Chapter 5: Herschel and Heinrich

Herschel studied the Torah by himself since his Hebrew School teacher left Berlin for the Netherlands. Jews were next suddenly expelled from public schools, so the children learned at home. The publisher of the Yiddish newspaper left for France, so they had to read Hitler’s controlled newspapers or listen to the radio. Radio signals from foreign governments were jammed in Berlin and large cities to isolate them from the world. The British put out Empire Broadcasts since 1932 for people around the world and a special broadcast for Europe. People away from jammers in the rural areas could listen to them more easily. The British even dropped leaflets explaining to people to construct a loop aerial to hear their BBC broadcasts through the jamming. But the people had to learn English to understand the BBC broadcasts. Once the Sudetenland Crisis engulfed the news radio, the BBC Europe broadcasts began speaking in German. Half the Jews left Berlin by 1938. The rest of the Jews could not leave due to a lack of funds, long waitlists at consulates, or clung to the hope that life would get better in time. Nothing good or bad lasts forever. Other countries were not much better in how they treated the Jews. Hitler even bragged how he treated the Jews better than the Americans treated their nonwhite people, with their violent history with the Native Americans, segregation laws for African-Americans, and lynchings that went unpunished. Hitler said in his book Mein Kampf that America was creating the kind of racist society the Nazi Regime should model for Europe. Nazi parties were formed in America, the land of the free, and in Great Britian who have a King. Switzerland and Sweden agreed with Germany this year to place a red “J” on Jewish passports so they could reject them more easily.

Many believed if they were good Jews, obeyed God, and obeyed the Nazi laws, then nothing bad would happen to them. The people working in the Jewish Hospital would never leave the poor Jews without care. They heard over the radio that Germany absorbed Austria, called the Anschluss, and the Austrians cheered the Nazi soldiers entering their country by tossing flowers in their path. Not everyone approved, though. The famous Von Trapp Family Singers, who refused to sing for Heil Hitler’s birthday and join the German Navy, decided to leave Austria. Other countries disapproved, like Great Britain and France. But they did nothing, calling it appeasement because, after the Great War, they had no desire for another war. The only leader in the world who publicly criticized Hitler was the Pope in Rome, who separated the Vatican from Italian control, calling it Vatican City with their own government system in 1929. No other president or prime minister said anything negative about Hitler. President Roosevelt released an official protest of the absorption of Austria, but then wrote a letter of welcome for the 1939 Nazi Rally in New York City. Charlie Chaplin, who made “The Great Dictator” criticizing Hitler in 1940, was called a communist and unpatriotic Jew while America was still neutral in the war (though technically he was a British citizen who was at war with Germany and dodging bombs of the London Blitz in late 1940 when the movie premiered in cinemas). Hollywood studio executives with close ties to the Nazis disapproved of the film since they distributed their films heavily in Great Britain and Germany, so insulting those customers was bad for business.

The Nazis' Public Health Department began registering all the Gypsies/Roma. Switzerland agreed that all Austrian Jews, in addition to German Jews, would have a large red “J” on their passports to reject them more easily. This agreement was made to avoid offending Germany, which was a great trading partner to Switzerland. They did, however, like Sweden, allow a quota of Jews to enter the country, then rejected Jews at the border when the quota was filled. Soon after, Jews were required to compile and submit details of all private property valued in excess of five thousand Reichsmarks by the end of June. A conductor named Victor Klemperer, who survived the Nazi Regime due to his Aryan wife, was quoted as saying, “We have become so used to living in this condition of lost rights…that it hardly disturbs us anymore”. August 1938, a new law demanded that every German Jew bear a first name on a published list of Jewish names. They also had to add Sarah or Israel as their middle name on official documents to identify them as Jews.

