Twelve years, twelve long years. That’s how long my family and I have been running from the Nazis. Also the worst twelve years of my life. I’ve had people I cared about killed right in front of me. Have you ever dealt with that? I don’t think so. We have hid in houses, forests, warehouses anything that could keep us safe. Before I start my story these are the main people you need to know. My dad Benjamin, my mom Agnes, my younger brothers Tom and Theo and finally me. My name is Alexander but they call me Alex, and I’m the oldest. Here is my story, from the very beginning.
“Alex, come downstairs.” I walked downstairs for breakfast. I saw my mom making her famous pancakes. Oh, how I loved mom’s pancakes. They had a sweet blueberry taste to them that was delicious and would taste even better with syrup. I scarfed down all of the pancakes she would give me. While we were eating, we heard a loud banging on the door. I got scared. The family that we were staying with told us to hide in the basement. The door came crashing down and we got in the basement right in time. The Nazis came rushing in yelling at the owner and asking where we were. The owner didn’t say anything and was taken and executed for treason for helping a Jew.
The next day we started to live in the forest. We would would get all our materials we needed such as clothes, weapons, etc. from friends inside the city. Every time we were spotted by the Germans, we would have to leave no witnesses and move to a different place. Or every time we would see someone we don’t know we would not kill them, but we would inject them with truth serum and we would let them go. We would do that in a different place and put on masks so they wouldn’t be able to identify us and give out our location. This was how we “rolled” as you would say. This was our daily routine. I went to sleep after a long day in the forest.
When I awoke, I saw Tom sitting by a tree. I went up to him asking what was wrong. When he looked at me he had a red nose and red eyes. He then asked me, “What if we get caught and sent to the camp Alex? What if some of us don’t make it until the end. I’m scared Alex, I want to live a normal peaceful life.” He then hugged me and I hugged him back. We went to the river to get some water. I thought about what Tom said. What if he was right? Would we all make it through as a family? I tried thinking of something else to get the topic off my mind. When we got back to our camping spot, everything was destroyed. About five seconds later I was hit on the back of my head and saw a blurred vision of a pair of boots and then, everything turned black.
When I awoke, I saw myself chained to a wall. I looked around noticing my arm. I found letters tattooed to my right arm. I looked at it not understanding. 895933, those were the numbers tattooed on my arm. A guard then came in unlocking the chain but still keeping the handcuffs locked. They then took me to this car to work for a general’s family. On my way there I saw my parents digging the coal. I tried to go there and save my entire family. I then saw Theo and Tom being whipped by a soldier. I hated this place. As before I swore that I would save my family and everyone in the camp.
When I got to the house, the gate was gigantic carriting to guards on the outside each with a big hideous dog showing me its teeth with saliva dripping from its mouth. The guards opened the gates and we drove near the beautiful mansion. I saw the general walking out the door and everyone saluted him except for me. The general took me in, and his family was all staring at me. His wife was giving me a disgusting glare as was his ten year old son. And for his four year old daughter, she looked at her father with a glare. I was confused, why would she stare at her father like that. After the whole scene the general took me to the kitchen and told me to start doing the dishes. While I was doing the dishes, the son came up to me and said, “If you think you are going to escape you won’t be able to. There are guards all over the house inside and outside. And if you try to, (chuckles) well you might as well be dead.” He then walked out of the room. I thought to myself, I don’t care if there are guards all over the house. I will escape and save my family no matter what.
Later when I was setting the table for dinner, the daughter came and said, “Are you the new servant they sent from the camp.” I was astonished that she knew what it was. She took me to her room and from the window view, you could see the camp. I told her that I was and she looked down to her feet. She told me it wasn’t fair what they were doing to the Jews. She kept on telling me that it wasn’t right. I asked her her name. “Claudia. What’s yours?”
“Alexander, but call me Alex.” She looked up at me and smiled.
I went back to the table and my master came in. He was very angry with me.
“Why is the table not set yet?” he yelled. I was quiet, he looked at one of the guards next to him and the guard nodded. The guard took me in the back and started to whip me. When I went back inside I finished the table with aches and scratches all over my body and blood dripping on the floor. Coming down the stairs, I could hear footsteps getting closer and closer. My heart racing, my blood pumping. I was hoping it wasn’t the master or the guard. Suddenly it stopped. I looked behind me and saw Claudia. I was relieved to see her face.
