Echoes Resounding from the Past: Hidden-Truth Poems

By Cheryl Freier

In essence, the most important word one will ever understand is truth, but within those five letters is a timeless mystery that has confounded philosophers, theologians, and sages throughout the centuries. What is truth? Who defines it? Who protects it?

What the Nazis did to in the last century cannot be changed, and day by day, new information challenges the worlds definition of truth in times of war. In 1943, when the Nazis came to take the Jews to camps during the siege of Slovakia, a man by the name of Joseph Frier arranged to have his four sons taken to a place of safety. There, the boys hid in fear for their very lives and were forced to make impossible decisions just to survive. Martin, the authors husband, was one of those boys. Against the overwhelming scale of human cruelty of those days, it is important to remember and celebrate smaller human stories of kindness, courage, and integrity.

During the Nazi occupation of Europe, fearful and weak men and women traded their souls to the devil. In this pitch-black part of world history, there were men and women who became champions of the truth and became heroes in the eyes of G-d forever. In remembering those who perished during this war, we pray for their souls as we remember our forefathers, Abraham, Issac, and Jacob, and our women patriarchs Rebecca, Rachel, and Leah.

Throughout human history, countless faceless champions emerged when needed. Sadly, for every hero, there were also those who succumbed to their baser, more cowardly impulses of self-preservation at any cost.

Echoes Resounding from the Past celebrates the truth of what it means to be a hero.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Dec 23, 2014
• ISBN: 9781496960283

Cheryl Freier

Cheryl Freier has lived in the Boston area for over 40 years. For many years, Cheryl taught young children in preschool; it is because of this great teaching experience that she grew to understand the importance of reading and children’s literature for young children. In the development of her illustrations, she has painstakingly tried to recreate images in a creative and appealing style of art for young children. She writes text for her storybooks in an exciting way, while she very deftly follows a Biblical theme or other theme that she knows the children have been familiar with and would like. She is excited over publishing two storybooks; the first is entitled, The Shepherd Boy And The Sheep Alphabet and the second storybook is entitled: Open The Gates In Jerusalem For The Queen Of Sheba. Both books are rich with flowing lines and bright, vivid colors. Both books are easy to read and the words and sentences flow from the beginning to the end of the book. Cheryl feels proud that she is enhancing her reach to the high level of literacy of the Boston area. She continues to seek themes of interest to young children.

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© 2014 Cheryl Freier. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse   05/18/2015

ISBN: 978-1-4969-6029-0 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4969-6028-3 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014922523

