LESLIE EPSTEIN
45
work. In the open air. There will be meat to eat, and vegetables and
dairy products. All the J ew ish Council must do is draw up a list of
names. Old people, Madame Minister. Or young people. Or healthy or
sick.
It
is completely up to you to decide. Each Jew is allowed to make
up a bundl e of twenty kilos. They must be at the Radogodsh Station
tomorrow at noon."
The former 'cellist changed color. It was as if someone had drawn
a green shade over her face. "They want a hundred Jews!" she
screamed.
"Only a hundred . You choose which ones."
The Security Minister, Fried Ri evesaltes, who up
to
then had been
silent, now uttered a single word: " Deportations! " H e dropped with a
thud into his chair.
"Deportations, deportations ," murmured the Council, also sitting
down.
"Ga-a-a-a!" It was old Philosoff, older even than Trumpleman.
Ninety. Perhaps ninety-five. His face had gone red. " Ga-a-a-!" he said
agam.
"A punishment from the Almighty!" a Minister cri ed. "He sees us
sipping wine and eating creamed fish! "
"Oh! Oh! "
They all were sighing and groaning. Philosoff, the Minister of
Charities and Welfare, continued
to
make a rattling sound in his
throat. Wohltat wiped his cheeks and his brow.
"Ministers! Council members! Listen to what I am saying. I am
saying more than is allowed. You are right. It is because of the troubles
on the eastern front. Because of Ki ev. But if reinforcements are call ed
up from the homeland, who will plow the fi elds and milk the goats on
the farms? The answer is , the lucky one-hundred Jews! They just have
to pluck fresh eggs out of the nests.
It
will be like a vacation. In any
case, you have my word that the Judenra t will be exempted. My dear
friends , you don't have to worry at all!"
Here old Philosoff came to his senses. The tears dried in his eyes.
"A soft bone," he said, apologizing. "From the herring."
Then Dorka Kl einweiss, the only Minister still standing, said the
following words: "What if we refuse
to
do it?"
"What? What did she say?" She had spoken so softly that no one
had heard her .
"What if we say to the Blond Ones,
No, we won't do it. You do it.
What then?"
There was a gasp from the J udenrat.
