Chapter 3
Things began to change in Celle, small and unnoticeable in the beginning but then slowly over time they began to escalate. Signs began to appear in store shops and cafes with the inscription ''Keine Juden erlaubt!'' or ''No Jews Allowed!'' Bicycles were no longer allowed as were radios. Curfew became stricter. People disappeared, most likely fleeing from the unknown. Food became scarcer and scarcer and the people of Celle were issued ration cards with which to buy their necessities. Soldiers became more hostile, no longer mixing with the townspeople as they had before. They seemed to be preparing for something.
The very air seemed to change as well. Everyone became suspicious of one another and tensions ran high. Liesabet's father became extremely nervous and she could hear him and her mother staying up and talking late into the night and she had a fairly good idea why. It was because of her mother and her. It was common knowledge around town that if one was discovered to be Jewish, they would simply disappear as if they never existed, to where no one knew.
During this time neither Liesabet nor her mother were let out of the house barely at all per her father's direct orders. Liesabet was forced to quit school and the orchestra which had broken her heart. At her last practice she had burst into tears and was unable to play. Her friends had gathered around her to comfort her and she was grateful but it was no use.
Rory grew just as nervous as her father, coming over nearly every night to check on her. One night he appeared with a black eye and a split lip which he had tried to conceal. She demanded an explanation and he replied quietly and after much hesitation that two soldiers had told him that they knew he was having a relationship with a Jewish girl and had commanded that he tell them her name. He had of course denied it and they had beaten him up out of sight in an alleyway where no one could hear.
Tears streamed down her face and he took her into his arms to try and comfort her.
''Rory, you have to stop coming to see me'', she tried to convince him.
''A bloody lip isn't going to stop me from seeing you'', he said with determination in his voice.
''But next time it's going to be more than a bloody lip, I can't live with that Rory, I can't let you fight for me like this'', she said her voice cracking as she ran her fingertips lightly over his bruised face.
''It's not your decision to make Liesabet, it's my life. I love you'', he said gently and covered her mouth with his own preventing her from protesting any more.
As much as he tried to console and reassure her however one could not ignore the rumors that were flying about like tumbleweeds in the wind. Her family no longer knew what to believe any more. From her bedroom window she could clearly see four houses on her street with the word ''Juden'' painted in large red letters across their doors, the scarlet brush strokes dripping down like fingers of blood to the doormats. It had appeared overnight when Celle was asleep. Her father talked of moving them to Poland before it was too late but Liesabet feared that it already was. By that time not even her father left the house. Their family ran out of food yet they dared not leave. They were forced to make do with whatever they could find and what a few compassionate neighbors were able to sneak them. But then even that ceased, people were just too afraid.
Life for Liesabet's family continued on in this way for roughly two weeks. And then just when they felt something had to give, it did. Around midday on a Thursday three large trucks covered with thick green canvas pulled onto Liesabet's street. Slowly creeping to the windows, Liesabet watched as a large group of soldiers poured out of the trucks and headed for one of the houses with the painted doors. She watched with dread as they pounded savagely on the door for several minutes and then after receiving no answer it was broken down and they rushed inside.
Screaming ensued and several minutes later their neighbors were dragged from their homes and thrown into the trucks. They were allowed to take nothing with them but the clothes on their backs. Their faces were expressions of pure panic and fear. Their eyes darted about wildly searching for an escape. Several of the men did not leave quietly and were quickly beaten into submission with the end of a rifle butt. When the soldiers were finished loading the people they re-entered the homes and ransacked them taking whatever they wanted and what they didn't want was strewn out of the windows. A lifetime's worth of possessions flew through the air and settled on the streets like rubbish. Liesabet could hear a mournful wailing from the trucks and could feel something inside herself break. Feeling her mother's presence behind her she turned to bury her face in her shoulder and the two of them sobbed quietly together.
When the soldiers at long last had finished their duty and the trucks finally rattled away Liesabet's family all sat down, not knowing what else to do as panic took hold in their minds. Should they stay? Should they try to leave? Her father, sweating profusely through his shirt, declared in a shaking voice barely above a whisper that they were leaving the next morning and ordered them to pack only what was necessary. It took them a little under an hour and they sat the rest of the afternoon in silence, afraid to breath or make any sort of sound. When darkness came they dared not even light a candle.
