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Isaak Schindel Blog Entry |
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January 27, 2023, 5:00:16 AM January 27, 2023, 5:00:26 AM 1/27/23: This week's character from my anthro WWII storyline is Isaak Schindel, sans cap (top drawing) and with cap (bottom drawing). He's the Lagerälteste (kapo) at the labor camp in the story...considering that today is International Holocaust Remembrance Day (I only found out as I was drawing him), I felt it'd be terribly inappropriate to submit his art on Reddit, so he'll just go here instead. Regarding his design, he's a fawn boxer; his character is somewhat short, stocky, and tough, so it fit. He has hazel eyes and black hair, though the latter is kept shaved throughout the series. Kapos were often granted favors such as a private room and civilian clothes; I couldn't find anything about them being allowed to keep their hair, and my character still wears striped clothes with a yellow-and-green star (he committed manslaughter before ending up in the camp), though he also wears a civilian jacket/coat with armband over top of them, and a civilian cap. He has a scar over the bridge of his nose. TUMBLR EDIT: I was well through Schindel's sketch before a news item on TV mentioned it was International Holocaust Remembrance Day. o_o; So submitting his artwork to Reddit seemed not just potentially disrespectful but a bad idea as well, my character portraits are my least popular art and sometimes get downvoted. So I've posted him separately. Schindel's background is still HIGHLY in development and so may change drastically still, but here we go. Isaak Schindel and his wife Rebekkah are poor, working-class Jews residing in the unnamed city of the story; they end up moved into a ghetto, which for some reason I haven't figured out, not all of the city's Jews end up in, since Josef Diamant, for example, is never sent there. (Don't know why this is. Maybe it's the poor Jews who are targeted first, whereas Diamant is middle class. This ghetto is a recent concept so still being ironed out.) Anyway, I needn't get into how difficult ghetto life is, partly because I haven't read into it a lot, partly because it's obvious. The Schindels just barely manage to make do. When Rebekkah gets pregnant, there are mixed feelings; obviously they're overjoyed at the thought of their first baby, yet worried about how they will provide for it. Schindel starts taking on shady jobs to get by, to the dismay of Rebekkah, though there are few other options. The ghetto is patrolled by Jewish police officers. It's a complicated issue that has similarities to what Schindel himself later ends up doing. Some of them are sympathetic, some of them are Nazi collaborators. Schindel, while getting warned away from an illegal situation one day, happens to run into a sympathetic policeman who knows him and Rebekkah. He steers Schindel aside and whispers a different warning: The Nazis are planning some sort of special action centered on the ghetto. "Special action" is a term you never want to hear the Nazis use--it's NEVER good. He can't give many details, but he suspects it has something to do with the new camp that's been constructed at the edge of the city. He urges Schindel and Rebekkah to try to get out of the ghetto and out of the city while they have the chance. When Schindel presses for more info, and asks how the hell are they supposed to get out of there, the policeman has nothing else to offer, he just stresses his warning, cuffs Schindel with his nightstick, and yells at him to get lost, for appearances' sake. Schindel returns home to Rebekkah, increasingly anxious. He keeps his ears open in the following days and starts catching further rumors: The ghetto is soon to be liquidated and the able-bodied men sent to the new camp for hard labor. The women and children and the feeble...who knows. Easy guess, though. The Nazis consider pregnant Jews to be especially useless, so...you get the idea. Let's take an aside to look at this camp. It's just begun operations, and like its fellow camps, is run by the SS-Totenkopfverbände. It's not intended as an extermination camp, though of course it can't make use of the sick, weak, or injured, so those men are subject to execution via firing squad, followed by cremation. A high-ranking SS-TV officer briefly takes charge of the camp while it's being set up and organized, but then they need to find a permanent replacement to serve as commandant. This officer requests that he be brought the files of camp guards with complaints on their records--"Excessive force, being a little too strenuous with punishments, those sort of things." He and an underling sort through these before the underling brings out a file of a guard accused of causing the death of an inmate. Big deal, the officer thinks, that happens all the time. What makes this one so unique? Well, this guard just happened to force a prisoner to go running right into the camp's electric fence. All right, so that's intriguing; the officer asks for the guard's name. Underling replies that his name is Ernst Dannecker. Sturmbannführer (Major) Dannecker is promoted to Obersturmbannführer (Lieutenant Colonel) and called to take over. He arrives in time to watch final preparations and the first arrivals of prisoners. He isn't splashy; he seems almost bored as he observes things, and doesn't make much of a strong impression. He does select an adjutant, Maj. Lars Franke, and tells him to keep things in order as he gets settled in. The other guards get to asking around and gradually more of a picture of him emerges: In his teens he was apparently forced into the military academy by his father, against his and his mother's wishes, and several fellow students-to-be witnessed some drama between the three on the railway platform; his mother collapsed after he got on the train, and one of the others jokingly called him "mama's boy,"* leading to laughter. He was doing moderately well in academy when the Great War broke out and everyone headed off to the front without the chance to say goodbye to family first. By chance, Dannecker and the former student who'd teased him came across each other--several years older now--in a trench and the other exclaimed cheerfully, "Hey look, it's Mama's Boy!"--only to promptly get decked in the face and then pummeled before several others could stop Dannecker. The other guy insisted it was just a joke, and apologized repeatedly, but people made sure to steer clear of pissing Dannecker off again: Turns out he has a hair-trigger temper concealed behind a smarmy oily exterior, and no one can really be sure what will set him off or when. There were some other rumors of him engaging in unsavory activities during the war, though he did well, earned the Iron Cross, all that. He didn't lose his military position after the armistice, though when the Schutzstaffel formed he resigned his military post to join them instead, and was assigned to a camp as a guard. (I don't think he ever serves in the Waffen-SS, though I'm unsure.) While new prisoners were arriving, several of them put up a fuss, insisting that as soldiers who'd fought for Germany, they should be freed; Dannecker recognized one of them as the man who'd taunted him (this is figured out only in retrospect)--he's now wearing a yellow star, as he's Jewish--something that was well known during the Great War as well. Witnesses