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The Koffer – Prequel 1

While Miriam packed the koffer neatly and accurately, tears ran down her cheeks. She wiped them away with the back of her hand – nobody should see her worries. How should the life of a family of four fit in a trunk? With every piece she put in it, the tears came back, for the hundred pieces she had to leave behind instead.

When Leo told her yesterday, that they had to leave within 24 hours, she hoped he was exaggerating. Inside she knew, that exaggerating was not one of his attitudes. Nor did he use to show unreasonable fear. Despite she could not believe the rumours, she felt, that Leo must have a point. It tore her heart apart to leave the city, she learned to love. No time now for sentiments! Leo had sold everything of value in a haste – and for a dumping price. They needed money to get documents, to pay helpers, to get the permission to enter Switzerland and to get a visa to leave France for America. At least that´s what they had been told by friends, who already had left Vienna after last November, after that terrible “Crystal Night”.

Miriam, a mild tempered lady in her mid-thirties, would not believe, that “they” were going to kill Jews. People could not change to monsters over night… But she was used to obeye her husband, whom she deeply loved and adored. ‘You will know, what´s best for us, you made the right decision, when we left Poland for Vienna’, she thought to herself, quietly moving around the room choosing carefully, what to put in the suitcase. She heard the door. Leo was back from University. He recently lost his job…

//To be continued – check back in a few days…//