Miriam

Adran Wistreich

Description

This novel is based on a true story about the fate of a family of wealthy Jews trapped in Poland during World War 2.   Miriam, a privileged and educated woman from a middle-class family, entered into an arranged marriage in 1919. Their family life was undermined by Otto’s long-term affair with his business partner’s wife, which resulted in the birth of two illegitimate children. Miriam, who knew of the affair, but not the paternity, chose to remain in the marriage, in order to enjoy the luxuries of their lifestyle, and for their three children to whom she was devoted.

When war broke out, Miriam and Otto were effectively living apart, and against her better judgement, Miriam agreed to Otto’s demand that she return from a trip to France to their home in Krakow. Within a week, Poland was invaded by Hitler's forces, and soon after by Stalin’s.

Miriam and her young daughter, Anna, left Krakow 24 hours before the Nazis arrived, but was caught between the German and Soviet forces as they divided Poland.  Settling in Russian occupied Lwow, they learned to live a hand to mouth existence.  In 1941, when Hitler declared war on Russia and as his forces were about to overwhelm Lwow, Miriam was saved by an SS Officer, an old friend from Vienna.

Chapter 1: Marriage

Chapter 2: Vichy

Chapter 3: Paris

Chapter 4: Maryla

Chapter 5: Leaving Paris

Chapter 6: Nord Express

Chapter 7: Berlin

Chapter 8: Krakow

Chapter 9: Leaving Krakow

Chapter 10: Naleczow

Chapter 11: Journey to Lwow

Chapter 12: Lwow

Chapter 13: Work

Chapter 14: Ania and Isidor

Chapter 15: Valuables

Chapter 16: Maryla

Chapter 17: Factions

Chapter 18: Winter 1940

Chapter 19: Paul

Chapter 20: The Kitchen

Chapter 21: June 1941

Chapter 22: Leaving Lwow

Chapter 23: Krakow

Chapter 24: Moving On

Chapter 25: Relative Safety

Chapter 26: Aden

Chapter 27: Absolution

Chapter 28: Flight

Chapter 29: Mussourie

Chapter 30: Kilburn 1972

Acknowledgement

Sujets

• Nazismo
• Hardship
• Nazism
• War Story
• The Holocaust
• Fate
• Woman
• World War II
• Saved
• Adolf Hitler
• Nazisme
• Survival
• Family
• Poland
• Germany
• War
• True Story
• Novel
• Suspense
• Thriller
• Holocauste

Informations

• Publié par: Kinsale Pottery
• Date de parution: 30 janvier 2019
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781912328321
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Miriam

by Adrian Wistreich
Copyright © Adrian Wistreich, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-912328-32-1
All intellectual property rights including copyright, design right and publishing rights rest with the author, Adrian Wistreich. No part of this book may be copied, reproduced, stored or transmitted in any way including any written, electronic, recording, or photocopying without written permission of the author. Although every precaution has been taken to verify the accuracy of the information contained herein, the author and publisher assume no responsibility for any errors or omissions. The rights for images used remain with the originator. Published in Ireland by Orla Kelly Publishing.

Orla Kelly Publishing, 27 Kilbrody, Mount Oval, Rochestown Cork
For my friend David Dalton
Contents
Chapter 1: Marriage
Chapter 2: Vichy
Chapter 3: Paris
Chapter 4: Maryla
Chapter 5: Leaving Paris
Chapter 6: Nord Express
Chapter 7: Berlin
Chapter 8: Krakow
Chapter 9: Leaving Krakow
Chapter 10: Naleczow
Chapter 11: Journey to Lwow
Chapter 12: Lwow
Chapter 13: Work
Chapter 14: Ania and Isidor
Chapter 15: Valuables
Chapter 16: Maryla
Chapter 17: Factions
Chapter 18: Winter 1940
Chapter 19: Paul
Chapter 20: The Kitchen
Chapter 21: June 1941
Chapter 22: Leaving Lwow
Chapter 23: Krakow
Chapter 24: Moving On
Chapter 25: Relative Safety
Chapter 26: Aden
Chapter 27: Absolution
Chapter 28: Flight
Chapter 29: Mussourie
Chapter 30: Kilburn 1972
Acknowledgement
C H A P T E R 1