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Contents

Introduction

Chapter I This book is written in memoriam

Chapter II We are influenced

Chapter III This is the fifth novel in a series written in memoriam

Chapter IV Discussing Hitler

Chapter V My thinking about the past years

Chapter VI Survivors and American soldiers told stories about the war

Chapter VII Discussion on whether anyone knows the real reason for the holocaust

Chapter VIII Notable histories from the days of the Bible

Chapter IX Talking about war

Chapter X Scattered reports that Joseph Freier heard

Chapter XI The British genius for fighting the war

Chapter XII Some underlying causes of the war

Chapter XIII Other causes of the war

Chapter XIV Thoughts on hidden truths

Chapter XV Some leaders are born at the right time

Chapter XVI Thoughts if this war could happen again

war, WWII

Chapter XVII Hearing stories from immigrants

Chapter XVIII Interesting information about our country, America

Chapter XIX In the true spirit of our country, America

Chapter XX Reasons for coming to live in America

Chapter XXI Some information on me—Martin’s wife

Chapter XXII My father living in Brighton Beach, New York City

Chapter XXIII Hearing stories from immigrants

Chapter XXIV The Pharaoh Of Egypt Learns A Lesson

Chapter XXV Understanding that Hitler was a mad man

Chapter XXVI America has entered the war

Chapter XXVII Thoughts on affliction

Chapter XXVIII Walking while being captured

Chapter XXIX The boys realize they will need a safer place to hide

Chapter XXX The boys search the area for a safe place to hide

Chapter XXXI The boys experience the mystique and intrigue of the Castle

Chapter XXXII The fight between the wolves and the German officers

Chapter XXXIII The boys make their way back to the farm for refuge

Chapter XXXIV The boys continue their trek to escape from the Nazis

Chapter XXXV The Nazis attempt to take over the castle on the mound

Chapter XXXVI The boys elude the Germans and Find A Lady To Help Them

Chapter XXXVII The boys return home

List of Works Cited

Introduction

In all essence, throughout a lifetime, the most important word one will ever learn is truth. The meaning of the word, ‘truth’ has been studied by philosophers, theologians, kings and queens, and sages throughout time—during the centuries. The very existence of this word is unique, because the word has only one meaning no matter how you choose to explain the word. There are no different shades of meanings of this word as there are different shades of color. The word truth expresses how things looked or occurred at the moment that an event took place. It is a momentary meaning of a word that cannot be added to or taken from; in essence nothing can be changed or it is not the truth. What the Nazis did in World War II cannot be changed. History is revealing slowly the truth about what happened. Historians are finding remains of skeletons in death camps. These camps were covered up, camouflaged, and buried so that no one would ever have proof of what the truth really was—of what really happened.

This is the story when the Nazis came to take Jews to their camps during the Nazi siege of Slovakia in November of 1943. Joseph Freier arranged to have his four sons taken to a farm in the neighboring town for their safety. This is the story of the four brothers who hid in the back of a barn on a farm in a neighboring town. Enmtrenched, they were safe for a while; and they befriended the wife of the farmer. The wife felt sorry for their plight and brought them soup, fresh bread, and cookies every night. She made every effort to help them.

The boys could have hidden in the back of the barn for the duration of the war, but they had learned to accept the truth as it was. When the boys heard people talking on the farm about Jews, they realized that some farmers were collaborating with the local Nazi officials; and they decided that it was time for them to escape into the woods. It was a bold move and fraught with danger, but they realized the truth as it was for that moment, and they knew that they had no choice. They had to survive.

Little was known about the family’s efforts to survive and elude the Nazis; Yet their efforts to survive a war in which every day was a new triumph of resistance against evil, stands out as heroism in the highest order. The story of their adventures into the unknown in order to escape the Nazis should be told. So many people perished without resistance. The few who survived the war had stories to tell of their every day triumph over fear and nostalgia.

In order to gain the full sense of the feeling of the full momentum of the ‘truth’ in the time of the Nazi occupation of Slovakia, the author of this novel has chosen to depict and write about heroes of other times in world history that tested men’s freedom. Throughout the centuries and the history of wars, there were persons who changed for the worse and became cowards of time. However, also in times of war, there were persons who rose to the occasion of truth and became heroes. This book speaks of the truth of heroes. This book speaks the truth about the dangers and the lack of regard for human life during wartime.

In the truth about this period of history—during the Nazi occupation of Europe, fears overcame weak men and women as they traded their souls for the devil. And in this dark, pitch black part of world history, there were men and women who became champions of the truth and became heroes in the eyes of G-d forever. In remembering those who perished during this war, we pray for their souls as we remember our forefathers, Abraham, Issac, and Jacob and our women patriarchs Rebecca, Rachel, and Leah.

Chapter I

This book is written in memoriam

I believe that my husband’s spirit is with me. I will not fear for he is there to help me. For his constancy of good and loving, I am writing this book in memoriam to him. This book is a composite of historical ideas—some fact and some fictional, but the story reveals an actual experience during WWII that he and his brothers experienced, and they were lucky enough to escape from.

I had a good life with my husband. There was always food on the table, the bills were paid, and we were happy living in our split-ranch home. He was equally adored by his daughters. These last few years have been the hardest for me. I have had to adjust to loneliness. It is more than a simple loneliness—I miss my husband—missing ‘him and his goodness’ is the part of the loss that I realize now that I will never overcome. I just have to go on with my life. I have had to take care of the bills. I had to take care of myself. Remaining in our home has been what has helped me to minimize my thoughts and emotions over his loss. Our children have been a comfort for me. I know that his, Martin’s spirit is with me. I know that G-d is there to comfort me and to urge me onward. It is still hard. The adjustment to widowhood is phenomenally difficult for me. I miss my husband and will particularly always miss his sense of wonder and of peace.

What do either you or I know about the meaning of the word: ‘truth’? The word truth is a simple word to read, but its meaning has vast knowledge—that is why truth is called a hidden truth; the word truth, too, is an ever encompassing word that has meanings throughout the world’s millions of people.

