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Authors: Irene N.Watts
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share my old room. It will be good to be together in these dreadful times.”
“What about Vati – how will he know where we are? What will happen to our things? Will I go to school there?”
“I’ll get word to Vati somehow. Things can be replaced. They really aren’t so important right now. Perhaps the Schmidt sisters would store some of our furniture. They’ve always been friendly to us.
“As for school, I’m sure the Düsseldorf community will arrange classes for Jewish children. Opa will find out for us. Think what fun it will be to live in the house where I grew up. I’ll fetch our suitcases.”
Marianne hugged herself joyfully. How wonderful to go on a trip with her mother. Of course she’d miss her room, but Oma always let her sleep in the little attic, “the ship’s cabin” Opa called it. You could see the whole garden from there. All the fruit trees. Oma would have finished bottling the apples and plums, and would make plum tart, Marianne’s favorite, sprinkled with golden-brown sugary pastry crumbs. Absolutely no one in the whole world made plum tart as delicious as Oma’s.
Marianne loved taking Wolf, Opa’s German shepherd, for walks. He was nearly as old as she was. He growled if anyone even looked at her!
She’d take her favorite books, her new green bedspread, her collection of glass animals – there were ten now. Her postcards,and of course all her clothes, especially her new green velvet “best dress” with the lace collar. Oma loved to see her granddaughters dressed up.
Marianne heard the telephone ring, and her mother’s voice. A few minutes later, Mrs. Kohn came running into the bedroom. She took Marianne’s hands and whirled her around the room before collapsing, breathless, onto the bed.
“A miracle. Listen, Marianne, that was Mrs. Rabinovitch on the telephone. You know, the supervisor at the orphanage. Two of the children have measles.”
“Mutti, you call
that
a miracle? Are you feeling alright?”
“Don’t you understand? This means the girls can’t travel. They will have to wait for the next transport. You’ve been offered one of their places. It’s all happened so quickly, I can’t believe it. I have to give Mrs. Rabinovitch our answer in ten minutes.” “Mutti, what about you? Are you coming too? And Vati? How can we leave him behind? What will we tell Oma and Opa? Ten minutes? I’d need ten years to decide something like that. Mutti, how can we leave everyone and everything behind?” Marianne was walking up and down her room, her thumbnail in her mouth.
“Marianne, listen to me. No, don’t turn away.” Mrs. Kohn took her daughter’s hands in hers. “Look at me, darling. We don’t have weeks or days to decide. We don’t even have hours. This transport is a rescue operation just for children. A
Kindertransport.
The grown-ups must wait their turn. There are bound to be other opportunities for us to leave.”
Marianne pulled her hands free. She was almost incoherent.
“You mean, I have to go by myself? No! Absolutely no. I’d have to be crazy to agree to something like that. I won’t leave you all. How can you even
think
of asking me that? Mothers don’t send their children away. Why did you say you don’t know how you’d manage without me if you didn’t mean it? Well, I mean it. I can’t manage by myself. Who would I tell things to, some stranger? Who’d wake me up to go to school? Who’d nag me, and tell me to be careful when I go out? Anyway, I refuse to be an orphan. I refuse to go. I’d miss you too much.” Marianne slumped down on the bed beside her mother, biting her nails.
Mrs. Kohn took Marianne’s hand and held it tight. “We all have to learn to say good-bye to people we love, and there never seems enough time to prepare. But I am prepared to live without you, if it means giving you a future.”
Marianne said, “I don’t believe you. I won’t say good-bye to you, and that’s final.”
Mrs. Kohn said, “Marianne, I
“What about Vati – how will he know where we are? What will happen to our things? Will I go to school there?”
“I’ll get word to Vati somehow. Things can be replaced. They really aren’t so important right now. Perhaps the Schmidt sisters would store some of our furniture. They’ve always been friendly to us.
“As for school, I’m sure the Düsseldorf community will arrange classes for Jewish children. Opa will find out for us. Think what fun it will be to live in the house where I grew up. I’ll fetch our suitcases.”
Marianne hugged herself joyfully. How wonderful to go on a trip with her mother. Of course she’d miss her room, but Oma always let her sleep in the little attic, “the ship’s cabin” Opa called it. You could see the whole garden from there. All the fruit trees. Oma would have finished bottling the apples and plums, and would make plum tart, Marianne’s favorite, sprinkled with golden-brown sugary pastry crumbs. Absolutely no one in the whole world made plum tart as delicious as Oma’s.
Marianne loved taking Wolf, Opa’s German shepherd, for walks. He was nearly as old as she was. He growled if anyone even looked at her!
She’d take her favorite books, her new green bedspread, her collection of glass animals – there were ten now. Her postcards,and of course all her clothes, especially her new green velvet “best dress” with the lace collar. Oma loved to see her granddaughters dressed up.
Marianne heard the telephone ring, and her mother’s voice. A few minutes later, Mrs. Kohn came running into the bedroom. She took Marianne’s hands and whirled her around the room before collapsing, breathless, onto the bed.
“A miracle. Listen, Marianne, that was Mrs. Rabinovitch on the telephone. You know, the supervisor at the orphanage. Two of the children have measles.”
“Mutti, you call
that
a miracle? Are you feeling alright?”
“Don’t you understand? This means the girls can’t travel. They will have to wait for the next transport. You’ve been offered one of their places. It’s all happened so quickly, I can’t believe it. I have to give Mrs. Rabinovitch our answer in ten minutes.” “Mutti, what about you? Are you coming too? And Vati? How can we leave him behind? What will we tell Oma and Opa? Ten minutes? I’d need ten years to decide something like that. Mutti, how can we leave everyone and everything behind?” Marianne was walking up and down her room, her thumbnail in her mouth.
“Marianne, listen to me. No, don’t turn away.” Mrs. Kohn took her daughter’s hands in hers. “Look at me, darling. We don’t have weeks or days to decide. We don’t even have hours. This transport is a rescue operation just for children. A
Kindertransport.
The grown-ups must wait their turn. There are bound to be other opportunities for us to leave.”
Marianne pulled her hands free. She was almost incoherent.
“You mean, I have to go by myself? No! Absolutely no. I’d have to be crazy to agree to something like that. I won’t leave you all. How can you even
think
of asking me that? Mothers don’t send their children away. Why did you say you don’t know how you’d manage without me if you didn’t mean it? Well, I mean it. I can’t manage by myself. Who would I tell things to, some stranger? Who’d wake me up to go to school? Who’d nag me, and tell me to be careful when I go out? Anyway, I refuse to be an orphan. I refuse to go. I’d miss you too much.” Marianne slumped down on the bed beside her mother, biting her nails.
Mrs. Kohn took Marianne’s hand and held it tight. “We all have to learn to say good-bye to people we love, and there never seems enough time to prepare. But I am prepared to live without you, if it means giving you a future.”
Marianne said, “I don’t believe you. I won’t say good-bye to you, and that’s final.”
Mrs. Kohn said, “Marianne, I
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