“Sounds like you’ve got it all figured out.”
Lily was a bit taken aback by her friend’s willingness to deceive a person who loved her. On the other hand she could understand her desperation all too well. It was either a quickie marriage or a back-street abortion somewhere. The ideal option would be to marry the father, but that was not possible. Alice was only being practical and thinking about the welfare of her unborn child.
“Oh, don’t get your knickers in a twist, Lil. What would you do in my place?” retorted Alice. “Actually, there are a few obstacles. I would have to pretend to have a premature baby so he doesn’t suspect and there are my parents. Can you imagine the reaction of my Russian Orthodox parents to a Jewish refugee? They see all Jews as Christ-killers. They will not be pleased; especially when they find out I am pregnant.” Alice looked genuinely miserable. She wasn’t particularly close with her parents, but still they were the only family she had. A rift with them would be heartbreaking.
“Let’s go get that tea and talk over your options. “How about “The Willow Tree”? I’ve always loved that place,” suggested Lily with more optimism than she felt.
Chapter 10
Two weeks later, a radiant Alice married Jacob Kaplan in a civil ceremony at the same Registry Office that Lily and Nick married at two months before. The wedding was brief and a little lonely since the only people on hand were the bride and groom, Lily and a friend of Jacob’s to stand up for them as witnesses. They did splurge on a lunch at Coleridge’s to celebrate the marriage. Jacob was as lovely as Alice said. He had the look of an intellectual with soulful brown eyes and a sweet smile. His gaunt face lit up every time he looked at his bride and Lily fervently hoped that he would never find out about the terrible deception her friend was playing on him. He didn’t like talking about his past, but Alice had filled her in.
Jacob was a Jew from Berlin. His elderly parents owned a popular restaurant on Kurfurstendamm Strasse since the early years of their marriage. It was their pride and joy and over the years they had amassed a loyal clientele. They served everything from matzo ball soup to apple strudel with all their food being prepared by Jacob’s grandmother and then later on his mother and sister. When the Nuremberg laws were passed in 1935 they were forbidden to serve non-Jewish patrons and were stripped of their rights as German citizens. Practically overnight the Kaplans were expelled from Germany’s social and political life. Jacob was fired from his job at the University and passed the time by helping his parents at the restaurant. He kept the accounts and occasionally filled in for his mother who was getting too old to wait on tables. The family talked of leaving Berlin, but Jacob’s father believed that the country would come to its senses and see that Jews were not the enemy. Everything would turn out all right in the end. They just had to uphold the laws and remain the true Germans they believed themselves to be.
It all changed on November 9, 1938 when a massive pogrom was carried out throughout Germany and parts of Austria. The attacks were named Kristallnacht after the amount of broken glass that littered the streets after the windows of Jewish businesses and synagogues were smashed to pieces. The restaurant was no exception. The windows were broken with sledgehammers and the inside was ransacked until not a single piece of furniture was left standing. Even the pots in the kitchen had been hammered until they became useless blobs of aluminum and copper. The family hid in their apartment above the restaurant terrified that they would be dragged outside and beaten or killed. They survived the night, but their future was forever altered. Once the sounds of destruction finally faded away, Jacob Kaplan, the elder called a family meeting. Staying in Berlin was no longer an option.
The family
Lily was a bit taken aback by her friend’s willingness to deceive a person who loved her. On the other hand she could understand her desperation all too well. It was either a quickie marriage or a back-street abortion somewhere. The ideal option would be to marry the father, but that was not possible. Alice was only being practical and thinking about the welfare of her unborn child.
“Oh, don’t get your knickers in a twist, Lil. What would you do in my place?” retorted Alice. “Actually, there are a few obstacles. I would have to pretend to have a premature baby so he doesn’t suspect and there are my parents. Can you imagine the reaction of my Russian Orthodox parents to a Jewish refugee? They see all Jews as Christ-killers. They will not be pleased; especially when they find out I am pregnant.” Alice looked genuinely miserable. She wasn’t particularly close with her parents, but still they were the only family she had. A rift with them would be heartbreaking.
“Let’s go get that tea and talk over your options. “How about “The Willow Tree”? I’ve always loved that place,” suggested Lily with more optimism than she felt.
Chapter 10
Two weeks later, a radiant Alice married Jacob Kaplan in a civil ceremony at the same Registry Office that Lily and Nick married at two months before. The wedding was brief and a little lonely since the only people on hand were the bride and groom, Lily and a friend of Jacob’s to stand up for them as witnesses. They did splurge on a lunch at Coleridge’s to celebrate the marriage. Jacob was as lovely as Alice said. He had the look of an intellectual with soulful brown eyes and a sweet smile. His gaunt face lit up every time he looked at his bride and Lily fervently hoped that he would never find out about the terrible deception her friend was playing on him. He didn’t like talking about his past, but Alice had filled her in.
Jacob was a Jew from Berlin. His elderly parents owned a popular restaurant on Kurfurstendamm Strasse since the early years of their marriage. It was their pride and joy and over the years they had amassed a loyal clientele. They served everything from matzo ball soup to apple strudel with all their food being prepared by Jacob’s grandmother and then later on his mother and sister. When the Nuremberg laws were passed in 1935 they were forbidden to serve non-Jewish patrons and were stripped of their rights as German citizens. Practically overnight the Kaplans were expelled from Germany’s social and political life. Jacob was fired from his job at the University and passed the time by helping his parents at the restaurant. He kept the accounts and occasionally filled in for his mother who was getting too old to wait on tables. The family talked of leaving Berlin, but Jacob’s father believed that the country would come to its senses and see that Jews were not the enemy. Everything would turn out all right in the end. They just had to uphold the laws and remain the true Germans they believed themselves to be.
It all changed on November 9, 1938 when a massive pogrom was carried out throughout Germany and parts of Austria. The attacks were named Kristallnacht after the amount of broken glass that littered the streets after the windows of Jewish businesses and synagogues were smashed to pieces. The restaurant was no exception. The windows were broken with sledgehammers and the inside was ransacked until not a single piece of furniture was left standing. Even the pots in the kitchen had been hammered until they became useless blobs of aluminum and copper. The family hid in their apartment above the restaurant terrified that they would be dragged outside and beaten or killed. They survived the night, but their future was forever altered. Once the sounds of destruction finally faded away, Jacob Kaplan, the elder called a family meeting. Staying in Berlin was no longer an option.
The family
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