said they didn't speak to each other, though the prisoner went pale, and Dannecker smiled. (Dannecker...has a f**king creepy smile, and everyone knows it's bad news.) In the following weeks he went out of his way to psychologically torment the prisoner by various means, until one day, while he was merely walking in the prisoner's direction, the other man panicked, turned, and ran at the electric fence, apparently committing suicide; the guards had to turn off power to the fence to pry his blackened fingers loose while Dannecker stood and watched. Nobody could prove he'd actually done anything, witnesses clearly saw that he didn't even touch or threaten the guy, but the incident went in his file along with several lesser offenses in which he terrorized inmates. Despite his unpredictable temper, he's also very, very patient when it comes to people who anger him in a particular way--he makes those people his "pet projects" and keeps at them until they snap. The officer who puts him in charge of the labor camp has no idea of the future consequences of this choice. (*EDIT, OH MY GOD THIS IS A THING. It's called Muttersöhnchen, and apparently there's a sort of "psychological diagnosis" for it. Hahahaha!! Oh my I need to look up slang phrases in German more often...anyway...Dannecker's situation doesn't ENTIRELY line up with that concept. He IS a "mama's boy" of a sort, but...well, I can't get into the details, at least not here. Maybe if I ever get his profile written up. Suffice it to say it's, uh...well, skeezy, just like the rest of Dannecker's life. And it explains a lot of his behavior toward his stepfamily later. But moving on.) Anyway, even without knowing all this stuff about Dannecker, Schindel has heard enough: He heads home in the middle of the day, surprising Rebekkah, who's not used to him being home so early. Sits her down, and insists that she help him out with a plan, since "You're the smart one, the one with a head for things." Rebekkah can't understand why he wants them to pick up and leave NOW, and tries to protest, but his demeanor is such that she finally realizes how serious he is and they make tentative plans to flee the ghetto; she knows a weak point which isn't as well patrolled by the police, and has some distant family still on the outside; perhaps they'll provide shelter. Schindel hates asking for help, which is why she knows her husband is serious about this now. When the Nazi officials sweep through the ghetto, it comes completely by surprise--no warning aside from what the policeman had already told Schindel. They wake up at the noise and chaos going on outside and unlike many of the others, know what's happening; Rebekkah has a little pack ready to go (supplies for the baby to come--she's visibly pregnant by now) and they head out, furtively hurrying in the direction of the ghetto's weak point. Before they can reach it, however, one of the policemen accosts them, swinging his club at Rebekkah; he hits her in the arm before Schindel attacks him in return, punching him in the gut and face and sending him falling back against some bricks, where he strikes his head--killed instantly. More police arrive--Schindel yells at Rebekkah to run, and that's the last he sees of her, running away, before the police take him into custody. Schindel (after being smacked around a little first) finds himself brought before a Nazi official who's told of how he killed a policeman. Schindel insists it was an accident, he was just protecting his wife. Nazi official says this is what men are supposed to do, defend their wives and families, so--"Manslaughter," he says to Schindel, "You can't say we aren't generous, can you?" Schindel protests, "Don't I get a trial?--a court, a judge?" Nazi official just laughs a little. "Look around, do you see a court? Your people don't get a court. But I'll make sure you get transportation." (Brief note to say I'm fairly certain what this guy is doing isn't entirely legal, but do you really think any of his fellows would care...?) Well, he keeps that promise--the men are herded out of the ghetto and toward the nearby railroad spur--the ghetto was placed here intentionally. They're loaded onto the waiting train and the doors are closed. The cars are so crowded the men have to stand. It takes a while to start moving, and stops not long after, just sitting on the tracks; "Why are they doing this?--if we were in a truck we'd be moving a lot faster," somebody says, to which someone else replies, "I think that's the point." And indeed, although the camp is not so far away, the train ride takes an inordinately long time, and yes this is intentional. By now you probably know the routine, arriving at camp, selections (Schindel is told to go right), getting stripped, showered, shaved, tattooed. Schindel is utterly demoralized by the time he's presented with striped clothing and has to provide his name and have a photo taken. An officer recognizes his name--"This is the one, the one they said killed a policeman"--and a patch is placed on Schindel's shirt: A yellow-and-green Judenstern, or six-point star. He's sent out into the camp and made to get into formation with the rest of the new arrivals. An SS officer briefly details what they're to expect from now on, and they're given their new "jobs"--basically, working themselves to death, since it isn't an extermination camp but as it's put later in the story, EVERY camp is an extermination camp, just that some kill you more slowly than others. Schindel resigns himself to this new situation--what options are there? He's surprised to find that the ghetto police, most of whom are deeply hated by the other ghetto residents, are incarcerated in the camp along with the rest of them. They were Nazi collaborators--some of them even seemed to enjoy what they were doing. What are they doing here? He locates the policeman who'd tipped him off to the raid and asks what's going on. The former policeman--now a prisoner just like him--tersely explains that it doesn't matter how useful you may have been--to the Nazis, an Untermensch is an Untermensch at the end of the day, and as soon as you outlive your usefulness, you're equal to the rest of them. Here in the camp, especially, it's expected to be every man for himself. Schindel tries to believe this isn't true, but he sees how the regular prisoners target the former police officers, most of whom don't last very long--the SS guards, while technically not allowing fights, don't really do much to stop them, and indeed seem to find them amusing, occasionally making bets on the outcome. Schindel watches silently one day as the body of the policeman he knew is carried off, battered and bloody, to the crematorium. Thus when another inmate picks a fight with him, he has no choice but to fight back, and win. He pummels the other guy into the ground before the guards step in to stop the fight, striking Schindel a few times with their clubs and then having the other guy--unconscious, dead, Schindel doesn't know--carried away. Shortly after, a guard instructs Schindel to follow him: The commandant, Dannecker, wants to see him. Full of dread, Schindel obeys. He's heard stories of Dannecker--the other inmates call him "Der Teufel," the Devil--but hasn't had the chance to interact with him personally, and has seen him only from afar. He's now led to the commandant, who's standing in the yard smoking a cigarette. He's taller than