Esther Meier was a big, intimidating woman.  She wasn’t just big physically. She was big in her words as well.   She must have been slightly deaf, for she always shouted when she talked, much to the exasperation of the neighbors. She was always suspicious of other people (or at least that is what  she told the furious marketman after she questioned if the butter she was paying a fortune for was simply margarine dyed a light color). But  she was apparently completely trustful of Adolf Hitler.

“No Frau Elaine, dear, I am a very suspicious woman.” She assured once more. “No, this fuehrer is true to his word.  I just pooled in all my savings from serving bread to that rich widow  to buy the Mein Kampf. I carefully read it. You know how I am very suspicious I am.  There was no loophole,none at all, in his thinking.” 

Needless to say, she Frau Meier wasn’t the only one. Everyone in Germany talked about Adolf Hitler nowadays, and it was not at all in an unpleasant tone.  All the woman would sit and talk about the Fuehrer Hitler and his recent victory during their morning coffee.  Without the coffee, of course. Some would bring their copy of Der Strumer, the newspaper,  and exclaim how the author, Julius Streicher, had outdone himself this time. To a child, this propaganda might seem horribly cruel and biased, but to these women, it seemed only but the truth.        

The children had their own conversations.

“Would the Fuehrer throw out money out on the streets when we win?” Said little Josef excitedly. He was 5 years old, the youngest of the little crowd. His little head was so blond, it was almost white at the tips,  but if you look closely, you cold little strings of brown coming out. He was tall for his age, which is why he could play ball with the big kids.

“I think so.” Hans Jr. said, “Papa said that he is going to make everyone rich again. We can have real butter always, if we just don’t have it for a year or so while the war is going on!”
“Everyone can?” Said Josef, wide-eyed.
“Everyone...except Jews of course.”
“Why not Jews?” said Josef.
“Silly baby,” Hans said. Then he whispered. “Jews are the enemy. Dad says they are evil. Dad said that Jews took his money.”

The game of ball ended abruptly as the sky called them home. Josef ran to his home, to his mother, Esther Meier.

“Mama’, do you know any Jews?” Josef said, wide eyed.

Mamas’ eyebrows furrowed, opening her mouth when a siren rang. The one that proclaimed another airstrike by the allied forces .She pushed Josef into the basement, briskly but with no rush. She was not a very worrisome woman. When Frau Meier did not come for tea  some days, the other woman would say that she did not have a “care in the world”, except of course, her “most humble” opinions.

When they went inside the basement, Elaine Meier looked at her little son, outraged. “Me? Know any Jews? “

  Josef simply nodded at her.

“There was this jew couple several years ago. Nasty brats. Doctors, they called themselves. Jews always think they are so brilliant...well these ones were untalented, nosey brats. Well, they moved after the Fuehrer took over. I’m glad they did. I’m sure it wouldn’t come as a surprise to you that Frau Meier had always hated Jews."

“Are all Jews like that?”

“Oh, the whole lot of them are.”

“Are they like blacks?”  Josef questioned. Even before Hitler’s time, he had been taught that African-American were unequal to them.

“No, no dear.  Blacks don’t hurt us as much.  Jews are smart. They are just thieves. They are the reason you can’t have that cute little shirt you wanted.” She disliked blacks as well, but at least they could not be credited for pushing the Treaty of Versailles on them.

“Mama did a jew steal the shirt from the store?”

“No, no dear. They took the money for the shirt from us.”

“How?”

“Long time ago, Josef, we had another war. We lost because of them...and then they took everything from us." She scowled, throwing the ragged jacket she had across the cold basement floor.

  “What if we lose again?”

“We won’t lose.” She said with a confident voice in such an air of finality that Josef didn’t question it.

“Okay mama.”

The raid ended and life went back to normal. Josef ran to tell everyone his new theory of what would happen when Fuehrer defeated the Jews. The Fuehrer would take all the clothes from Jews and give it to them. Like Santa Claus!

Frau Meier continued baking bread for everyone, complaining about the integrity of those butter sellers, “had coffee” everyday with the other woman in the street. She even joined, Freiheit kommt jetzt, an anti-semitalism group to help the Fuehrer with his” noble” mission. Josef never questioned the prejudice against Jews ever again, and Esther Meier never had to tell him.