Read an Excerpt
The Rise and Fall of the Great Barbate
By David Rodriguez AuthorHouse
Copyright © 2011 David Rodriguez
All right reserved. ISBN: 978-1-4634-1035-3
Chapter One
Today is August 25, 1939. Nazi Germany is now the superpower of Europe, and Hitler is threatening to invade Poland, my country. Britain and France are almost at war with Nazi Germany, while the Soviet Union is siding with the Nazis and will perhaps soon also threaten to invade my country—my beloved 'Polska', my Poland. Spain has just ended its bloody civil war, with Franco taking total control of his nation, while in Italy Mussolini reigns over the Italian Empire, controlling Abyssinia (Ethiopia), Albania and Eritrea. The war in Europe is imminent, and I feel a very sinister and chilling wind heading for Poland, as if nature is announcing the arrival of war to our lands. We must be prepared for the worst.
These days, Europe seems to be a chessboard, with all its pieces ready to move forward with plans to commence battle, to fulfill ambitions or defend territories against those foreign countries that wish to extend their homelands to other regions of Europe. Major political powers of the continent are preparing their armies for the worst, investing heavily in new armaments and troops that will instigate the biggest conflict Europe will ever experience. The ambience of the cities of Berlin, Moscow, Paris, London, Rome, Krakow, Copenhagen, Warsaw, Oslo, Stockholm, Prague, Helsinki, Bucharest, Amsterdam, Budapest and Brussels has quickly changed to an ambience of war, which many people who suffered through World War I say will be worse than all the previous conflicts Europeans have been involved in so far.
I am now approaching my parents' house, located in the Kazimierz district, the old Jewish quarter of Krakow, to attend one of the family meals my mother, Georgeanna, always prepares on Sundays. As I arrive, my father, Tedorik, comes to the porch to greet me with a heartfelt 'witaj', which means 'hello' in Polish. My older brother has just arrived from Warsaw. My sister has also come today and is helping my mother in the kitchen. My Uncle Rafal, who lives in the countryside, is also visiting the family. I am very happy to see my brother again, the brother who I have not seen since he left Krakow to work in Warsaw. He will remain for a couple of weeks to help my father with our family business, a café situated near the Basilica of St. Mary, south of the Krakow Market Square. Our café is very famous in the city for its delicious pastries and gourmet coffee from Brazil.
It is now 6:00 p.m. and the table is ready. My father raises his cup of Polish vodka in a toast of victory for the treaty of mutual assistance that Poland has signed with Britain. My mother lights the candles, and we say our usual prayers of the day with an intense faith that I have not seen before. Today we are having lamb and potatoes with a very good sauce my mother loves to make for special occasions. Soup, Polish bread and vegetables accompany the meat. My father firmly believes that Great Britain will defeat Hitler before Nazi Germany starts its territorial expansion to other countries of Europe.
Our table conversation has been completely focused on Nazi Germany and its intentions of invading Poland. My father and Uncle Rafal repeatedly reaffirm that Britain and France will defend our nation in case of a German attack. My mother is quietly praying instead of talking, in light of her premonition of what will soon happen in Poland. My sister is supporting my father and uncle's opinions, perhaps as a sign of complete denial of the reality Europe is confronting these days. My older brother says he will immigrate to Moscow if the Nazis launch an attack on Poland. While the conversation flows around me, I eat my meal without saying a single word, since I sincerely believe neither Britain nor France will defend our nation from what is coming. I believe our fate as a nation is already written, and our only hope is to survive what is coming, perhaps to abandon Poland forever. Unfortunately, most of my family members deny that reality.
After finishing our family dinner, I quickly say my goodbyes to my parents and Uncle Rafal, who remain in the kitchen eating dessert and listening to the radio. My sister and brother are avidly discussing the upcoming music festival in Warsaw. I head toward my apartment near the Jagiellonian University, where I have been pursuing my career in political science. I walk briskly through the Kazimierz district, where my family resides, until arriving at my apartment located in the Old Town district of Krakow, where I find a thick letter waiting for me. It is from Ada Eissmann, my Austrian fiancée. I can hardly wait to read her news, and think that perhaps she is finally ready to set the date for our wedding. Then again, perhaps she is playing a joke on me, as she tends to do. Why would she leave a letter for me under my apartment door when she also lives in Krakow?
