Together in Another Place (6 page)

‘I’m
doing this a lot,’ she spluttered.

‘I
feel them too…’ he chose to confess.

‘May
our God keep you until we meet again,’ she now said in a faint voice before she
broke free of his restraining clasp. It had offered a parting caress to her
hand. Simon saw Harriette clench her lips to stem any further expression of
what moved her.

‘And
you, Harriette!’ he called after her as she began to walk away from him. ‘My
letter tells you how I feel, Harriette, my lovely Harriette!’

And
then, in an instant, she was out of his sight as the crowd surrounded him and he
was obliged to continue walking in the direction she had taken.

‘We’ll
always be together in another place. I believe it will be so.’

 
Simon spoke out but no one who truly mattered
to him now, not his family or his girl, could hear him and he, along with the
multitude walking towards that train, would have to face the future in their
own distinct and private ways.

●

                                                                                                         
Kamp
Westerbork

                                                                                                         
2
March 1944

My dearest Harriette,

You must know from me directly
that you have made each day a wonder, that our circumstances and this camp,
where we were destined to meet, have become so very special. The world outside
is now a very different place and may soon touch your life and mine like never
before.

I feel fortunate to have met you
and to have been in your company. I have seen your smile and heard you sing; I
have watched you dance and treasure every moment that we have shared, brief as
each one was.

Because of you, I have felt that
we were together in another place. I will pray that we will be reunited
somewhere and, God willing, quite soon. Words alone are all I have to tell you
that I love you; they are all I have to pray that you are kept safe and that
you are spared from hurt and evil.

I believe that we will meet
again.

I also know that my life could
have been so much worse; I may never have met you. Had that been so, how empty
the world would then have been for me.

From your grateful and loving,

Simon
Gerritse.

●

TOGETHER IN ANOTHER PLACE

Imagine
a camp not so very far from your own home, where you are taken because of your
faith and customs. Imagine the elaborate deception, and coercion of some
inmates, by the occupying authorities to conceal the true purpose of gathering
families, gypsies and others in one over-crowded place where they are cared
for, their children educated and where the men are often given work. Imagine
being entertained by some of Europe’s finest cabaret stars, men and women who
are prisoners just like you. Imagine an almost weekly roll call that determines
who stays and who will leave in dingy freight wagons for an unknown destination
– but you cling to hope, your family and fellows. Imagine being kept in
ignorance over many days and in unspeakable conditions until you reach…Auschwitz
and Sobibor, in particular.

The
author has sought to do so following a close look at a photograph that appears
on a leaflet of the Hollandsche Schouwburg that he visited in Amsterdam – for a
second time.

The
author failed not to be overcome by emotions; nor could he keep from writing
out a love story. People would still live and be together, in another place…

ISBN
– 978 0 9571026 4 4

Jan Vivian
is
a self-published author of fiction. He is of Dutch birth and lives in England
with his wife near Stratford upon Avon. Novels and short story collections have
been self-published as E-books and some in paperback.