Read Online In the Midst of Life by Jennifer Worth - Free Book Online
Authors: Jennifer Worth
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when the Nazi armies marched into Poland, ruthlessly crushing the unprepared Polish Army as they attempted to defend their homeland, then rounding up hundreds of thousands of Jews, forcing them into trains and then taking them to … well, at the time, no one knew where. Elisabeth was a young girl, listening to a scratchy old box-radio with her family, and she bristled with anger as she heard the news. She made a silent promise to God that, when she was old enough, she would go to Poland and help the people to defeat their cowardly oppressors. Her father and brother later witnessed Nazi machine gunners shooting a human river of Jewish refugees as they attempted to cross the Rhine from Germany to the safety of Switzerland. Few made it to the Swiss side. Most of them floated down the river - dead. These atrocities were too great and too numerous to be hidden from a young girl already inflamed by the outrages, and she renewed her promise to God.
Yet she didn’t really believe in Him. Not the God of the Lutheran pastor who taught and terrorised the Sunday School children, anyway. The pastor was a cold, brutish, ignorant man, unloving and unchristian, whose own children turned up at school with bruises all over their bodies, and were always hungry. The other children gave them food, but when the pastor found out he beat his children savagely for eating it. After that they didn’t dare accept. Elisabeth didn’t believe in the pastor’s God. Maybe there was another one somewhere who loved little children. That Lutheran pastor turned Elisabeth against organised religion for the rest ofher life. But she never ceased searching for the God of Love in whom she could, and eventually did, believe.
From an early age she was determined to be a doctor, but her father would not allow further education for girls, so she left school at fourteen to become a maid. After a year of skivvying for a rich woman she ran away and arrived at a hospital, offering to do anything. In those chaotic war years she was taken on and told to work as an assistant on the VD wards, in which all the patients were dying. Syphilitic patients were feared, shunned and locked away, but Elisabeth found them to be pathetic creatures who were warm and pleasant, and simply craved friendship and understanding. She opened her heart to them, and it was this mutual affection that prepared her for worse that was to come.
On 6th June, 1944, the combined allied forces landed in Normandy and the war changed. Thousands of refugees from all over Europe streamed into Switzerland. For days, then weeks, they marched, limped, crawled or were carried. The very old, the very young - all were half starved, ragged and verminous. Virtually overnight, the hospital was inundated with these traumatised victims of war.
For weeks, Elisabeth worked entirely with children who were mostly orphans, frightened and lost. De-lousing and disinfecting them was the first job, then finding clothes, then the search for food. She and another girl stole most of the food from the hospital stores, which seemed like a good idea at the time, but nearly had serious consequences. She was saved from the wrath of the outraged authorities by a Jewish doctor, who quickly arranged for the Zürich Jewish community to refund the cost of the food. He proved to be a powerful influence on her young life. He was a Polish Jew, and he told Elisabeth the horrifying stories of the concentration camps that had been built in Poland, and of the need for dedicated young people to go to his sad country to help with rebuilding. His words were another clarion call to Elisabeth.
On 7th May, 1945, all the bells of all the churches rang out in every country across Europe. People rejoiced, sang, danced, partied in the streets, got drunk. The war was over. It had lasted for sixyears, but the rebuilding would take much longer. Elisabeth joined the International Voluntary Service For Peace, and for four years worked with medical teams in
Yet she didn’t really believe in Him. Not the God of the Lutheran pastor who taught and terrorised the Sunday School children, anyway. The pastor was a cold, brutish, ignorant man, unloving and unchristian, whose own children turned up at school with bruises all over their bodies, and were always hungry. The other children gave them food, but when the pastor found out he beat his children savagely for eating it. After that they didn’t dare accept. Elisabeth didn’t believe in the pastor’s God. Maybe there was another one somewhere who loved little children. That Lutheran pastor turned Elisabeth against organised religion for the rest ofher life. But she never ceased searching for the God of Love in whom she could, and eventually did, believe.
From an early age she was determined to be a doctor, but her father would not allow further education for girls, so she left school at fourteen to become a maid. After a year of skivvying for a rich woman she ran away and arrived at a hospital, offering to do anything. In those chaotic war years she was taken on and told to work as an assistant on the VD wards, in which all the patients were dying. Syphilitic patients were feared, shunned and locked away, but Elisabeth found them to be pathetic creatures who were warm and pleasant, and simply craved friendship and understanding. She opened her heart to them, and it was this mutual affection that prepared her for worse that was to come.
On 6th June, 1944, the combined allied forces landed in Normandy and the war changed. Thousands of refugees from all over Europe streamed into Switzerland. For days, then weeks, they marched, limped, crawled or were carried. The very old, the very young - all were half starved, ragged and verminous. Virtually overnight, the hospital was inundated with these traumatised victims of war.
For weeks, Elisabeth worked entirely with children who were mostly orphans, frightened and lost. De-lousing and disinfecting them was the first job, then finding clothes, then the search for food. She and another girl stole most of the food from the hospital stores, which seemed like a good idea at the time, but nearly had serious consequences. She was saved from the wrath of the outraged authorities by a Jewish doctor, who quickly arranged for the Zürich Jewish community to refund the cost of the food. He proved to be a powerful influence on her young life. He was a Polish Jew, and he told Elisabeth the horrifying stories of the concentration camps that had been built in Poland, and of the need for dedicated young people to go to his sad country to help with rebuilding. His words were another clarion call to Elisabeth.
On 7th May, 1945, all the bells of all the churches rang out in every country across Europe. People rejoiced, sang, danced, partied in the streets, got drunk. The war was over. It had lasted for sixyears, but the rebuilding would take much longer. Elisabeth joined the International Voluntary Service For Peace, and for four years worked with medical teams in
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