Thoughts are Free. Fee-Christine Aks

bag this.”

      Axel hands Paul some branches. They are in the zoo. The trees already lost all their leaves. And many didn’t just lose their leaves; most of them are cut down. Paul takes the pieces of wood Axel hands him and packs them in their bags.

      Suddenly Axel jumps down from the tree, grabs his bag and starts to run. Paul looks around. Damned, a zoo guard! He grabs his bag and follows Axel.

      The guard shouts something after them, but Paul only thinks about escaping. And Axel seems to think the same. They both run down the street until they think the guard won’t catch up anymore. After this, they lean against a wall to catch their breaths.

      Paul feels side stitches. He was breathing too much cold winter air in a short amount of time. Axel appears to have the same problem. He is panting and holds his left side.

      Suddenly they are both startled.

      “Those were shots!” Axel whispers.

      Paul nods. They shoulder their bags and carefully sneak up to the next street corner. When they take a peak around, they back off quickly: SS-men have closed off the path between a house entrance and a truck.

      People with their hands up step out of the house; they are all wearing the star. They are followed by three men in long, dark coats. A man dressed the same way waits next to a car.

      “Jews!” Axel whispers.

      He noticed as well, when they picked up the Lipowetzkys last night. Alina had already died, when the SS-men rumbled up the steps.

      The men, women and children vanish in the truck that drives off instantly. The Gestapo struck again. The street is empty and deserted, except for the SS-men.

      Behind the uniformed men, Paul and Axel can clearly see three dark bodies in the white snow. Some SS-men take the corpses to an open truck that is parked across the street and drives off right away as soon as the men are done loading.

      The remaining SS-men split. One part walks off in the same direction as the trucks drove, but the other part is walking directly in Paul’s and Axel’s direction.

      Nervously they look at each other. Then they quickly retrieve into the next house entrance. When Paul takes another careful peek, he can see the SS-men walking down the street. They got lucky, Axel and him. As fast as possible they try to make it home.