Schindel, and fit, but not exactly intimidating on first glance; he doesn't look like a devil. He gives Schindel a look (Schindel keeps his head down) and says, "So you're the Jew who likes killing so much." This makes Schindel wince--of course he doesn't like killing--but he doesn't protest. Dannecker: "Name." Schindel: "I...Isaak Schindel, Herr Kommandant." Dannecker: (taps Schindel's chest with his crop) "Why do you wear that green patch?" [NOTE, it's actually green and yellow, but Dannecker knows what the yellow part means.] Schindel: "M...manslaughter, Herr Kommandant." Dannecker: "Who'd you kill?" Schindel: "I...I killed a ghetto policeman." Dannecker: "A policeman, huh?" Schindel: "It was an accident, Herr Kommandant, I didn't mean to kill him." Dannecker: "So what did you mean to do?" Schindel: "I was just trying to protect my wife and child, Herr Kommandant." Dannecker: "Your family...? It's always important for a man to protect his family, ja?" Schindel: (silence) Dannecker: (drops and stamps out cigarette, steps closer) (puts crop under Schindel's chin and forces his head up) "You like killing people, Jew?" Schindel: "I...I don't like killing people, Herr Kommandant." Dannecker: "Really? You seem to do it a lot, for someone who doesn't like it." Schindel: (silence) Dannecker: (looks around) "I don't see your wife or child. Who were you protecting this time?" Schindel: "M...myself, Herr Kommandant." Dannecker: "Ah...?" Schindel: "The...the other man picked a fight with me, H-Herr Kommandant...I had to defend myself or he'd kill me." Dannecker: "So you do like killing, ja?" Schindel: (silence, though he's just about in tears by now) Dannecker: (leans close, lowers his voice) "You also like an extra helping of food...? A nice, warm place to sleep, perhaps...?" Schindel: (silence) Dannecker: "Hm?" Schindel: "I...I d-don't know what you mean." Dannecker: "I mean you like killing so much, why don't you make use of it?" Dannecker briefly lays it out: The camp needs a Lagerälteste, or kapo, to help the guards oversee the prisoners. Dannecker's camp isn't a big one, so technically he could do without a prisoner functionary, but Franke accidentally put the idea in his head that this might be interesting: In effect, it pits the prisoners against each other, which is the sort of thing he finds entertaining. The job of kapo generally goes to criminals, since they're the ones most likely to be okay with committing violence against their fellow inmates; Schindel is an especially good candidate, given that he's already killed one person and likely another (Dannecker never clarifies whether he killed the prisoner or not, though he hints that he did--this is pretty typical of him). If Schindel wants the job, it means putting up with the fact that EVERYONE will now hate him--both the SS guards he serves, and his fellow prisoners, whom he'll oversee on the Nazis' behalf--he'll have a giant target on his back. But it also means extra food rations...a private room to sleep in...and no beatings. Schindel despises the very thought of working for these awful people who took him from his family...but his family is the only thing keeping him going so far. Dannecker offers him the chance to survive long enough to get back to them. He's already killed somebody...it can't be that bad, just to try to stay alive. Anyone else would do it, right? Although it nauseates him to his core, he takes the offer. And Dannecker smiles his devil smile. Schindel assumes it's going to be a trick, but nope, he's given a small but private room, extra food, better shoes, a cap and jacket to wear with an authoritative armband, and a club to carry. He rises every morning with the guards and rouses the prisoners from their barracks and out into the yard for roll call, then wanders through the yard throughout the day, making sure everyone's doing their jobs. It grows easier over time to tap, then smack someone with his stick, then to give someone a beatdown if they get too far out of line. (For a while he even socializes, in a sort of way, with a guard named Jan Delbrück, who occasionally stands in the yard with him and shares cigarettes, at least until Dannecker decides Delbrück is better off sorting papers in a file room.) Dannecker holds up his end of the arrangement in that Schindel is never on the receiving end of any beatings, but Dannecker never said anything about his trademark psychological torture--he inflicts that on everyone, prisoners and guards alike--even his own adjutant, Maj. Franke, isn't exempt. Watching him target others this way, including occasionally himself, Schindel finally gets why they call him Der Teufel. He's fortunate that he never ends up one of what everyone calls Dannecker's "pet projects"--these are relatively rare, since their execution takes such a massive amount of time and effort, and most people are careful not to piss Dannecker off enough to go through with this. Simple beatings (usually performed by his guards or Schindel) or gunshots to the head are usually enough to do the trick. Schindel gets the chance to witness Dannecker pull off a pet project firsthand when a new prisoner named Josef Diamant arrives at the camp. Diamant is Schindel's opposite in many ways--not a family man, a skilled worker (he's a jeweler/watch repairer with his own shop), middle class, educated. But still--Jewish. And like Schindel, he sports a yellow-and-green star, marking him as a criminal--except his offense is even worse than Schindel's--he didn't kill anyone, but he did forge documents that helped numerous other Jews escape the country. The SS vandalized his shop and tortured him with his own jeweler's tools to get the names of his clients, but he didn't give them up; so, to the camp he went. He doesn't capture Schindel's, or anyone's, attention when he arrives, just another prisoner, but that changes one day when Dannecker loses his temper--actually a rare occurrence--and starts beating an inmate. Everyone just stops what they're doing and watches--nobody intervenes. Then, a noise--a prisoner (probably Lukas Mettbach) lets out a short, cut-off warning, but Diamant is already on the move. As Dannecker is bringing his stick down at the cowering prisoner, Diamant strikes it from his hand and sends it flying into the mud. Commandant and prisoner stand there frozen, staring at each other. Everyone--Dannecker, Diamant, Franke, Schindel, the other prisoners--has the exact same expression. Absolutely nobody can believe Diamant just did that. Everyone expects Dannecker to lay into Diamant next, but he simply lowers his arm, turns, and walks back toward the administration building. Diamant tries to help up the beaten prisoner but is shoved away--"What have you done? You've only made it worse! He'll kill us both, now!" And indeed, a murmur ripples through the camp: Dannecker is striding back, seemingly having composed himself. The prisoner gets on his knees and starts begging for forgiveness--Dannecker doesn't even stop to look at him, just pulls out his revolver and shoots him in the head. Schindel and everyone else watches as Diamant panics and goes running, Dannecker fiddling with his gun as he just continues walking after him. He corners Diamant against a wall, puts the gun to his head, and fires--nothing happens, yet Dannecker smiles and says, "Your lucky day, Jew." There's a reason Dannecker prefers carrying a revolver--easy to play Russian roulette, one