Plunder by Menachem Kaiser (english novels for students txt) 📕

tried to keep me abreast, whispering in my ear what the judge was saying, about me, my father, my aunt, my grandfather, but it was very disorienting. I was lost in a Polish bureaucratic fog.

There was some back-and-forth between the judge and The Killer—​who was, I have to say, totally in her element: the robe, the stoic fierceness; she cut an intimidating figure—​and then we were directed to sit. The four of us squeezed onto a single bench, which felt and must have looked ridiculous.

The judge went on declaiming a few more minutes, and then I was called to testify. I stood up and took my place behind the podium, Małgorzata beside me.

My back-and-forth with the judge was very slow—​the question had to be translated, and then my answer had to be translated, and then my answer, or the relevant parts thereof, had to be repeated/clarified by the judge so they could be put on the court record. The following is a more or less unedited transcript—​my voice recorder was on and hidden in my pocket—​of my testimony, or at least the parts that were comprehensible to me.

THE COURT: Have you ever been charged with perjury?

THE CLAIMANT: No.

THE COURT: You would be criminally liable for perjury. In such a case you would be sentenced to eight years in prison.

THE CLAIMANT: I understand.

THE COURT: Do you know the reason why you were called as a witness to the court?

THE CLAIMANT: To give testimony regarding the deaths of Moshe Kajzer, Sura-Hena Kajzer, Tamara, Michoel Aaron.

THE COURT: We’ll be starting with Moshe. What do you know about him?

THE CLAIMANT: My grandfather was his son. I didn’t know him personally. He died way before I was born. But I know that he died.

THE COURT: What were the circumstances of his death?

THE CLAIMANT: I don’t know. I just know that it was between 1941 and 1944.

THE COURT: How do you know that?

THE CLAIMANT: That’s what my grandfather told my father, and my father told me. It is known in our family.

THE COURT: So you don’t know what happened to Moshe?

THE CLAIMANT: I don’t know exactly but he was never seen again.

THE COURT: Is it likely that he was in the ghetto?

THE CLAIMANT: He was definitely in the ghetto and it’s possible he was shot, or taken to one of the camps. Where he would have died.

THE COURT: Do you know of any survivors of the ghetto?

THE CLAIMANT: I know of a few. Plus my grandfather.

THE COURT: Why are you certain that Moshe didn’t survive if other people did survive the ghetto?

THE CLAIMANT: Because they would have found each other after the war.

THE COURT: How old would he be today?

THE CLAIMANT: Almost 140.

THE COURT: Have you been searching in organizations?

THE CLAIMANT: Many.

THE COURT: What were the results?

THE CLAIMANT: Nothing.

THE COURT: Okay. What was the name of his spouse?

THE CLAIMANT: Sura-Hena.

THE COURT:. What do you know about her?

THE CLAIMANT: Very little.

THE COURT: Was it possible that she survived?

THE CLAIMANT: No.

THE COURT: How old would she be if she were alive today?

THE CLAIMANT: She was born in the 1880s, so between 130 and 140 years old.

THE COURT: How many children did they have?

THE CLAIMANT: Three.

THE COURT: What were their names?

THE CLAIMANT: Michoel, Tamara, and Maier.

THE COURT: Do you know if they were taken to the concentration camp?

THE CLAIMANT: I don’t know. I know my grandfather was.

THE COURT: He survived?

THE CLAIMANT: My grandfather? Yes.

THE COURT: What happened to Michoel and Tamara?

THE CLAIMANT: They died.

THE COURT: Where?

THE CLAIMANT: I don’t know.

THE COURT: Is their death connected in any way with the war?

THE CLAIMANT: Yes. What? Yes.

THE COURT: How old would they be?

THE CLAIMANT: Michoel was born in 1913, so he’d be 104, and Tamara would be about 102.

THE COURT: So only Maier survived of all the children?

THE CLAIMANT: Yes.

THE COURT: When did he die?

THE CLAIMANT: 1977.

THE COURT: What estate did Moshe and Sura-Hena leave here in Poland?

THE CLAIMANT: They left property.

THE COURT: Where is it?

THE CLAIMANT: It’s at Małachowskiego 12. I think. It’s complicated. It might be somewhere else. But it was number 12 before the war.

(The Killer and Grazyna unhappily grumble to each other.)

THE COURT: What are the grounds on which you base your conviction that these people are dead?

THE CLAIMANT: That they’re dead, today, in the year 2017?

THE COURT: Yes.

THE CLAIMANT: No one found each other after the war, that’s number one. Even with very extensive searching by my grandfather, after the war, for thirty years. If they were alive then, my grandfather would have found them. And then my own searching with organizations in Israel, the US, Canada, and Poland. If they were alive now I would have found them. And number two, they’re dead, because it’s 2017. Even if they had survived the war they would be dead by now.

(The Killer stands and conducts an examination of the Claimant.)

THE KILLER: Was your grandfather ever charged with perjury?

THE CLAIMANT: No.

THE KILLER: Was he incapacitated?

THE CLAIMANT: Not until right before he died.

THE KILLER: What was his profession?

THE CLAIMANT: Businessman.

THE KILLER: And you were born in?

THE CLAIMANT: 1985.

THE KILLER: So you got the information from your father?

THE CLAIMANT: Yes.

THE KILLER: Was your father incapacitated?

THE CLAIMANT: No.

THE KILLER: Was he charged with perjury?

THE CLAIMANT: No.

THE KILLER: What was the profession of your father?

THE CLAIMANT: Businessman.

(The Claimant sits.)

THE KILLER: I am requesting the Court to declare Moshe Kajzer, Sura-Hena Kazjer, Michoel Kajzer, and Tamara Kajzer legally deceased, and the Court to give an approximate date of their death.

THE COURT: The Court obliges the claimant to place an advertisement in a periodical to announce the disappearance of the persons in question and to request that anyone with information come forward within a period of sixty days.

THE KILLER: This already has been done. The advertisement ran in Gazeta Prawna on January 22, 2017.

THE COURT: What was the result?

THE KILLER: No one came forward.

THE COURT: The Court obliges the Claimant to search the records of the concentration camps.

(The Killer objects; the Claimant is called back to