Prussia's secret

Prussia was a great many things, awesome, brave, handsome, powerful. He always had to be the best and brightest, that's just the way he was. He was always proud of how great his little bruder had become but a small part of him feared the tall blonde German.

Feared what his brother had done when he was under control of Hitler. There was no personification of Israel, there never was. Yet there is.

When Prussia was dissolved and Germany became one unit again, he should have disappeared with it, but he didn't. Because when Prussia was dissolved, Gilbert became the personification of something entirely different.

He watched his people being burned, slaughtered, poisoned, tortured, and cast away from their homes in front of his very eyes. Each death, seared itself into another tally on his back. The reason he had accepted this pain was because of one little Jewish boy named Aryet.

Aryet had been a five year old when he and his family had been taken to the Dachau camp. Gilbert had been a Nazi, trying to support his brother when he met the child. He had been unhealthily thin, you could see his joints clearly and he had been too ill to move from his thin blanket on the floor of his holding cell. But when the boy saw Gilbert he instantly shuffled towards him to stick a thin, bony pale hand outside the bars of his cell.

"Hello, I'm Aryet. Your new here right?"

He rasped, coughing as the dusty air got caught in his throat. Gilbert had looked at him in surprise. Then made sure no other Nazis were looking, and he shook the small hand.

"I'm Gilbert, but you can call me Gil."

He laughed awesomely and the little boy smiled toothily at him. That's how Gilbert and Aryet became friends, Gilbert at the same time everyday would come and sit with the child, telling him stories and the like.

And the little boy told him things too. Like 'We're still waiting for our Nation to come save us! Like you're the nation of Prussia. I know he'll save us! He has too!' And 'When we finally get out, I'm going to get icecream again and strudel. I'll bet I'll find my Mutti again too! And Papa and my kleiner bruder Binyamin, and my sister Tzvi.'

He always smiled at Aryet's stories and helped the little boy keep his dreams alive. But even Gilbert could see that the child was getting weaker and weaker as the weeks and weeks of malnutrition and torture drew on. Then one day when Gilbert went to his cell, it was empty. Gilbert ran as fast he could but he couldn't find Aryet. So he asked a fellow Nazi.

"Oh, he and the rest of his brood are being taken to the chambers."

The fellow Nazi had said and a horrified look, enveloped Gilbert's face. He pin around and ran as hard as he could to the gas chambers. He had to stop him, to save the boy. But the moment he fought his way through the crowds they were already hauling out the bodies. Gilbert screamed.

"NO!"

He bellowed, pushing the other Nazis out of the way with their sneering faces as he searched for Aryet, digging through the lifeless pile of copses. Then Gilbert crumpled to his knees as he saw the one body he was looking for but least wanted to find.

Aryet was lying there, the boy still had lifeless glassy eyes opened wide and a sweet, innocent smile, gracing his lips. Gilbert wrapped his arms around the child, lifting the dead child from the pile of bodies.

Gilbert sobbed loudly on his knees, holding the child to his chest. He whispered a last hiccuping promise to the boy.

"I promise you. I'll find your nation."

He had sobbed, softly.

So from that moment when Prussia was dissolved, Gilbert became the personification of Israel and the Holocaust. Each death scarred him as he had relive each moment. That's why he hadn't died. Because Israel still exists and none have ever forgotten the Holocaust.

But today was Yom Hashoah, also known as Holocaust Remembrance Day. And of course his wonderful little bruder had to plan a world meeting today.

Bruder- brother

Kleiner Bruder- little brother

Mutti- mommy

I think that was all the German words...