That night Liesabet waited for Rory for hours, praying for him to come. She couldn't bear the thought of him coming back the next night to find her gone. She longed to see him one last time but he never came. At long last she gave up and while fighting back tears of disappointment, tried to get some sleep. But sleep was to evade her as she was rudely awoken sometime later to a loud thumping on the front door downstairs. She sat straight up in bed, paralyzed with fear. She could hear stirring from her parent's room and the sound of her mother beginning to weep.
She made out the figure of her father hurrying past her bedroom door hastily yanking his arms through the sleeves of his robe and going down the stairs, taking them two at a time. She crept out of bed herself and and slipped down the hallway to the top of the stairs desperate to discover what was going on. The furious knocking began again and before her father could grasp the doorknob a heavy boot connected with the door, sending it flying open and her father reeling to the floor.
Five Nazi soldiers flooded into their home and stood at attention as the man who she presumed to be in charge stalked through the door, his hob-nailed boots clicking impressively against the wooden floor. His uniform was immaculate and his officer's hat gave away his rank. A haughty sneer appeared across his face as he addressed her father. Liesabet's fingers tightened in fear on the folds of her nightgown.
''Herr Strauss, sie und Ihre Familie sind verhaftet wegen des Verdachts auf Besitz verbotene Gegenstände'', ''You and your family are under arrest on suspicion of possessing forbidden items.''
Her father tried to argue, ''We have nothing that is forbidden, Ich schwöre.''
The commandant merely kicked him in the stomach,
''Du lügst!!'', the man rasped, leaving her father gasping for breath and nodded to the men beside him who began to search the house sparing nothing.
Liesabet saw them split into two groups with one heading for the stairs. She fled to her parent's room and huddled with her mother on the bed, wrapping her arms around her and waiting for the inevitable. They could hear them downstairs slamming things around along with the tinkling sound of breaking glass which mingled with the pitiful sounds of her father begging them to leave. The sound of heavy boots treading up the stairs and down the hallway filled their hearts with dread. They stopped suddenly before the closed door and seemed to pause.
But a moment later it flew open and a soldier came bursting in stopping short when he saw the two women. He could tell immediately that Liesabet's mother was Jewish, there was nothing about her beautiful Israeli features and thick, dark wavy hair that was to say otherwise. His young face twisted to one of disgust and glee and he turned over his shoulder to shout,
''Commandant they're Juden!''
He yanked them off the bed and threw them in the direction of the stairs. Liesabet began to feel the heart-pounding panic that she had seen on her neighbor's faces only hours before and found herself feeling nauseous with bile rising to her throat.
''So ist es, wie wir vermutet, Herr Strauss you have married one of the pigs yourself!'', the irate commandant screamed as they were prodded into view and backhanded her father who was just attempting to stand. Obvious pain shone brightly in his eyes but he refused to make a sound. ''Ja this is my wife and daughter'', he spoke bravely. A grimace of distaste flickered across the officer's ugly face and the next blow her father received came from the business end of the man's pistol. Her mother gasped and tried to run to him, screaming his name but she was caught up short as the officer grasped her by the hair and whipped her to the ground, giving her a swift warning kick from his boot.
''Damn Jewish bitch.''
Liesabet stood beside the soldiers, arms at her sides as her entire body trembled with emotion and tears poured down her cheeks. Was this what hell was like?
''Commandant'', another soldier yelled from somewhere else in the house, his husky voice drawing closer and closer until he emerged down the stairs with a gloating smirk on his face and her mother's precious menorah held victoriously over his head. Liesabet's mother closed her eyes and her shoulders fell knowing at that point that all hope was lost. Teardrops slipped down her face and stained her nightgown.
After the search appeared to be over the officer nodded to the soldiers who wrenched Liesabet's mother to her feet and dragged her nearly limp body out the front door. Liesabet was next, prodded past her father whose face was bleeding heavily before she passed through the door into the darkness of the night. The smell of diesal fuel from the trucks parked nearby permeated the air. Liesabet felt herself crumbling with dread. This could not be happening.
Stumbling to the rear of the nearest one the canvas flap was torn aside revealing a myriad of weary and fearful faces. Some she recognized as neighbors, others were complete strangers. Her mother was nowhere to be seen, most likely in another of the trucks. She was hoisted up by one of the soldiers and hands reached for her, pulling her in. Through a small tear in the drab material Liesabet watched the door for any signs of her father to appear but after several moments she heard a grisly sound. A muffled cry for mercy and then a sickening crunch. Gasps arose from within the truck and Liesabet collapsed to her knees, covering her ears in an attempt to block out the awful sound, screaming her father's name.
Sorry it took me so long to get round to commenting on this. 
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