I then notice that the letter is postmarked 'Salzburg, Austria.' Has she left the city without telling me? I grow confused; I do not understand why this letter is marked with a Nazi symbol and a Salzburg return address. I hurriedly tear open the letter and glance over what my beloved fiancée has written, feeling deep sadness even from the beginning, from her first words.
213 Linzer Bundesstrasse, Salzburg, Austria. August 15, 1939
Dear Pawel:
This was our last summer together. The war is coming and the red roses of war will soon pronounce an inevitable disaster for your beloved country. I can feel a very dark and bitter feeling for the Poland that you grew up in as a child, as a man, as my fiancée, as the father of the child I have growing inside my womb. In a matter of time, a fast-approaching nightmare will bring Nazi tanks and troops. The will of your country will succumb to the authority of Adolf Hitler. Poland will not succeed in its effort to detain the Nazis from occupying the nation. The history of Krakow, Warsaw and all Polish cities will soon be rewritten when Germans advance through the nation; half of the existing territory of Poland will be annexed to the Third Reich, while the rest of the country may be converted into another German protectorate. The decision by Hitler to invade Poland will cause tremendous changes in the lives of all Polish people, who will suffer the consequences an invasion can cause any country.
I am not Polish, I am not Jewish, I am not Czech, I am not a Gypsy from Moldova; I am an Austrian from Salzburg with a pedigree and a German accent that would never befit our love. This is the end, the end of everything we ever shared. I am joining the Nazi medical team as a volunteer nurse. I will be providing medical assistance to the troops in the newly occupied territories, such as the Protektorat Böhmen und Mähren, Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, and the ones that will soon be acquired by the Führer. Even though this is my father's wish, I feel a very strong and deep calling to serve my Nazi heritage, which runs through my veins as a powerful harbinger of my own destiny. I will soon be moving with the troops to the newly occupied territories in Czechoslovakia, where I will serve our sick and injured soldiers.
The baby that is growing inside my womb, of whom you are the father, will be raised under the Nazi doctrine that my father, SS Commander Frederick Eissmann, has faithfully embraced and wants me to continue. I want you to forget that you ever fathered my baby. I have promised my father you will never see his or her face. I am deeply sorry for your pain, Pawel, but the war has forced us all to make sacrifices that we do not want to make, but that are completely necessary to achieve all the goals that Adolf Hitler pursues in the name of his people.
You will not belong to me anymore, Pawel—our time together has been succeeded by the power of the Nazi doctrine that has already revolutionized my thinking and captured the last remnants of my carefree youth. My heart is no longer free, Pawel, but already has an owner—a German SS officer stationed in Austria, who proposed to me during a Nazi party rally in Munich. I attended several rallies during one of my many visits to Nazi Germany before Austria was annexed to the Reich. I know this news will wound you deeply, but I cannot in all sincerity accept your love anymore, more so now that Nazi Germany will reign over all Europe.
The SS officer and I want to marry and have children who will serve our nation, the German nation that rose from the waters of the Danube River and the mother of our German heritage, which are the most loyal vigilantes and are represented at the top of the Brandenburg Gate. Berlin will soon be as big as Paris and New York, even London, Rome, Krakow, Prague, Madrid, Athens, Moscow and Leningrad. Such cities will never be as large and prosperous as we are going to be. It is our own destiny as a nation, as Germans, as the established power of a new world which will be built by the force of the whip and the iron hand of Hitler, who will smash any kind of rebellion throughout the European continent.
Austria has already been annexed, the armies of Hitler have taken Czechoslovakia, Italy has invaded Albania following Mussolini's orders, and Poland will soon be our next stop. The British Empire will fall under the hands of Hitler when the Nazis invade Britain and capture London as a new city under the flag of the Third Reich. I have not heard anything about France yet, but perhaps they will soon be our allies just as the Italians became some time ago when Mussolini joined forces with Hitler.
Our Führer has consolidated his power. Now is the time to conquer everything that belongs to our Fatherland, just as the Nazis have constantly told us during our party rallies in Hamburg, Berlin, Munich and Bonn. Although I should not even talk to you any more, I strongly advise you to escape from Poland, escape from Krakow, because time is running out for you. I heard news from my father that deportation will start as soon as Hitler invades Poland. All Jews will be deported to camps, though which camps are not clear to me. You should pack your belongings as soon as you can and escape to France. I do not advise you to go to Italy, because the Fascist regime of Rome will sell you for even a fraction of Italian lire to finance their ambitious hunger for wealth. Italy has already signed a friendly treaty with Hitler that will strengthen Nazi power to all the corners that compose this great continent. Europe will be Nazi in a matter of time, and even the summer will be conquered by the power of this great Hitlerian dream. Winter will be annexed as part of our dominion.