of his favorite torture methods. He doesn't kill Diamant that day, but later that night, he arrives at one of the prisoners' barracks after dark and motions the guard to let him in. Schindel isn't there to see it, but other prisoners who are wakened by Dannecker's unexpected appearance murmur about it the next day. Dannecker singles out Diamant's bunk, kneels down, presses his gun to his head, and whispers a promise. Diamant is officially his new pet project. Schindel admittedly doesn't feel too sorry for Diamant over the following weeks--he was too uppity for his own good, didn't know his place, and raised the potential of danger toward the rest of the prisoners, so of course he deserves what he gets. (A recurring theme I've noticed throughout the story is the differences between the social classes, and I figure that's part of Schindel's lack of empathy as well--Diamant used to be better off than he was, in Schindel's view he had life handed to him on a platter, it's about time he was taken down a notch.) He knows how Dannecker gets while pursuing a pet project, however, and even if he isn't the target, it makes him nervous--it's easy, as an innocent bystander, to get sucked in. And this is exactly what happens, not just to him but to others. The dominoes unintentionally set up by that SS-TV officer so long ago finally start to fall, and one of the first is Dannecker's own stepdaughter, Margarethe. Margarethe, or Gret, is by now well known to the prisoners and guards. The oldest of Dannecker's four stepchildren and in her teens--petite (she's only about five feet tall and looks quite childlike next to her stepfather), fair skinned, blond haired, blue eyed, and stone faced--she's become Dannecker's frequent companion when he arrives at the camp in the morning (technically Dannecker should be residing on camp property, but he instead lives in a house nearby); he always helps her out of the limo and parades her, in her immaculate dress, boots, and braids, past the guards and prisoners to the main building and then to his office, where she keeps him company throughout the day. He's exceptionally proud of showing her off, and appears to spoil her, gifting her her numerous colored dresses, hair ribbons, jewelry, toys; every time they see her she's arm in arm with Dannecker or holding his hand, or he has his hand on her shoulder, the very picture of a doting father. It's only when Schindel and others look a little bit past the surface that a different picture emerges. Dannecker never brings his wife or three other stepchildren to the camp--although he spoils the others as well, Gret is the one on whom he lavishes all his attention. He's frequently seen whispering in Gret's ear, putting his arm around her and holding her a bit too close, smiling that devil's smile at her while her face always remains blank--she never laughs--never smiles. They spend a lot of time alone in his office. And a guard mentions one occasion when they were leaving, Gret's normally pristine braids were a little bit mussed and her stare a little bit glassier and more vacant than usual, and when he wished her farewell her voice was faint and hoarse. It's obvious something unpleasant is going on behind the loving facade, but nobody speaks up about it, it's not their business. (Later in the story a character sees an old family photo of Dannecker with his parents, Walther and Margit, and despite the lack of blood relation, remarks on the resemblance between Margit and Margarethe--petite, beautiful, fair skinned, blue eyed, long blond braids. Remember "Mama's Boy"? I'll just leave it at that.) Schindel, like the others, suspects something weird is going on, but also keeps mum. It's Diamant, of course, who acts, and sets off a complicated and dramatic string of events. It starts out with him watching Gret every time she arrives at camp; she glances at him, and he smiles at her. Diamant's smile is not like Dannecker's. Gret responds by blushing and turning away, but she starts looking for Diamant more often as she goes by. She never smiles back...but one day, she does arrive in a yellow-and-green dress. This catches Diamant's attention unlike anything else, and it catches Schindel's attention, too. He'd noticed the looks shared between the two and let it pass, but for some reason he can't explain, this incident alarms him; he shoves Diamant against a wall later on and demands to know what's up with him and Fräulein Gret. Diamant denies anything's up, insinuates maybe Schindel's the one who has a thing for the commandant's stepdaughter, gets Schindel's club shoved into his gut in response. "Mind your business, Jew!" Schindel snaps, "And eyes off Fräulein Gret." He can't think of much else to do on so little, though, and lets him be after that. I need to pause here and back up a bit. Schindel has never liked Diamant, as I said, but by now he has an even bigger reason to despise him. I also already mentioned the tendency for Dannecker's schemes to suck in innocent bystanders; Schindel is one of them. Dannecker spends a great deal of time making Diamant's life a living hell in every way he can think of without outright killing him; just killing a pet project is no fun, it's much better to watch them slowly destroy themselves--he got a taste of that when his mere presence was enough to send his old foe running straight into the electric fence. Well, despite his patience for such things, after a while Dannecker begins to grow tired of just how long it's taking Diamant to break, so he racks his brain trying to think of something new and creative to try. And he does come up with something, and it involves Schindel. Why Schindel?--he's never crossed Dannecker, always obeyed orders, a good well-behaved obedient kapo. And that's exactly why Schindel: Dannecker has Franke bring the two prisoners to his office, where he points this out to Diamant, how obedient and broken Schindel is, and that's exactly what he has in mind for Diamant. And now he thinks he knows how to do it. Diamant is different from Schindel in another respect: Schindel is looking out for himself, whereas Diamant still has some of his altruism left. Of course Dannecker can't break him by threatening or humiliating him. He might be able to break him, however, by having him humiliate someone else--namely, Schindel. I can't go into any detail about what exactly Dannecker does here. (Even in my writing, Diamant simply relates it himself, somewhat in passing.) When he calls Franke back, however, Diamant does indeed look positively broken inside, and Schindel is outright crying. Dannecker doesn't explain to his confused adjutant what's happened, just cheerfully tells him to return them to the yard. They leave without a word. Yet a few days later, while Schindel is overseeing the prisoners as they leave their barracks, without provocation he hits Diamant in the back of the leg, knocking him down; he then commences beating the s**t out of him, all the while screaming, "Fight back! FIGHT BACK!" Diamant covers his head but does nothing to defend himself; Franke, hearing the commotion, approaches, only to accidentally get hit in the face by Schindel. The guards knock Schindel out and he, Diamant, and Franke all go to the medical building for attention. Franke, his nose broken, warns the other two--when they regain consciousness--that they better not do such a thing again. When they've recovered enough to go back to