Making Bombs for Hitler

Lida remembers her parents’ skills at dressmaking and leatherwork. Lida’s mother taught her cross-stitch sewing, telling her she could “make beauty anywhere” (9). Lida sings a lullaby, and the other children join in. The Nazis took Lida’s mother (mama), and the Soviets arrested Lida’s father (tato). Lida and Larissa lived with their grandmother (baba) until the Brown Sisters—Gestapo women—captured them. Lida knows her grandmother is dead. Lida’s necklace, a metal crucifix, is her only family memento. Lida learns that Luka escaped a work camp, was sheltered by an old widow, and recaptured.

Days later, the train stops. The children are lice-infested, and Marika is feverish. Lida stumbles from the train and a Nazi soldier strikes her. Luka forces her to stand. They enter a compound of buildings around a center courtyard, all fenced and surrounded by guard towers. The children are forced to undress. Their heads are shaved, they are showered with an astringent chemical, and rinsed off. They dress in dirty clothes. Outside in the cold, a Nazi officer hits Lida with his whip when she refuses to release frail Marika, who falls to the ground. A German policeman takes Marika away. Zenia prevents Lida from following her.

The shocked girls claim bunks in a barracks, sitting on mattresses stuffed with smelly straw. Lida knows she must stay strong for Larissa and that the girls need to support each other. The older girls are mostly from the Kyiv region, and the younger ones, like the eight-year-old girls Lida and Olesia, are from the Chernivets’ka region. They exchange rumors that the Germans prefer older children. They sing to boost their spirits and express their losses.

The female warden of the girls’ Barracks 7 speaks Ukrainian like a German. She wakes the girls, who line up to be fingerprinted by policemen. The men also note the girls’ countries of origin, names, and birthdays. The policeman tells Lida she is not Ukrainian, but Russian. Lida discovers it is March 14th, her birthday, making her nine years old—but she, like many of the girls, lies and says she is 13. The policeman does not believe her but lets it pass as a “birthday present.”

Lida hears different languages spoken around her as she waits hungrily in line for a meal at the Kantine. Lida understands Russian, which has similarities to Ukrainian, and can speak German. People wear whatever clothes they were captured in. Most are barefoot. Lida receives a cup, bowl, and spoon. She discovers there are different soup pots—with different qualities of soup—for different nationalities. A German girl gets a rich stew and pudding. The cook calls Lida “subhuman” and gives her soup from the Russian pot, a disgusting mix with turnip skins and probably worms. A girl tells Lida to eat the soup regardless. The girl is a political prisoner from Hungary, who gets better food because Hungary is allied with Germany. She tells Lida there is “no such thing” as Ukrainians: Lida is Russian, and the Germans do not think Russians are good people. Lida defiantly eats the soup, knowing she must stay strong to find Larissa.

Luka sees Lida waiting her turn for the bathroom and warns her to avoid the hospital. Lida appreciates his kindness and the risk he took to tell her. Lida recalls that she and Larissa were separated in a medical setting, and she worries even more about Larissa. The bathrooms are crude, filthy outhouses, and the washhouse is a big trough with cold water faucets. There is no soap, only bleach powder. Lida cleans her bare feet to avoid infection and washes her and Zenia’s dishes.

The warden gives Zenia a pile of OST patches, needles, and thread. The girls sew these on their clothes to signify they are Eastern Workers, otherwise they will be shot. Most finish sewing quickly and go to sleep, but Lida follows her mother’s maxim to create beauty and carefully stitches on her patch with a pretty pattern. Zenia cries in her bunk, feeling hopeless and alone. Lida reassures her, but Zenia whispers that she is Jewish. Lida is stunned. She remembers how the Ukrainians thought the Nazis would be better occupiers than the Soviets, who killed her father, but then the Nazis shot Lida’s Jewish friend. Lida thinks of her beloved necklace with the metal cross, which represents her family. She gives it to Zenia so that Zenia can blend in and survive to share her life’s story.

After stressful dreams of Larissa and a meager breakfast of tea and bread made from sawdust, the children stand at attention in the outdoor courtyard area. The Nazi officer, accompanied by a man with a camera, orders all the children under 12 to step forward: They will not have to work. Olesia and others go forward, but Lida, remembering the woman’s warning on the train to be useful or die, stays put, as does Kataryna, another girl who lied about her age. The officer insists there are other young children and orders Lida to join the group. Lida bets on the fact that it is safer to be older. She tells the officer that his uniform needs the attention of a seamstress and offers her expertise. Observing Lida’s handiwork on her OST badge, the officer separates her aside from the others. All the children are photographed. The older children board the train for work. The younger ones go to the hospital. Lida is terrified for them after Luka’s ominous warning. Lida waits outside the officer’s building until he summons Inge, a thick, red-faced, woman, to fetch her.

Inge oversees the laundry, and Lida is her new assistant. Lida must help with the laundry first, then do her sewing. Inge makes Lida wash and dress in a fresh smock to keep the laundry clean. The work is hard: lifting, wringing, and rinsing the heavy towels and sheets, but Lida wants to prove herself useful and is rewarded when the midday meal break arrives: Inge praises her for being a hard worker.