The Remnant - Stories of the Jewish Resistance in WWII (25 page)

When they reached camp one, the two decoys waited for them. They waited two days at camp two. Their lookouts saw no sign of either their friends or the Germans.

Finally, the survivors started back to the family camp.

When Major Hans Oberman was asked by his superiors who the attackers had been, he'd kept one bit of information, a startling fact, to himself. He knew it would have only added to their rage. He himself didn't want to believe it. The seven dead found in the woods the day after the raid proved it though-beyond a doubt-all circumcised.

Do I dare tell them, he wondered? A band of Jewish partisans operating under our noses! More insulting is the fact that these Jews have probably been operating in the area for more than a year-have been responsible, in fact, for most of the resistance activity in and around Kiev. To be outwitted by these sub-human Jews!

Oberman did not want the responsibility of suppressing this new information, but he decided against making the facts known at that first meeting. Better to tell only his Colonel who would share the brunt of the wrath if the facts came to common knowledge.

"What do you mean, Jews?" the Colonel exclaimed. "Jews are not capable of bravery. Are you mad? We will be committed as lunatics if we expound such a theory!"

"It's not a theory," Oberman said. "I have substantial proof."

"Proof, what proof?"

"Their dead, my proof is their dead. Whenever dead partisans have been left behind they are examined lest they carry hidden information. It is at once clear if they are Jews."

The Colonel had a blank expression on his face.

"They are circumcised, Colonel. Only the Jews mutilate their penises!"

"You mean to tell me all those dead were cut?"

"Every last one and in certain actions all the dead have been-as you say, 'cut.,' in others, none. To me that means there are non-Jewish and Jewish groups out there. Rozvazhev was all Jews. And many of the other operations of the past year have been all Jews. There is at least one very active Jewish resistance group out there. I've suspected it since the Goering Squadron event, but waited to make sure. This raid left no doubt in my mind."

The Colonel was silent a moment, his face scarlet. "Who have you told of this, Oberman?"

"I've only mentioned it to you and no one else, sir."

The Colonel took a long, deep, shaky breath. "For the time being, keep it that way." He pondered a long moment, then continued, "Have any ideas of how to wipe them out, these Jews?" He looked at Major Oberman with a stern expression and wrinkled brow and almost whispering added, "Before the information gets out?"

"I have some ideas. If you will come to my apartment tonight, I will show you what I've gathered."

"Your apartment?"

"Yes, Colonel. I want no one around here to see what data I've brought together."

"I see your point, Major. I'll be there."

"At nine."

"Nine."

The Colonel had never been to the Major's apartment. The Major greeted him at the door dressed in a smoking jacket. The Colonel was disturbed. He owned no civilian clothes. The military was his life. He had no room for anything else.

"Come in, sir," Oberman said graciously.

"Thank you," the Colonel replied uncomfortably. In the Colonel's office, Oberman was a subordinate to be belittled at whim. Here, the Colonel felt ill at ease, off balance.

"May I offer you a drink, sir?" Oberman asked with a smile. He'd registered the Colonel's discomfort and knew he would be listened to with greater respect.

"Schnapps, thank you."

"Excellent! I'll have the same." He poured the drinks slowly, giving the Colonel plenty of time to take in the opulence of the room. The apartment reflected both Oberman's flamboyant private life and his family's wealth. In one corner of the living room was a large credenza, which served as Oberman's bar. Other fine furnishings-those he had not confiscated from previous owners-he had bought at a fraction of their value or traded for favors. Several fine oils hung about the room. There was a beautiful floor to ceiling window that overlooked a park across the street below. The parquet floors were covered with fine oriental rugs. Nowhere in the Ukraine, under the Bolsheviks, could rugs such as those have been found.

The Colonel noticed a woman's coat hanging up in the corner on a large brass coat stand. He wondered whether it had been forgotten there or whether the owner was behind the closed door at the far end of the room. Ordinarily, it would have bothered the Colonel that his subordinate lived so much more luxuriously than himself, but he was too overwhelmed to brood about it now.

