* * *
Globočnik came by the brickyard in the midafternoon with two adjutants. He nodded to Maximilian, who energetically pumped his hand. “Herr Brigadeführer, how good to see you. As you can see, we are working at full capacity.”
“It had better not be full capacity,” he snapped. “We are failing to meet the demand. We are transporting thousands of people”—he paused and looked at Eli—“I mean workers. Every day we transport workers to labor sites at camps in my Lublin District. In fact, we are far behind where we should be. We need more housing, more workshops and more”—pause again—“other kinds of buildings to be constructed at my camps.”
“But, your excellency, we are pushing our workers as hard as humanly possible and…”
Globočnik waved his hands. “Stop your prattling. There is an easy way to solve this problem. Buy lights.”
“Excuse me, sir?”
“Run the brickyard twenty-four seven.” He pointed at Eli. “There are two of you to manage this one, single business. If it operated around the clock, there would be no backlog of materials. Go out and buy lights. Fill those orders or, Maximilian, I will have other, less agreeable plans for you.” He smirked and waved his arm. “Light it up like daylight. No more excuses and no more discussion on this point.”
Globočnik turned and strutted out. Maximilian faced Eli and shrugged.
“This doesn’t change a thing,” Eli said. “I want to visit my wife, and you’re going to keep your promise to get us out of Central Europe.”
“I intend to keep that promise. I had no hand in this decision. I don’t want to be here any more than you do, but one does not disobey orders that come directly from the mouth of Brigadeführer Globočnik. In time, we’ll make that visit to Lublin. In time, I’ll get you out of Europe.”
Eli shook his head. “In time is too indefinite for me.”
“Just give me a few months. If the yard is operating around the clock, Globočnik’s camps will be fully supplied in a few months, and the pressure will ease. I promise: by April things will be different.”
CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE
LITZMANNSTADT (LODZ)
APRIL 1942
April arrived and little had changed. Eli sat on his bed with his stack of weekly letters, which he read and reread so many times he could recite them all by rote. They were his only connection to Esther, but their cumulative effect emphasized the separation and intensified his longing. He missed her and Izaak dearly. He desperately yearned to see her and hold her. To make matters worse, and despite Maximilian’s assurances, the tenor of Esther’s letters grew darker and conveyed an ever-increasing sense of danger.
Esther’s descriptions of life in Lublin detailed how conditions continued to deteriorate. In February, the Nazis imposed and enforced strict curfew regulations upon the remaining Jews in ghetto A. In March, she began to report graphic stories of cruelty and abuse.
She wrote that on the night of March 16, without warning or explanation, ghetto A was surrounded by Ukrainian guards from Trawniki. Families were forced out of their homes and into the street. Many were taken away without explanation. Those who resisted and those who could not travel because they were sick or disabled were shot. The Lublin ghettos were being systematically emptied. Sylvia told her that the Gestapo ordered Louis and the Judenrat to identify fifteen hundred people each and every day for “transport to the East.” “No one knows what that means, and no explanations are offered,” she wrote, “but we all harbor deep misgivings about the consequences.”
On March 20, Esther reported that the SS had changed her ID card to Juden-Ausweis, which meant that she was a worker and exempt from deportation. The other Lipowa girls had their ID cards changed as well. Though she had experienced no immediate threats, she was worried because Sylvia said that twenty-six thousand Lubliners without a Juden-Ausweis ID were snatched off the streets and deported. Sylvia did not know where they were sent, but a young boy said they were sent to Belzec. There was no doubt in Esther’s mind that the community was being dismantled. Very few shops were still open in the ghetto, and Jews were prohibited from going into Aryan neighborhoods.
On April 10, Eli received a letter that sent him into a frenzy. It was the last straw.
My dearest Eli.
It breaks my heart to write this letter. The president of the Judenrat, Henryk Bekker, was summoned to a meeting with the SS. Later that afternoon he notified all the members of the Judenrat that they were ordered to appear with their families at the train station. Bekker knew where they were going and that they would never return. He and his family dressed as though they were going to synagogue and carried no luggage. Louis and Sylvia were among the families and they are gone.
Earlier today, the Nazis commenced a massive roundup operation. I learned that two hundred children from the Jewish orphanage and their teachers were taken out by trucks. The Jewish hospital was cleared of all patients, all doctors and all nurses. They were taken by trucks as well, never to return. The person who told me this said they were driven to the Niemce Forest and they are all feared dead.
I have become so frightened, not for myself but for Izzie. Papa is still exempt and running the Lublin brickyard, and he is still able to deliver these letters to you, but he is not well, and I worry that in a crisis, he cannot protect Izzie. I decided that the moment we spoke about had arrived and I had to do something. I wish I could have consulted with you, but I believe I followed your instructions to the letter. I took him where you told me, and having met her, I am confident it was the right decision. It wasn’t easy for him or me, but I know he’ll be safe with her. I don’t know what the future will hold for any of us, but know that I love you with all my heart and that will never change. You will always be my sunny day. Essie.
Eli shook. Every nerve in his body screamed at him to break out of Lodz, make his way back to Lublin and rescue his family. Like his courageous wife, he had to make a decision. He rapidly filled out a false bill of lading and a requisition form for shipment of forty pallets of bricks. He was heading out to the truck yard when Maximilian stopped him.
“Where are you going, Eli?”
“Get out of my way, Maximilian.”
“You can’t leave Lodz. Globočnik will punish us both.”
“I have to leave. They’re clearing out Lublin. They’ve taken my brother, his family and the entire Judenrat and transported them to I don’t know where. They are killing children, sick patients, doctors, teachers. Did you know any of this?”
Maximilian’s response was sober. “I have heard rumors.”
“Are we supplying construction materials for their prisons from which no one returns?”
“It is likely so.”
“I have to go back. You can’t stop me.”
“Esther is safe.”
“How do you know?”
“She has a stamped Juden-Ausweis ID, and your father has a stamped Juden-Ausweis ID. I made sure of that. For the time being, they are exempt.”
“How long will the ‘time being’ last, Maximilian? It can expire on a Zörner whim. I need to protect my wife and child.”
“Due to my influence, your family is safe and unharmed. As distasteful as it may seem to you, I’m afraid that we are bound together. I need you; you need me.”