Shlomo Kalo - ATHAR - A Holocaust Memoir

(c) All Rights Reserved

Y D.A.T. Publications

POBox 27019, Jaffa 61270, Israel

Phone: +972-3-5071239

Email: dat@y-dat.co.il

http://www.y-dat.com

ISBN: 978-965-7028-61-2

Original Hebrewtitle: ATTAR

Englishtranslation by Philip Simpson

Print editions are available in English andin Hebrew.

3rd English edition - Amazon Kindle,January 2016

Cover: age 4

Graphic design: Ben-Zion Sharon

No part of this book, except for briefreviews, may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means,electronic, digital or mechanical, including recording, or by any storage orretrieval system, without permission in writing from the Publisher.

Few creative works are focused on solid facts, theiractive protagonists bearing real names, unfabricated nicknames, and at the sametime diffusing a bold spirit of uncompromising authenticity, alwaysastonishing, alarmingly plausible.

Apparently - the story of a concentration camp,strange indeed, far from conventional, established in the closing stages of theSecond World War in Bulgaria, in fact - an episode of downtrodden hope, fromwhich nothing is to be learned, and there is no human being under the sun whodoes not live its lesson, consciously or not, willingly or unwillingly. Anarrative, defying the canons of style, about hatred stronger than death, lovefit to shake the foundations of the universe, and man, demanding his legitimateright to self-awareness, of which no one can deprive him.

A cluster of grapes. Ripe. Amber. A slice ofsunlight radiating delusion. Inflaming expectation. Pardoning cynicism.

A left hand clutches a stalk. Bony. Skeletal. Sturdygrip.

Body, consciousness, soul: tense readiness to protectthe amber treasure from any trespasser, lawbreaker, crazed with hunger.

A grape.

Plucked delicately, fingered gently, between fingerand thumb, weighed cautiously, raised in solemnity blended with distant sorrow,put to the mouth, which waits with utterly commendable patience, laid on theplateau of a moist tongue somewhere, in a corner of consciousness that ispainfully lucid, arises the number fifteen.

Repetition of the process. Another round:seventeen

Half a kilo of this variety comprises betweenseventy-three and eighty-two units. No less, no more.

A cluster of grapes.

Left hand - steady.

Right hand - steadier still.

Left - clutching.

Right - plucking.

Grape after grape. Regular intervals of time.Identical. Metronomic.

Sun turning towards evening. Anaemic rays slidingover white walls, thick, ramshackle. Creeping inside. Into the hiding-place.

A grape.

Gentle pressure between palate and tongue. Steadfastsweetness. Pure grape sugar, poetry.

Body, being, defiant biological unit, coming to life.With each and every grape. After each and every grape.

Body, being, biological unit, detached fromeverything that isnt defiant, coming to life, preservation of existence,demanding continuation, absence of belonging.

Dubious hiding-place. Breached from every side.Formerly - mens ablutions. A prisoner liable to appear. To attack. No rules inthe camp. No law in the camp. No principles. A guard liable to surprise. Toconfiscate the bunch. In the name of the non-existent law. To lead the prisonerto the guard-house. For a flogging.

Body, being, biological unit, tensed.

Tranquillity in tension. Security. Expertise.Acquired over time. Product of the environment.

Tension. Even in sleep. In dreams too. Destroyingwhat was, building what is obligatory. Without which there is no honourablesurvival.

Honour of the camp. Devoid of illusion, true toitself.

Honour of the camp.

The bunch will be finished. Spinning out the processyields no reward. Restraint is no solution. Distraction of the mind, no immunity.

Rhythm. Imperative. Dictated. Coercive.

Naked hunger.

Even for laws. Especially - for laws. For all thelaws without exception.

Total hunger.

No human can stand it. No subhuman. No animal.

A prisoner can stand it. Sub-animal.

One hundred and forty grams of bread per day. A dishof warm water, with six to eight kidney beans adrift at the bottom. No more. Noless. Salt.

Work.

Transport and storage of inflammable materials.Transport and storage of toxic materials. Transport and storage of explosivesand ammunition.

Heavy wooden boxes. Skeletons carry them. Into thegloom of the spacious warehouses.

Going back for more. Straight, left, inside, right.Box alongside box. Caution. To prevent disaster.

Water duties.

Three classes: Very Important Persons, familial,Gavroches, named after Victor Hugos hero.

V.I.P.s dont go out to work. Familials - some ofthem. Familials do water duties. V.I.P.s dont do water duties. Gavroches dotheir jobs for them. In exchange for half a kilo of grapes. Every single V.I.P.has his preferred Gavroche. A V.I.P. chooses from among the swarming Gavroches,a preferred Gavroche. A V.I.P. pays a Gavroche for the duty. Half a kilo ofgrapes. A V.I.P. pays a guard fifty leva for half a kilo of grapes. The priceof grapes outside - four leva for a kilo. The V.I.P. doesnt care. AV.I.P. buys himself half a kilo of bread for one hundred and forty leva. Thecost of a kilo of bread outside - five leva. The V.I.P. doesnt care. He hasmoney. Gavroche - just has Gavroche. Skeletal body. Rags. Standard clay dishand wooden spoon. Slice of moist bread, mixed with bran, about one hundred andforty grams. Daily ration. Gavroches privilege - to go out on water duty inplace of V.I.P. To be hitched to a barrel of water, instead of a donkey or amule or other beast of burden, to drag a full barrel, four times a day, backand forth, up the street outside the camp. He has the strength for this. Onhundred and forty grams of bread, plus salty, tepid water, miraculously clear,plus six to eight white kidney beans. He has the strength. To go out and do hisduty and the V.I.P.s too. To earn, honourably, half a kilo of grapes.

A V.I.P. is choosy.

Until a week ago he wasnt chosen. Not one out ofseven or eight V.I.P.s chose him. His appearance more skeletal than the mostskeletal of Gavroches. They didnt choose him.

A week ago another V.I.P. arrived. A textileimporter. Has an official title too - court supplier.

He chose him. Him of all people.

The new V.I.P. recognised him. Son of a regular customer.He recognised the new V.I.P. too. He didnt expect to be recognised, still lesschosen. More skeletal than any other. The youngest Gavroche of them all.Dragging a barrel of water, an extra duty day in addition to his own.

He was chosen. Extra duty. Dragging a full barrel upthe street outside the camp. Half a kilo of grapes. A huge bunch, amber.

Sitting on the scarred tiles. Green and damp.Plucking grape after grape. Slow rhythm, measured, metronomic. Knowingwith absolute, unequivocal clarity, knowledge not to be denied from anyperspective whatsoever, in any manner whatsoever, sober knowledge that there isan end. The bunch will be finished. Stripped clean of all its grapes. All thatis left in his hand will be a greenish stalk, its naked thorns a depressingsight.

If he had believed, he would have prayed with everygrape. A comprehensive prayer. Particularly long. A simple prayer ofthanksgiving. If he had believed.

The day turns towards evening. In another half hourthe cart will roll into the compound with supplies for the guards. He will stayclose to the thick wall, jump inside. Steal a tomato or two. A cucumber or two.The carter doesnt see, doesnt hear. The carter pretends he doesnt see,doesnt hear.

About an hour from now - parade, distribution ofbread.

The forbidding Asiatic plain.