Naturally, Hitler next sought to take over the German-speaking Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia that had their own Pro-Nazi Sudeten German Party. Tensions flared, and a meeting took place with Hitler, Neville Chamberlain (Great Britain), Édouard Daladier (France), and Benito Mussolini (Italy). Nobody from Czechoslovakia was invited. The Munich Agreement was signed at the end of September. Germany was allowed to annex the Sudetenland to appease Hitler. Neville Chamberlain returned to London with a victory parade in his honor, declaring he had “secured peace for our time”. Soon after, the Nazi soldiers marched in; they were greeted enthusiastically, much like the Austrians did. The Czechoslovakian state, however, led by President Edvard Beneš, resisted the loss of territory that included areas holding much of his country’s coal and iron resources. The President sought sovereignty of his country. More Jews were placed under Nazi laws. Many tried to flee, but Austrian and Czech Jews found it harder to leave, with quotas on visas, waitlists for interviews, and countries beginning to reject Jewish refugees as the number of people trying to escape the Nazis drastically increased.

The Pfeiffer family struggled with declining sales at the bakery, and wholesalers were reluctant to sell them supplies or be shamed in public by wearing a placard on their chest with their crime to be taunted while forced to walk down barefoot in the street. Now they had lost their citizenship rights to vote and had to register their movable property. He owned the building, so they at least had a home to stay in. He considered selling their delivery truck and automobile, but they needed them to make deliveries for the remaining Jews and travel around Berlin. A matchmaker found an excellent match for Talia, aged sixteen, to be married when she finishes high school in two years. The young man was working at the Jewish Hospital as a nurse aide to hopefully go to medical school when his family migrates to England next year. They just received approval for visas for next year’s quota and are preparing to leave in January. Hopefully, Talia will be approved for a visa in the next two years and could join them to get married. Avram, aged fourteen, was preparing for his bar mitzvah at the synagogue. The family pulled in all their resources to host a party for Avram in the Yiddish Theater. Sarah sold a ruby broach for extra cash. The evening before the bar mitzvah, many people in Berlin were walking home from the cinema and cabarets. The family went to bed after the radio broadcast of a concert of Beethoven’s music. Binyamin waited up for his son Avram to return home with the rabbi, who promised to walk him home after they looked over the decorations at the Yiddish Theater after their rehearsal at the synagogue. Then, just before midnight on November 9th, 1938, and through the early morning of November 10th, an explosion of violence broke out over the Jewish sections of Berlin and all over the country and Nazi-controlled areas. Synagogues were set aflame, Jewish businesses had windows smashed, shops vandalized; and Jewish men in the street were attacked and arrested to be sent to concentration camps. Binyamin looked out the window, hearing a ruckus to view a huge crowd down in the street. He stepped away from the windows to wonder what was going on. He turned on the radio to check if a news report would say what happened that would explain the crowd outside. The family woke up to a crowd in the street hurling bricks and rocks into the windows. The family rushed out of bed and hid in the closets. Tons of thumping and glass breaking were heard downstairs. As swiftly as they came, the crowd moved on to the next business. When silence cut through the air like a knife, they came out of their closets. They prayed Avram was safe with the rabbi to hide from the crowd. Grandfather Asher went downstairs to observe the damage to his bakery he spent half his life building. The children had never viewed the proud and pious grandfather weep before that night.

“We are leaving Germany. I will start making inquiries about immigrating anywhere in the morning. We have nothing to stay here for, Papa. You must see that.” asserted Anshel.

“Son, HaShem protected us this night. He is watching over us. We must have faith. We will get through this, you will see. Listen to HaShem. He speaks in mysterious ways.” replied Asher.

“Listen to Papa. Trying to flee and get sent back at the border will make us lose everything for nothing. Friends have been waiting two years for a visa interview to be rejected by a clerk who hates Jews. We do not have the funds for everyone to leave together. We are strongest when we are together.” Binyamin reacted.

“I hear HaShem, Papa. He says to run as fast as I can. Run before it gets worse. How is any of this hating Jews going to get better? Where is Avram? You need to stop clinging to the past.” Anshel asserted.

