Chapter 4 deals with the story of Dalia’s family in Bulgaria. Not before long, many Jews in Bulgaria began being taken away to death camps. Dimitur Peshev was the vice president of the Jewish parliament, and he was one of the people who stopped this horrible treatment in Ploviv, Bulgaria. His friend Asen Suichmenov, a shop owner who was kind to Jews and had grown up around them, helped him.Chapter 5 is the story of what Palestine was going through around that same time. The Khairis travelled north, and growing tensions between Arabs and Jews were causing bombs and unsafe environments.
1st Passage:
“Yitzhak Yitzhaki, a strong, good looking twenty-year-old, was sent to a work camp on the Serbian border (…) we were very lucky indeed’.” (entire paragraph, p. 28 )
This peice stood out for me because I didn’t notice anything too bad about it. It made me think of the late 19th century and the conditions for soldiers fighting during the American Civil War. I thought that all work camps were terrible, but Yitzhak said he was lucky compared to what was occuring in Europe because he was on the Serbian border. It made me see things differently because I didn’t know that Serbia was probably better off than Europe in those times, but now I can see that it clearly was. Questions: Why were some Jews sent to work camps while others were sent to death camps?
2nd Passage:
“Violeta recalled, ‘I told him to give me the documents.’
‘I cannot give you the documents.”
‘Then give me my money back.’ Violeta told the governor.
‘No, I’m not giving you the money back,’ he replied, ‘Please leave the room.’
The young woman with the yellow star stood up and left the office. She returned to the house shaken, with no money and no documents.” (p. 34)
This piece stood out for me because I can see that it is not a fair game that is played. The governor, Miltenov, even though he is Bulgarian, will not stand to be persuaded to grant the travel permits for the Jewish deportation to Poland. The Jews were not treated with dignity, and even little things like this are important. I think that Violeta did exactly what was right; she did not say or do anything wrong, and she acted civilly. But she could’ve persuaded him more than she did, becuase they chose her to ask him to give him the documents. What Miltenov did was cruel and injust, and it should not have been done. Questions: Why didn’t Miltenov give Violeta the papers? Would there have been any bad consequences if he had given her the papers?
3rd Passage:
“For many of the people of al-Ramla, it was their first glimpse of Khairi women, who almost never left the family compound. Some of the women were pregnant, and there, in the heat, a woman’s water broke. She had her baby on the ground…Firdaws saw a boy peeing into a can and then his gradmother drinking it.”
This passage stood out for me because I didn’t think that someone would include such a detail in the story of the Arab travel from al-Ramla to Salbit. But I think this is very important, because in these stories, the main ideas are important, but the small things that occur should not be forgotten. On the trip to Salbit, it was extremely hot and tiring, and that we know, but the causes of the length of the trip, the heat, and the exhaustion should also be shown. This portrays humanity at its core. Questions: How will Bashir remember this trip when he is older? Why were only the Khairi women there and not other women?
BLOG COMMENTS
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Great example of a thoughtful response. In your last quote, I was struck when I read passage that many in the community would not have recognized the women’s faces. I wonder how the women feel being exposed to the general community when they are not accustomed to it.
I think that the converation between Violeta and the Governor is very relavent to the way the Jews and Arabs interact with eachother. The quote shows an unfriendly coldness within the flow of the conversation. It is not a comfortable conversation they are having. It was interesting to me that the Jews always seem to just take it and put up without a fight. Im not sure that I think it’s an admirable trait necessarily but it is not easy to walk away without a single complaint. They do what they are told, they are very obedient. Will Rogers,a famous indian, once said “People that pay for things never complain. It’s the guy you give something to that you can’t please.” The Jews seem to give and give to the Arabs and in this particular quote Miltenov with nothing in return and no amount of gold or land will ever please them. I grow to respect the Jews more and more as I read this story. As for the third passage, when I read this off the blog I felt sick. The distance people go when they are desperate is absurd. At that point, I think I would rather not be alive then have to go through what these women, men and children went through.