People who have touched our lives: Ana

Stories of People who have Touched our Lives:   Ana:   Daddy and I went to the little Post Office here at the Kibbutz to mail some postcards to you.  There is a little red-haired lady who is in her seventies who runs it.  You know how Daddy is, he asked her about some photos she had on the wall, and she told him about them.  Then she said, "You come sit down.  I have story to tell you.  Story about me."  And she pulled up some chairs for us close to her desk. "I grew up in Bosnia," she told us.  "We were very happy there, but when the war started, we knew we were in danger.  (Of course she was talking about World War II and Hitler's plan to destroy all the Jewish people.)  "I was 11and a half when the soldiers came to our town.  I had a little friend I played with who was from a Catholic family, and she begged her mother and father to try to save me.  Those brave, good people thought of a way.  "There was a Catholic orphanage in our town, and they took me there with my sister who was 8.  They gave us new names and a new identity.  We had to learn a story about our parents who, supposedly, were Catholic and were from another town and had different names and had been killed.  They told me that I was responsible for my little sister.  I had to help her remember not to tell the truth or call me by my real name.  They told me that if she was sad, I would need to comfort her so she wouldn't cry.  I remember wondering what if I were sad.  Who would comfort me so I wouldn't cry.  These kind people thought of a way to save my mother, too.  They made her a kitchen worker in another orphanage, and finally, they were able to give her a "transfer position", and she became a nursery worker who took care of the children in our orphanage – so she was caring for us!!  But no word of recognition, no hugs, no special treatment.  We had to pretend she was just a caretaker that we didn't know, but, at least, she could see that we were safe and well, and we had her near taking care of us!  These kind people were not able to save my father, though, he was taken off the street and sent to Auschwitz.  He may still be alive, but I never heard from him again.  But the reason I wanted to tell you this story, is that I think when you go to Jerusalem you will go to the Holocaust Museum there.  In one area, they have children's playthings displayed.  When I was in this orphanage, I decided to make a set of playing cards to play gin rummy.  I wasn't artistic at all, but for some reason, I decided to decorate each card in a different way.  I was able to keep those cards, and now they are displayed in the museum." Daddy and I were both very moved by her story, and we hope to go see her cards at the museum next Sunday wen we go back to Jerusalem.  We figured out that she is just exactly Uncle Merrel's age.