He convinced himself that it must be a matter of religion. He started running to the synagogue, hoping somebody there could answer some of his questions. On the way to the synagogue, he saw some of his classmates; they were looking at him as if he had committed a big sin. Actually, everybody was avoiding him as if he was dangerous. They would go around him instead of just passing him normally with a look of disgust painted on their face. He didn’t understand it. Yesterday everything was normal, but today suddenly everything had changed. He had become a complete stranger in his very own village.
When he arrived at the synagogue, he saw a horrific sight, it was burning, the synagogue was in flames and people inside were crying for help. Outside the synagogue, a big crowd had gathered around and they were all laughing at the people trapped inside. Why didn’t they do anything? What was going on? He asked himself. How could anyone just stand there and laugh at people dying and screaming for help. The whole situation appeared to him as very surreal. A place of catastrophe had become public attraction.
He pushed himself through the crowd of people. He saw his uncle inside the synagogue. He was shouting “Save me Ruben, save me” he could feel the pain in his voice. He could not keep his tears back. Ruben knew he didn’t have much time on his hand. He needed to act quickly. He decided to go inside and try to save his uncles life. A wise old man with wrinkles across his forehead grabbed him and pulled him to a side to safety from the all-indulging flames. “If you go in there you will die as well”, he shouted angrily. Ruben didn’t care. He was extremely confused. He wanted to save his dear uncle. Just as he was going in, he saw his uncle falling down breathing his last breath. He fell down on his knee and started crying. He sat there for hours crying. He was really close to his uncle and as he saw him dying, he felt someone had removed the ground under him. He felt very lonely. He couldn’t see anyone or hear any noises, only his uncle’s last screams for help were echoing in his ear.
Hours later, he was still sitting there in front of the synagogue crying. The sky was now a dark mud colour, now that the sun had set. Then it struck him that his parents were probably looking for him. He got up and started running home. Maybe his parents had left him and gone themselves he thought. That made him panic. Just now, he felt that he couldn’t trust anyone. He was surprised to see himself being able of running as fast as he actually was. The streets were empty and there was no light at all.
He saw some people running towards him. Whoever it was, they scared him. He stopped and changed the direction. Then he heard a shout in a familiar voice” Ruben is that you?”. He felt very relieved. It was his mother and father. He turned and ran towards his parents. When he came to them, he gave both of them a big hug. His mother started scolding him for going with out telling her especially at such a dangerous time. His father even slapped him, but he didn’t care, he was so happy to see them.
All three of them started walking. From his parent’s conversation, Ruben understood that they were fleeing the country. They were now refugees seeking shelter from the Germans. He heard the name Hitler. ´´Hitler, who is he? ´´ Ruben asked. “You are too young to understand son” his father replied. That made him angry. Everytime he asked about something the parents always replied in the same manner, “You are too young to understand son”.
They walked up and down big mountains all night. All three of them were totally exhausted “Dad can’t we stop and rest for a little while`` said Ruben. “Just three miles away there is a place where we can rest” his father replied. “Still 3 miles, I will die before we get there,” said Ruben. Don’t worry son you will make it”, said his mother in a comforting tone.
At last, they were there. At the camp. It consisted of few tents. No facilities. His parents went straight to sleep. Ruben helped himself to some food. After he had eaten, he tried to sleep, but he couldn’t. His uncle’s cries were still haunting him and he was thinking about Hitler. Who was this man causing misery to his family?
In the background, he heard some noises. It was Germans, he could tell by the language. “Wie mussen disse juden finden” (we must find the Jews) he heard someone say. He was terrified. He looked out from the tent. He could see a whole army approaching them. “Dad, Dad wake up” he whispered, but his dad was sleeping tightly. He tried to move him but still his dad didn’t wake up. Then he kicked him as hard as he could. At last, he woke up. “Dad, Dad the Germans” are coming he said. His father got up and woke everybody up. “We have to run away before they come” he said wearing a worried face. All the people inside the tents got up and started sneaking away.
Ruben could see the Germans in the horizon as they were walking away. Suddenly he saw that the Germans started running. They had spotted them. “Dad, Dad the Germans have seen us”. Everybody panicked and started running. Ruben couldn’t keep up, he was losing more and more hope. He tried to run faster but he just couldn’t. The Germans had nearly caught up with him. They were just a few meters away. Ruben fell over a stone, and as he was lying there, a German soldier came and picked him up. Would he survive he thought. The man took him to the car and placed him in the back. Where was he going?
There were no windows in the car so he couldn’t see where his destination was. After a couple of hours the car stopped. A German soldier opened the door so he could get out. Just as he got out of the car, he saw a board saying “Arbeit macht frei” (work make you free) - Austwitz. Ruben thought he had come to a factory to work. Some big chambers were placed next to each other with a little gap between them. A soldier came and took him to one of these chambers. As he walked with the soldier, he saw his parents. He started running towards them but the soldier stopped him. Ruben was screaming loudly ´´I want to go to my parents´´, but the soldier didn’t listen. He was crying out loud, but it had no effect on the soldier. The soldier was like a robot. He didn’t show any feelings. He saw that his parents were taken into the other chamber. Just as his parents disappeared, he saw a thin man with a curled moustache coming. All the soldiers bowed to him and said “Heil Hitler”. Now Ruben knew who Hitler was. Hitler was the one that was responsible for all this that had happened to him and all the other Jews.
It now struck him that this was the end, he was going to die. On one hand he was relieved that his misery was coming to an end. But on the other hand he was asking himself, what had he done wrong. Just because the Germans had problems, they needed a scapegoat and that scapegoat happened to be the Jews. It`s not fair he said. Then he remembered his mother saying “the world is not fair, the world is unfair but you have to live with it if you can’t you wont survive” as he was breathing his last breath.
