One Man’s Prejudice
By Alyssa Lang
Hudson Middle School
Words- 1,499

One Man’s Prejudice

On a dark, terrifying night, screams rang through air; smoke burned your nostrils, shouts, broken glass, beating, killing, and stealing all happened at once. In one night my life changed. My name is Elsi Abendroth. I’m thirteen years old, and live in Berlin, Germany, my birthplace. My life is great; I live with my two loving parents in a gigantic house. I have a big brother, Dominik and a little sister, Anna. We have four pets: Schatzi, Foxi, Flocki, and Floh. My life is great. I have great friends and play beautifully on the piano. Everybody in town loves me. Little did I know change was around the corner.

On January 30^th, 1933, a dark day in history, Adolf Hitler became chancellor of Germany. We thought that Hitler would be like any other chancellor. We didn’t know he would change our lives.

Our family was quite rich at the time. My father worked for the government and my mother owned a clothing shop with my uncle. I went to the public school and had a Christian friend, Christa, and my Jewish friend Zara. Our family had one car, which my dad used to go to work. I had a beautiful grand piano which I always played. Many nights for dinner Christa’s family would invite us over. That night when we were at Christa’s house my mother asked Christa’s mother, "How do you like our new chancellor?"

"I like him a lot," replied Christa’s mother. "I think he will help our country in its bad times." Christa’s family owned a small business under their house. They weren’t as rich as us, but they got by.

Weeks passed. Many strange things were happening. My life was slowly changing. Meandering through the streets, I would flinch when people who knew me and liked me threw me dirty looks and called me names. My brain whirling with confusion, could not figure out why this was happening. My parents would never listen to the radio when I was in the room like they used to. My father and mother didn’t even allow me to listen to the radio. Finally I couldn’t take it. "Momma what is happening?"

"Nothing you need to worry about Elsi, my dear," she said soothingly. By the look on my father’s face, I knew she was lying. I left it at that though. I would rather pretend that everything was normal and all was right.

"Elsi, why are Momma and Papa acting so weird?" my sister Anna inquired.

"I don’t know Anna. I don’t know."

That morning I went to school and I knew something was out of place. None of the teachers would let Jewish students answer questions. Zara and I were forced to sit at a table for Jews only. Christa ignored us. I was so mortified and embarrassed. Why would they treat us any differently than they had before? When the school finished, I sprinted home sobbing. Momma caught me in her arms as I bolted past.

"What happened, my dear?" she questioned. With tears streaming down my face I told her what happened in school.

"Why would anyone do this Momma?" I asked with tears streaming down my face.

"That is a question I would like to have answered too," she replied. It was an enigma. Why was this allowed to happen to Jews?

That night, as I sat in the ebony darkness, I put two and two together. Hitler, our new chancellor was causing this. He hated Jews so he made other people hate Jews. Why, I thought, why would any human do this? After many hours, I finally drifted to sleep.

The next morning was April 1^st, a Saturday, we didn’t know a horrible thing was about to happen. My uncle and my mother needed more money to pay the rent on the store. It was due that day. That was the day Hitler’s hatred really hit the Jews. My mother came home sobbing that day.

"What happened, Momma?" I asked.

"No people came to buy at the store today. We lost the store in a month if we don’t pay the rent," she said in an ice cold voice. Later she did lose the store. She looked like a child who had just lost her best toy. Broken. How could humanity do this?

One week passed and Hitler punched the Jews again. On April 8^th, 1933 Papa was told he would lose his job in a month. Hitler passed a law that said Jews weren’t allowed to work for the government. Momma sobbed hysterically when she heard this. Two months later my father got a new, smaller job, and we got a smaller, new house.

Years passed. The year 1935 was upon us. Nothing had gotten better and many things had gotten worse. My life was slowly deteriorating. Every day and every night I fervently hoped that this was all a horrible nightmare; I would wake up drenched in sweat and scared to death, but everything would be O.K. Everything would be normal: Momma would still have the store, Papa would have his government job, and Christa would be my friend. However hard I pinched myself, this horrible life wouldn’t disappear. It was a living nightmare.

On September 15^th, 1935 Hitler enacted the Nuremburg Laws. The law stated that Jews couldn’t marry non-Jews. Our family didn’t really care about that law, but on November 14^th, 1935 the Nuremburg Laws took a cruel turn. Jews were stripped of citizenship. We couldn’t vote and I couldn’t even go to public school.

Our new school, for Jews only, was a small, old, rotting building that smelled like mold. I hated it. Hitler had no right to do that to us.

Every day, every week, every month, and every year I started hating Hitler more and more. Jews were blamed for everything horrible or anything that went wrong. Everybody believed Hitler’s propaganda and lies. Everybody hated us. Even the government of Germany. I couldn’t believe this was happening because of one man’s prejudice towards Jews and many other people.

October 27^th, 1938 was a day that I shall remember forever. Eighteen thousand German Jews were forced over the Polish border. They were stripped of their possessions and money. They were whipped if they didn’t obey. Poland wouldn’t let them in, so they were forced to stay in horrible housing. Zara, my best friend, was one of those eighteen thousand. I cried for her. I knew I would never see her again.

On November 7^th, 1938 Herschel Grynzpan shot Ernst von Rath. Hitler told everyone that Jews were planning an attack. The government hated us. We knew that. The death of Ernst von Rath was just the excuse they needed. That night our lives would change.

The night of November 9^th, 1938 many horrible things happened at once. The government secretly ordered an attack on Jews. There was a mob led by Nazis that ravaged Jewish property all over Berlin. My mother ordered me to close all the curtains in the house. As I looked out the window I saw Christa’s parents in the mob. Aren’t these the same people we used to eat dinner with? I thought. I glanced through the window as people were beaten and killed. Then I saw policemen doing nothing. I observed as store windows were broken, and our car was broken beyond repair. Then they came towards our house.

Momma quickly told us to hide. Papa and Dominik didn’t. They said they weren’t afraid, but Anna and I were terrified. It seemed like everything exploded as the Nazis entered our house. They marched in and smashed anything in their sight. I closed my eyes until everything was quiet and still. Peeking out from under the bed, I wished I hadn’t. It was horrible. Momma lay beaten and bloody on the floor. Every window in our house was smashed, every valuable item was taken. Curtains shredded, vases shattered, everything ruined. Anna shrieked so loudly that any windows that weren’t broken would be. Wheeling around, I burst into tears. Our pets Floh, Flocki, Foxi, and Schatzi were dead, slaughtered like the rest of our home. Papa and Dominik were arrested and forced to concentration camps. Gone forever. The synagogue, our second home, was only ashes blowing away in the wind. Everything was deathly quiet, still, and sad. Dead bodies lay in the street. All that was left was glass from windows, glittering in the morning sun. We Jews knew this was ugly, horrible, cruel, bloody glass.

Two days later Momma bought two train tickets to Norway, away from danger, for Anna and me. She didn’t have enough money for a ticket for herself. As I stared out the train window, tears blurred my sight. I silently said goodbye to Momma forever. . I took one last glance at Berlin, my home, which was covered under ominous clouds. Then I prayed the end of this war against Jews wouldn’t be as dark as the beginning.

Works Cited

Altman Linda. The Holocaust, Hitler, and Nazi Germany. USA: Enslow Publishers, Inc., 1999

"Kristallnacht." The Holocaust Page. http://www.frank.mtsu.edu/~baustin/knacht.html