My father has never been so proud of me, even more than when I graduated as a nurse from the Jagiellonian University in Krakow. He praises my name among his fellow SS commanders in Austria; how his daughter is serving the Third Reich with pride and commitment to the nation that has been formed after Adolf Hitler gained power in Germany. I was even hired by the Nazi youth organization as the new advocate in Austria for the Austrian youth who join Hitler's armies to begin the expansion of the Third Reich to the west, east, south and north of the Deutschland.
The war has changed everything in my life. Any affection I ever felt for Krakow or the Jewish people has been converted into hatred, and the white doves from the beautiful parks of Salzburg are now dark with the intense wish of conquering and subjugating every single human being under the law of Hitler. Even if I used to love you, we can never be together. The almighty whip of the Nazi will has demarcated our love. Time has collapsed everything. The ashes of fire are coming to diminish Europe under Hitler's iron hand. I'm advising you because I used to care about you, but my biggest fear is being discovered by the Gestapo and accused as a traitor of the Third Reich. That horrible thought invades my peace every day, even now, as I write this letter to you. I feel the Gestapo coming after me, to accuse me under the strict laws that Hitler has already imposed all around Germany and all the annexed territories, to persecute any single person who defies direct orders against consorting with Jews, risking jail or imprisonment at a prison camp.
I know, I should not be writing this letter at all, but there is an overwhelming urge within my heart, pushing my hands and mind, even my soul, to warn you that everything that is coming will soon have a devastating effect on your life. Part of my mind is already Nazi, while my soul remains that of the Austrian girl who used to love a Jewish-Polish man, live in the Jewish quarter of Krakow and walk down its streets. However, I cannot just think of myself anymore, and I do strongly believe in my Nazi heritage, as you can see in this letter. I feel a very strong force compelling my will every instant. I'm not free, I'm no longer free as I used to be, and I'm not the same Ada Eissmann anymore. My destiny has been written by my undeniable heritage, by my blood, by my German race, my skin, Aryan features and coloring. All of my past has been subsumed by the Nazi doctrine through the tremendous power of their words inserted like magic into my faltering mind.
Part of me knows that I have also dishonored my beautiful Salzburg, the place where I was born and raised as a child, because I have let the invaders conquer my free mind. My beloved Salzburg is not an Austrian city any longer, but a city under the Nazis. My own identity has been lost forever; my accent, my pride, my memories from my childhood, lost forever under the hands of Hitler, the ones where I was raised and taught to respect, love and defend my Austrian flag and pride. The Salzburg I knew and loved has been lost forever. Its landscape remains, but its freedom has vanished.
I remember my good days in Salzburg, the Sunday morning attending the Cathedral mass and our family lunches on meadows scattered across the mountains that surrounds the city. I remember its streets, its parks and its people living under the freedom of the Austrian government after the Austro-Hungarian Empire was destroyed during World War I. I remember my days as a carefree child playing across its plazas, eating Austrian desserts and fishing with my father along the many lakes that characterize landscapes covered by high mountains and beautiful villages along valleys, lakes and forests. Salzburg is now under the command of the Nazis. My father has been named Commander of the Waffen-SS of Upper Austria, due to our German heritage. There was nothing that we could have done to avoid our written destiny as part of this oncoming war that will raze every civilization in Europe.
Burn this farewell letter before I risk discovery by the Gestapo; burn it under a blazing fire far away in the Polish countryside where not even the birds will notice this ambiguous treason. Do not allow anybody to read it, for even the wind can be a Nazi spy. Let the fire consume this piece of paper until the ashes of fire are spread across the Polish skies, across the dust, across the water of the rain running away through the fields of corn and wheat. Do not let any pieces remain in the soil, because even the dust can discover my treason and threaten my life. By writing to you, I have dishonored my father and his beloved Nazi party, my blood and my Nazi present—; everything that makes my life part of this great Hitlerian dream.
Please save yourself! Perhaps one day, I will see you again, and the baby growing inside my womb will see the man who once gave him or her life.
Ada
(Continues...)
Excerpted from The Rise and Fall of the Great Barbate by David Rodriguez Copyright © 2011 by David Rodriguez. Excerpted by permission of AuthorHouse. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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