work, they do; camp life returns mostly to normal, though Schindel does still target Diamant for a brief beatdown here and there, and unlike previously, Diamant never fights back. Franke is worried that when Dannecker finds out about the fight, he'll be angry, but all he does is smirk a little and go on with things. The dynamic between the three--Dannecker, Diamant, and Schindel--has changed. So of course, now that Diamant seems to be up to something involving Gret, Schindel is full of dread that he hasn't learned his lesson, and could end up sucking him in again. He isn't quite clever enough to figure out what Diamant is planning, though; just that every day, a guard starts calling him away from the yard for extended periods, and he returns only when the workday is over. Then one day Schindel has actually been permitted inside the administration building to help transport some boxes of files to the back file room where Delbrück is currently occupied. He's just carried in another box and is heading back to close the door when the sound of running footsteps coming closer catches his attention. As he watches, somebody flies past, abruptly stumbling to a halt as soon as he sees Schindel looking--it's Diamant, and he has no guards with him. The two of them stare at each other for a moment, eyes wide. More footsteps come running and now Gret appears, also giving Schindel a look; the three stare at each other in silence a brief moment before Gret grasps Diamant's sleeve, urges, "Come on," and the two hurry on up the hallway and out of sight. Schindel can't be sure, but he could've sworn that for at least the last few seconds, Diamant's eyes were pleading for him to go with them. His feet are rooted to the spot, however, and he stays--good obedient Schindel. His legs start to work again and he shuts the door and slowly walks back into the room, his brain belatedly recalling something else odd about what he just saw: Diamant was carrying a revolver--and Gret was carrying a giant Ehrendegen--an SS honor sword, exactly like the one Dannecker wears. He returns to the files and to Delbrück, who hasn't noticed anything amiss; he jumps when Franke arrives, expecting some sort of awful news, but Franke just wonders why they're taking so long with the files and says to hurry it up, then leaves. Schindel waits, and waits, filling with more and more dread, yet nothing happens. After about an hour, he's almost convinced himself he imagined the whole thing, when the camp alarm finally starts to sound. Something awful has indeed happened. Delbrück, just as startled and confused, exits the room with Schindel close behind to figure out what's going on. Other guards are racing back and forth through the building, eyes wide, faces pale; Delbrück accosts a few, catches a few comments, grabs Schindel's sleeve and goes running himself, toward Dannecker's office. A big crowd of guards is gathering here, and Franke is berating one of them loudly. When he spots Delbrück and Schindel he lays into the kapo immediately--"And YOU! Where were you? What did you have to do with this?" Schindel, of course, has no idea what's happening, and cowers behind Delbrück, who fortunately vouches for him: "He's been with me all day, in the file room! What's going on? What's with the alarm?" Franke says there's been a prisoner escape--that much Schindel had guessed on his own. Then he says that Commandant Dannecker is dead--THAT, Schindel had had no clue. The rest of the details seep out over time. A while back, Gret Dannecker had requested a gift from her stepfather--a ring. Always willing to spoil her, Dannecker had his guards fetch Diamant--a jeweler. Sure, Dannecker had been torturing him for weeks, including ramming a jeweler's file through his hand, permanently damaging the nerves--but Diamant agreed to design and make a ring for Gret, with the right tools and materials. Dannecker set up a temporary workshop near his office and gave Diamant the required tools--under strict supervision--and materials (including gold bits taken from prisoners' teeth); the reason for Diamant's daily visits to the administration building was to work on Gret's ring. Nobody's quite sure of the details after that, but apparently supervision of Diamant's activities slacked off a little, enabling him to be alone with Dannecker when he presented him with the ring--somehow, he acquired a gun, and shot and killed Dannecker before escaping with about a dozen other prisoners in what was obviously a coordinated effort, plotted ahead of time. Even more alarming is that Gret Dannecker, who was visiting that day, is also missing--presumably taken hostage by Diamant. He hates that he has such thoughts--Schindel has nothing against Gret, she's been polite to him the few times they've interacted--but he suspects the situation isn't quite as it appears. It isn't long before these suspicions are confirmed. Franke attempts to assume command of the camp, a decision which doesn't go over well with the other guards; when one of the guards stands up to him, he orders Schindel to beat him. Schindel freezes--he doesn't mean to disobey, but he's not permitted to touch the SS guards, so he has no idea how to react. Franke loses his temper, grabs Schindel's club, and beats the guard unconscious himself while everyone else watches, before warning the other guards not to provide him with help or he'll do the same to them; he storms back into the building, and locks himself in Dannecker's office. Schindel notices the other prisoners edging toward the unconscious guard with murder in their eyes; he picks up his club and brandishes it threateningly so they back off, though one of them spits at him first. He sits by the guard for the rest of the day and night; the other guards never announce meal time, never call the prisoners back to work or to their barracks. The camp is in effect left to itself until another Obersturmbannführer arrives the next day, alerted by a guard who'd fled during the beating; he approaches Schindel first and demands to know what's going on. Schindel explains the best he can. The Obersturmbannführer tells the other guards to take the injured guard to the medical building, heads to Dannecker's office, orders Franke to open up and get out, and without much ado takes command of the camp himself. This is Hasso Reinhardt, and he's quickly authorized as the new commandant as the SS investigation of Dannecker's murder picks up speed. I already mentioned the escape didn't go QUITE as the initial SS story of it insisted. It's actually worse. Nobody knows HOW Diamant and the others fled the camp, and the SS doesn't figure this out until the end of the war, when Reinhardt and Delbrück, his adjutant, discover a hidden passage system under the camp--there had been rumors of it, but nobody knew where it was, except Dannecker--and Gret. Turns out Dannecker had taken Gret down there one day, telling her the walls and door were so thick nobody would hear her scream, and he was right. By chance, Reinhardt and Delbrück discover the entry to the main passage not far from Dannecker's office, hidden behind a tapestry. So, how did the prisoners find out about the passage...? This is the most scandalous part of the story: Gret told them. She was in on it the whole time. Schindel's suspicion was aroused at the sight of Gret's yellow-and-green attire that one day. Gret's always made a point of being immaculately dressed, almost