“How could all this get any worse? I just lost my life’s work. How am I going to repair all this and reopen the bakery again for the Jews still here? We must be strong for them and give them hope that things will get better in time. Trust in HaShem. He saved us tonight. I am going back to bed.” finished Asher.

Little did they know the worst was yet to come. The family returned to their rooms and slept in the closets, wrapped in blankets, because the rooms had become so cold with the broken windows. The next morning, Binyamin reported that Avram never came home and, at dawn, went out to look for him. He found Avram and the rabbi dead down the street. He quickly tore a piece of his coat in mourning. Avram was almost home when he was beaten to death. The crowd broke the windows and slashed the tires of their delivery truck and car. They heard that many Jewish men were arrested and taken by the crowd in trucks. Many people walking home from the cinema and cabarets were beaten to death or arrested. Many Jews were thrown out of their home windows along with their pets. So much for Nazis being animal protectors. Instead of celebrating Avram’s bar mitzvah, they planned his funeral in their living room. Talia found out her betrothed was killed in the street. Instead of gathering linens and dishes for a hope chest, she attended his funeral in his parents’ house. Synagogues and the Yiddish Theater, along with the bar mitzvah decorations they scraped and saved to buy, were set on fire and burned to the ground. The worst part was that nobody in Germany objected to the violence that had just taken place. People afraid of the Gestapo remained silent. Anshel made inquiries among his friends at the theater. A friend introduced a person who could make fake passports and fake visas. He heard the Catholic church was allowing Jews to store their valuables in barrels they would store in their wine cellars and underground burial vaults. They would hold it until they received word on where to send it. November 12, 1938, a new regulation eliminated Jews from economic life. Remaining Jewish businesses were transferred to Aryan owners, and proceeds were taken by the state. Jewelry, stocks, and real property of Jews were also required to be sold. Asher was heartbroken to move out of his bakery and apartment that was bought by an Aryan at below-market value from the state. His father helped him establish the bakery, and it felt like losing his father again. They moved their belongings into an apartment with one bedroom owned by an Aryan. He drove their repaired car around looking for work to be rejected because he was Jewish.

Sister Bertha, the nun whom Anshel spoke to when he stored their jewels, religious valuables like a menorah, and silver tea set, said they could visit Catholic monasteries, nunneries, or churches that offer shelter and food to travelers. Never be shy to ask them for help that is free and given to everyone who comes to their door. The Pope gave orders to aid anyone in need, no matter who they were, despite Nazi pressure to refuse help to Jews and Gypsies/Roma. Sister Bertha even gave them a Bible and crucifixes to wear to pretend to be Christians at the border. She had written out Christian questions and answers that Gestapo border patrol might ask. He was told that many people go to Switzerland, and then applying to emigrate to another country from there would be easier. They could apply for temporary residency in Switzerland. She said to tell them they are Catholic and Catholics are being persecuted with church burnings and clergy being murdered. She showed him how to make the sign of the cross. Anshel collected the medical clearances, birth certificates, police certificate, tax documents, passports, and visas to Switzerland in Catholic names, and even some money from Sister Bertha, who met them outside the church near a cemetery with their bags packed and ready to leave. Herschel thought it odd to see a nun without her habit in case she was caught. They really do cut their hair short. She blessed them on their journey and gave train tickets to the Harz Mountains town of Ilsenburg, where a Catholic monastery outside of town would let them sleep in the daytime. For safety, it was best to travel at night. If they missed it and ended up in Drubeck, the Catholic Church could guide them to the monastery between the towns.

