Violette and Viktor have gone through thousands of names since the early hours of the morning. Unluckily, the names were not arranged in alphabetical order and, therefore, difficult to search. Violette searched for Jaroslaw Kasznicki, and Viktor tried to locate relatives of his wife, who was murdered in Majdanek.
"Can I help you?" One of the workers turned to Violette, "I have lists of other cities, as well as of survivors of extermination camps." Violette turned away from the board and looked at him, "My name is Janusz Sandler I work here for the Bond. " Violette held out her hand to him," Violette Michalson, from Vienna."
"Who are you looking for?" He asked.
"The SS arrested a partisan who was with me in the forests of Lublin and taken to Majdanek; there are rumors that maybe he managed to escape."
"We know that fourteen prisoners of war they brought from Berlin managed to escape and join the partisans, the Nazis decided to punish the 1500 prisoners of war who were in the camp and transferred them to the death barracks, but they broke into the armory, took over and shot Germans and killed many of them. Maybe he was among them?"
"No, according to the testimony I heard, he got under a truck and clung to the bottom and escaped the camp."
They both went through the updated lists in his office as they were sorted alphabetically, but there was no mention of Jaroslaw Kasznicki.
"Can I invite you for coffee later this afternoon?" He asked.
Violette hesitated to respond. She felt that her memories of Jaroslaw started to fade slowly with time, and not a trace of him anywhere.
"Yes, gladly," she replied.
"If you wait for me, I'll finish my office arrangements, and I'm free."
"All right, I have to do something too; see you in half an hour outside the building," she said and went to look for Viktor. "Go to the apartment without me; I met an acquaintance; I'll be a little late, don't wait for me and go to bed." Viktor smiled and winked at her.
When she left the building, Janusz was already standing on the sidewalk opposite, waiting for her.
"Where shall we go?" She asked.
"I know Warsaw well; I'll take you to the Old Town to a place that has just reopened," he said, holding out his arm to her.
He stopped a taxi and helped her in it. "You're a real gentleman," she said. "Officer and gentleman," he corrected her. "I served as an officer in the Polish army in England until we arrived in Berlin, then when the Committee for the Rescue of the Survivors was set up, I joined it on behalf of the Red Cross."
"Do you speak English?"
"Yes, but the moment I open my mouth, anybody recognizes my Polish accent, it will stay with me forever" he smiled. Violette noticed the two dimples that appeared on his cheek.
"I speak German without a Polish accent. This is because I grew up in Vienna and even went to university there," she said.
"So what about your Polish? You speak like a native Pole," Janusz asked, and his curiosity grew.
"My parents were born in Warsaw, as were my grandparents, all from Warsaw. My father, a scientist, a physicist, was a professor at the University of Vienna. They moved there before I was born. We visited Poland often, but tell me something about yourself."
Janusz blushed a little, "a phenomenon Violette remembers from her school days among the students who tried to start with her and did not know-how. But to see a man his age blushing? It's cute and shows how sensitive he is," she thought.
"What will you eat? All they serve is written on the board that hangs over the stove."
"I will have Ozor wołowy- calf's tongue; I haven't eaten it in a long time. I used to eat this at my grandmother's on my visits," she said.
Janusz ordered the dish for two, with sauerkraut on the side and a sauce with fried onions.
"I thought we were going for coffee," she smiled at him, "but I'm hungry, and it's good that there's food here too."
"In all the cafes and bars, you can always get something to eat today, it is not possible to cook different dishes, but there is always one type of dish," he explained to her.
"There is a newspaper that comes out every day with up-to-date lists, you should check it, and maybe you can find your partisan. You were very close, I suppose."
"Yes, we came a long way together, but why talk about the past when the whole future is ahead of us?"
They ordered another glass of vodka to finish the meal and set out to wander a little along the Vistula River out of town.
A smiling moon looked down on them, and lights shone from renovated and inhabited houses; the vast destruction sown in the streets was not visible in the dark. Well-dressed people walked around without fear of arrests or shootings. The waters of the Vistula were calm, and the lights were reflected and flickered in them sedately; it was hard to understand how suddenly everything had changed; as if you had been asleep and woke up from a nightmare to return to reality.
