crowd on the playground roared with laughter All right Penraat he said taking off his jacket say your prayers They tumbled to the ground punching and swinging at each other Suddenly Herman fell backward Brammy yelled Jaap Bram had managed to grab Herman by the collar and yank him off Jaap Herman seemed glad to have an excuse to quit fighting Don’t think I’m finished with you Penraat said Herman You’re gonna get what’s coming to you You and your little Jewboy friend Dorland So long Four Eyes Herman and his gang sauntered away laughing and trading punches Jaap was a bit dazed He had never heard the word Jew spoken in that tone of voice before Slowly he rose to his feet and headed home as darkness fell 10
FIRESTORM 1933 hese are my treasures I want you boys to share them said Mr Mandelbaum somberly Now that you’re thirteen you are old enough Jaap and Brammy had been playing chess in the kitchen when the old man entered with two towering stacks of books and set them down on the table They contain ideas he continued They will make you think That’s why they’re so afraid of them They don’t want you to think for yourselves But don’t give in to them boys No matter who else does Never give in to them There were books on art music astronomy and politics Einstein Mark Twain and Shakespeare were among the names on the worn leather spines The old man nodded to Jaap’s mother and left Who was he talking about Mom asked Jaap Who are they The Nazis said his mother Mr Mandelbaum is upset about what they did in Berlin last night She turned away quickly hoping that peeling potatoes would mask her own fear The boys stared at her until she continued The Nazis burned books last night It was on the radio They made bonfires out of books written by foreigners and liberals and Jewish people Jaap glanced at Brammy His head was down They could have my math books said Jaap trying to shift the mood It didn’t work 11
I’d better get to my studies said Bram putting on his jacket Don’t you want to divvy up the books asked Jaap Some other time See you in school Bye Mrs Penraat Will they burn books here Mom Jaap asked after Bram left I can’t imagine it she said quietly But people are strange Jaapy The worst can be brought out in any of us under certain circumstances As well as the best Be sure you thank Mr Mandelbaum for the books tomorrow Books held a special place in the hearts of the people of Holland For over four hundred years the Dutch had been making books in Amsterdam and Jaap’s father Gerrit Penraat was part of that tradition He was a master of a print shop overseeing the work of fifteen pressmen and printing the finest quality books himself on a special press Jaap we’re going to a meeting tonight he announced when he came home There’s a man from Germany who’s speaking about Gerrit Jaap’s too young for that said Jaap’s mother He knows how hard I work to make a book snapped his father I think he needs to know why someone would burn one And I want to know too After dinner the Penraats hurried to the printers meeting hall A young couple with two small children sat down next to Jaap 12
Ah A fellow artist I see said the man noticing the doodles Jaap had been drawing on his program Well I’m really better at drawing houses said Jaap I want to be an architect Excellent But the best architects are truly artists first My wife Miriam is a painter I write and work a bit with clay when I’m not teaching school Maybe you’d like to come to our studio sometime and see our work My name is Eli Cardozo This is Nathan and the little one is Sam The speaker from Germany was a Jewish writer whose work had come under attack He said the Nazis claimed that any work that did not glorify the German race was anti-German and must be burned They labeled anyone they didn’t like as enemies of the state Those who dared speak out were arrested and sent to work camps The speaker was grateful to be welcomed in Holland but said they should expect more refugees for he feared the worst was yet to come He was right The trickle of immigrants from Germany became a flood as conditions worsened in their country Many refugees escaped with little more than the clothes they wore The Nazis carted away housefuls of Jewish property and claimed the empty houses for themselves For the next five years the madness swept through Germany until it exploded into a rampage of terror on the night of November 9 1938 Goaded by the Nazis the Germans burnt down thousands