Bringing the drinks, Oberman asked, "Cigar? They are fine Dutch imports. In my opinion, no one makes better cigars than the Dutch."

The Colonel helped himself. He rolled the cigar between his fingers and sniffed its fragrance. He was impressed with the freshness and scent, but not nearly as impressed as when he looked at the black and gold cigar ring which displayed a family crest and the words, "Major Hans Oberman."

Oberman grinned with satisfaction, struck a match and held it to the Colonel's cigar. "I think you will enjoy it. I have them specially selected, wrapped and sent directly from Holland. If you like it, I will take the liberty of ordering some for you-with your name on them."

The expression of 'pleased surprise' on the Colonel's face was not lost on the Major. The Colonel nodded his approval as he drew in the first mild wisps of smoke.

"Well, shall we get down to work?" Oberman asked.

"Yes. What do you have to show me?"

Oberman brought a map over and rolled it out on the coffee table in front of the Colonel. Taking a seat on the sofa next to his superior, something he could never have done in the office, Oberman began.

"This is a map of Kiev and the countryside surrounding it within a hundred kilometer radius. I have made three separate markings on this overlay, you will notice. The 'X' marks represent acts of hostility against the occupation. Where there is a circle about the 'X' mark-like this one-circumcised dead were found. Now that information was not reported in the accounts of guerrilla actions. I had to go to the individual medical reports for that information. Those two groups of information were never filed together. But when I brought them together, these facts appeared." He pointed to a cluster of circled "Xs" on the map overlay.

"And what do these circles without the 'X's mean?" the Colonel asked.

"Those are points we have been fortunate enough to triangulate in on radio transmissions. Oh, they're smart, Colonel! They seldom broadcast for long, leaving us no time to fix on a location. But in a few instances we have been able to pinpoint them. Of course, they're never there when we search the area. They're too smart to transmit from their camps.

"Still, we have collected some information-and now it will tell us part of what we want to know!"

The Colonel leaned closer, studied the markings on the cellophane overlay in silence and finally said, "This is quite impressive, Oberman. Now just what do you conclude from this information?"

Major Hans Oberman smiled and raised one index finger. "First of all, if we take into account the dates of the actions represented by the circled 'X's, then we must conclude that these Jews have been active against us from almost the beginning of our occupation. I have to admit, I find it difficult to believe the Jews are capable of such actions, but I cannot come to any other conclusion. I fear we have become victims of our own propaganda. We underestimate what 'sub-humans' are capable of. We must change our attitude of them a bit."

"Is it possible others than Jews circumcise among these Ukrainians?" the Colonel asked.

"I assure you, Colonel, only the Jews do that. It's the same all over Europe and especially in the east. I understand that some non-Jews do this in America now, but here-they are Jews."

Oberman paused a moment to find his train of thought again. "Secondly, there are many guerrilla groups in the forests around Kiev. The wide range of territory in which these activities have taken place precludes there being only a few. They could not travel freely enough to cover such vast areas. I think there are many groups, which work independently, perhaps within a radius of fifty kilometers of their camps. Now, if that is true, these vast forests around Kiev could easily hide up to a hundred different resistance groups."

The Colonel was stunned. "Up to a hundred?"

"Absolutely and many wouldn't even run into each other. If they were in remote areas they could keep as isolated as they wanted. There are thousands of square kilometers of forests around here.

"Our best hope is to totally overpower them. We could be risking many lives and even then they might escape. To go into those woods blindly, with less than a hundred well armed men-that would be inviting disaster!

"Now, a second method might be more productive, but it would require knowing their exact locations."

The Colonel pondered Oberman's assessment of the situation.

"If we concentrate on circled 'X's," Oberman continued, "We see that they are concentrated in this area to the west and north of the city. Incidents have occurred outside this area a few times, but seldom to the east of Kiev-and seldom beyond this radius. The Rozvazhev raid, the Goering Squadron train and a few others are exceptions. I'm sure they're encamped in this large forest northeast of us.

