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Personal Narrative: Germany During The Holocaust

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It’s over; it’s all over - the war, the life of built for myself, Germany’s role on the international stage. I can feel that familiar feeling of cold detachment sweeping over me. I should be feeling something different, something other than this nonchalance. I loved him, or at least I thought I did. Around me my children, are dimming before my eyes. Every tear that falls from their faces snuffing out that once bright light inside of them. Still detached, I shake the snow globe in my hand back and forth, letting the particles whirl around the globe.
I hear knocking at the door so I set the snow globe down. I feel a sense of uncertainty about the future. I’m not worried though, not for me nor my children. No matter what happens, we will be fine. …show more content…
“As you know, the trial of your husband, Officer Schneider, was today” he starts. Slowly, the story unfolds. My husband, a man I thought I knew facilitated the genocide of thousands of Jews out of an apparent sense of duty. Today, during the Nuremberg Trials, he was condemned for his war crimes.
Before the stranger can finish his story, I hold up my hand.
“In a week, my husband will be dead, correct?” I ask, already knowing the answer.
“Ja. He will be hanged for his crimes at 8:00 AM Monday morning.”
I hear a wail of grief behind me. Erika, my youngest, is there in the corner of the room. I wish I could understand the look on her face, understand her sadness, but I can’t. I’m sorry that my children won’t have a father, and that I won’t have a husband, but I can’t summon any emotion. It’s times like these when I wish I was someone else. Rushing towards Erika, I try to summon up empathy, the basic human understanding of another that I have never possessed. When I reach her, I want to tell her so many things, so many lies. I want to say “papa’s going to be ok,” “it was a mistake, this man doesn’t know what he’s talking about,” or “it’s going to be ok,” but I can’t. I’ve been told it’s wrong to lie, to tell anything other than the truth. I’ve seen others’ reactions to my lies. The only difference between me lying to Erika and me lying to a stranger is that …show more content…
He must not be accustomed to dealing with new widows or expressing his sympathies. Still playing the part of the over-emotional, dependent women, I run to him pretending to need comfort from a man I barely know. The knife hidden in my dress is positioned so as not to fall as I run. When I reach him I collapse into his arms as tears stream down my face. He stiffens. When I finally feel his body start to relax, I raise my arms until they are wrapped around his neck, he doesn’t notice since he’s trying best to comfort the seemingly distraught woman that is me. What he doesn’t realize is that he will never comfort me, but his efforts to will be the last things he does. The knife in my hand is now perfectly poised, ready. I start to move it closer to his neck until I’m one good jab away from driving the knife into him, but in that moment, I realize that I can’t kill him even though I know he deserves a horrible

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