Binyamin and Asher begged them to stay together and not go. They feared they would get caught at the border with fake papers and get rejected, then arrested and sent to a concentration camp where released people claim they were tortured. They lost Avram; it would be unbearable if they were to lose them too. This illegal immigration would bring trouble upon them. Anshel was adamant about leaving. They walked to the train station from the cemetery. They studied the papers to learn their new names and go over the questions Sister Bertha gave them. They arrived in Ilsenburg after midnight and got off the train. Anshel asked for directions to the monastery. They started walking to the monastery, in the moonlight, following the road. They said it was a mile east of Ilsenburg. They walked too far and ended up in Drubeck two miles away. They found the Catholic Church was burned down and thought it best to leave town before sunrise. They found a barn outside of town to rest before trying to find the Ilsenburg-Drubeck Monastery that should be nearby. It was early in the morning when a boy came into the barn to milk the cow for breakfast. The boy had never met a Jew before, not until he found one in his barn. He gave food to the goats, sheep, horses, and cows that seemed agitated to observe anything amiss that would cause them stress, like a rat or fox. While milking the cow, he noticed a pair of blue eyes gazing through the boards of a stall door. That stall was empty because newly purchased goats that were planned to be placed in that stall would arrive tomorrow. He took the milk pail and poured it into the separator to fill jugs of milk and cream for breakfast coffee to take back to the house.

“Mama, I think someone is hiding in our barn. I was milking Helga when I noticed a pair of blue eyes watching me from the empty stall door. You think they might be Jews or Gypsies? What should we do?” Heinrich inquired.

Gertrude retrieved more eggs to soft-boil, cheese, muesli, and bread with butter to finish cooking breakfast. The young men helpers they once hosted left to join the military, and no replacements arrived since the military marched into Austria. Gertrude flipped over the photo of Hitler in the living room and prepared a tray of food for the person in the barn. Heinrich carried a coffee mug.

“Guten Morgen, whoever you are. We come with breakfast if you are hungry. You are safe here.” Gertrude greeted the stall door, glimpsing movement between the boards.

It slowly opened, and Herschel came out in front to greet the Aryans, followed by his parents carrying Raziel behind him, while Chavalah and Fievel stayed in the stall behind their parents.

“Danke, Frau,” Anshel spoke. “We mean no trouble at all. We lost our way looking for the monastery. The Catholic church in town was burned down, so we were afraid to ask anyone else for directions in the dark, and we needed to rest. I promise, we will leave quickly so you do not get into trouble for helping us.”

“You have not broken any law by needing rest in your journey, and we will not be in trouble giving shelter to travelers. You will be safe here if you need rest. If you need to travel at night, you may sleep here in the daytime. The hayloft is more comfortable. The monastery is up the road to the north. It is not a far walk.” Gertrude declared.

“Danke, Adonai bless you.” Anshel said.

“Your coat is torn; you may have my husband’s coat. He is stationed in Düsseldorf. I can make him another one when he returns on leave.” Gertrude observed.

“Ja, my coat is torn because my nephew died during the Night of Broken Glass. It is tradition for us.” Anshel explained.

“You are Jewish. I had a friend who was Jewish too. She was from Denmark. She was the seamstress of my acting troupe’s costumes and my assistant before I married my husband. I hope she is well and safe wherever she is.” Gertrude explained.

“Blessed Adonai in heaven, the many places we could have stopped, and we selected a barn of someone who had a Jewish friend. Adonai is good to us. We had help from the nuns in Berlin to get here. They gave us a Bible, Nazi pins for our coats, and crucifixes to pretend to be Catholic to get through the Border Patrol in Switzerland. I even shaved my beard with a razor against Jewish law to appear Christian. They even gave questions and answers to convince the Gestapo we were Christian so they would let us through instead of arresting us for being Jewish. Their pope instructed them to help people whenever they could. Adonai bless you all.” Anshel said.

“You eat your breakfast, and I will go get my husband’s coat.” Gertrude said.

They returned to the house and fetched Friedrich’s coat. Heinrich grabbed a photo of him in his Hitler Youth uniform. He wrote a note to Aunt Heidi on the back. They walked back to the barn to present the coat and photo.

“My aunt Heidi is in Switzerland at the Hotel Blume in Goldach next to Lake Constance. She works in the hotel laundry. Papa sent her there with false papers like yours when the order came for her to be sterilized for being deaf. I miss her. Will you look for her and give her this photo for me? She is under the name Helga Schneider. This photo might get you through the Gestapo Border Patrol if they question if you are really Catholic.” requested Heinrich.