Marriage
W e had been married for three years when Otto first slept with another woman. It wasn’t until much later that he admitted it to me, during one of those bitter arguments about his behavior and my coolness toward him. He told me then that she was a younger friend of his father’s mistress, whom he’d been introduced to on a short business trip, and he took advantage of the opportunity because he was sexually frustrated. He blamed me for his frustration because I had not allowed him to visit my bedroom since our eldest was born, who was now two. Otto claimed that he had felt nothing for the woman and put the night down to too much drink. He described his infidelity as ‘necessary medicine for an ailment’, and that as a result he had felt cured. He told me he had not felt guilty because I knew nothing about it, and he clearly persuaded himself that this was the only way to manage when I was just not interested in him on a personal level.
In the summer of 1918, when I was just twenty-one, my family and I had travelled to Pisztany, in Czechoslovakia, for six weeks at the spa. We were staying in the Thermia Palace, where all the royalty stayed, and I was with my uncle and aunt, who were also my guardians since my mother passed away when I was twelve. I can’t recall where my brother was. He certainly wasn’t with us that summer, but perhaps he was still away at boarding school, or at one of those sports camps he loved as a teenager. My older sister, Ania, must have been there, but I don’t remember spending time with her, as she was already engaged to be married.
Uncle David stayed for a few days before returning to Krakow, but even while we were there, he spent his time with his network of business associates talking shop. Otto’s father, Lolek Weiner was there, taking the waters and enjoying the spa with a younger woman I’d never seen before. She must have thought herself very exotic, but everyone else noticed how over-dressed and heavily made up she was. She had a husky voice from smoking Turkish tobacco. I didn’t recognise her from Krakow, and avoided talking to her, but years later, Otto told me she was his father’s mistress, Franzi. I’d met Lolek a few times before that summer, when he came to our home, and I hated his visits, because he was, frankly, far too familiar in his greetings. He stared at my décolletage when he bowed, insisted on kissing my hand at every opportunity, and regularly winked at me across the dinner table, while dropping double entendres. I couldn’t say anything to my aunt about the offense he caused me, because Uncle David enjoyed his company and treated him with undue respect.
Lolek had recently brought Otto into Weiner’s Tannery to work in his Krakow office, and was interested in taking shares in Papa and Uncle David’s timber company if he could. After discussing a merger, during which he must have emphasised Otto’s prospects for taking over the tannery, he and David arranged for Otto to be introduced to me at the regular hotel soiree. This was quite normal during the season, and the hotel ballroom was set out with a large number of tables around the dance floor with just this type of introduction in mind. Debutante balls were hugely popular in France and England, and the manager of the Thermia Palace tried to keep up with all the fashions.
At the soiree, David saw Otto wandering between the tables and called him over, making introductions to Aunt Jadzhia and me, and then we all had tea. Conversation was stilted, and even though Aunt Jadzhia spent some time telling Otto how accomplished I was at painting and drawing, in the kitchen and with my secretarial studies, she and David finally gave up trying to get him to talk directly to me. I remember being bored by him when we first met, and far more interested in the women around us, parading the latest fashions. He and David began to talk about business then, and I paid little attention to them until Otto stood and made his excuses. David and Jadzhia exchanged meaningful looks as he was taking his leave but said nothing. They seemed to be very keen on his meeting us all again, so despite his complete failure to engage me in conversation, and his lack of civility, Otto decided to ask if I might consider his calling on me the next day.
As expected of me, I had to accept his invitation, and we arranged to meet at 4pm in the conservatory, where Otto would reserve a table for tea. I arrived at the requisite time of 4.10pm, and Otto bowed. The sandwiches and cakes were already at the table, along with the silver tea service. Otto clearly didn’t like to waste time.
“Your uncle is a very smart businessman, you know,” he said. “We have worked closely together for some time, and my father and I are very impressed with his hardwood supply.” As an opening remark, it was enough to make me lose concentration and to focus on the dancing. Otto was completely ill at ease with small talk and hadn’t a notion of what would interest me.
“Do you live with David and his wife? I don’t want to appear nosey, but are you orphaned?”
“No, my father is alive, but he is not in a position to take on parental duties as well as his work, so he has always looked to my uncle and aunt for support. Since my mother passed, I have been their ward. Papa is a sleeping partner in Uncle David’s company. I am sure your father has met him at our house, on occasion.”
I looked at him, trying to read his thoughts, and hoping to feel some spark, but he was staring at the tablecloth. I didn’t find him in the least bit attractive. He was a short, square sort of man with a short neck and broad shoulders. He wore a moustache, which was supposed to be a handlebar, in the style of the Hussars, but hadn’t reached maturity, and he wore spectacles. His eyes reminded me of the Mongolian or Russian races, and he had quite sallow skin. I thought then that his family might have originated from further east, but he didn’t display the elegance of those races, and certainly didn’t capture my imagination in a romantic or exotic way.
“Ah yes. I see…” Clearly his conversation topics had already evapourated. “And David tells me you’ve studied in secretarial college. Did you consider helping with in the timber company?” Perhaps he thought this was a modern thing to say, since it was quite unusual for young ladies to work in offices. He’d clearly been briefed about me by Uncle David. I had absolutely no interest in working in the family firm, and it was quite inappropriate that I was presented in this way to people, however modern it might sound. Why couldn’t they present me as an individual in her own right?
“I have spent some time in his office, helping out when they are very busy, but my health prevents me from spending too long at the typewriter, and besides, I would prefer to be painting. People tell me I have quite a talent for the arts. I would have preferred to study at art school, you know, but my father thought otherwise.”
Papa was not interested in what I wanted for myself. To him, women should be treated as chattels, to be traded in business, or as housekeepers to serve their elders. He would never agree to my artistic aspirations, and he just wanted to marry me off to an eligible man with prospects. I remember looking at Otto then and wondering whether David and Papa thought he was someone I should marry.
“I do so admire those with artistic leanings. It must have been hard for you to be directed towards office work if you wanted to be an artist.” That raised my interest in Otto. I thought that there might yet be some hope for him, if that’s what he thought, but in his next breath, he wiped away my hope that he could be different from other men.
“My mathematical mind doesn’t draw me in that direction, but I am sure one needs an artist’s eye for choosing one’s wardrobe, or decor.” So that was what he thought about creativity. That a woman should hone her artistic talents in order that she could help her husband with his interior design needs! Not satisfied with one faux pas, he just kept going.
“And do you have other hobbies? Do you like sewing or cooking? Do tell me what