THE LAST JEW IN POLAND
Lourie, Richard
Aron Aronson, 84 years old, was dozing in his armchair, dreaming of a slice of herring. He was aware that the herring wasn't real but it was better than dreaming of standing in line or of being...
...Aronson opened it and saw a man with sideburns, wearing an imported suit...
...If I'm going to join, you'll have to give me more than a little wafer...
...I'm sure the party will let you emigrate when it's all over...
...Can I offer you some tea...
...The egg can wait...
...said Lipinski, crossing himself...
...Ten minutes later there was another knock at the door...
...A team of attendants lifted Aronson from the ground and carried him with exquisite caution to the ambulance...
...Neither you nor I can do anything about Polish anti-Semitism, Mr...
...The secret police, that's a strenuous life—clubbing workers, shooting miners, ransacking apartments...
...Get over to St...
...You see...
...Two out of three...
...It's for the good of Poland...
...Crossing herself, she pulled a large, dirt-encrusted beet from her shopping bag and hurled it at Aronson's head...
...If my egg gets overcooked, it's almost impossible for me to digest...
...Each person in the line stopped in front of the priest and opened his mouth...
...487 "Thank you very much, but join a presidium...
...He wore a worker's cap, had a long blond moustache, and kept glancing nervously out the window...
...But . . " "No buts, Aronson...
...The secret police cleared the sidewalks while the army was busy blocking off the route to the hospital...
...Fine, but what will happen to me...
...Aronson thought it over...
...But they don't want me anymore...
...I was ordered to join the Catholics by the Communists because I'm a Jew...
...You'll excuse me, I've got to eat my egg...
...Listen, we've just learned that there's a power struggle going on between the party and the secret police...
...Nothing personal, Mr...
...I'm starting to feel a little light-headed...
...Doesn't Poland mean more to you than an egg...
...There was a knock at his door...
...A few meetings, a few interviews...
...But for what...
...I'm sorry I can't offer you any tea," said Aronson to the party official...
...But suddenly the gas went off by itself, followed, a second later, by the electricity...
...My name is Zbigniew Lipinski...
...The Soviets are shutting off our gas for ten minutes today to remind us that we're at their mercy...
...Those disgusting anti-Semites...
...My name is Zbigniew Krasinski," said the man at the door...
...Aronson bowed to the logic of history and put on his overcoat, which had also seen better days...
...We want you to join the secret police...
...You...
...Who would be foolish enough to believe that...
...What's the matter with you...
...This time it was a stout, middle-aged man wearing a dark-blue raincoat and carrying a small leather briefcase under one arm...
...I am from the Communist party...
...You ungrateful, self-serving Jew, where do you think you are, Ecuador...
...Her aim was sure...
...No, there's no time," said Lipinski, glancing nervously out the window...
...Is there a back door to this place...
...You won't have to do much...
...The party needs to blame the most recent failures on the secret police...
...asked the man next to him in line...
...You see that...
...No thanks, there's no time...
...I see a party man coming...
...Watch it, Aronson, this is a serious matter...
...I want electricity...
...That's a lot of work, sonny, and some days I don't even bother going out for the paper...
...a decent life . " moaned Aronson as reporters from three newspapers took down his every word...
...A loud knock at his door brought Aronson back to reality, a small, dismal apartment on Miodowa Street...
...Aronson saw a line of people in front of the altar...
...You're going to have to join the New Solidarity immediately...
...It was the young man from the New Solidarity again...
...Miserly Jew," thought Bryl on the stairs, "didn't even offer me tea...
...I'm from the New Solidarity...
...He was aware that the herring wasn't real but it was better than dreaming of standing in line or of being hit on the head...
...Mary's as fast as those legs of yours can carry you...
...hissed one man in the crowd to another...
...said Aronson...
...To prove that they have connections with Zionist organizations whose only interest is the overthrow of socialism in Poland...
...First he would turn off the gas...
...It's just that...
...Pandemonium seized the church...
...Aronson let the young man out the back door and was hurrying to the stove when he heard 488 another knock...
...See...
...Let them wait, he thought...
...An egg...
...Then, once you've been baptized, you can join . . . " "Wait one second," said Aronson...
...Is that all you get...