“We will look for her if we make it through the Border Patrols. Adonai bless you.” Anshel replied.

“The Catholics have more things to remember, so maybe it is best to say you are Lutheran after Martin Luther with only two sacraments instead of seven. Remember to listen to your fear; it will guide and protect you. And memorize the Lord’s Prayer to convince people you are a Christian. God be with you.” said Gertrude.

The family came out and slept in the hayloft after finishing the breakfast tray. Heinrich went to school with his cousins and Greta. He gladly announced to his friends the letter they received from his papa, saying he is getting leave to join the family for Christmas. He is learning to drive a tank using periscopes like a submarine and fire the tank guns. His uncle Private Johannes wrote that he will receive leave next March. Heinrich returned home to practice the piano. At dusk, around five o’clock, he spotted the Jewish family leave the barn and head for the monastery. Anshel followed the road north as Gertrude instructed and found the monastery while they were sitting down for their supper. He knocked on the door and requested shelter for his family. He explained they were traveling to Switzerland and needed shelter after getting lost trying to find the monastery. The monks offered a portion of their meager supper to them, including bread and cheese with wine. Then came a vegetable stew with potatoes, peas, carrots, mushrooms, and onions. The family ate heartily. A monk practiced with them being interviewed by the Gestapo and Swiss Border Patrols. They remembered their Catholic names; Pope Pius XI lives in Vatican City inside Rome, and questions about Jesus. They practiced the Lord’s Prayer. The actor Anshel was the best at memorizing lines. He managed to recite the Hail Mary prayer. A monk took them back to the Ilsenburg train station with money to buy tickets to the next stop, Munich. They could find a Catholic church that would take them to the monastery outside town on their delivery truck. The next stop was Goldach, Switzerland, to find Hotel Blume and Heidi Harz. Heinrich felt guilty helping the Jews when the Nazi youth groups spoke against even speaking to one and turning them in. They even said to turn in your parents if they disobeyed the law. One Saturday, while his mother shopped at the general store, Heinrich walked to church to pray for his family and travelers to make it to Switzerland. The pastor was there sweeping the floor.

“Reverend Schultz, I am confused.” Heinrich began.

“What troubles you, Heinrich?” Reverend Schultz replied.

“My mama and I helped Jews hiding in our barn. Mama said helping them was not breaking the law, but also not to tell anyone because we could be questioned by the Gestapo as race traitors for speaking to them. We saw what they did to the Catholic church when the priest preached against the Führer. We saw what they did to the miners’ families when they lied to them, saying they would take them to their husbands working on the highway, and then shoot them all for sleeping in mines to turn them into forced labor factories. I feel guilty helping them now, but it felt good helping them. I am confused.” Heinrich explained.

“To a good Christian, hate is difficult to understand when Jesus said to love your neighbor as yourself. He said to love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. But the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are not the only spirits who exist. The devil is full of hate and anger. We listen to the temptations of the devil, and people get hurt. The Nazi government is full of hate for anyone who is not just like them. Hate gives them power to hurt people without a guilty conscience. Jesus said, "If you are not for me, then you are against me”. That is also what Hitler says. Anyone who does not praise Hitler is the enemy. Is it better to be feared or loved? Only you can answer that for yourself. So, do you follow God and help the Jews, or do you follow Hitler and report them to the Gestapo? God gave us free will to make that choice ourselves. He does not make that decision for us. You could say God is giving us a powerful lesson during these times of Jewish persecution: This is what happens when humans hate each other. We get pain and suffering when we hate each other. We get war and destruction when we hate each other. That is where hate leads. Come with me, Heinrich.” Pastor Schultz explained.

Heinrich followed the pastor to the basement where the wine is stored. He removed the cover to the crawl space under the sanctuary floor. Heinrich viewed several people hiding in the dark, cold, dirty crawl space.

