1938, November 10th

Berlin, Germany

Leo

   The next day we were met with a gruesome sight. Our nearest synagogue near home was ransacked and ablaze. Houses were empty, children and women screaming in fright. Shop houses were raided and a trail of glass was left in the streets. Matteo made his way past me and tried to help up a crippled  old man, his face slashed with red, his eyes deep-sunken, and blood trickled down his temple.

"What happened ?"Matteo asked softly.

"Sicherheitspolizei, Sie haben meine Familie getötet.Was für eine Tragödie," he stuttered. Frau Engels und Fräulein Engels waren nicht da.

"Entschuldigen Sie meinen Herr,"Replied Matteo.

The old man's breath cut short,

and he was gone.

"Matteo,wir können ihm nicht helfen, lass uns gehen,"I told Matteo, gently nudging him to let go.

But Matteo stood rooted to the spot, the dead man at his feet. He turned to look at me, his eyes overflowing with tears.

"so many lives lost….so many dead,"

"Matteo, I…" I sighed in exasperation and walked towards him. He wrapped his arms around my waist and buried his face in my shoulder, sobbing.

   I made Matteo eat a bit and went to do some grocery shopping. we had very little and we needed to salvage as much as we could. the Nazis made us ration everything, from sugar to flour, and even meat became rare. I stopped by to get a copy of the Vossische Zeitung