Before Otto Schwarze could kill me, one of his assistants jumped in, Wrexham Braun was
written on his badge.
"Sir, you are drunk, please sir stop it, this is not the right way to kill a Jew." Wrexham said
with a monotone tone.
"Hey, who do you think you're talking to!" Otto replied with a drunken tone.
What a despicable man, even thinking about him now is making my blood boil, it is making
my body shake with pure anger and rage, I wish I would've killed him myself and stomped
on his head like he did to mine and push his face in the mud like he did to mine!
My body laid down, like a corpse, I sat still, I thought it would never end, thank God that.
Wrexham was there and stopped him.
"Sir, it's me Wrexham, your cousin, now please settle down!" Wrexham said with a strong
tone.
"Oh, Wrexham the one with the whore of a father, yeah sure I'll settle down, but first I'll tell
this little Jew something." He then knelt and raised my limp head which was covered in
restless blood.
"Listen to me, I won't call your name for the gas, but not because I'm showing you mercy, I
already did that once, never again. Your life will be horrible from now on, so bad to the
point where you want to be called out for the gas, where you want the sweet relief of death.
You will beg for death, but never receive let's have an adventure, Johansen Berg." Otto said
these words and they stuck with me for years, even now, when the nightmares come, these
words get endlessly repeated in my head, they never stop, always on repeat, and he wasn't
wrong, I did want the sweet relief of death, and I still do.
A couple of minutes later, some nurses came with stretchers and carried me to the nurse's
office where I wasn't treated, just bandaged up. Luckily, I was allowed visitors and
Dina, Jonah, and my uncle David. They came each with their respective mourning and tears
and whatnot, but Dina, she was in the corner, crying like a mourning mother bear.
"I'm sorry, Johansen, we are all sorry for what happened, none of us could have expected
him to act in such a way but to give him justice, you were acting a bit stupid. You know he is cold, ruthless, and merciless, so why? Why did you try to act big in front of
him, in front of the black-haired demon and the deceiving blue-eyed angel? I
don't blame you for what happened, but it could have been avoided. Please, Johansen,
take this as kindly as you can, I am not your enemy." Said my uncle.
"No! What the fuck is wrong with you people!? He is a tyrannical and sensitive little prick!
But I can't stand up to him..." I was crying, snot preventing my mouth from opening,
"I can't stand up to that bastard! He scares... HE SCARES THE LIVING SHIT OUT OF ME!
Now you know, you know. Leave-" I added.
"Johan-" said my uncle and Jonah in unison before I cut them off.
"I don't want to fucking hear it!" I exclaimed with a powerful tone.
As soon as they left, Dina ran to me and hugged me so tight I could feel my guts exiting my
nostrils.
"I am so sorry Johansen... I am so so sorry!" Dina said with tears flowing down her cheeks and
onto mine.
"You didn't deserve that, you didn't, you were just standing there, and it all happened
so quick-" I cut her off before she continued.
"Hey, hey! Calm down. These things happen every day to hundreds of people like us-" I
coughed up blood before continuing,
"-but what's important, is not staying here and crying for no reason, what's important is to
stand up and help others get their freedom," I stated.
I grabbed her head,
"Have you ever heard of... America?" I asked
"America? I haven't heard of it." She replied.
"It's this excellent land with opportunities for everyone, for every race, you can work if you
wish or live in the mountains, you are free to do as you wish in there, it is the land of
freedom. Then there's the beautiful, beautiful flower fields, that seem to span across the
horizon and have an aroma that can drop even Otto on his knees just to smell them. Don't
even get me started on the mountains, ha-ha, they are nature's border, separating the evil
and the good and they tower over you like a mother bear towers over her cubs when the
hyenas arrive. The lakes, Oh the lakes! They are as pure as a baby's heart and they are as
clear as glass, how beautiful they are. America is as free and fearless as an eagle, it is true
freedom, a nation that hosts heaven! We will move there together, my love, and start our
family, I swear that, and God strike me down if I dare talk to any woman even if, God forbid,
you die." I exclaimed powerfully and passionately.
That is what Jonah said to me (except he thought America would free us which is total utter
nonsense), and that is what I told her. I truly believed with my whole heart that America is
the land of the free, I wanted to see and feel those flower fields, gaze upon the mountains,
swim across the lakes, and breathe the air of freedom. I am here now, but I've realized that to experience that American freedom dream, you must be at peace with yourself and
your mind, or else, you will find that America is yet another generic country. At that time, I
didn't know that, but now I do, which perfectly explains why I never truly feel free.
"Yes, my love, we will move there, to the land of freedom, we will feel that freedom,
together, we will forever be together." Said Dina with a tear running down her cheeks, the
sun shining on her face and a faint smile spreading with her hair to one side.