“Alright, Heinrich, tell these people they deserve to be thrown in concentration camps, then tortured and shot for being Jewish. Say it to their faces. Go on and turn me into the Gestapo for sheltering these people that they call vermin.” Pastor Schultz demanded.

“Oh, Pastor Schultz,” cried Heinrich. “I will not tell. I would have to turn in Papa for making false papers for Aunt Heidi when he sent her to Switzerland and Mama for helping those Jews. Thank you, I no longer feel guilty.”

“That is the Holy Spirit speaking to you,” explained Reverend Schultz. “You let the Holy Spirit into your heart, and you know what God wants you to do. May God bless you, son. Peace unto you.”

Gertrude came to the church to collect her son, praying for his family. Pastor Schultz asked her about the Jews they helped and whether she was willing to help write up false papers for Jews and others fleeing the country. They could hide the paperwork in food baskets when they donated food for the poor and sick. Gertrude agreed. Heinrich and Gertrude received a stack of forms for people to migrate to Switzerland or France. They made up German names and consulate clerk notes. Gertrude dropped them off when she donated food to the church. Heinrich became a great actor to protect his family. Playing with the Klein children, he never mentioned the few friends he met in the dark, giving food to the prisoners of the mine factory. They sneaked out after dark and slipped the food wrapped in newspapers in a corner of the camp’s barbed wire where the searchlights cast shadows behind the building. Prisoners worked late into the night and picked up the food on the way back to the barracks. His friend once smuggled them a shortwave radio. Gertrude warned him it was dangerous and he could be shot by the guards.

“Papa said soldiers help each other and do anything they must to survive. You can be arrested and shot yourself for making false papers for Jews to escape the country.” Heinrich replied.

“You have your papa’s courage,” Gertrude replied.

Commandant Klein and his wife baptized their newborn son Wilhelm at the Lutheran church. They played the happy family in town, visiting debates, plays, and concerts at the community center performed by the townspeople and farmers. The center held a nice library of German literature. They had fundraisers for school band instruments and Nazi youth uniforms for the poor kids. The center had a game room with a pool table, card tables where the elderly played bridge, and a gym with a basketball court. After school, the children found a friendly large brown dog walking around the street. Heinrich recognized the German Shepherd. It belonged to his school friend Jochen, who was killed during the firing squad at the old silver mine. The dog must have run off. He called the dog, and it responded to the name “Rufus”. Gertrude allowed the dog to come live with them. With Friedrich gone, a dog could offer protection and guard the chickens from foxes. Rufus was given a doghouse outside with straw on the ground. Heinrich was happy to feed him and practice tricks. He often followed Heinrich when he went out to shoot rabbits and birds to eat.

Anshel Pfieffer made it to Munich to find the Catholic Church to transport them to the monastery in a delivery truck. They rested and enjoyed food with the monks. They returned to the train station to buy tickets to Goldach, Switzerland, on Lake Constance, right on the border. Some of Lake Constance enters Austria too. The train stopped at the border crossing at Lindau (Germany) and St. Margrethen (Switzerland). They were questioned briefly by the Gestapo agent, who asked what Judas received for betraying Jesus. Anshel answered thirty pieces of silver. He waved the family through once he showed Heinrich’s photograph in his Hitler Youth uniform. Anshel said the picture was his nephew. Next, they met the Swiss border guard asking if they were Jewish refugees and what they planned to do in Switzerland. Anshel recited the Lord’s Prayer to prove he was Christian, and they planned to ski the Alps. They saw a man being interviewed and declared he was an atheist. The Gestapo agent threatened to pull down his pants to see if he was a Jew. A commander interrupted the interrogation and waved the man through, saying something about indecent exposure in front of ladies. The Swiss border guard waved them through after showing their hotel reservation at a ski resort, and they reboarded the train to go on to Goldach. They took a cab to the hotel with the money they had left from the monks. They checked into the hotel with the money they brought with them. They inquired about Helga Schneider and requested to leave a photo at the front desk for her. She knocked on their door and claimed she was a housekeeper. She asked how they knew her nephew Heinrich. She offered to help them apply for temporary residency from the authorities. Their relatives in America, where they wish to immigrate when approved for visas, should help them be approved. Once they were given temporary residency by the Swiss authorities, the hotel offered employment in the kitchen. Anshel sent a telegram to Gertrude saying her aunt was enjoying skiing in the Swiss Alps. Gertrude explained to her friends that her Munich uncle and aunt were on holiday there. In December, the Jews in German-controlled areas were given orders to start working in factories. Asher and Binyamin arrived at the munitions factory to begin their work. They were paid lower wages than the Germans and went home at the end of the shift. They celebrated Hanukkah while the Germans decorated for Christmas. Also in December, Jews lost the right to drive, and all Jews had to sell their vehicles. Asher was forced to sell his vehicle and ride the bus to work at the factory. He prayed to Adonai daily for strength. Surely this trauma and persecution will not last forever.

