TE20 Migrant Mosaics

Birke

that we killed all those Jews and they must feel sad when their husbands beat them to a pulp. A pulp, like the pulp of an orange from the same tree that their son fell from and died. But why did they just nod their heads in life and say Na Ja ? Or Joo when someone asked themhow theywere doing?What the hell did this mean?Why couldn’t they just say: I’m sad that my son died and he shouldn’t have died. Or, I feel bad because my grandfather worked at a concentration camp and my father never talked about it, but I knew about it, and I wanted to know more about it but because I am a woman living where I am, but I have no business asking someone these questions so instead I think about things that I am supposed to think. But sometimes I do think about things I’m not allowed to… But thatwas just adaydream, and shewas older then and studying at the University. As a kid, when Onkel Georg came to their apartment she did not daydream about customs and behaviors or rhythms and words. She didn’t need to. She was surrounded by them. She did as she was told. She did as a young girl should do. She was a good young girl. She listened and wore her white open- toed shoes with the flowers on them. She helped grandma clean the kitchen. She played with girls and less with boys. She played and played and all was great. To her, behaviors , rhythms , and words were just part of a game. Life was a game that sometimes had rules and sometimes did not. Everyone around her was also playing in the game as well. Every game has to come to an end and an adult will always tell you it’s time for bed or dinner. But this game never ended, and the adults were the ones who always played the game the most.

What game?

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