No Childhood
by
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AIR RAID AT THE PARK
Last night was a bad raid . When we walked down to the park this morning, we found a real bad scene. There were pieces of lady-soldiers all over the place. In trees and bushes and on the ground. Seems a bomb hit right in the middle of a unit of women soldiers on their way to the train station. (the park is a short cut to the Bahnhof (train depot) and we all take it all the time. But I guess the ladies did not have time to get to a shelter, before the bombs hit. Dad says it hit right in the middle of them. Marion threw up when she saw it, because her big sister is a soldier and I guess she thought it could have been her.
We also find out that Trudy, Irma’s friend, who was gonna have a baby, died in the air raid last night. She was on the way to a shelter, but didn’t make it. It was one of those where we did not get warned and it was too late. I don’t want to go to the funeral. I hate them. But Dad says we have to show our respect to Trudy’s parents, especially since her husband is in the war and cannot be there.
AIRRAID WARDEN
I am now an official air raid warden. I am 12 years old. I have a uniform, a helmet and an armband. Whenever there is an alarm or airraid, I have to make sure that everyone on me block is off the street and in the cellar. I have to make sure there are no lights on anywhere. And I have to make sure that Mrs. G. next door has the two babies in the baskets and help her take them to the cellar. They are 6 months old and two years old. And then after the airraid and the all clear I have to go thru the building and make sure there are no fires.
Frau H. does not like this, she does not think you can trust a dirty Jew to go through the building without them stealing you blind. But when Dad suggested that one of her boys could go with me, she backed off fast. Guess she thinks whatever makes me a Jew might rub off on them or something.
Dad says don’t pay any attention, but I do get upset about it.
Mom is very angry. She says they won’t let me in school, they will not give me food coupons, but I have to be an air raid warden. Dad says it might help to get them off my back for awhile.
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About the Book
No Childhood is a collection of incidents, written from a child's point of view. It describes the feelings of a little girl, who never really was a child. Some of her questions and lots of her constant fears are brought to the surface. It gives insight into the mixed emotions of the little girl and the adults around her.
The little girl was one of the lucky ones who survived the holocaust. But there was suffering too. And yet, among all the evil of the times, there were the good people. The family, the teacher, the nuns, the dentist, who all had a part in saving the little girl's life.
About the Author
The author, Edith c. Rogers, was 'born in Saarbruecken, Germany in the early 19308. When she was two years old, she was sent on a visit to her great aunt in Stuttgart, Germany. This visit was to be for a few weeks, but she remained for the next twenty years.
When the first race laws regarding inter-marriage with Jews were passed, her father divorced her mother and abandoned her.
Considering the political climate in Germany, staying in Stuttgart was thought to be best for the little girl. While no one ever could have imagined what was in store for the Jews in Germany, this without doubt saved the author's life. While no official papers for guardianship or adoption were ever filed, the author came to think of the family in Stuttgart as her own and even used their name sometimes.
The author has four children, ten grandchildren and one great-grand child. She is currently enjoying retirement and living in the Chicago, Illinois area.