always in matching colors--so for her to wear a yellow dress with green ribbons was odd. Schindel couldn't place what it reminded him of, but Diamant, whom the message was intended for, got it immediately: He and Gret had been making eye contact each time she arrived, and he'd even been able to pass along to her a ring he'd fashioned out of found scraps. When she showed up wearing the same colors as his identification badge, it signaled she was willing to communicate with him. From there, the two managed to plot to meet privately on camp grounds to make a plan for Diamant's escape; Gret was invited along. Diamant instructed her to find a way to get him in close contact with Dannecker; Gret came up with the idea to ask for a ring, knowing her stepfather could never refuse her a gift. Diamant told her to procure him a gun, preferably a revolver, and hide it near his workspace; he'd tell her the day and time to be at Dannecker's office to cover for him in case anyone heard the shot. The final day, while Dannecker was admiring the ring Diamant presented to him, Diamant brought out the gun Gret had left for him and played Russian roulette on Dannecker until it fired; Gret, out in the hallway, prevented the guard who came running from entering, claiming she'd accidentally fired Dannecker's gun and he'd sent her out before locking himself in--he was angry, best not disturb him. (The guard didn't even think twice before retreating.) She then entered herself, saw that Diamant had finished the job, but refused to go get the other prisoners waiting at a side entrance to the building and take them to the hidden passage until Diamant fetched her a trophy: her stepfather's Ehrendegen. The two were racing to get the other prisoners and let them inside when Schindel had spotted them. Gret was never a hostage at all, but a willing participant in her stepfather's murder, and she even got a souvenir out of the deal. The SS don't find out about the secret passage until much later, though they do soon realize Gret Dannecker isn't the victim they thought she was. Quietly, they change out the posters describing her as such and replace them with wanted posters like those for Diamant and the other prisoners, with one additional detail: Execute on sight. Diamant, as horrible as his actions were, is just a Jew, and a criminal at that--he's expected to act like a criminal. Gret's actions, however--not only patricide, but betraying her race--are unforgivable. Although this means the end of Dannecker, who, despite never beating or technically punishing Schindel, terrorized and demoralized him in every other way possible, Schindel is even more afraid now, not less. He agonizes over not following Diamant away from the camp, but the fear of what's on the outside, ironically, is worse than the fear of what's inside--the devil you know and all that. He's used to the routine of camp life, and the unknown terrifies him--yes, his main goal in staying alive is to reunite with his family, but he doesn't even know if they're still alive. And now there's a new commandant to deal with--and Schindel knows nothing about him. Commandant Reinhardt is big, imposing, with a frequent glare or scowl on his face; he seems quite displeased with the chaotic way Dannecker was running his camp. He vows, from day one, that there will be changes. Although he was gruff yet tolerable toward Schindel when he first arrived, Schindel dreads whatever might come next--change is never good, and he feels even more spite toward Diamant for triggering this situation. As the days pass and Reinhardt starts implementing his changes, however, Schindel's fear shifts into confusion. Supplies are brought in and the prisoners renovate their barracks; there's somewhat more food at their meals; and their jobs are gradually switched out. Previous labor had consisted of useless breaking of rocks, digging of holes, filling them in again--working for the sake of working oneself to death. These new jobs, some of them are about as strenuous, but they serve a purpose now, aiding in construction and the manufacture of goods; plus, smaller and more skilled jobs are added, and given to those who previously would have been sent to the firing squad. Far fewer prisoners are sent left at selections (eventually they're sent to other camps instead), and the crematorium stops running for weeks on end. Schindel is never ordered to beat anyone; when the other guards attempt to beat prisoners, Delbrück, now named Reinhardt's adjutant, puts a stop to it. Sure, there's still a swat or a cuffing here and there, but nothing like before. A few of the guards quit in protest, a few officials show up to complain, but the rest of the camp settles into its new routine. Reinhardt has Schindel brought to his office. Dannecker's similar requests--especially the visit with Diamant--were never good news, so Schindel braces for the worst. He takes off his cap and stands before Reinhardt's desk with his head lowered, shaking a little. Reinhardt stands up--he's a lot taller than Schindel, and towers over him. First he asks Schindel's name again (a sort of running joke is he can never remember Schindel's name for a while)...then, oddly, starts asking him about how Dannecker formerly did things, since he's been told Schindel likely knew him best. He seems displeased by most of the answers, and mutters a few times, "Well, that's going to change." He finally says he'd like Schindel to help him out with various personal tasks. While true that Dannecker had had Schindel run a few personal errands for him, it wasn't a regular thing, and this really isn't the sort of thing a kapo is meant to do; Schindel is confused by the request. He doesn't ask questions, though, just ducks his head a bit lower and mumbles, "Ja, Herr Kommandant," when appropriate. Reinhardt comes around the desk to see him off, but does something extremely odd--he takes Schindel's cap from his hands and puts it back on his head before sending him out. The inmates NEVER keep their caps on when directly addressing the SS--it's a huge breach of camp "etiquette" and often rewarded with beatings. So Reinhardt's casual gesture is very strange, and Schindel doesn't know what to think of it. Reinhardt does indeed assign various mundane tasks to Schindel; the way the camp is running now, his actions intimidating the other prisoners aren't needed quite as much, freeing him up to run errands in the administration building. He again frequently comes into contact with his old acquaintance Delbrück, who still shares cigarettes with him now and then, and then with new employee SS-Helfer Britta Azinger, who comes to the camp to work as secretary (Schindel is the one to first find out when she and Reinhardt get romantically involved). Just as with Dannecker, he's loyal to Reinhardt, but the loyalty gradually takes on a different form: He starts to think of Reinhardt as literally saving his life and grows fawningly devoted to him, trailing after him, hanging on his every request, eager for his every "Danke, Herr Schindel." Reinhardt treats him human--like a favored slave or servant, yes, but still human--and he's grown so unused to that that he gladly takes every bit of it that he can. It's by no means an egalitarian relationship, but Schindel was so badly broken by Dannecker that in comparison, he would follow Reinhardt to the ends of the earth. This ends up happening, in a way, when the Allies storm