The Hidden Room

   The Hidden Room

Suzanne Marsh

“Hurry, hurry, we must get you hidden before dawn.” With those words Rivka Moscowitz began to climb the staircase into the attic, where she would hide from the Nazi’s. She noted there were two beds, a small dresser for her things. Sergi Roskov held a small torch iin his hand as he lead her into the attic. She would be safe here, there was no way anyone could detect where she was hiding. The wall was hidden by the chruch organ. Sergi told Rivka that during the day she must be very quiet, there was a small chamber pot if she needed the facilities. The thought never occurred to Rivka that her time in hiding would become perilous.. Sergi moved silently down the stairs of the crawl space, shutting and securing the door. Rivka, waited until he had left, then sat down on a bed, she also found the food that he had placed up there in the attic for her. Two days later, once again the door swung open, Sergi proceeded up the steps followed by a pretty dark haired, dark eyed girl. Rivka, made her feel welcome as the girl introduced herself:

“I am Sanne, Sergi said you were hiding here also. Things are so bad in Kiev, Jews are being

deported to Poland. My family was taken yesterday, I knew I had to find a place to hid.

I came last evening under the cover of darkness.” Sanne began to weep as she contineud:

“I know my family was taken to an extermination camp in Poland, I don’t even know which

one. Dear Gott, how are we going to survive?”

Rivka, sat in silence as she digested what Sanne had just told her, she knew then her family was dead, she would survive, she told herself, then return to their family home in Kiev. That night for the first time in a month both girls slept. The following morning, the small church of Saint Cyril had a church service. The organ vibrated the room where the girls were sequestered, by the time the service was finished, their ears hurt from the vibrations of the organ.

Pockets of resistance began to spring up in the Ukraine, as summer turned into fall, their first year in hiding. Both women knew that if captured they would be sent to a labor camp, they also knew that soldiers from Russia were treated more harshly by the Germans. They had learned to be as quiet as possible, any sound would attract unwanted attention. Sergi, once a week brought magazines, newspapers and food. He would sit and talk to the young women about the desperate fighting in the Unkraine, he told them about General Nikita Krushchev holding out in Leningrad, that soon the Soviet Union would win the war. Before they could ask any questions, Sergi was on his way back down the stairway. He closed the door, which put the organ back in place. It made hiding the two Jewish girls much easier.

In the interim , Jews were being rounded up and sent to conscntration camps in Poland or worse Germany. Sergi heard the rumors about how people were put in cattle cars, going to the camps. He was concerned about his brother Nikoli, who according to a friend of his, had been captured at Leningrad. He had to find out where he was taken, he also knew through contacts in the resistance that soldiers were being sent to the extermination camps. Sergi, also knew he could not leave since he was caring for the two Jewish girls, the resistance could not spare anyone to take his place. Sergi went home one night to find Viktor sitting with his mother, comforting her:

“Nadia, I am so sorry, we received word today that Gregori died in Auschwitz, a concentration

camp in Poland. He was a hero of the Soviet Union, he was shot while trying to escape” Sergi, strode into the living room of the rather large dacha, when he saw the tears in his mother Nadia’s eyes he knew Gregori was not coming home. He turned to Viktor:

“I want to fight, in the army, avenge my brother’s death, kill as many Germans as I can.” Viktor, gave both Nadia and Sergi a few minuntes before he spoke:

“Listen to me Sergi, you must stay here with Nadia, you have obligations remember that.

The best way for you to avenge Gregori is to continue to outsmart the Germans as you

have been for the last year and a half. The war won’t go on forever, just remember that.”

Sergi, calmed himself down, Nadia clung to him, as if she were clinging to a raft drifting rapidly down a river, with no way to stop it. Viktor stood up, preparing to leave, when they heard sirens blaring:

“They are close, I must leave now, Sergi, remember what I told you.” He was gone, there was a loud knock on the door, then pounding:

“Open the door, we know Viktor Komanov is here.” Sergi opened the door allowing the Gestapo entrance:

“Search the rooms!” commanded SSHauptsturmfuhrer Otto von Hauptmann. The Gestapo began tearing the rooms apart as Sergi and Nadia looked hopelessly on. Viktor somehow hand managed to elude them. They left just as suddenly as they appeared, disgruntled.

The following morning, a Sunday in late June, Sergi and Nadia were at church. The priest, his eyes shining sang the start of the service. Suddenly the doors to the church swung open with a loud bang, there was a pop, pop, pops from machine guns. Sergi, pushed Nadia out of the way of the bullets. SSHauptsturmfuhrer Hauptmann appeared:

“We are here to search the church, there may be Jews hiding here.” Sanne and Rivka could hear every word he said. They held onto each other for dear life, trembling with fear. If they were discovered the church would be burned with everyone in it, the girls would be shot on sight. There was no place for them to hide. The order was given to search the entire church, Sergi, prayed softly that they would not discover the hidden pull on the organ. They searched, they searched along the organ to feel for any hidden buttons, they missed the pull that opened the panel in back of the organ. Satisfied at last, they left. Sergi, sighed a sigh of relief. The church was safe, and the girls were safe.

It was two more long years in hiding before the girls emerged from their hiding place, still fearful of being taken away. They spoke only in whispers, not wanting to speak in a normal tone of voice, to do so meant they would be found, and murdered. The sun felt so warm on their bodies, they saw the blue of the sky and the green of the grass. Both girls were surprised to find the small church, where they had hidden, had a priest who had kept the secret for almost four years. Moments later, Viktor arrived, he met the two girls: he could not help but admire these two young girls, who had to endure so much for their freedom. Rivka returned home with Sanne to find that her parents had been murdered, their beautiful home confiscated. The house was a shell of what it had once been. Rivka, began to rebuild, she found things that belonged to her parents scattered all over the town. Sanne later moved to Israel.