“I sure hope you’re right, Mikhail…well, Leah, I think we should round up the kids and go home. Mikhail and Sonya, we can’t thank you enough for your hospitality.”
“It was our pleasure,” said Mikhail. “By the way, have you visited the forests around Minsk yet?”
“No.”
“Then you must come with us the next time we go for a picnic.”
“Sure, Mikhail, that sounds like fun. When do you go?”
“On a weekend. We’ll probably go pretty soon before it gets too cold”
“I have to take call on certain weekends, but if I’m off call, I can make it. The whole family would love it.”
“It’s a date then. I’ll be in touch.”
It took them two weeks to get together and they found themselves in one of the many forests for which Byelorussia was famous. The Frohman family, who never visited the forests of Germany, was spellbound as they viewed their surroundings. The forest was thick with trees blocking much of the sunlight. There were birds in great flocks flying over the treetops and landing as one on the swaying branches. Small animals scurried over the blanket of fallen leaves.
Mikhail had picked a location with a flowing shallow stream where the water was so clear you could see the rocks lying on the bottom and fish competing for the spaces between them. On the other side of the stream were shallow hills thick with trees and brush as far as the eye could see. There were pine trees by the thousands. The quiet, the solitude, the beauty almost made the Frohmans forget why they had come.
Val taught David about the trees and the streams. On the other side of the stream, David found a fairyland of light and dark, shadows and sunlight, trees and brush, and what seemed like millions of chirping birds. Frogs croaked a duet with the chirping birds. David’s eyes widened, his mouth opened, his breathing deepened. He felt like an ancient explorer discovering the New World. He stopped adjacent to the stream and stared into the water. “Look at all the fish in the stream,” said David, “there must be a hundred of them.”
“That’s why we pick this place,” said Val. “Right before we go back home we all fish here.”
“Do you catch any?” asked David.
“We sure do. In fact, my dad brought plenty of fishing poles and bait. You’ll be able to fish too. We always go home with about ten or fifteen fish and we eat for weeks.”
“That’s great. I never fished before.”
“All you do is put the worm on the hook, stick it in the water and wait. I’ll show you what to do when the fish bite.”
“Okay.”
“Did you see that picture in my house of a tree knot hole?” asked Val.
“Where was it?”
“It was hanging on the wall over the small desk in the corner of the dining room where my father does some work sometime.”
“Yeah, I did. You mean the drawing?”
“Yep, my father drew it.”
“I wondered what that was,” said David.
“Well there it is,” said Val pointing into the thick of the forest.”
“Where?”
“Let’s go, I’ll show you,” said Val.
David followed Val into the thick of the forest. They stopped before the largest tree in any direction, standing straight up perpendicular to the forest floor higher than any tree within sight.
“Yeah, this is King Tree,” said Val. “That’s what my father calls it.”
“Wow, that is something,” said David with neck extended. “Where’s the knot?”
“On the other side, about six feet off the ground.”
David walked around the tree and stopped in front of the knot. “It’s big enough to put your hand in there. How deep down does it go?”
“Only about nine inches,”
“My father thought that it was so beautiful that he did a chalk drawing of it and then he did a water color. He’s a great artist, I think. Too bad he doesn’t have enough time to do it more, but he does have a few pictures.”
“Sounds like a great hobby,” said David.
Val said, “It relaxes my father. He draws every chance he gets, which isn’t too often though. We better get back to camp. I’m sure we’ll go fishing soon.”
When they arrived back, the families were already fishing. David smiled as he watched his mother, father and sister intent in their new adventure.
“Come on, Val, set up David and lets get some dinner for the next few weeks,” said Mikhail.
CHAPTER 5
EVALUATION
1937-8
“Ben, I have some interesting news for you,” said Mikhail via phone call in February 1937.
“What is it, Mikhail?”
“I have a full translation of the Hitler speech that he gave before the Reichstag on the fourth anniversary of his taking over Germany. I’d like to share it with you sometime.”
“Oh, I’d love to see that. Where did you get it?”
“At work. Don’t forget, I’m pretty close with all the people who I work with. The government officials share things with me all the time even though I have nothing to do with politics. I know you would be interested in what Hitler has to say. Who knows better than you what can happen to people he considers enemies? I’ll tell you the truth, the people I work with are worrying more and more about this madman.”
“Come over to my house, Mikhail, anytime some evening that’s handy for you, and, if you don’t mind, I’d like my wife to be involved. She’s really the one who’s followed what’s going on a lot better than me. In fact, I rely on her to keep me up to date.”
“That’s great. Would Thursday evening about 7:00 be okay?”
“We’ll see you then, Mikhail, and thank you so much.”
Mikhail arrived on time, and together with Ben and Leah sat down at the dining room table that Leah had prepared with some delicacies. Mikhail passed copies to each one and said, “I thought that we would start reading from page one. I’m curious to hear what you think. After all, you were one of his subjects, so to speak.”
“And what a nightmare it was,” said Ben with a shudder.
They started reading in silence together. Leah was the first one to comment. “The first thing that strikes me is that he says he will be speaking about his ‘successes’ for the German people. What one has to understand is that he has defined who the German people are. We Jews are not included even though many Jews, including my husband, fought for Germany during the Great War, and most of the Jews have been born in Germany and have been citizens all their lives. People of color—black or yellow—are not included in his definition; neither are gypsies, or mental and physical defectives and anyone not pure white or not descended from Aryans, whatever that means.”
“He extends that out to the world,” said Ben. “He doesn’t just deal with those that live in Germany. Look what he thinks about Slavs.”
Mikhail asked, “Do you think that, in the future, if a Slav moved to Germany they could ever become a citizen?”
“I would doubt it,” said Ben.
“Why do you think he has this fixation on Slavs?” asked