From the novel - introduction to Bora...
Prologue - Bora:
"Borowski!"
"Yes, sir."
"Colonel Markov wants to talk to you."
"Yes, sir."
"Take your rifle with you, comrade!"
"Yes, sir."
Walking through snowy forest, sounds of crunching bootsteps, eyes squinting against the cold, blizzard wind.
Reached the hut, the wooden hut…commanders place, Markov's space. Warm in there.
Door closed, hands icy. Sentry sleeping? No. Frozen. Dead!
Open the door, kibbinimat!
"Open the door. I'm freezing out here!"
Yoptvoyimat. Why don't you open it!
"Your sentry is dead. He has frozen to death out here. Open up! Please open the door."
"Who is out there!?"
"It`s me, Borowski! You called me."
Door opens a crack. Blue eyes, blond beard, smell of alcohol in steamed breath.
"Come in, comrade. Come in!"
"Your sentry froze out here. He`s dead."
"Yosselovich! Wake up! Yosselovich."
Door opens more. Pistol points out.
Two shots to the head.
"Now he`s dead, Borowski. Should not have fallen asleep.
Come in quickly. The cold is penetrating my bones."
Fear. Dread.
Dead entry in the snow…blood flowing around the head.
Pink snow.
"How will we bury him?"
"We will throw him in the river later, break a hole in the ice."
Warm inside.
"Have a drink, Borowski!"
"Thank you, sir."
"Stop that, Borowski. We are drinking together!"
"You are a Jew, aren't you?"
"Yes, sir. I am."
"I said stop that! Listen to me. I am half-Jewish too. My wife, curse her, is a Jewess. I want to help you, but you must tell no one. Do you understand?"
"Yes, I do, Colonel Markov. I understand."
"Listen carefully to me. They must never know that I helped you, but I cannot stand by any longer while they continue to murder all of the Jews in the country."
"Lo Ta`amod al dam re`echa!"
"What did you say?"
"It’s a Talmudic saying, sir, but actually the verse is originally from the Bible, from Leviticus…"
"What are you prattling on about? You sound like a rabbi."
"Well, actually, I am a rabbi`s son. My father was the rabbi of Danielewicz."
"You don`t say! And what happened to him?"
"The same as all the other Jews of Danielewicz. The Germans shot them all. They murdered my entire family – father, mother and seven brothers and sisters. That is why I am here with you. I want revenge. I want to make them pay for their crime."
"I understand, Joseph, I understand. That's why I called you… to speak with you. You asked me last week to help you, to help the young resistance fighters of the Vilna ghetto join us here in the forest. Well…I have been thinking about your request. It is a complex matter. You might arouse more anti-Semitism amongst my men, if you bring them here."
"But, Colonel Markov, at least a third of your men today are Jewish."
"That's just the point. If we are inundated by a lot of these Vilna Jews we will upset the delicate ethnic balance of our Ortraid, which might lead to more internal violence than we already have. It would upset discipline. It also would cause us problems with the surrounding villagers, whose cooperation we need, it might lead to our being identified as Jewish partisans, which would undermine our legitimacy with the Soviet command, whose Nationalities Policy doesn't recognize the Jews as a nationality."
"So you are refusing my request, while expressing your sympathies?"
"Don't be too smart, Borowski! No, I am not refusing your request. I have decided to appoint you commander of a separate Jewish Ortraid – as far as I know the first such unit - a Jewish Partisan Unit which will operate in my area."
"I am honoured, sir. We will revenge our loved ones, write a glorious page in the book of anti-Fascist struggle here in Naroch. You won`t regret the decision. We will call our group, "Nekommah”, which is Hebrew for Vengeance…"
"Joseph, that's fine, flowery talk. You won`t get anywhere with speeches. You will have to get to work right away on practicalities. Relax. Have another drink. This is very fine vodka, which I requisitioned yesterday. "
"Thank you."
"Listen. I can give you no weapons. You'll have to get your own somehow. You will set up a camp elsewhere. You can choose some Jewish boys from the five existing ortraids, but no officers. You can take no more than fifty men."
"Where will I get weapons, and ammunition? What use is such a partisan unit? Unarmed? How will we get food, without weapons. We will be slaughtered by the peasants, if the Germans don't get us first. Let me keep my own rifle, some of the men who come with me must be armed as well."
"All right, Borowski. You can keep your own rifle and can have four more pistols from my store to give out, but that's it. I need the rest for my best fighters. Stop looking so worried! You are a resourceful man. You will find a solution, I’m sure. Finish your vodka! Here's to your health."
"You have four days to get organized…. Now, get out of here."
Revenge he had, but there was never enough of it. After the war ended, his private war against the killers continued. Others sought life, to rebuild and grow. He pursued murderers , dealt out death.
And where was God?
He had none, his was dead.
They called him 'Bora".
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