Suddenly, Love

9

THE COMMUNIST CHAPTER IN ERNST’S LIFE BEGAN WHEN he was twelve. Communist youth from his neighborhood persuaded him to take part in putting up posters at night. The boys were called “poster pasters.” They were fourteen or fifteen years old. Some of them were orphans, but most of them were poor boys who had run away from their families. They squatted in abandoned houses or in empty warehouses where there were no watchmen. They were thin and quick, and their clothing smelled of oil. From them he heard coarse language for the first time.

One night Ernst was caught and put into jail. His father and mother were called, and they hurried to the police station. His mother swore that they were honest people and that their son was an only child. Of course her pleas were useless. The policeman declared that Communists were unworthy of mercy. Their place was in jail.

“He’s a child,” Ernst’s mother implored.

“Even a Communist child is a Communist, and he has to be plucked out before he takes root.”

What pleas failed to accomplish was done by bribery. Ernst’s mother placed a few banknotes in the policeman’s palm, and her son was freed.

The next evening Ernst didn’t report for duty. He was sure that the episode was over, but the following morning his handlers lay in wait for him as he walked to school. If he didn’t report for work that night, they threatened, his blood would be on his own head. You don’t abandon the Party because you’ve been arrested once, they said.

“I’m afraid,” he blurted out.

“You’re afraid of the Romanian police? You ought to be afraid of Stalin instead!”

Ernst encountered those violent boys almost every day. He tried to run away from them, but they were faster than he was. If they didn’t catch him by day, they ambushed him at night. Once, in the middle of the night, they banged on his window and shouted, “Traitor! Traitors won’t be forgiven!”

In the end Ernst couldn’t resist the pressure and returned to his handlers. They didn’t greet him fondly. They kept reminding him that the Party doesn’t tolerate shirkers and deserters.

His parents suspected that his disappearances at night weren’t of an innocent nature, but they were immersed in the store and in debts, and they didn’t ask a lot of questions. Ernst became more deeply involved in the Party. One night he was taught how to break open doors and prepare flammable materials. Before long he took part in burning down one of the smaller yeshivas. Burning down religious institutions was regarded as one of the Party’s important imperatives. All the boys took part. At first Ernst hesitated, but he became increasingly captivated by their rigor.

One night he witnessed the interrogation of an elderly rabbi who lived on the outskirts of the city. The boys entered his apartment without knocking. The rabbi was sitting at his desk, reading a book. The head of the gang addressed him in Ukrainian. “Rabbi,” he said. The rabbi raised his head up from the book.

“We came to warn you.” The boy spoke directly to the rabbi. “You’d better not teach boys Talmud anymore.”

“I don’t understand.” The old man sat up straight in his chair.

“We came to warn you not to teach the Talmud. The Talmud is full of superstitions. Spreading damaging beliefs is like spreading poison.”

“Poison?” The rabbi looked sharply at him.

“Indeed.”

“These teachings are meant only for Jews.” The old man spoke softly.

“I know. What difference does that make? Poison is poison, and it’s poisonous.”

“I’ve been teaching for fifty years.” The rabbi spoke as if the person before him wasn’t an intruder but an accuser who had come to complain about his legal decisions.

“You’ve been spreading poison for fifty years. The time has come to stop. The Party doesn’t mince words. If its demands aren’t met, it has ways of putting the one who refuses in his place.”

A smile spread across the rabbi’s face. “I’m seventy-one years old,” he said. “A man at my age isn’t afraid anymore.”

“You’re wrong. Fear isn’t connected to age. The Party has the power to impose its authority on everyone.”

“I see that the Party is omnipotent,” the rabbi replied, not without a hint of irony.

“Correct. I wouldn’t suggest testing its strength. You’d be better off, for your own good, accepting the Party’s dictates without provoking it.”

“What’s wrong with studying Talmud?” The rabbi reverted to his old argument.

“Didn’t I explain it to you? You yourself know that the Talmud is full of superstitions and benighted laws, not to mention magic. A person who devotes himself to Talmud study eventually becomes a fanatic and an exploiter, oppressing women and children. Those poisonous plants must be rooted out.”

“Who are you?” asked the rabbi, as though roused from a nightmare. He placed his pale hands on the table.

“That’s not important. This is not a personal matter. You have to stop this harmful hypnosis once and for all.” It was evident that the young interrogator had a good bit of talent for speaking. During the conversation, he had used the word “theology” several times, and a few other words that Ernst didn’t understand.

The old rabbi rose to his feet and said, “This is our holy Torah, and we are willing to give our lives for it.”

“We’ve already heard that stupid argument, and it doesn’t deter us.”

“Get out of my house!” The rabbi could no longer control himself.

“You’ve crossed the line.” The interrogator changed his tone. “The Party won’t forgive a sin like that. Until now you were a public nuisance; from now on you’ll be seen as an adversary. Adversaries are judged more harshly.”

“Get out of here. Get out!” The rabbi spoke as if the interrogator weren’t threatening but was just annoying.

“I could have eliminated you easily,” said the boy, pointing to the revolver in his belt. “I won’t do it, because the Party allows for repentance and for begging pardon. I’m giving you a week’s reprieve.”

The old man opened his eyes wide, as if the person talking to him were an evil spirit.

“I advise you to think carefully about what I said to you,” said the boy, as he and his two associates turned to the door.

Ernst was increasingly captivated by all these goings-on and became more deeply entrenched within the Party. The thought that he was freeing people from the prison of religion inspired him with the will to act. There was no limit to his devotion, to his obedience. Ernst believed that self-sacrifice was the highest expression of humanity.