They heard on the radio a speech Hitler made to the Reichstag on January 30, 1939, about the annihilation of the Jewish race in Europe and predicting another world war. Sarah wondered when the British and French would cease their appeasement policy toward Hitler. Newspapers outside Germany downplayed his threats and emphasized war more than the annihilation of the Jews. No other country expressed outrage over his prophecy, but suddenly Jews who planned to be deported to Germany were suddenly allowed to stay. Half-filled quotas suddenly began being filled completely. Though governments refused to object to Hitler’s threats out of hatred for the Jews in their own people, there was a silent rebellion to help the persecuted remain outside of Germany. Binyamin finally convinced his father to at least try to leave Germany for England, where Rifka’s father was living. Switzerland was rejecting all Jews now. It broke Asher’s heart to leave Germany, but he finally consented for their safety. But they had to do it legally, not the illegal way Anshel did it because that was dishonorable. He even cut his beard short with scissors, then shaved it off with a razor against Jewish law, so as not to appear Jewish. Asher disowned him for that. Anshel said it was up to HaShem to forgive him for trying to save his family. Anshel sent them a telegram that read, “Regards from Switzerland”.

The family got to work on obtaining their health certificates, passports that had a bright red “J” on them, police certificates, and tax documents to get on the two-year waiting list to get an interview with a consulate clerk to approve their immigration to England or any country, and prayed they would be able to leave before this annihilation of the Jews. The grandmother, Shayna, spent her days filling out forms for immigration to countries with a consulate in Berlin. Germany took over Czechoslovakia’s Bohemia and Moravia regions in March 1939. Hungary took the Carpathian Mountain Ruthenia region. Poland took the Trans-Olza region. The Czechoslovakian government fled to France or England. Jews in Berlin were now barred from public spaces like museums and parks. Sarah continued working at the laundry at the Jewish Hospital. They scraped and saved for Kosher food and to pay rent to an Aryan for a small one-bedroom apartment with a tiny kitchen. But even so, news came over the radio of a ship named MS St. Louis that sailed with nine hundred and thirty-seven Jewish refugees from Germany to Cuba in May and, upon landing, had their immigration permits revoked. Eighteen passengers were permitted to disembark in Havana. In June, Miami, Florida, in America, denied the ship entry for lacking American visas, and then Canada refused entry into their ports. The ship was forced to sail back to Europe, where the passengers disembarked in Britain, France, Belgium, and the Netherlands that admitted portions of the passengers. Tragically, two hundred and fifty-five of the passengers were believed to have been killed later in the Holocaust. Miriam wrote that the family left Sweden for America, where her husband’s family was located. She mailed a postcard with their address in New York City. Anshel sent a telegram to his sister in Sweden when they reached Switzerland. She sent him a telegram to announce their departure to America. She was willing to sign an affidavit declaring she would provide shelter for the family if they were permitted to emigrate to America.

