Jacob ran on for another five minutes, almost to where their pharmacy was located. He braced himself as he thought of the mess he’d find there. If a crowd were looting the pharmacy, there wouldn’t be anything I can do about it.
As he turned the corner, he was relieved to find the pharmacy untouched. The street was relatively quiet, and there were no fires, but there were plenty of people outside their homes. A young girl not much older than seven looked up at Jacob with big, frightened eyes. She wore but a nightgown, and her mother kept her close. A man stood next to them, holding a shovel, scanning the street with an air of defiance.
Jacob reached the pharmacy, where Herr Wagner stood outside the door to his offices. He saw Jacob and motioned him to come closer.
“It’s madness,” he said, his eyes wide with fear. “They’re destroying the city.”
Jacob nodded. “I ran across town, and there are fires everywhere. People are looting shops, grabbing whatever they can. I haven’t seen any fights yet, but it can’t be much longer.”
“They’re only attacking Jewish businesses, though,” Wagner said. “Looks like Goebbels got exactly what he wanted.”
“I can’t believe this is a spontaneous reaction. Do you think it’s the SS?”
“Maybe, or the Brownshirts, more likely. I saw some men in uniforms giving orders. Most of them are wearing normal clothes, though.” An explosion on the next block rocked the ground, and they instinctively ducked.
A large group of men appeared from around the corner. They carried torches and jerry cans and shouted at people to get out of their way. Jacob counted at least twenty of them.
“Out with the Jews!”
Jacob looked at Wagner. He’d turned pale, his gaze fixed on the men.
“Trouble’s here,” Jacob said. The man across the street tightened his grip on the shovel. Jacob tried to get his attention, but the man was too focused on the group. The girl hid behind her mother, only her face peeking out.
The group reached the small family’s house and stopped.
“Look at the brave one,” one of the larger men in the front said. He flashed a sinister smile and held his arms out wide. “What do you think you’re going to do ?”
The homeowner didn’t respond but just looked at the brute and clenched his jaw.
“Get out of the way,” the man said, stepping forward. “Don’t give me a reason to hurt your little girl there.”
Behind him, a man took a bottle from his backpack and filled it with gasoline from one of the jerry cans.
“You want to be a homeless kike?” The first man flashed a dirty, toothless grin “or a dead one?” He held up the bottle menacingly and struck the first match. The flame didn’t hold, and the man cursed.
Jacob looked around the street—most people had fled into their houses.
We can’t just leave them to fend for themselves.
He took a step toward the family across the street. Before he could take another, he felt a firm hand on his shoulder.
“You can’t help them, Jacob.” Wagner’s eyes showed concern as he shook his head. “Look at those thugs—there’s no reasoning with them.”
Jacob tried to shake off the older man’s grip, but Wagner was adamant.
“If you walk over there, they’ll burn down the pharmacy as well. Not to mention what they’d do to you. You’re a Jew, Jacob. Don’t give them an excuse.”
Jacob felt his eyes sting as he struggled to control his anger. I can’t just stand here and do nothing. At the same time, he knew he couldn’t take on twenty men on his own. If only the man backs down, maybe it won’t be that bad.
The little girl started to cry. The sound pierced the evening sky, and her father looked over his shoulder. It was the first time he took his eyes off the group.
“It will be okay,” he said softly as he put down his shovel to gently stroke her hair. “These angry men think we’re going to hurt them, but you know that’s not true, right?”
She sobbed and buried her face against her mother’s skirts. The mother looked up at her husband with pleading eyes.
He shook his head. “I can’t let them destroy our house. It’s all we have.”
The man grabbed his shovel and swung it at the man holding the bottle, smashing it to pieces on the street. The man roared with pain, and for a moment, everybody was too stunned to react as the sweet smell of gasoline spread.
The group recovered quickly and descended on the man like a pack of hyenas. He managed to get a few swings in, stepping back while they approached. He could only keep them from him for so long, and it was only a moment later he was pinned down on the ground.
Jacob saw the flash of a knife and looked away.
The leader of the group called out: “Stop, don’t kill him!”
The man holding the knife paused and looked up at the leader in surprise. The man on the ground was a mess, his face bruised and bloodied. Despite this, defiance still shone in his eyes.
“Get him up,” the leader said. “And get his wife and kid away from the house.”
The man was dragged away; the girl left crying as her mother tried to comfort her. She shielded her daughter and clawed at the men approaching them. Outnumbered, the men pulled her and the child away from the house. They were left next to their husband and father, whose breathing was labored and shallow as he struggled to sit upright.
“I’ve decided it’s better to have you see your house burned to the ground than to kill you here,” the leader of the group said. “Besides, there’s a better place to send you than kill you.” He grinned and lit the rag hanging out of one of the bottles. The thugs smashed a window using the homeowner’s shovel and stepped out of the way.
The leader threw the bottle into the house, which instantly engulfed the small front room in fire. The house turned into an inferno within seconds.
Jacob felt the heat on his face from the other side of the street. He could only watch as the small house crumbled in front of them.
“Okay, that’s enough. Take him to the police station.” The large man pointed at two strong men to pick up the homeowner, who’d passed out.
They dragged him away and left his wife and daughter in front of their now-smoldering house. They looked stunned.
“Where are you taking him?” the wife asked the group leader, who was walking away. She held her sobbing daughter close.
He looked at her with contempt. “He’ll be in one of the jail cells nearby, along with the rest of you scum. You can go with him if you want—I don’t care.” He walked on, the group following him and ignoring the woman on the ground.
Jacob looked on in shock as the men passed him chanting Nazi anthems with outstretched arms. Most of them were in their early twenties, although he also spotted a few teenagers amongst them. Their eyes were full of menace, satisfied with the damage they’d wrought.
Wagner tugged at his shirt. “Keep your head down, Jacob,” he whispered. “It looks like they’re passing by our shops.”
The men appeared to have sated their lust for blood for now and moved away. Relative peace returned to the street. Jacob stood in a daze. The pharmacy had survived this attack, but he felt the next wave of violence was just around the corner – would he suffer the same fate as the young father?