In Spite of the World

In Spite of the World

By: Olivia

“Hello?” Martha yelled as she slipped through the door. No one was home. Ever since Aunt Mary got a job as secretary for DS Smith, a new company that manufactures cartons, she had been getting home later.

Aunt Mary was the only relative Martha had so she was often left alone, where no one cared what she did. In those times, Martha would study extra hard or read books. She was very well educated and determined until the day she had received a telegram.

“Hello Martha.” the mailman had said. He and Martha were friends. “I have a telegram for you from Germany, it looks like it could be from your father.”Grinning at Martha’s excitement, he walked away.

Martha tore the letter open and read the few, cropped words:

“Hitler make trouble. Jews danger. I help Nadia.”

Not understanding, she read it again. A feeling of shock and confusion slowly went through her. She understood that telegrams had to be short because it was very expensive to send them a long distance but this was too vague. Who was Hitler? What did this have to do with Jews, and Nadia?

Nadia was her best friend. They met on Marha’s vacation in Germany. They had done everything together. Martha felt she had found the sister she had always wanted. After much discussion, they made plans to bring Nadia and her family to America. When things were looking up, Martha’s father received a telegram saying his wife was fatally ill and they had to leave immediately.

“I’ll see you soon.” Nadia had said.

Martha hadn’t seen her since. That was three years ago. It was also three years since Martha’s mom died. This was the first time she had heard any word of her and she didn’t understand it. Trying to put the thought out of her mind, Martha started her homework.It was very obvious she hadn’t the next day when she got every single problem wrong on her math.

“Your dad’s gonna bust your chops!” a boy teased. Martha had a reputation of getting everything right. She never regained her full motivation to learn.

Nadia

Nadia shivered in her thin jacket. The Natzis had just taken them as they were, so it was the only thing she had. It was a relief to get off the cramped, unsanitary train car at first, but the cold made her long for it. She was in some kind of camp, like there were rummer of. Another nervous shock tingled through her body.

The guards hurried her and the others toward a run down building. Inside, it was not much warmer. There were beds stacked everywhere inside chambers. It looked like five layer bed bunks with about seven people in each bed.

“Eile! Bewegen!” yelled the guards in German.

We were pushed into a chamber and the door shut. Everyone found their way to an empty bed and slept.

The next morning Nadia awoke to a loud blast. The Nazis stormed them out of the room, pushing them towards other groups of people. They were all lined up. We were expected to do the same.

It seemed a lifetime, just standing there in the cold. The guards were whispering things like”bose juden.” Nadia thought it was an insult. Once the guards were done with the inspection, we were lead to a large area.

“Legte felsen im fass und rollen es.” a guard said, pointing his finger.

Nadia had no idea what he said but a friendly lady told her to pick up the rocks and put them in the wheelbarrow. The prisoners shuffled to the area and started to pick up rocks. When Nadia tried, though, her starved body could only pick up the smallest rocks. She knew if she was caught there would be some consequence so she stood as far off as she could.

When the day was over they got a bowl of broth with a couple old vegetables in it. Nadia scarfed it down before it could be taken away. She started for her bed when the guards shouted something. They were doing another lineup. As she stood there, she found herself thinking of her dreams of America, and Martha.

Martha

Joan and her flock of friends sauntered into the room showing off their new, stylish dresses. Martha had once watched them with envy, before the telegram came. That was a month ago so everyone was used to Martha’s melancholy behavior.

“Alright class, lets begin with history.” the teacher instructed,”Who can tell me some very important things going on in the world right now?”

Martha shrunk back in her seat at the thought. Joan raised her hand,”I know, World War 2”

The rest of the was blocked off. It was like Martha was locked away in her mind, just thinking of the telegram. By now she knew who Hitler was and that he hated Jews. She guessed that her father was helping Nadia and her family get away from Germany, but since three years had gone by she wasn’t sure. Had something gone wrong? She could only sit and hope.

“Dinnnnnng!”The bell rang

School was over. Martha hadn’t heard a word. She picked up her books and trudged out of the room. She was in such a daze that she went in the wrong direction after school. After awhile she realized her mistake, turned around, and walked home. No one was there, again.

Martha had no idea if she had any homework so just put her books aside and sat down. Her ideas of Nadia coming to America safely, living with her, and doing everything together were crushed. She knew something had gone wrong.

Nadia

Nadia had been at the camp for a week. She was thin, tired, and always cold. The meager meal she received once a day was not enough. She could hardly lift anything now and had drawn the attention of the guards. Nadia had seen others being beaten for not working hard enough. Some even died because they were so weak.

They died. People were dying. Nadia had no idea why. They were just suddenly taken from their homes and forced into a labor camp. Now they were dying. This horrifically real thought sunk all her hopes.

Martha

Martha was feeling a little better today. She did her homework to the best of her ability but made a number of humiliating errors.

Martha still couldn’t wrap her mind around the thought of never seeing the person she had intended to spent the rest of her life with again, yet couldn’t stop thinking about it. She had a frequent headache so she kept on doing things like forgetting her lunch or not washing her clothes.

It wasn’t until after school that week that something occurred to her. Martha was reading a book about a girl whose mother was dying. When the girl said,” I’ll miss you.” Her mother replied,” Don’t worry, we’ll be together again in a couple years.”

It hit her. She may not be with Nadia now or in fifty years, but she would spend all eternity with her.