the city and approach the camp. Reinhardt knows that no matter how he tried to improve the situation, he'll still most likely be executed as a war criminal; after sustaining a serious wound, he returns to the camp (many of the guards and other staff, including Delbrück and Azinger, have already fled), announces over the loudspeaker that he's turning off the fence and opening the gate, advises those who are well enough to leave the camp (also warning them of SS officers patrolling the city) while those who aren't will be attended to by the enemy soldiers when they arrive, then sits and waits. Schindel listens to the message over the loudspeakers, then stands aside and watches many of the prisoners mill around aimlessly for a moment, nonplussed--they can't quite believe what they just heard. They hear the ever-present hum of the fence stop, but have no way to test if it's actually off; yet then the metal gate under the ARBEIT MACHT FREI sign pops open. The first few prisoners gingerly approach--there are no guards left in the watchtowers or at the gate to shoot them--and peer out. Slowly step outside. Start walking away, then jogging, then sprinting. As soon as it becomes clear nobody, including Schindel, will stop them, more and more of them exit the camp, hurrying for cover. A handful stay behind, due to illness/injury or fear of the SS officers still in the city; Schindel is among them, though his reason for staying is different. He knows Reinhardt is still there, probably alone. He hurries inside to find him. He at last locates the room containing the controls for the electricity supply; here Reinhardt is, slumped on the floor and bleeding. He's surprised by Schindel's arrival and wonders why he hasn't left; Schindel, while trying to tend to his wound, stammers that he isn't even sure if Rebekkah and his child are still alive or not. He's literally too afraid to leave, as he's gotten so used to being a prisoner and having his life laid out for him, he has no idea how to deal with the uncertainties of freedom. When Reinhardt passes out, Schindel stays by him, pressing his cap against the wound and trying not to cry. Soldiers in unfamiliar uniforms, speaking an unfamiliar language, arrive and point their guns at the two--Reinhardt wakes at the commotion--and start yelling; Schindel holds up his hands but can't understand a word they're saying, and he nearly panics. Reinhardt speaks their language, and Schindel starts picking up bits and pieces: These are Americans (the Germans had been expecting--and dreading--the approach of the Soviets, instead), and they want to know their names, ranks, and numbers. Reinhardt offers his information, but the Americans don't believe him or Schindel when they both insist Schindel is merely the kapo--they can't understand why a prisoner would stay behind to help an SS officer. Surely he's an SS member in disguise. Reinhardt does everything he can to vouch for him, including saying to Schindel, "Show them your arms, bitte," and the soldiers take note of Schindel's ID number, as well as his lack of a blood group tattoo. A soldier heads off to fetch the log of prisoner IDs that includes Schindel's information while the others decide to take both men into custody. Schindel tries to stay by Reinhardt as the soldiers unceremoniously drag him to his feet and haul him off--he manages to reach out and shove Schindel's bloodied cap back onto his head before his arms are seized--but shortly after, Schindel is forcibly separated from him and taken away for medical attention elsewhere. The soldier returns with the info that yes, "Isaak Schindel" is listed in the camp records as the Lagerälteste, and his ID number and photo match. They still can't figure out what he was doing with Reinhardt, but obviously he's not SS. They ignore most of his pleas for information on "Herr Kommandant" and make arrangements to question him for information and then figure out what to do with him as both a former prisoner yet also a collaborator. He does learn, eventually, that Reinhardt has been arrested and will stand trial after questioning--he'll almost certainly be hanged or shot. The Americans frown pensively when Schindel breaks down crying. Everything after is a confusing whirlwind. Schindel provides what information he can under questioning, but it's limited, and the Allies are frustrated by his frequent pleas for updates on Reinhardt's situation. He tells them of Rebekkah, but doesn't know where she is or if she's alive; same with extended family, for all he knows they were sent to other camps to be killed. The Allies decide to keep him in protective custody for the time being. He learns after some time that Reinhardt also provided useful information--including how Diamant most likely escaped from the camp undetected, through the hidden passageway--and that a military tribunal indeed found him guilty, yet sentenced him to prison, rather than execution; Schindel is overwhelmed with relief. Then, more news: They've managed to locate Rebekkah, alive and well...with their young daughter, Hanna. Schindel puts his hands to his face--"I have a daughter"--and bursts into tears again. He's finally released from Allied custody--they decide not to bring charges against him--and he goes to see Rebekkah for the first time in years. This is the moment he's been literally living for and dreading. Rebekkah has moved into a tiny house in a new, crowded neighborhood set up at the edge of the city. Schindel arrives and nervously knocks--she's been informed ahead of time to expect him, and answers, holding a little girl in her arms. Schindel can barely keep himself from crying again when he sees her; Rebekkah introduces Hanna to "Herr Isaak," then sets her down and tells her to give them a few moments alone. Husband and wife share a few halting, awkward comments, asking how each other is doing, what they've been up to, nothing too indepth. Schindel is overjoyed to see his Rebekkah again, but he immediately senses something is off; Rebekkah doesn't seem nearly as happy as he'd thought she'd be. When he finally asks if something is wrong, and why isn't she inviting him in, Rebekkah averts her eyes and murmurs, "I think...maybe it would be best if you found someplace else to stay." Schindel is stunned mute for a moment; Rebekkah haltingly explains. She's heard by now of what, exactly, Schindel's position was in the camp: a kapo, a collaborator with the Nazi guards. To the Jews, the kapos have become perhaps even more despised than the Nazis themselves, as sellouts and traitors to their own people--the very word kapo has become a terrible insult. Schindel isn't seen as a victim like the other camp inmates--he's seen as one of them. Schindel stammers in protest--he didn't WANT to do the things he did, he did it only to survive so he could come back to her, he was only following orders. Rebekkah winces and says, "That's exactly what THEY said." She adds that his presence there could endanger her and Hanna's lives, so he should find another place to go for now. Almost at a loss for words, Schindel asks if he can at least hug Hanna and tell her goodbye--he's never had the chance to even touch his own child. Rebekkah replies this would be too confusing and upsetting--she's already told Hanna her father died in the camps--and wishes Schindel farewell, retreating inside and closing the door. Schindel stands staring at the door for a moment before