The word truth is presented in the dictionary as equal to any other word. But when you think about the word’s meaning, you begin to realize that the five letter word may indeed be one of the most meaningful, the most powerful word in the English Dictionary. Indeed, the truth may very well be that this word is the most powerful word that has ever been created in the world. Not only does the word have serious meaning of good intentions in any language, but the word truth by itself is a signal for foremost thinking in most every religion that has ever existed in the world.

Men have always searched for the truth since the beginning of man’s life on this earth. Man is still searching for the truth—the mysteries in life; the reasons for human habitation; the sources of conception; newer and better sources of nutrition; education of the mind and the soul for positive thinkers; truths within genetic structures. Philosophers spoke of the caveman coming out of darkness and coming into the light. The philosophers were speaking of the truth as the light that comes out of the darkness.

Man will always search for the truth and justice as long as we have people who are allowed to think and act for ourselves. History shows us that the prophets in the Bible spread the word of the truth; philosophers throughout the ages spread the truth about the world for the people in an effort to help people see hope and understand faith. World religions like Christianity and Judaism have been founded in search of the truth.

Yet history has shown time and time again—that world leaders who are aggressors and cause wars—disregard any concept even remotely related to the meaning behind the word truth. Why? For one reason, history has shown that aggressors who conquer other nations were bullies and these bullies have deceived themselves time after time concerning what the true meaning of the word truth stands for.

From reading the anthology of the well worded, pleasant, carefully chosen poems, written in the book: Hidden Truths, written by Martin Freier: three poems are all included in the recently published book, The Day Of The Hidden Truth Poems: the ending stanza of the poem, called itself by the name, Hidden Truths reads as follows:

Rain follows

A day full of sun,

And there is a storm

After each calm day

That is cold or warm.

But why so much

Hatred and fury

In a world of plenty?"

Basically, the Jews returned to their homeland, Israel, as the annals in history tells us, after 2,000 years of wandering. Were we wandering? In a way yes, because we were away from our homeland that was assigned by G-d. The ownership of our homeland, Israel, can be proven in the Bible by the purchase of the cave of Machpelah by one of our patriarchs, Abraham. This is an undeniable truth. While we were wandering, we were a people that assimilated within the groups of people in the countries that we lived in. We immersed ourselves into their customs and we grew with every experience. We still kept our identity, however, as Jews for many of us, because we followed and read the same stories in the Bible that are being read by our children today. So where then did we go wrong? What turned the tide of a good people like the German people against us when the Nazis were in power? I do not know and maybe the answer is time itself. Maybe the answer is that anyone with wrong intentions does catch the attention, unfortunately, of good people. People look for leadership to follow to this very day, but back in those times, people in Germany were seekingin a sense their own form of redemption from losing a very difficult and very long, drawn out war, and any leader who could give them back their sense of national identity was the one that they were going to follow. Of one thing I am certain, it is a miracle that we as Jews have come back to our ancient land. That is a truth. Out of the ashes and flying sparks of the Holocaust, and the many sounds of the echoes resounding from the past centuries, we exist as a people today. G-d has shown his countenance upon us as a chosen people. Are there other chosen people? Of course there are. G-d shines his light on anyone who wishes to do good and who is willing to help other people.

Chapter II

We are influenced

There is the thought that whom we become as persons and what we accomplish in life is to a large extent determined by what we see and were exposed to. We are amenable at any age to new influences, new thoughts and interpretations of rights, and new thoughts on dangers and fears. As we grow older, our thoughts, almost indelibly influenced by previous learning and experiences, begin to meld with others outside of our family and community. The light from the outside—new meanings of relationships and happenings, begins to shine brighter within us. We begin to become the originators of newer thoughts of more colorful horizons; we begin to feel better about our interpretations and shades of meaning as the time passes on; and ultimately, we reach the climax of growth and self-awareness—an awareness for approval of ourselves and others and this becomes our personal sense of truth.

As it is written in the Bible books in many religions we bless G-d for giving us what we have in material terms and bless G-d for his blessings that he has bestowed to make us have children, to make us do wonders with our abilities, to make us help others who are truly in need, for his blessings to give us life that we may breathe the air that he provides, that we may sing praises for all that he has given us. King of the universe, who has kept us alive, sustained us, and brought us to this season. These words pronounced in sound and elucidated in speech, and felt with our hearts and our souls are written into the Bible and recited often in our prayers have been handed down to us from generations and generations. These prayers have sustained us as a people even in the most tragic times.