Janusz kept near to Violette and occasionally stroked her arm. He told her about his childhood, about his drunken father who one day left home and never returned, how his mother raised him alone with many difficulties, how he spent many hours at his grandmother's house when his mother cooked in wealthy homes and then moved in with a man who was double her age. Although he treated him well, he did not call him father and did not like him in the slightest. Finally, when he was fifteen, his mother sent him to a military boarding school, where he stayed until the war broke out. He was twenty-five years old and an officer in the navy. After that, he made it to England and remained there until Britain entered the war and, together with the Allies, attacked the Germans.
"Then you did not have an easy life," she told him after listening to his story.
"It's hard to say I had a hard life, but I did not have a happy childhood if that's what you mean."
They sat down on a bench overlooking the river, it was after midnight, and Violette suddenly snuggled up to him and put her head on his shoulder. He sat petrified, afraid to move, "Hug me, I'm cold," she whispered in his ear. He put his hand around her shoulders and pulled her close.
"Do you have a woman?" She asked.
"No, I'm not built for a relationship now. I do not have the time to think about it, everything is happening so fast, and the numbers of the victims are growing from tens to thousands and hundreds of thousands, and I am afraid we will reach a million Jews who will not return home," he said.
"Let's leave the war and its aftermath aside for a moment. Life goes on and on; we need to think about that too."
He did not respond, perhaps not understanding what she meant, but she turned to him and cupped his face with both hands and pressed her lips to his with passion. "Let's go to your apartment," she whispered to him.
When they entered the one-story building where the one-room apartment he rented was, he did not turn on the light for fear that the landlord would see him because of the agreement he signed. He was not allowed to bring strangers into the apartment, and he was very strict.
"Make no noise," he told her as they entered the apartment.
Violette undressed quickly and jumped under the blanket. "Where are you? I don't see anything here," she whispered.
She heard the flow of water in the sink and realized that he was urinating. The old apartments that were divided into one-room apartments had shared toilets in the hallway.
She felt the warmth of his body beside her; he lay down and began to touch her body hesitantly, then cupped her head and kissed her eyes and nose as he halted beside her. "Are you a virgin?" She asked in a whisper. He did not answer her, and she concluded that his face was now burning with excess blush.
"No need to hurry" She kissed his chest and with her hands slid towards his erect cock, she began to caress his balls and suck his nipples as his hands suddenly began to caress her body frantically, suddenly a tremor passed through him, and a heavy sigh left his mouth. Violette felt his flow splashing on her belly and thighs.
They lay like this for a while until they fell asleep entwined.
The following day Violette woke up in Janusz's apartment. He was lying next to her, still asleep. She looked at him for a long time and tried to imagine how it would have been different if her red-haired love had been lying here next to her, but she realized that she was in a completely different situation now. Two months have passed since the end of the occupation in Poland, most of the survivors have already been released from the hospitals and the concentration camps. Many Jews and Poles waited outside the embassies trying to obtain an immigration visa to Canada, South America, or the United States and Australia. Violette just wanted to reunite with her parents, and after she obtained an address for their reply, she sent them a letter informing them of her arrival to New York. But, first and foremost, she wanted to let them know that she had survived and was in good health.
"Good morning Janusz," she said when she saw that he had opened his eyes. He smiled, embarrassed when he saw her bare breasts and recalled the events of the night. "I'm sorry, I was completely drunk," he said.
"You should not apologize. I enjoyed being with you" She stroked his charcoal black hair and kissed the back of his neck, his sturdy shoulders, and her hands moved down his back and cupped his balls. Then he turned over and pulled her on him. "You have a lot of experience; how many men have you had in your life?" He asked in a tone of jealousy.
"Not much, only two, and with each of them, I had a very short experience, so I do not have as much experience as you think," she replied smiling.
He started kissing her neck, her nipples, and finally, her open mouth. He felt her body writhing beneath him and her feet resting on his buttocks. His erect cock touched her wet pussy and was about to penetrate her "be careful not to cum inside me," she whispered in his ear. Instead, he penetrated her wildly and let out a deep moan. , His body trembled and contracted, his hands gripped her with great strength, and as she tried to free herself under his body that had fallen heavily on her, she failed. "Janusz, get out of me, do not cum inside me," she begged. He got up and landed on his back, pulling the blanket to cover his limbs. "Sorry, I could not stop it," he said in a sluggish voice.
