Chapter 31 Red Apple

One day in the winter of 1942, the sky was dark and cold, and the wind was biting.In the Nazi concentration camps, every day was like this.Since I was forced to leave my homeland together with countless Jews and came here, I feel like a walking corpse every day, living day by day, and hour by hour.Will I still be alive tomorrow?Will I be taken to the gas chamber tonight? Along the barbed wire, I walked back and forth, trying to warm my emaciated body.I'm very hungry and haven't eaten for a long time.Every day, many people disappear from among us. The happy past is like a dream, and I am sinking deeper and deeper into despair.

Suddenly, a little girl came from the barbed wire.As she passed me, she stopped and looked at me with sad eyes, as if to say that she understood how I felt, but didn't know why I was here.I was so embarrassed to be stared at by a stranger that I tried to look away but couldn't take my eyes off her.At this time, she reached into her pocket and took out a red apple.Oh, how long has it been since I've seen an apple like this!She looked around cautiously, then with a triumphant smile, flung it over the bars.I ran to pick it up and held it in my hands shaking with cold.In a world full of death, the apple is undoubtedly an expression of life and love.I looked up and found that the girl had disappeared into the distance.

The next day, I came to the same place near the barbed wire fence at the same time.She really is at it again.She brought me the apple again and threw it over the bars with the same sweet smile.This time I caught the apple and held it for her to see, her eyes sparkled.We saw each other like this every day for the next seven months.But one day, I heard terrible news: we were going to be sent to another concentration camp. When I saw her the next day, I was too sad to speak, but I had to say, "Tomorrow, don't bring me apples!" I told her, "I will be sent to another concentration camp." Before I could control my emotions, I turned and ran away from the barbed wire.I really can't bear to look back.

A few months have passed in a flash, and the nightmare is still there.But the memory of the little girl has always supported me through those days of terror, pain and hopelessness.The day when the nightmare is over and the war is over has finally come.Those who survived were freed.I lost everything precious, including my family.But I still miss that little girl and hold her memory close to my heart.After I moved to the United States to start a new life, this memory has always inspired me to live well. Years passed, and it was 1957 in a blink of an eye.After I settled in the US, a friend tried to set me up on a date with a woman he knew, and I reluctantly said yes.Her name is Roma, she's nice, and like me, she's an immigrant, so we have something in common, at least in that regard.

"Where were you during the war?" Roma asked softly, in the considerate way that immigrants ask each other about those days. "I was in a concentration camp in Germany," I replied. Roma fell into reverie, seeming to recall some painful and slightly sweet things. "What's wrong with you?" I asked. "I'm just thinking about something from the past, Hermann," Roma explained, her voice suddenly soft. "You know what? When I was a kid I lived near a concentration camp. There was a boy, a little prisoner, very For a long time, I went to see him every day, and I used to bring him apples. I threw them over the iron fence to him, and he was so happy at that time."

Roma sighed heavily, and went on: "It's hard to describe how we felt about each other at the time—after all, we were young and we only talked to each other when circumstances allowed—but I There was a lot of love in it, I can tell you. I figured he might have been killed, like countless others. But I really don't want to think about it, so I keep thinking about him in those few months I spent with him." My heart was beating violently, and I looked directly at her and asked, "Did that boy say to you one day, 'Don't bring me an apple tomorrow, I will be sent to another concentration camp'?"

"Well, yes." Roma replied tremblingly. "But Hermann, how do you know about this?" I took her hand and said, "Roma, I am the little boy." A long silence followed.As the veil of time lifted and we could no longer take our eyes off each other, we recognized the heart behind each other's eyes, we were friends who were deeply in love and we never stopped Love for each other, and longing for each other. Finally, I said: "Roma, I have been separated from you once and I never want to be separated from you again. Now that I am free, I want to be with you forever. Will you marry me, darling?" "

When Roma spoke, I saw the light in her eyes again, "Okay, I'll marry you." It has been almost 40 years since I reunited with Roma.Fate brought us together for the first time in the war years and promised me hope, and now it has brought us together again to keep that promise. Valentine's Day 1996.I took Roma to Op Winfrey's show, on national television, in front of millions of viewers, to honor her and tell her what I've always wanted to say: "Darling, you brought me food in the concentration camps when I was starving. I'm still hungry now, with an insatiable hunger: I only long for your love."