turning and silently leaving, his world collapsed, his heart broken. He fought so hard all those years to stay alive, all for nothing. He holds on for a brief while, trying desperately to find a connection, any connection, to his former life. Nobody he once knew wants anything to do with him. It's like he's cursed, and his mere presence taints things; everyone avoids him. None of his old relatives, friends, acquaintances from the ghetto will take him in or give him work or even stop for a brief conversation. He has no one, but really, it's only Rebekkah and Hanna he wants--he could do without anything else. The fact that his wife and child are lost to him after all at last hits him like a truck and he sits alone in a park one evening sobbing his eyes out. He sees no point in continuing without them. He lifts his head and looks around, sniffling and rubbing his eyes; he has no drug, he has no gun, but there, leading out of the park and over a river, is a tall bridge. Schindel can't swim. The longer he stares at the bridge the more his resolve grows; seeing a way out of the pain, he finally gets up and heads toward it. By the time he reaches the middle of it he's as determined as ever, yet as soon as he finds himself on the other side of the guardrail, leaning over the river far below, that determination wavers. He stands there for a few moments to gather his courage, annoyed that it's fled him when he needs it most. He's even more annoyed when he hears a voice--somebody is standing behind and below him on the formerly empty bridge. Voice: (hesitant) "Hallo, mein Freund, what are you doing up there...?" Schindel: "Go away." Voice: "You'd like to talk...? Maybe?" Schindel: "I said go away!" Voice: "I can't do that, mein Freund, not while you're standing up there like that; think you can come down for a minute and talk...?" Schindel: "I'm not your friend and I don't want to talk! Now leave me alone!" Voice: "Not a nice thing to say to your friend. If you don't want to talk then maybe we could share a smoke instead, ja...?" Confused, Schindel finally turns his head. The man standing below him is dressed in civilian clothes and Schindel doesn't recognize him; he removes his cap, however, and then realization dawns. It's Jan Delbrück, the SS guard--then adjutant--who used to share cigarettes with him, and vouched for him when Franke accused him of being involved in Dannecker's murder. "H...Herr Delbrück?" he says anyway, perplexed; Delbrück had disappeared shortly before the camp was liberated. "Lehmbruck," Delbrück says, confusing him further; then, "Bruno Lehmbruck, now," and it makes sense--he's obviously assumed a new identity while in hiding. He makes a few more efforts to coax Schindel down; Schindel can't help it, against his own wishes he starts stammering out why he's up there. He refuses to descend, however, until Delbrück changes tack, asking him to tell him about his wife and daughter instead; finally, reluctantly, he climbs back over the rail, freezing briefly so Delbrück has to climb up and help him back down. Delbrück leads him back to the park and sits him down, offering a cigarette before taking one for himself; they smoke together for a while, like old times, and Schindel tells him about Rebekkah and Hanna. It's a very long, slow process, but Delbrück convinces him it's worth holding on at least a little longer, to see what might happen; he points out how he's still alive, and despite the way the war ended, he managed to find someone who helped him through. Maybe Schindel will find this person, even if it isn't Rebekkah. Schindel hates the thought that he may have to go on without Rebekkah--they've known and loved each other since childhood--but decides to try to find whatever other connection he can. There's one he knows of already; he visits an old castle which has recently been converted into a prison for war criminals. Here is where Hasso Reinhardt is being kept, following his trial; he's been sentenced to around ten years, after making himself useful providing information to the Allies. Reinhardt is glad to see him, yet saddened to learn of the situation with his wife; he offers advice similar to Delbrück's, as well as the thought that Schindel may try to make amends to those he feels he's wronged. Schindel mulls this over even as he manages to find a job in a print shop (his boss, learning he's been sleeping in the park, offers him a cot in the back room until he can get on his feet); he finally decides to go looking around the city. On one street, a sort of "memorial" has been left: an old jeweler's shop whose windows were broken out and insides torched, the words "DER JUWELIER" crossed out and replaced with "DER JUDE." Also on the remaining portion of window is the name "J. DIAMANT." The Nazis left the gutted shop standing as a warning following Diamant's capture; after their defeat, the citizens leave it alone as well, though they put a fence around the front to keep out potential vandals. Schindel visits the shop next door; the proprietor, Jutta Bentz, confirms Diamant used to own the shop, and is still alive; word is he started a new shop in a mountain town. Schindel heads there, finds the shop. Within, he's surprised to meet Margarethe Dannecker; she recognizes him also, tells him, "I'm glad you're doing well, Herr Schindel," and retreats to fetch Diamant. Diamant is even more surprised than Schindel was, and seems uncomfortable as well, yet invites Schindel to join him for tea when Schindel has difficulty saying why he's there; Schindel declines but at last haltingly apologizes for the way he treated Diamant while he was kapo. As he speaks, Diamant looks more and more confused, and finally cuts in to say, "I'm not sure why you're apologizing to me, Herr Schindel; if anything I feel I should apologize to you." Schindel is perplexed to learn that Diamant feels just as guilty as he does, especially regarding the humiliating situation Dannecker forced them into, and doesn't even blame Schindel for beating him afterward. To hear the same issues he's agonizing over coming from his former foe's mouth puts things in a bit more perspective; Diamant says he owes him no apology, and Schindel departs, his heart feeling at least a little less heavy. A week or so later, while Schindel is busy typesetting, his boss informs him he has a visitor, and to take his lunch to talk to them. He's stunned to find Rebekkah waiting for him. The two talk a little, awkward and shy, before she says, "I miss you," and invites him to stop by that evening for supper: "And...maybe you could stay, if you like." She doesn't mention that Diamant had visited, explained a little bit how difficult Schindel's position in the camp had been and he'd done it all for her--he doesn't blame Schindel for what he did, perhaps she should give him another chance. Of course Schindel agrees. He meets Hanna when he arrives, and has to force himself to hold back his tears, though when Rebekkah leaves the room for a moment, Hanna slips off her chair, trots over to Schindel, and hugs him; surprised but overwhelmed, he hugs her back. Rebekkah, coming back in the room, admits that she's since told Hanna the truth about who he is; she hopes they can start over. Schindel wipes the tears away from his eyes and murmurs, "I'd love nothing more." [Isaak Schindel 2023 [Friday, January 27, 2023, 5:00:16 AM]] [Isaak Schindel 2023 2 [Friday, January 27, 2023, 5:00:26 AM]] |