Jákob

• Benedek Petho, Grade 5, Eatons Hill State School
• Short Story
• 2014

Excellence Award in the 'The Text Generation 2014' competition

When Ferenc got home from work there was a letter waiting for him on the kitchen table.

You have been recruited to fight in the Hungarian Army on the Russian Front! You will report to the Buda military depot at 5:00am on the 3rd of October, 1941.
Yours Sincerely,
General Pál Nagy
Commander of Hungarian Army


“NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”
Karola came rushing to the table “What happened?” she asked.
“I’ve been recruited!”
“That’s terrible! What will we do?”
“Nothing! We can’t do anything! I have to be there in three days’ time! Read it yourself!” Ferenc said, tossing the letter into his wife’s hands.

The next morning Ferenc woke up to go to the train station for his shift. Karola was still asleep. He kissed her on the cheek and went outside; it was a cold depressing autumn morning. Ferenc shivered under his coat. “I’ll have to be in Russia in winter,” he thought. Ferenc shook at the terrible thought. He would do anything to be allowed to stay home with his beloved wife, instead of fighting on the front.

It was at the end of his shift, under the cover of darkness a woman and her child came to him. “Hide us, please!” She whispered pleadingly. Ferenc knew this would happen one day. Jews. He needed to hide them from the Nazis. What would Karola say? He thought for a few seconds. Alright, come quick!” was all he said as took them out into the night.

“Up to the attic!” Ferenc told the Jews. “Hide here while I get my wife. DO NOT make a sound!

Karola gasped when she saw the Jews. The woman spoke up. “My name is Sára Rosenberg and this is Jákob, he is four months old. My husband was taken away by the Nazis one month ago. Please help us,” “We will help you, we don’t support the Nazis. You can hide here until the war ends,” Karola answered.

Just then there was knock on the front door. Shh! Stay here,” Karola told Sára. Outside the door the terrifying figure of an SS man stood before them in his black uniform and Nazi Swastika armband. “We’re missing a Jew,” he said. Karola fainted. “That just proves it, off to the labour camp you go,” said the SS man, happy with his newest prisoner. He nodded towards the house and five more SS men went inside to search it. Then Ferenc heard a scream coming from inside. They got Sára.

Twenty years later on a bright spring morning Ferenc walked into the shop on the corner of Allás Utca. He was let out of jail after the Allies victory. The years after the war were terrible. But he snapped back to the present as a familiar man was at the counter. He looked at the name tag. Jákob Rosenberg. He survived? Ferenc asked him, “Was your mother’s name Sára?” He looked surprised, “Yes,” he said, tears welling up in his eyes. Jákob survived.