Violette jumped out of bed and ran to the sink. She sprayed water and, with the help of a wet towel, tried to clean his ejaculation. "You'll get me pregnant," she grumbled.
"So what? Then I will marry you, and we will have a child," he replied, and there was no irony in his voice. On the contrary, he sounded serious and decisive.
"You're barely known me for a day and a half, and you're proposing to me? Does that sound reasonable to you?"
"Yes, in times like these, everything is reasonable. We went through a time when somebody's life didn't count, especially a Jewish life. So why not start a new and good one far from here?"
"Would you come to America with me? To meet my parents?"
"Yes, I have money, in England, we got a salary, and I saved, we can travel by boat whenever you want, and even if you are not pregnant. I am still willing to go with you and marry you," he replied.
Violette went back to bed and hugged him. "If so, then I'm ready for you to cum inside me again."
Late in the morning, Violette hurried to the apartment she shared with Viktor. When she came in, he was sitting in the kitchenette eating something, "I worried about you, you did not come back at night, and I thought about the worst of all, a girl walking alone can be easy prey, there is a lot of violence nowadays" he said, and he sounded angry.
"I'm sorry, Viktor, I should have told you I would not come back the other night. Do you remember the guy from the Red Cross? I went out to the restaurant with him, and then we went to his place."
"Okay, no problem, I forget you're not my daughter, and I have no right to interfere in your private life at all, but I was anxious."
"So you're still sensitive, I thought after all the horrors you went through, your heart became of stone."
"Yes, for those who have harmed us and still do, it is true, but not for my people, survivors like me and you."
"This guy is called Janusz and is a Jew who served in the Polish army in England and fought the Nazis, and now he works for the Red Cross in finding and helping survivors."
"Wonderful, I just thought you were looking for your red-haired lover?." he said sarcastically.
Im rational; if he has not appeared by now, it means he is not looking for me or has not survived the camp. The testimony I have heard is not very reliable, and the woman did not mention his name but according to rumors, he was red-haired. Jaroslaw is not the only ginger in the world."
"You said, Ginger? Was Jaroslaw named Ginger?"
"Yes, that was his nickname in the partisans."
"So I may know him, we once went on a joint mission. He was a little lame from an old ankle injury."
Violette jumped up, "You know him, yes, that's."
"According to the rumors I had, he went on a mission from which he did not return; more than that, I do not know about him."
"I went out with him on this mission, and the SS arrested us both. We were taken for interrogation, in which I managed to convince the interrogators that I was not a Jew. I also had an authentic document of a Polish girl, so I was released. Since we have been arrested, I have not heard from him."
Violette hid the rest of the story from Viktor because of her guilty feelings about her action that led to his imprisonment in Majdanek. She believed that the German officer had retaliated against her for refusing him at Grayer's restaurant.
"So, what're your plans? Are we continuing from here to America?" He asked.
"I do not know, depending on how my relationship with Janusz develops."
"I thought you said you had parents in New York?"
"I have, and I sent them a letter. I'm not sure I'll get a visa without the affidavit letter."
"Right, you're right; I'll send a letter to my relatives in Houston, too."
Violette sat down next to him and took a slice of dry bread. "It's old bread," she said.
"For such an old slice of bread in Auschwitz and Majdanek, you would be killed. You will learn not to throw away even a crumb of food, even if it is old and moldy."
"Do you want to join us? I'm going to meet Janusz this afternoon."
"I would; why not?"
They went down to the street and took a carriage; Viktor wanted to see where he lived. He knew that the house was destroyed even before the invasion when German planes shelled Warsaw for many days, burning many townhouses. The carriage stopped on Prosta Street; it was a street in the ghetto compound mostly in ruins. The house where his family had lived was destroyed; some partially damaged homes had been rapidly renovated and were inhabited by Poles from nearby villages who looted the abandoned houses owned by Jewish.
