The Embers of Resistance

Chapter 4 Sonia

The policeman led Sonia out to a stiflingly hot, nearly filled truck. She knew a handful of the people aboard, all neighborhood Jews, though none of them acknowledged her. Most of them kept their eyes on the floor as Sonia squeezed into a back corner.

The truck circled around Paris, rounding up a few more unlucky men and women, before getting on the highway. Sonia didn't pay much attention to where they were being driven. She was too busy worrying about Mama. While Papa had lost his Russian citizenship in 1927 when he had failed to return to the Soviet Union after fleeing, Mama was still a Romanian citizen and therefore not "stateless" like Sonia was and Papa would have been if he was still alive. Sonia guessed that Mama's citizenship must have protected her from this round-up. Still, it didn't mean her protection would last...

Gradually Sonia was brought back to reality. Judging by the passing landscape she glimpsed through the windshield, the truck was headed away from Paris. She turned to the person sitting next to her, the elderly Madame Levi. Sonia knew that Madame Levi's husband had died years ago and the old woman lived almost as a recluse, save for the times Mama would take her to the store or out for coffee. "Where are we going?" Sonia asked.

Madame Levi opened her toothless mouth as if to say something, but then shut it. Sonia guessed that the policemen hadn't given the old lady time to put in her dentures before they took her from her home.

A few minutes later, the truck pulled through double rows of barbed wire before coming to an abrupt halt.

"Get out!" the driver commanded in French.

Slowly the truck's occupants exited. Uniformed gendarmes ordered them toward a clearing in front of a multi-story, U-shaped building. Swarms of people roamed the courtyard as more trucks arrived. Sonia shielded her eyes from the setting sun to examine the building, which had new, cream-colored paint and looked like a large apartment complex. Another gendarme commanded the people around him to line up.

Whatever the complex had originally been intended for, it was clear it hadn't been finished, Sonia mused as the line of people moved inside. Piles of straw were strewn across otherwise bare concrete floors and the glass was missing from many of the window openings, allowing what little breeze there was to circulate through the hallways.

They were shoved into a large room containing dozens of wooden bunk beds. There were no pillows or blankets, only scratchy mattresses filled with straw. Sonia decided to let the elderly have the bottom bunks and climbed up to a top one, sneezing.

Although it was still light outside, she was emotionally exhausted. She closed her eyes, forcing herself to try to sleep, in order to prepare for whatever lay ahead.

She woke up a few hours later. Somewhere in the now dark room, a child whimpered, crying out for its mama, until someone shouted "Quiet!" After that Sonia was too busy wondering what kind of monsters would separate a young child from its parents to get any more sleep.

Sonia waited until the first rays of light streamed into the room before getting up. A quick glance proved there was no toilet. There wasn't anything that appeared to be a bathroom in the hallway either, just doors that led to more rooms filled with bunk beds with most of the occupants still sleeping.

"Are you on breakfast duty?" a voice behind her asked.

She turned to see a middle-aged man with graying hair and dark eyes.

"I don't think so," Sonia replied. "I'm just looking for a water closet."

The man frowned. "You are new then."

"Yes. I just arrived yesterday."

He peered at her. "I think I know you. You are Eli's daughter."

"Yes."

"How is Eli doing?"

"He's dead."

The man took this comment in stride. "I am Joseph Shulman. I was a business associate of his and knew he was not well."

"Sonia." She stuck out her hand. "Yes, my father was sick for a long time. His liver disease took a turn for the worse and he could not find a doctor who would treat a Jew."

"Some might say he is better off in Shamayim than being here on Earth at this point in time." Monsieur Shulman put a kindly arm around her shoulders and steered her downstairs. "There is no running water in Drancy. The toilets are outside but be warned: it is not a pleasant experience. Much like all things at Drancy."

"We are in Drancy?"

"In a sense, yes, you are currently in an internment camp in the suburb of Drancy." He held the heavy metal door open for her.

The rising sun was bright orange behind the barbed wire surrounding the open courtyard.

"An internment camp," Sonia repeated, gazing at the giant watchtowers looming over them. "Do you suppose..." she swallowed hard, remembering how she had told Mama she'd only be gone for a couple of days. "Do you suppose we will be here for the duration of the war?"

Monsieur Shulman shook his head, and the lump in Sonia's throat dissipated temporarily. "People here are being deported weekly," he replied. "They load a thousand at a time onto their convoys."

"Where do they go?"

"Germany."

She shut her eyes tight before opening them again, blinking rapidly. "Oh," was all she could say.

Monsieur Shulman pointed to the corner of the courtyard. "You'll find the toilets there. Good luck."

She could smell the stench long before she approached the stalls. To her dismay, they looked even worse than they smelled: the exteriors were covered in both excrement and fleas. She opened the door tentatively, wondering if it would be better to go outside behind the stalls instead.

Holding both her breath and her nose, she did her duty. When she returned into the sunshine and fresh air, she saw a few more people had entered the courtyard, most of them mulling around aimlessly though a few carried loaves of bread.

But it was the activity beyond the rows of barbed wire that caught Sonia's attention. Several people were up and about across the road although none of them so much as glanced at the fenced-in courtyard.

"It's morning in the free world as well," a prisoner hauling a large bucket commented as she passed by Sonia.

"Do they not know what is happening here?"

The woman shrugged. "If they do, they don't care. Look..." She set down the bucket to point to a couple walking across the street. It was clear from their slumped posture and straightforward gaze they were pretending not to notice the prisoners behind the fence.

Sonia kept her eyes on the couple until they were out of sight. She'd only been in the camp for less than 24 hours, but it felt like years. She promised herself that if she ever managed to get out, she wouldn't forget the prisoners left behind, or those that had already been sent to Germany. She would do everything she could to help them. If only I can get out of here.