“ I’m going to help you escape, tonight.”
“How will you pull it off. Plus why help me, you'll get in trouble.”
She gave me a smile, like she didn’t care. I gave a sigh and nodded. She took me to her room. She drew me an outline of her house. We had a plan to escape, and we hoped it would work.
When everyone was sound asleep including me, Claudia came in and woke me.
“Alex wake up, it’s time.”
I moaned, I didn’t want to get up. I wanted to enjoy the few hours of sleep I get. However, I had to, to save my family. We silently walked across the hall. I saw a guard walking by. I held Claudia back giving her the idea to stop. When the coast was clear, we moved on. While we were walking we didn’t notice that a guard was coming. Just in the nick of time I pushed Claudia in front of me and hid behind her. The guard was surprised to see her.
“Claudia, what are you doing up? You are supposed to be in bed.”
Claudia paused for a moment. “Um.. I just came down to get some water.”
“Alright, when you're done, make sure to sleep.”
Claudia nodded and the guard walked away. I sighed with relief. Afterwards, Claudia lead the way in case of another guard. We made it outside of the house, now just to make it through the fence. The most guarded area. Our plan was that I hide in the trunk of the car and wait for the driver to go to the holocaust when they notice I’m gone.
In the morning when they searched for me, the headmaster sent out a search party and told some of his soldiers to leave and get him another “slave.” When “we” arrived, I quickly got out from the trunk and ran towards the torture rooms. There I found my mom. She was being whipped and hit. It was the worst thing. I ran towards the guard as quietly as I could. I jumped on the guard and pushed him on the floor. On the way down, the guard hit his head on a rock and was knocked unconscious. I took the keys to the lock of the chains from the guard and freed my mom. After that I asked her where my dad was.
“ He.. did-didn’t make.. it.” In seconds I burst in tears. I stared at the guard. I took his gun, his ammo and his knife. I helped my mom stand up and dressed myself as a guard. Since she wasn’t badly hurt she could still walk. I tied her hands together not too tight and held the end of the rope.
At the end of the day, when everyone was sleeping, I woke up my mom. After that we went to get my brothers. When we got there, my brothers were glad to see me alive. When we reached the gate, the alarm went off. Guards suddenly running towards us, dogs barking. We ran as fast as we could. Seconds later you hear gunfire. I pulled out the gun I stole from the officer and fired. About ten minutes later I ran out of ammo. Next thing I hear is a grunt. I looked back and saw it was my mom. We stopped and went back.
“Go leave me here.” I stared at her not wanting to leave. “GO!”
As I began to move, I heard a gunshot I looked back and saw my mom bleeding out. I stared at her for a second, wanting to get to her aid. I then turned and left her sobbing while we resumed our running. We hid behind a trash dump.
“Psst. Psst.” We looked up and saw a Jew from the camp. He lead us another way. When we got there, he asked if he could come with us. I looked at Tom and Theo and we all agreed to let him in
When we got out, we ran through the forest. In a distance, you could hear dogs barking and yelling. While we were running we found a waterfall. I told Tom and Theo, “Quickly, get in the water.” We quickly went behind the falls to hide. Then they came searching for us. They then ran away and ran in a different direction.
We kept on walking through the forest. As we were walking, we found an abandoned house. The four of us found an abandoned house. We went inside to see if anyone was home. We all looked around the house. We found a lot of food, beds, clean water, but found no one.
“Over here,” yelled the Jew. We ran towards the voice and found a hidden door. I went and opened the door and went into the room. We found a candle from upstairs and lit it. The room lit up. While we were waving the candle around, we found a closet. Inside the closet was filled with clothes. Tom hid inside behind the clothes and pressed a tile. All of a sudden the wall behind the clothes slid open. My eyes widened, surprised with what I saw. There were weapons, gold, jewelry. So many things you wish you had in this period of time.
We closed the the secret door and went to the kitchen. There were meats, bread, sweets and so much more. We ate like we haven't before. While we were eating, we asked the new member his name. He said he goes by many names. Whatever, we just called him Lifesaver. He was an odd man, but we respected him. When the time would come, we would save his life.
