After years of bureaucracy and failed escapes, my parents managed to get out of Danzig on the last bus.  As they left, Hitler’s troops invaded.  So I was only born because they knew when to get out. 

My kids are considering leaving for the war – afer all, what good could they do since they can’t fight?  But so far, they remain.  

And so do we.

Why? Why can’t I even take a summer house in Switzerland? Friends who were evacuated from the north are living in hotels and being pressured to go stay with their relatives in America, but they stay in those cruddy hotels without even the comforts of home and they won’t leave.   They listen to the news to hear if it is their house that has been bombed today, and they try not to kvetch.

So maybe we’ve got more of the Massada genes than the Holocaust experience.  Maybe we’re deceived by the false appearance of some kind of normality… I mean personally I still have a pretty good life, even if it means dusting off the chairs in the shelter.  But now that I think about it, I’m not sure I brought enough water for everyone, and I really should upgrade the first aid kit…