in your office next door?” Eli asked.
“Not very busy for me these days.” Aaron’s lip curled. “My
colleagues, Cynthia and Robert from the party, have no trouble
finding new clients. I, on the other hand, am having a hard
time holding on to my old ones.”
“Sorry,” Eli said in a soft voice, both of them knowing the
reason wasn’t that he was a bad lawyer, but that he looked too
Jewish.
Aaron ruffled his fingers through his dark curly hair.
“You’re lucky. You get to work with your father. He
makes sure you acquire clients.”
“Even our business has lessened this year. The Nazis are
first-rate at spreading propaganda.” Eli glanced over the newspaper
again, reading the quotes enclosed: “Freedom and Bread,” was
printed underneath Hitler’s picture as his personal slogan to
perpetuate his campaign.
“Freedom and bread! How memorable!” Aaron reacted in
disgust.
“Hitler has a monster of a campaign and Hindenburg is
essentially resting on his reputation as former president.”
“Hitler won’t win,” Robert said, squeezing through the opened
crack in the door. Aaron and Eli both jerked their heads up
at Robert. “He won’t have enough supporters and he knows
it. This is just a ploy to gain more Nazi sympathy and
followers.” Robert closed the door behind him.
Aaron’s eyes sharpened in the corners, “And it’s working.
His influence has already reached into our law offices. What’s
next, synagogues?”
“I don’t know,” Robert said with sincerity, “but he has another
speech scheduled in Berlin today and there’s a Nazi rally
downtown.”
Robert handed a Nazi pamphlet to Eli, who stood to take
it. “This was handed to me this morning on my way to work.”
The pamphlet read: The Sensationalist Newspapers Lie! Biased and
racial slurs filled the pages, propitiating a Nazi world
view. Eli clutched it in his hands, then crumbled it,
thudding heavily onto his seat.
The work day was long as all days were without Rebecca at his
side, but this day was worse, because Eli could see the grip of the
Nazi party tightening like a rope around the neck of the country he
grew up in, of the country he once loved. Eli walked to his
old Audi and drove home for the day, seeing plastered over the city
walls posters of Hitler and his Nazi campaign.
Some announced sixteen simultaneous mass meetings in Berlin on
the problem of unemployment, 5,600,000 demand work, and some
stated:
“Germans! Give your answer to the System! Elect Hitler! Everyone
knew this system meant a pejorative Nazi term for the Weimar
Republic, blamed for the problems the country faced.
Other posters came more to the point of the problem, to the very
core of Germany’s economic collapse, stating, “The Jews are our
misfortune,” after the meeting by Julius Streicher, a leading Nazi
who stood by the displayed words during his speech. Posters
plastered with Jewish and African derogatory comments became more
frequent and more widely accepted. Eli slid behind the wheel
of his car, tugging on his pale grey tie with sparkle on its
opposite side which reminded him of Rebecca on New Year’s Eve.
He drove over the roads he grew up on as a child, riding his
bicycle and falling from it for the first time, over the roads he
walked to school on, over the roads he had his first kiss.
When he parked his Audi and plodded to his apartment building, he
grabbed his chest at pains burning inside, though no such physical
sensation was there, before opening the front metallic door with
its broken latch.
* * *
Rebecca spent the first half of her day at University, preparing
to end her courses in March and pick up her Bachelor’s of Science
diploma. She could taste the thrill of completion in her
mouth. It took her longer than four years, but she was proud
of her accomplishment.
The second half of the day, she cleaned up spills and served
food at the local diner, offering everyone a smile, even those
“Not very busy for me these days.” Aaron’s lip curled. “My
colleagues, Cynthia and Robert from the party, have no trouble
finding new clients. I, on the other hand, am having a hard
time holding on to my old ones.”
“Sorry,” Eli said in a soft voice, both of them knowing the
reason wasn’t that he was a bad lawyer, but that he looked too
Jewish.
Aaron ruffled his fingers through his dark curly hair.
“You’re lucky. You get to work with your father. He
makes sure you acquire clients.”
“Even our business has lessened this year. The Nazis are
first-rate at spreading propaganda.” Eli glanced over the newspaper
again, reading the quotes enclosed: “Freedom and Bread,” was
printed underneath Hitler’s picture as his personal slogan to
perpetuate his campaign.
“Freedom and bread! How memorable!” Aaron reacted in
disgust.
“Hitler has a monster of a campaign and Hindenburg is
essentially resting on his reputation as former president.”
“Hitler won’t win,” Robert said, squeezing through the opened
crack in the door. Aaron and Eli both jerked their heads up
at Robert. “He won’t have enough supporters and he knows
it. This is just a ploy to gain more Nazi sympathy and
followers.” Robert closed the door behind him.
Aaron’s eyes sharpened in the corners, “And it’s working.
His influence has already reached into our law offices. What’s
next, synagogues?”
“I don’t know,” Robert said with sincerity, “but he has another
speech scheduled in Berlin today and there’s a Nazi rally
downtown.”
Robert handed a Nazi pamphlet to Eli, who stood to take
it. “This was handed to me this morning on my way to work.”
The pamphlet read: The Sensationalist Newspapers Lie! Biased and
racial slurs filled the pages, propitiating a Nazi world
view. Eli clutched it in his hands, then crumbled it,
thudding heavily onto his seat.
The work day was long as all days were without Rebecca at his
side, but this day was worse, because Eli could see the grip of the
Nazi party tightening like a rope around the neck of the country he
grew up in, of the country he once loved. Eli walked to his
old Audi and drove home for the day, seeing plastered over the city
walls posters of Hitler and his Nazi campaign.
Some announced sixteen simultaneous mass meetings in Berlin on
the problem of unemployment, 5,600,000 demand work, and some
stated:
“Germans! Give your answer to the System! Elect Hitler! Everyone
knew this system meant a pejorative Nazi term for the Weimar
Republic, blamed for the problems the country faced.
Other posters came more to the point of the problem, to the very
core of Germany’s economic collapse, stating, “The Jews are our
misfortune,” after the meeting by Julius Streicher, a leading Nazi
who stood by the displayed words during his speech. Posters
plastered with Jewish and African derogatory comments became more
frequent and more widely accepted. Eli slid behind the wheel
of his car, tugging on his pale grey tie with sparkle on its
opposite side which reminded him of Rebecca on New Year’s Eve.
He drove over the roads he grew up on as a child, riding his
bicycle and falling from it for the first time, over the roads he
walked to school on, over the roads he had his first kiss.
When he parked his Audi and plodded to his apartment building, he
grabbed his chest at pains burning inside, though no such physical
sensation was there, before opening the front metallic door with
its broken latch.
* * *
Rebecca spent the first half of her day at University, preparing
to end her courses in March and pick up her Bachelor’s of Science
diploma. She could taste the thrill of completion in her
mouth. It took her longer than four years, but she was proud
of her accomplishment.
The second half of the day, she cleaned up spills and served
food at the local diner, offering everyone a smile, even those
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