The next day, we went hunting. We caught a deer and bear. Apparently, we were in the United States base. They took us in to make sure we weren’t Nazi spies.After making sure we weren’t spies, we joined the army to burn the Nazis to the ground. Soon, the four boys started their train.
To be continued…
“Alex, come downstairs.” I walked downstairs for breakfast. I saw my mom making her famous pancakes. Oh, how I loved mom’s pancakes. They had a sweet blueberry taste to them that was delicious and would taste even better with syrup. I scarfed down all of the pancakes she would give me. While we were eating, we heard a loud banging on the door. I got scared. The family that we were staying with told us to hide in the basement. The door came crashing down and we got in the basement right in time. The Nazis came rushing in yelling at the owner and asking where we were. The owner didn’t say anything and was taken and executed for treason for helping a Jew.
The next day we started to live in the forest. We would would get all our materials we needed such as clothes, weapons, etc. from friends inside the city. Every time we were spotted by the Germans, we would have to leave no witnesses and move to a different place. Or every time we would see someone we don’t know we would not kill them, but we would inject them with truth serum and we would let them go. We would do that in a different place and put on masks so they wouldn’t be able to identify us and give out our location. This was how we “rolled” as you would say. This was our daily routine. I went to sleep after a long day in the forest.
When I awoke, I saw Tom sitting by a tree. I went up to him asking what was wrong. When he looked at me he had a red nose and red eyes. He then asked me, “What if we get caught and sent to the camp Alex? What if some of us don’t make it until the end. I’m scared Alex, I want to live a normal peaceful life.” He then hugged me and I hugged him back. We went to the river to get some water. I thought about what Tom said. What if he was right? Would we all make it through as a family? I tried thinking of something else to get the topic off my mind. When we got back to our camping spot, everything was destroyed. About five seconds later I was hit on the back of my head and saw a blurred vision of a pair of boots and then, everything turned black.
When I awoke, I saw myself chained to a wall. I looked around noticing my arm. I found letters tattooed to my right arm. I looked at it not understanding. 895933, those were the numbers tattooed on my arm. A guard then came in unlocking the chain but still keeping the handcuffs locked. They then took me to this car to work for a general’s family. On my way there I saw my parents digging the coal. I tried to go there and save my entire family. I then saw Theo and Tom being whipped by a soldier. I hated this place. As before I swore that I would save my family and everyone in the camp.
When I got to the house, the gate was gigantic carriting to guards on the outside each with a big hideous dog showing me its teeth with saliva dripping from its mouth. The guards opened the gates and we drove near the beautiful mansion. I saw the general walking out the door and everyone saluted him except for me. The general took me in, and his family was all staring at me. His wife was giving me a disgusting glare as was his ten year old son. And for his four year old daughter, she looked at her father with a glare. I was confused, why would she stare at her father like that. After the whole scene the general took me to the kitchen and told me to start doing the dishes. While I was doing the dishes, the son came up to me and said, “If you think you are going to escape you won’t be able to. There are guards all over the house inside and outside. And if you try to, (chuckles) well you might as well be dead.” He then walked out of the room. I thought to myself, I don’t care if there are guards all over the house. I will escape and save my family no matter what.
Later when I was setting the table for dinner, the daughter came and said, “Are you the new servant they sent from the camp.” I was astonished that she knew what it was. She took me to her room and from the window view, you could see the camp. I told her that I was and she looked down to her feet. She told me it wasn’t fair what they were doing to the Jews. She kept on telling me that it wasn’t right. I asked her her name. “Claudia. What’s yours?”
“Alexander, but call me Alex.” She looked up at me and smiled.
I went back to the table and my master came in. He was very angry with me.
“Why is the table not set yet?” he yelled. I was quiet, he looked at one of the guards next to him and the guard nodded. The guard took me in the back and started to whip me. When I went back inside I finished the table with aches and scratches all over my body and blood dripping on the floor. Coming down the stairs, I could hear footsteps getting closer and closer. My heart racing, my blood pumping. I was hoping it wasn’t the master or the guard. Suddenly it stopped. I looked behind me and saw Claudia. I was relieved to see her face.
“ I’m going to help you escape, tonight.”
“How will you pull it off. Plus why help me, you'll get in trouble.”