He sent the carriage away, and they began to walk along the street. "You see, this was the playground I played with my friends in the neighborhood; he pointed to a lot next to which a large crater had opened as a result of a bomb falling."
The ghetto was totally destroyed; in the last revolt, the Germans burned and shelled almost every house that stood on its own. After the war, Polish bulldozers destroyed those who were less damaged; It seemed that the Poles also wished to wipe out the ghetto entirely so that its Jewish inhabitants if there remained any, would have no place to come home to.
While they were walking in the neighborhood that had once been bustling with Jewish life, at the intersection of Prosta and Zielona streets in the direction of Grzybowska square, still, several houses remained intact while around much had been destroyed. On Ogrodowa Street, a pre-war quarter of the higher class, the facades of the three-story buildings were ruined; still, they remained standing erect along the entire length of the street. "Who are you looking for?" A curious passerby asked. "The souls of the Jews who lived here," Viktor replied. The Pole spat and walked away, mumbling something that sounded like a curse from a distance.
"Where did your grandparents live?" Viktor asked Violette.
"At Zlota Street number 73. I remember the address well; I've visited them dozens of times," she replied.
"Let's go see the house," he suggested.
While walking, they had to bypass piles of rubble and follow the route that people had paved through the wrecks.
"Here, this is the house; they lived on the ground floor," she pointed at the entrance. The house did not appear to be damaged at all and was occupied by new tenants.
Viktor knocked on the door. "Who's there?" Came a male voice.
"Open up; we just want information about the tenants who lived here."
"Go away, we do not know anyone, and there are no Jews here. They went to Palestine or hell. Will you go away, or will I come out to you?"
"Let's go, no need for trouble" She tried to pull Viktor by the arm, but he insisted on staying.
"I do not want anything from you, just information about those who lived here." Viktor tried his luck again.
The door opened, and a solid, bald man about Viktor's age stood in the doorway. He was holding an iron bar in his hand. "What information do you want?" He asked.
"What do you know about the tenants who lived here before you?"
"The Germans came and took them; it was a Jewish older couple. It happened three years ago. I lived here since."
"And what happened to all the contents of the house? Their personal belongings?"
"I see you're looking for troubles" He swung the iron bar to scare Viktor, but Viktor remained still and did not move. "Do you want to hit me?" Viktor asked.
"If you do not leave, I will beat you," the man threatened.
"Come, Viktor, leave him, do not argue with him," begged Violette.
"Listen to the Jewish whore and go."
Viktor instantly kicked him in his balls, and when the man folded in pain, he hit him on his neck with both hands. He collapsed and fainted. At the sound of the noise, some neighbors came out of their apartments and started shouting.
Viktor grabbed Violette by the hand and walked away. "Scum, anti-Semites," and he spat.
When they were outside the ghetto area, they took a carriage towards the committee offices, where Violette was supposed to meet Janusz.
The place was crowded. Many stood in front of the boards, searching anxiously for some relatives. They went up to the second floor, where Janusz worked. He sat behind a table laden with papers and checked some notes. When he saw Violette, he got up and walked over to her, seeing that she was in the company of another man; he hesitantly held out his hand "what a pleasant surprise," he said. Violette approached and kissed him on the cheek, "Do you remember Viktor who came with me from Lublin?" Janusz shook his hand.
"When can you get out of work?" Violette asked.
"Oh, no problem, I can go out right now."
"We'll go to some nice place, and the three of us will have dinner together," she said.
Janusz looked at her, upset but said nothing.
The three sat down in a nice little restaurant on Kanonia Street near the Palace of the Kings overlooking the bridge that crosses the Vistula River. There were a few guests, so the place was pretty quiet. One waitress approached and took orders. Violette wondered if the place was a bit dark for the sake of the romantic atmosphere or as a power saver. They ordered drinks, Viktor ordered a pint of beer, Janusz ordered a small beer and Violette a vodka. The waitress placed a plate with a kabanos sausage cut into small pieces and a bowl with sauerkraut on the table as an appetizer. It spread the strong smell of the cabbage cooked like the grandmothers used to do on the farms in wooden barrels.