Next, Germany entered a pact with the Soviet Union to invade Poland. Germany invaded on September 1st, with the Soviet Union invading on September 16th. Switzerland was prepared to repel borders on September 1st in case Hitler got any invasion ideas towards them. Poland, not able to fight a two-front war, fell by October 6th. Germany and the Soviet Union divided the country. Soviet Union took the east, and Germany took the west. Great Britain and France demanded Germany leave Poland or war would be declared. Great Britain and France declared war on Germany on September 3rd. Australia, New Zealand, India, South Africa, and Canada declared war on Germany shortly after. Strange how no country declared war on the Soviet Union when it invaded Poland as well. In November, the Soviet Union invaded Finland, and yet nobody declared war on them. The Hotel Blume next to the German border on Lake Constance was soon filled with soldiers and used as a barracks since tourism declined. Defenses were erected all over the mountain slopes. The ski resort had anti-aircraft guns placed along the lake. Anshel helped cook all the meals, and the laundry maids cleaned their uniforms. Herschel shined their boots that they left in the hall at night. Being foreigners, they were not allowed to join the army, but could make Kosher food for Swiss Jewish soldiers.

The embassies and consulates of those countries that declared war evacuated their buildings and homes in Berlin to return to their own countries. All immigration interviews ceased. The Pfieffer family could not immigrate to France or Great Britain anymore. Binyamin turned in more applications and waited for an interview from any country with a consulate left in Berlin. The factories in Germany worked nonstop to provide arms for the military. In March 1940, Finland ceded land to the Soviet Union to end their Winter War. On April 9, Germany invaded Denmark and then Norway. Neutral Sweden permitted the Danish and Norwegian Jews to flee into their country without rejecting them at the border. On May 10th, Germany invaded the Low Countries Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and northern and western France to defeat them with their Blitzkrieg quickly. The same day, Winston Churchill became Prime Minister of Great Britain. Southern France was renamed “Vichy France” and remained neutral until Italy and Germany invaded it in 1942. Soon, Germany was dropping bombs at night over Great Britain, and they returned in kind over the Ruhr Valley. Soon, from May 24th until June 4th, British, French, Belgian, and other forces were trapped in Dunkirk, France, and the British Navy organized an evacuation back to England while German forces closed in. Also in June, Berlin was bombed. The Pfieffer family rushed into the basement of their apartment building. A piece of the ceiling fell when the building shook and hit Asher on the stairs. Binyamin carried his father down the rest of the way and took off his coat to use as a pillow for his bleeding head. During the night, he apologized for making the family stay in Germany. The Fatherland was the only home he had ever known, and he wanted to die here. In the early morning hours, Asher succumbed to his injuries and died from internal bleeding. He was buried in the Jewish cemetery in an unmarked grave because the family lacked funds for a tombstone, and they placed a pile of rocks at the gravesite as they did with Avram. Sarah marked both graves by planting a rose bush for each grave.

They were finally allowed an interview at the Swedish consulate in August for visas to immigrate. Because of the war, all public passenger transportation from Berlin and Sweden had ended. All trains, ships, and planes were now only available to the German military invading Denmark and Norway. Germany was even using Swedish rail lines to reach Norway despite Sweden being a neutral country. In addition, Jews from Denmark and Norway were flooding the country now. The visas were denied until the war ended with an apology. Binyamin walked home crushed. They waited for an interview with the American consulate. Miriam wrote an affidavit that she would shelter the family if they were permitted to emigrate. He would accept an interview with neutral Spain or Portugal if he had to get out of Germany. Switzerland decided to place Jewish refugees in labor camps and would allow Jews in some invaded countries but not others. All Jews without proper permits were rejected at the border. America still restricted Jews from immigrating with strict quotas, and how would they get there with a war going on? Any ship or plane near the British Isles could easily be sunk or shot down for simply carrying cargo or for passengers. Binyamin prayed any consulate would grant him an interview and give them visas. If they were refused, they would be trapped in Berlin. Then what would they do?