Hiding Juliana

Hiding Juliana

fiction
edward w pritchard

It was then April of 1945 and we lived in Berlin, Germany and we were hiding Juliana. Juliana was seventeen and very beautiful. The Red army from Russia was racing toward Berlin and the Red army was going to take extreme liberty with our German women. We knew the war was lost and we were in a hopeless situation. More than anything we wanted to protect our sister Juliana, so we kept her in the house and we kept her from sight.

The city of Berlin was collapsing and the troops of Britain and America raced towards us from the West; but everyone knew that the Russians would arrive first for they hated us after Stalingrad and they wanted to punish and hurt us. We knew we were doomed, the beautiful delusion was over and we waited for our termination. Berlin was in rubble and one million Russian troops would be here within the week. Our only protection was a hundred thousand old men and teenage boys who had been forced and deluded by the Fuhrer to protect Berlin to the death. Our situation was hopeless. Our family only wanted to protect Juliana.

Amongst the burning buildings and dead horses that day in April 1945 we had a Spring day. Bright sun, mild breeze, and calm temperatures greeted us as we wandered out that morning to listen to the fighting not ten miles away. At that moment seventeen year old Juliana was in bloom. We had dressed her in black, like an old widow, but she radiated that day. Fearful we screamed at Juliana and sent her back into the dark apartment, locking the doors behind her.

The rest of us strained our ears to try to hear the sounds of the Red Army marching toward our neighborhood.