"So tell me, Janusz, where are your parents? And do you have a family? Brothers sisters?" Viktor asked.
Janusz looked at Violette, and his face expressed bewilderment at the very question.
Violette intervened in the conversation, "He has no living relatives," she replied.
Viktor was not pleased that she answered in his place and addressed him again. "And in England? Didn't you leave a girl maybe with a child?"
Violette's patience ran out. "Viktor, I beg you, do not ruin the mood, you are asking impropriate questions, and it is not your business. If anything, it is only my business," she added angrily.
"You do not have to defend him; he has a mouth. He was an officer and a fighter and no longer a child. He should know how to handle my questions with dignity."
Janusz, who was sitting all the time quietly, looking at his plate, suddenly raised his head and turned to Viktor. "I understand, Viktor, that you are trying to protect Violette from all the evil in the world, but I have good intentions, and I love her. We plan to get married soon and travel together to America to meet Violette's parents and settle there."
Viktor looked at them with a soft, fatherly look. "Then all I have to say is congratulations." He turned to the waitress and asked her to bring three glasses of vodka for the occasion.
Violette and Janusz got off first near Janusz's house, and Viktor continued alone to his apartment.
When they entered the apartment, Janusz looked extremely tense and did not look at Violette nor spoke.
"What happened? Why are you ignoring me? I did not know that Viktor would question our relationship."
Janusz, holding a glass of water in his hand, tossed and smashed it angrily on the wall, "Why did you bring him? Didn't you know I just wanted to be with you? Who is this bully for you? You barely know him, and he acts like he's your father. "
Violette did not answer him; she got up and left the apartment, furiously slamming the door behind her. Janusz did not try to apologize or follow her, and she found herself standing on a dark street alone after midnight with no carriage in sight.
She wanted to get to her apartment, but since she did not know the direction, she was moving around in an attempt to find some transportation. Among the ruins, she noticed small bonfires and people covered in blankets under the open sky. Those who did not sleep raised their heads to see who was walking alone in the dangerous streets late at night.
As she was walking, she heard steps behind her. She found a board with nails ripped from some window frame in the shelling and took it. When she looked back she saw no one, she kept walking and occasionally stopped and turned. Again, she saw no one following her. Then she walked close to the walls of some ruins and came to a plane and clean area, and she decided to run through it. On the other side were populated buildings, and it seemed to be less dangerous. She started running, and when she was in the middle of the field, two figures emerged in front of her out of the darkness. She stopped, and they stood in front of her and did not move. She looked back and realized that she would not be able to retreat from where she came from because if she returned, it would be difficult for her to deal with them among the ruins. So she advanced slowly as she held the board ready for any trouble. When she was a few dozen meters away from the figures, they moved towards her until she noticed their faces. These were two Poles who looked young and solid. "Hello doll, where are you going alone?" one asked scornfully.
"Get out of my way, I have a gun, and I will not hesitate to crack your skull," she said, trying to stay calm.
"So, what's the plank for?" "Take out the gun, if you have one."
One of them accosted her aggressively, "We will not hurt you if you let us," he said.
She hit him with the board in full force, and the nails got stuck in his head, which started to bleed. He screamed and ran with the board stuck in his head, looking for help. The other cornered her and kicked her in the back, and she fell, then he jumped on her and grabbed her by both arms as she lay on her back and moaned.
While he was trying to roll down her panties with his feet, she suddenly calmed down and said to him quietly, "Get off me, and I will suck you, just do not rape me" The guy who was already close to rape her halted for a moment."
" I promise, you have my word," she said.
He rolled up his pants, and she stood next to him and did not try to run away; she knew he was agile and strong.
"Lie on your back, and I will give you an experience you'll never have again in your life," she said, putting a hand to his balls. He lay on his back, and his cock began to straighten. "Put it in your mouth, come on."
Violette leaned over him, holding his cock in her hand, pulled the top of it into her mouth, and bit with all her might without letting go; her mouth filled with blood, and the man began to hit her head in fury and frenzy, she clenched her teeth and cut off the cock's head and spat it next to him. The blood flowed as from a fountain everywhere, and Violette ran away as fast as she could. She ran until she couldn't hear his screams anymore.