s houses.
The statue of Dafna stood its vigil. “Shalom, Giveret Kitty,” a group of youngsters shrilled as they raced to the recreation hall.
She opened her cottage door. The suitcases were all lined up near the door and marked with tags. The room was denuded of the personal little touches that she and Karen had put into it.
“Karen. Are you here, dear?”
There was a note on the kitchen table.
Dear Kitty: The gang wanted to have a farewell campfire. I won’t stay out too late. Love.
Karen
Kitty lit a cigarette and paced the room restlessly. She closed the draperies to shut off the view of the lights on the valley floor. She found herself holding the curtains which her children had made for her. Ten of them had already left Gan Dafna to go to the Palmach, that sad little army of the Jews.
It was stifling inside. She walked to the porch. The air was scented with rose blooms. Kitty walked down the dirt path between the rows of cottages all set inside little lawns and hedges