"Of course, that area covers two thousand square kilometers. We must narrow it far more than that. If we assume that the radio transmissions in that same area are from them, then that will narrow it some more.

"Admittedly, there are very few transmissions from that area. We only have three to go by. But if we assume they would go less than twenty kilometers to transmit, then we've narrowed the camp location to within sixteen hundred square kilometers. That's still a large area but much less than the original."

A pleased expression crossed the Colonel's face.

"Now, Colonel, let me pose a question to you. Do we want to go after those Jews or shall we go after one of the other guerrilla groups?"

The question took the Colonel completely by surprise. "I don't understand you, Oberman. One minute you are brilliant and the next you ask a question like that-and I'm convinced you are completely mad! Why would we spare those Jew bastards, especially since they are responsible for Rozvazhev?"

"Not only Rozvazhev, but many other major actions," Oberman added. "But remember, you and I are the only ones who know that. And since I have these files it is unlikely that anyone else will find out-unless we make it known."

"Oberman, I still do not understand."

"Let me pour you another drink, Colonel and I will explain." He filled the glasses.

"Prost!"

The Colonel raised his glass in a silent salute. "Please explain yourself, Oberman."

"As I see it, Colonel, there will be great repercussions if it becomes known that the Jews have been operating under our noses in Kiev. You and I will bear the brunt. The high command will not be pleased to hear that Jewish sub-humans have been carrying on a guerrilla war against the finest army in the world for over a year-and undetected! Who do you think they will lay blame on for such a humiliation?

"Colonel, you and I will be made out to be fools, inferior to the subhuman Jew. I hate to think what our reward for such stupidity will be."

The Colonel saw Oberman's point. The wrath of the Reich would be upon them.

"What shall we do?" His voice was edged with fear.

Oberman was calm. He drew on his cigar and savored the smoke, which he exhaled slowly through pursed lips.

"It is simple. If we keep all this to ourselves, we can still be the heroes. I will see to it-with your permission, of course-that these medical reports never reappear. Without the corpse descriptions no one will ever know what they were. Germany's propaganda will go unquestioned. The Jews will be remembered as cowards who went like lambs to slaughter! And we will not be seen as fools and failures."

"How, how can we save the situation? What must we do?"

"As I said, it is simple. All our superiors want is to get the guerrillas. With this information, all we have to do is go after one of the other groups-from another area-where dead Jews have not been found. In fact, it will be easier to go after a group that's been careless about its activities and that resides in a smaller, more accessible forest."

Again there was silence as Oberman let his Colonel ponder. Finally, a smile crept over his face-a smile where strain had been moments before.

"Fate plays many strange tricks, but none of those partisans would ever believe that they're being saved because they are Jews!" Oberman grinned.

The irony was wasted on the Colonel. "Major, not 'saved' only 'reprieved.'"

A few days later, Oberman staged a raid on a small wooded area south of Kiev. His calculations indicated that a small guerrilla band was working out of that area. He sent an overpowering force, which annihilated the entire group. He'd ordered, "No prisoners!" The ruse worked. Their superiors were satisfied.

For Major Hans Oberman, however, the matter was not closed. He knew that the Jews were operating in the area and they would eventually come back to haunt him. As far as he was concerned, the decoy operation only bought him time. Sooner or later he would have to destroy the Jewish resistance fighters. Now he could take his time and do it quietly. He set about developing a plan to accomplish his own final solution.

After the Rozvazhev mission, the Jewish resistance fighters had to reorganize.

Moshe was dead.

Solomon and Yorgi became joint heads of the general command-Yorgi leader of all military matters, Sol to be responsible for all non-military matters. The rest of the general command was made up of Rachel, Uri, Father Peter, Ivan and Gregor. Ivan still lived on his farm with Sosha, but took part in many of the decisions of the community. He was their link to the outside world. During this reorganization Sol suddenly realized that he, Rachel, Uri and Ivan were among the few survivors of the original group. Time and battles had taken their toll.