Schideler's Goal

By C. Lark

It's 1943. Poland has just been invaded, and all the Jews are to board trains headed to the camps. They are told that they are going to work camps; but they are headed to extermination camps... After losing everything including her family, Annishia joins the resistance and decides to save the Jews from Auschwitz; she realizes that she is in danger. She struggles to make sure that the Nazis never find out what she is doing. One day, someone turns her in, and she is abducted by the Nazis. She is sent to Auschwitz where she vows to help the Jews escape. She becomes a house servant of an officer who commands his soldiers to "kill them all." Now she is challenged with living out her vow or protecting herself. What will she choose? This novel tells a story through the eyes of Annishia, a seventeen-year-old girl who loses everything including her family. She becomes part of the resistance and embarks on a mission to save the lives of six hundred Jews from the horrors of Auschwitz during what was the most horrid years. This is a story to help people never forget history and the value of human life, and to show how to forgive the unforgivable.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Feb 17, 2020
• ISBN: 9781098011567

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Schideler's Goal

C. S. Lark

Copyright © 2019 by C. S. Lark

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible King James Version, public domain.

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 1

Let me out, one woman screams as we speed up.

Don’t worry, it can’t be that bad. We’ll find our clothes and luggage when we get there. I don’t think they intend to hurt us. I mean, how bad can it really be? We’ll be home before you know it, I say trying to comfort her.

Annishia, answers Ingrid, you do not understand. We are not going to work. We are going to be kil—

No talking in there! A guard yells, pure hatred and anger in his voice.

Why are we here? What have we done? How have we wronged you? asks the woman, courageously disobeying strict orders.

You have committed the worst possible crime anyone can commit. And next time you ask why, I will not be so kind as to answer, hollers the guard with a menacing tone that could slice through a rock.

As we come to a stop, the guard let us out for a little air. I am still unsure why I am here, I think. Where am I? Will the Resistance know that I am gone? Where is my family? Maybe I should ask. No, I better not. I could get hurt, after all I am only seventeen; what do I know? Not much, since I am here. Annishia, stop being hard on yourself! Just ask, it doesn’t hurt to ask. My heart is pounding, and I am shaking as I walk up to the guard. He doesn’t look any older than me.

Ex-excuse me sir, but have you seen my mother and father?

Beat it, kid. I have work to do, and you’re in my way, he screams. His face becoming bright red as he turns back around. Everyone, line up for a check. Two lines. Those essential workers and non-essential.

I wonder what his name is. Maybe if I address him by his name, he will answer my question. As he rotates toward me, I get a glimpse of his badge.

Gustavus, it reads.

"Entschuldigung, Mr. Gustavus, have you seen my family?"

You’re not going to leave me alone until I answer, are you? Yes, I have seen your family. There, I answered you. Now get in line.

Have you any idea what happened to them?

"Augh, you’re the most annoying girl I have met! They’re dead, okay? They’re dead as a dog. I will answer no more and have already answered too much. Now get in line! Next time you ask, you may just find yourself dead too."

I begin to think. My family is dead? How? Why? They did nothing wrong, yet it appears they did. Why are we being treated like animals? I don’t understand.

Thump, thump, thump. I look out the window to see the Wehrmacht marching in neat rows down the sidewalk. One of the soldiers looks at me. His eyes are as cold as ice, and his mouth is drawn into a tight white line. That look sends a shiver down my spine. I remember what Mrs. Wonderban had said, They are called the Nazis. I don’t know exactly what their job is, but I do know that they work for the führer. Stay out of their way, and you will be fine.

Even though I live in Poland, I am German. That doesn’t always mean that I agree with the führer on everything that he decides to do, but I do love the Deutschland. Lately, there seems to be more tension between the German Army and the Jews. The Nazis seem to hate the Jews. They blame the Jews for everything that happens and confiscate their homes, sending them to the ghettos. From there, the Jews are sent to concentration camps. We never see or hear of them again. People are suspicious and don’t say anything to anyone about what they are doing because children, family, friends, and other people are turning them in.

The Jews are protesting and fighting against the Nazis using pistols, grenades, and knives. It all started when the underground Jewish resistance felt that it was time to take a stand for what is right and stop being mistreated. The Nazis have burned down the houses and have taken many Jews captive to send them to the camps. People are calling this the ghetto uprising of 1943.

Walking to school, I hear bloodcurdling screams. Turning around, I see a Nazi breaking a window and shattering the glass in a girl’s face. The girl is crying and screaming for someone to help her. As she looks at me, I stand there horrified and scared. I do nothing to help her. I begin to turn away when I hear her scream again.

Mickael looks back and says to me, If you go and help her, you’ll be treated like that as well.

As I walk into the classroom, I can’t get her screams out of my head. They torment me all day, and I can’t do any of the assignments. There must be a way out for those poor people. There must be something that I can do to help, I think. But what?

Walking home, everything is quiet. A little too quiet. There is that feeling in the air—you know the one you get when something is not as it ought to be. Like the one you get when you walk alone at night and you hear a branch snap. Approaching the house, the feeling intensifies.

Mickael, I say, sind Mama und Papa heute irgendwo hingegangen?

Du meinst, hat Dad zur Arbeit gehen? Nun ja, das tat er; oder zumindest glaube ich, dass er es tat. Aber er sollte jetzt zu Hause sein, warum es fast 6:30. Und mom war den ganzen Tag zu Hause, außer für einen schnellen Lauf in den Laden heute Morgen.

War das alles?

Ja, ich denke schon, he says in a sure tone.

Did Mom or Dad have any visitors? I enquire, switching to English as I become frantic.

Neither of them mentioned anything about visitors. Mom did mention that she was going to be baking food for a dinner that Dad is hosting on Friday. But she wasn’t going to start baking until tomorrow, and she never said a word about visitors.

That’s odd, I remark. The door is open halfway. Mom and Dad always lock the door when they leave. Slowly, we walk closer, not knowing what awaits us. Peering in, it is eerily silent. "Mutter…" I call. I don’t see her.

We search the house. Turning at the corner into the living room, we see something horrifying. Blood…

Should we call the police? I ask mopping up the blood.

Won’t do any good, he responds so seriously I jump. "I am