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    My Lieutenant
    My Lieutenant
    My Lieutenant
    Ebook39 pages20 minutes

    My Lieutenant

    By Eric Alan Westfall

    ()

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    About this ebook

    Number....

    Fall, 1941, beyond gates which said Arbeit Macht Frei, stumbling, herded across empty railroad tracks.

    The train on which we arrived, and some of us died, was behind us. The harsh voices of you-and-you-and-no!-not-you created a vast chasm, which might have been only ten feet across. Over there was a ragged row of the chosen, men and boys who might have strength beneath their fear, and a few pretty girls and women. On our side were the rest of the women, the elderly, the weak.

    She made me promise I would survive, before she pushed me a step into the empty space, calling out, "Herr Leutnant!"

    Lieutenant:

    Some mothers have an innate sense of impending doom, although no one had mentioned the showers yet. When she called I expected the usual groveling and pleading. Instead, she told me her son would work hard. Promised on his behalf he would do all I asked.

    His nervous gaze flicked up to my face and away, but I could see he would honor his mother's word. I nodded. As he walked on shaky legs across the gap I wondered whether she knew what she had just promised. I like to think she did.

    ***

    This is not a romance. It's a story of the Holocaust written in 1999 after a journey that fall to Auschwitz. A trip in honor of my late partner of thirty years, who was Jewish and had never been able to go himself.

    If I have written this story well, it will be difficult to read. If not...so be it.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherEric Alan Westfall
    Release dateSep 11, 2018
    ISBN9781386423256
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      Book preview

      My Lieutenant - Eric Alan Westfall

      Copyright © 1999-2017, by Eric Alan Westfall.

      All rights reserved.

      A Special Round of Cyber-Applause to:

      Karrie Jax for a cover that sets precisely the right tone for what this story is. You can reach her at www.karriejax.com.

      Stellar beta readers Steph McPhee and Alexis Woods. Their encouragement and insights are greatly appreciated.

      But please remember, if I did not adopt their suggestions, as with other authors, The fault, dear readers, is not in our betas, but in ourselves…

      TABLE OF CONTENTS

      A Special Round of Cyber-Applause to

      Author’s Foreword

      My Lieutenant

      Author’s Afterword

      Bio

      More Books by Eric Alan Westfall

      AUTHOR’S FOREWORD

      I picked Amsterdam for a several-days vacation (thanks to very cheap roundtrip air fare) in the fall of 1999, in large part because I could schedule an overnight to Auschwitz. My late partner of thirty years was Jewish and had always wanted to see it, so this was sort of a pilgrimage in his honor.

      I only had the morning—the cold, grey, wet, rain-from-time-to-time morning—before I had to catch the early afternoon, and only, flight back to Amsterdam. Not surprisingly, I was the only visitor, but the staff graciously allowed me to tour on my own.

      This story sort of began in my head shortly after I walked into the first museum and began crying when I saw the displays of tumbled suitcases, of eyeglasses, of other items taken from the victims. I cried most of the way through the actual buildings where the prisoners were kept, and walking the grounds. The nice cab driver (despite our lack of a mutual language) managed to get me to Birkenau as well, before rushing me back to the airport to catch my flight.

      The first draft of the story was pretty much complete by the time the plane touched down in New York a couple of days later. It sat, dust

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