She gave me a smile, like she didn’t care. I gave a sigh and nodded. She took me to her room. She drew me an outline of her house. We had a plan to escape, and we hoped it would work.
When everyone was sound asleep including me, Claudia came in and woke me.
“Alex wake up, it’s time.”
I moaned, I didn’t want to get up. I wanted to enjoy the few hours of sleep I get. However, I had to, to save my family. We silently walked across the hall. I saw a guard walking by. I held Claudia back giving her the idea to stop. When the coast was clear, we moved on. While we were walking we didn’t notice that a guard was coming. Just in the nick of time I pushed Claudia in front of me and hid behind her. The guard was surprised to see her.
“Claudia, what are you doing up? You are supposed to be in bed.”
Claudia paused for a moment. “Um.. I just came down to get some water.”
“Alright, when you're done, make sure to sleep.”
Claudia nodded and the guard walked away. I sighed with relief. Afterwards, Claudia lead the way in case of another guard. We made it outside of the house, now just to make it through the fence. The most guarded area. Our plan was that I hide in the trunk of the car and wait for the driver to go to the holocaust when they notice I’m gone.
In the morning when they searched for me, the headmaster sent out a search party and told some of his soldiers to leave and get him another “slave.” When “we” arrived, I quickly got out from the trunk and ran towards the torture rooms. There I found my mom. She was being whipped and hit. It was the worst thing. I ran towards the guard as quietly as I could. I jumped on the guard and pushed him on the floor. On the way down, the guard hit his head on a rock and was knocked unconscious. I took the keys to the lock of the chains from the guard and freed my mom. After that I asked her where my dad was.
“ He.. did-didn’t make.. it.” In seconds I burst in tears. I stared at the guard. I took his gun, his ammo and his knife. I helped my mom stand up and dressed myself as a guard. Since she wasn’t badly hurt she could still walk. I tied her hands together not too tight and held the end of the rope.
At the end of the day, when everyone was sleeping, I woke up my mom. After that we went to get my brothers. When we got there, my brothers were glad to see me alive. When we reached the gate, the alarm went off. Guards suddenly running towards us, dogs barking. We ran as fast as we could. Seconds later you hear gunfire. I pulled out the gun I stole from the officer and fired. About ten minutes later I ran out of ammo. Next thing I hear is a grunt. I looked back and saw it was my mom. We stopped and went back.
“Go leave me here.” I stared at her not wanting to leave. “GO!”
As I began to move, I heard a gunshot I looked back and saw my mom bleeding out. I stared at her for a second, wanting to get to her aid. I then turned and left her sobbing while we resumed our running. We hid behind a trash dump.
“Psst. Psst.” We looked up and saw a Jew from the camp. He lead us another way. When we got there, he asked if he could come with us. I looked at Tom and Theo and we all agreed to let him in
When we got out, we ran through the forest. In a distance, you could hear dogs barking and yelling. While we were running we found a waterfall. I told Tom and Theo, “Quickly, get in the water.” We quickly went behind the falls to hide. Then they came searching for us. They then ran away and ran in a different direction.
We kept on walking through the forest. As we were walking, we found an abandoned house. The four of us found an abandoned house. We went inside to see if anyone was home. We all looked around the house. We found a lot of food, beds, clean water, but found no one.
“Over here,” yelled the Jew. We ran towards the voice and found a hidden door. I went and opened the door and went into the room. We found a candle from upstairs and lit it. The room lit up. While we were waving the candle around, we found a closet. Inside the closet was filled with clothes. Tom hid inside behind the clothes and pressed a tile. All of a sudden the wall behind the clothes slid open. My eyes widened, surprised with what I saw. There were weapons, gold, jewelry. So many things you wish you had in this period of time.
We closed the the secret door and went to the kitchen. There were meats, bread, sweets and so much more. We ate like we haven't before. While we were eating, we asked the new member his name. He said he goes by many names. Whatever, we just called him Lifesaver. He was an odd man, but we respected him. When the time would come, we would save his life.
The next day, we went hunting. We caught a deer and bear. Apparently, we were in the United States base. They took us in to make sure we weren’t Nazi spies.After making sure we weren’t spies, we joined the army to burn the Nazis to the ground. Soon, the four boys started their train.
To be continued…