Please Live!

“Our generation is realistic, for we have come to know man as he really is. After all, man is that being who invented the gas chambers of Auschwitz; however, he is also that being who entered those gas chambers upright, with the Lord's Prayer or the Shema Yisrael on his lips.”
- Viktor E. Frankl, an Austrian psychiatrist, a Holocaust survivor

And tiny brooks will purl in spring
And cranes will blow their greeting.
I’m sure, someone’s little ship
Will reach the Island of Salvation!
- Alexander Galich, “Qaddish”

Nadya looked at a man in white doctor’s smock with horror. Her turn will be very, very soon!

…Schneller! Schneller! … Russische Schwein! Schneller! (1)
Guards’ outcries sounded like dogs’ barking. Dogs… there were a lot of dogs here, too. They tried to get off their leashes barking loudly and spluttering.

Eins! A long needle enters your heart. Zwei! The medicine has been injected. Drei! The injection site is treated with brilliant green. And then you may have your evening skilly. If you have a green mark on your chest, you may take you meagre supper. No mark – no skilly: take you turn for the prick. Eins, zwei, drei! (2) 

A group of exhausted prisoners of the concentration camp Ravensbr;ck stood before a doctor. There were mainly Russian and Ukrainian girls here. Each of them received an injection right to the heart. None survived the night. Eins, zwei, drei!

The line of girls is slowly moving forward. The drug might have run out! Please, Lord! I wish the drug run short! O Lord! You’re Almighty! You CAN do everything! But women in SS uniform under white smocks were bringing and bringing new vials.  Eins, zwei, drei!

When Nazi invaded the Ukraine, Nadya’s fellow-villagers greeted them as liberators, with flowers. But very soon they understood what the “new order” was associated with. Initially small groups and later great crowds of girls and boys were displaced to Germany. Only hard labour was intended for Untermenschen. (3)
Nadya took service with a haughty Frau. (4) Starvation. Beating. Hard labour from early in the morning till late at night.  Schneller! No day-offs! Schneller! No breaks. Hatred. Abasement. Breakout… failed. Ravensbr;ck. A factory for extermination.  Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'entrate ... (5). Arbeit macht frei! (6) Wrong! Work will not set you free. This work will kill you!

My turn is very soon. Oh, I’m so starving! O Lord! A sip of skilly and I’ll be able to survive the night! I’m only seventeen! S-e-v-e-n-t-e-e-n! O Lord! I want to live! Only a sip… Eins, zwei, drei!

My sweet Ukraine, where are you? My Carpathians, where are you? Mom, where are you?

What’s this in my hand? Somebody put a pebble into my hand! A rough one. A soft one. A very strange pebble!  What for? It’s bread!!!

A German girl in stripped prisoner’s coat with a purple triangle quickly took Nadya round the corner and brought her to a barrack. Several girls were hiding there. “Brot, Brot (7)” – she whispered. “Yum-yum”.
I will stay alive. I’ll eat this bread. I’ll be strong! I’ll go to my Mom! I WILL live!

***
Nadya had to wait for liberation for three long years more. Then she’ll return home. Sweet Ukraine.. and a label of “vrag naroda” (8). Siberia. Marriage. Children. Grandchildren…

“Grandma” Nadya deceased two years ago. And when I think about her, I always think of a scared seventeen old girl with a lump of bread in her hand. And I feel as if there’s a lump in my throat. And tears are in my eyes. And I want to get back to 1942 and tell her not to be afraid…
Time flies… My turn is very soon. Eins, zwei, drei!
 

(1) Hurry! Hurry! Russian swine! Hurry! (Ger.)
(2) One, two, three (Ger.)
(3) Under man, sub-man, sub-human (Ger.)
(4) Lady(Ger.)
(5) Abandon all hope — Ye Who Enter Here (Ital.)
(6) Work sets you free (Ger.)
(7) Bread, bread (Ger.)
(8) Enemy of the people (Rus.)


This text is a translation of my short story - http://proza.ru/2010/05/27/66
Этот текст - перевод моего рассказа - http://proza.ru/2010/05/27/66