Performance Piece by Victoria Ritter–Part II

Here’s the second part of Victoria’s engaging performance piece:

Sneaking Around With The Partisans

 

Mother and I knocked on the door of a man that we had heard might help us.  “Yes?” he asked.  He could tell at once that we were Jewish.  We asked if he could help us hide.  He smiled “come in. What are your names?” he asked.  “I am Janine, and this is Hanne,” replied Mother.  “Not anymore” he said.  “You will now need new names.  We will figure that out later, but you need a story and it is best if you stick with your story even when no German is around so as you don’t get confused.”  Then we talked a while about what we were going through.  Then he said “If you want to join the partisans then you are going to need to get your things and get ready for a move.”

We were moved into the woods a little ways outside the ghetto.  We lived in camouflaged homes built into the ground.  We were still hungry but could sneak out at night and raid leftovers from the farms like cabbage, onions, carrots, beets and potatoes.  Mother had grown up knowing so much about the outdoors.  She could tell us everything, which berries were poisonous, what tree would provide the most shade even in winter when most of the leaves had fallen off.  And when the adults went on missions, I would watch the children.  Everyone pooled their talents and the little that we had.  One lady had been a teacher so she gave us lessons.  There was a Rabi who made sure we had our religious teachings.  One of the new families had smuggled in a violin and we were able to share it and play.  I even enjoyed practice!  Although we moved a lot the Germans once found us.  They discovered a couple of underground homes in which there were a few people. They shot and killed them all.  One was a six year old girl, four were men, and the last one was my mother.  I knew she was dead without even having to see the body, it was one of those things where I could feel myself ripping apart just thinking why couldn’t that be Hitler?  Why, Why, Why?!! I wanted to scream but someone pulled me along.  I thought of going back and saying here I am kill me let me be with her and daddy!  But that would be stupid and I needed to help people so all I could do was make my heart cold, and stay like that until the end of the war.