...In all his 84 years Aronson had never set foot inside a Catholic church...
...You'll excuse me for a moment...
...What do you mean join...
...He had not been feeling well lately and realized that he was burning more calories standing in line in the cold than he was getting from the food he actually received...
...Mary's church and ask to be baptized by Father Zbigniew Dubinski...
...No soup...
...electricity...
...I can't remember...
...I'll give you 24 hours to think it over," he said, throwing his cigarette on Aronson's floor and grinding it out suggestively...
...I'll have to think it over...
...The bloody Jesuses on the wall were not helping matters and hunger made his knees feel like air...
...I'm joining the New Solidarity and that's settled...
...This is what you call Catholic relief...
...God forbid, another Jew in the Communist party...
...At this rate, I will cease to exist by late March, calculated Aronson...
...You want me to join the Communist party...
...asked the man beside Aronson...
...An egg, a sandwich, something...
...A new anti-Semitic campaign is starting up and we want you to join the presidium of the New Solidarity to show the West that we, the workers, are free of such unworthy sentiments...
...If we don't blame Jews and foreign organizations, the Soviets will think we're abandoning socialism...
...Pretty good," said the man after introducing himself as Zbigniew Dzherzhinsky...
...Can I offer you some tea...
...The obvious first step is for you to go immediately to St...
...People were giving him funny looks...
...A Jew is taking communion...
...He was just about to get ready for bed when there was another knock at his door...
...But then there'll be no Jews left in Poland...
...My gas just went off...
...He fell to the ground...
...Wait, don't say a word," said Aronson...
...I know, I know," said Aronson...
...The priest would put something in each mouth...
...I want to have enough food so I don't feel like fainting...
...Forget your stupid egg...
...Aronson let the young man in...
...It's too complicated...
...A Jew...
...So, our position has changed...
...You're from the secret police, you don't want tea, but you do want me to join the Communist party...
...But it was all too confusing, and so he simply decided to join the New Solidarity because two out of three of them had wanted it...
...He would no more enter a church than a ladies' room, and for the same reason—they were for somebody else...
...Wait, there is one other possibility...
...I want to live more or less like a human being...
...No, we want you to join the secret police...
...Within minutes a special party ambulance had pulled up in front of the church...
...Don't you see, the inevitable anti-Semitism will be directed against the worst elements in our society...
...I'll think it over...
...I have a few demands of my own...
...Aronson, the best we can hope for is to put it to work for a good cause...
...Aronson, I'm sure you're a fine man...
...Why not...
...Then, of course, we would smash that element of the secret police by exposing their antisocialist ties...
...We're both busy men...
...And that will mean tanks...
...Let's get serious here...
...I must speak with you...
...Not even an egg...
...I wouldn't think a person of your origin would want to take on the role of Judas...
...489...
...asked Aronson...
...My name is Zbigniew Bryl and I'm from the ultrapatriotic organization called the Crowned Eagle and the Holy Virgin of .. . " "Wait," interrupted Aronson...
...You could join one of those ultranationalistic organizations...
...Ten minutes after the young man had left, there was another knock at the door...
...But why...
...You do...
...But one peasant woman kept her wits about her...
...Anti-Semitism is going to be one of the chief weapons...
...I can't even find my egg in the dark...
...THE NEXT MORNING Aronson was boiling an egg...
...When his turn came, Aronson opened his mouth to ask if the priest were Father Dubinski but, before the first word was out, the priest had placed a small wafer in his mouth...
...It's for the good of Poland...
...No, no, you wouldn't have to do anything...
...It doesn't matter...
...But I want you to join the New Solidarity...
...It must be part of the Catholic relief effort he had read about in the paper, thought Aronson getting into line...
...Polish anti-Semitism is very exalted and romantic and does not require the actual presence of actual Jews," said the young man...
...In Poland, Jews are always given preferential treatment...
...I'd advise you not to incur the wrath of the Polish Communist Party at such a key moment in history...
...Just be present at a few arrests...
...Then we can smash the New Solidarity using the people in the secret police who also belong to those ultrapatriotic groups...
...When people hear that Poles have been arrested by a certain Colonel Aron Aronson of the secret police, they can be trusted to draw the proper conclusions...
Vol. 29 • September 1982 • No. 4
