The Girl on the Other Side of the Fence
by Henrik Eger
Synopsis
The Girl on the Other Side of the Fence is based on three real people: Anne Frank, shortly after her arrival in Bergen-Belsen from Auschwitz in 1945; Karl Koehler, a shy and deeply religious German farmhand who was drafted during WWII to deliver packages in the area around the Bergen-Belsen camp; and his wife Erna, a beautiful, albeit tough young woman in WWII survival mode. Karl, aware of the suffering of the people in the camp, starts by throwing some food over the fence. Once he realizes that they have little to wear, he throws clothing and then bed sheets, too--very much against the will of his wife, who, like most people in war-ravaged Europe, is in physical and emotional survival mode.
At the last encounter at the concentration camp fence, Karl, about to be drafted and sent to Russia, and the girl, on her last leg and deadly sick with typhus, together with eight other Jewish inmates, reach out toward each other across the fence for a heart-stopping minyan, coming together with deep respect and mutual support for each other, in a rare moment of Jewish-Christian togetherness, aware of the power of their spirituality, but also the brevity of life.
Lights out, total darkness. Sounds of horses running and neighing. Train driving by and stopping, Goebbels' speech, “Do you want total war?” Sirens, air raid bombings. Into the noise, a woman’s voice fading in, singing Ravel’s "Kaddish." Gun shots. The voice fades out. Silence.
At the last encounter at the concentration camp fence, Karl, about to be drafted and sent to Russia, and the girl, on her last leg and deadly sick with typhus, together with eight other Jewish inmates, reach out toward each other across the fence for a heart-stopping minyan, coming together with deep respect and mutual support for each other, in a rare moment of Jewish-Christian togetherness, aware of the power of their spirituality, but also the brevity of life.
Lights out, total darkness. Sounds of horses running and neighing. Train driving by and stopping, Goebbels' speech, “Do you want total war?” Sirens, air raid bombings. Into the noise, a woman’s voice fading in, singing Ravel’s "Kaddish." Gun shots. The voice fades out. Silence.
Characters
KARL KOEHLER: 35, dark haired, handsome, quiet, simple, reclusive German farmhand, fatherly, mature, deeply religious, drafted recently as a postal worker to deliver the parcels at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. He wears a German mailman’s uniform.
ERNA KOEHLER: 26, Karl’s wife, very attractive, blonde, blue-eyed, housewife, demanding, in WWII survival mode, mother of Hanna, a baby girl, living in Celle, beautiful medieval city near Bergen-Belsen.
THE GIRL ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE FENCE: 15, mature, emaciated, bald, growing rashes, increasing cough, shivering, very weak, dying from typhus, yet lucid, even a bit rebellious, arguing with God in her version of the psalms.
EIGHT INMATES: All ages, inside the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, male and female, pale, wearing similar outfits to Barlach’s “Frieze of the Listeners” but with identifying patches: seven Stars of David and one half a Star of David with the pink triangle on top of it.
ERNA KOEHLER: 26, Karl’s wife, very attractive, blonde, blue-eyed, housewife, demanding, in WWII survival mode, mother of Hanna, a baby girl, living in Celle, beautiful medieval city near Bergen-Belsen.
THE GIRL ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE FENCE: 15, mature, emaciated, bald, growing rashes, increasing cough, shivering, very weak, dying from typhus, yet lucid, even a bit rebellious, arguing with God in her version of the psalms.
EIGHT INMATES: All ages, inside the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, male and female, pale, wearing similar outfits to Barlach’s “Frieze of the Listeners” but with identifying patches: seven Stars of David and one half a Star of David with the pink triangle on top of it.
Ernst Balach, Frieze of the Listeners, 1935. Ernst Barlach House, Hamburg, Germany
Excerpt
KARL: I was drafted. They want me to fight. So, I came to say goodbye before I’ll leave for Russia tomorrow.
GIRL: Russia? That’s even (Coughs) colder than it is here.
KARL: Yes, much colder. Worse. Like many other men, I’m going to be used up as Kanonenfutter.
GIRL: “Kanonenfutter”?
KARL: Yes, cannon fodder. Soldiers sent to clear minefields. And other dangerous missions. Very few ever return. Not human beings any longer. Just cheap human grub for enemy fire. We’ll be wasted. Like millions before us.
GIRL: Most of us on this side of the fence won’t make it, either.
[. . .]
GIRL: (Girl nods, and with a bout of energy, makes an announcement, still looking behind her, to make sure that no guards are nearby.) Look, there are nine of us on this side of the fence. (Coughs) And with you we’re ten. (Joyfully) That’s a minyan.
KARL: A “minyan”? What’s that?
GIRL: When ten Jews come together and pray. That’s the number we need for our prayer.
KARL: You said ten. Ten Jews. (Pause) But I’m not a Jew.
GIRL: True. But we’re all going the same way: we are the dead. And you are now (Coughs) one . . . of us.
KARL: (Deeply moved) “One of us.” All of us. (Pause) Let’s pray. Together. Let’s pray. Right now.
GIRL: Russia? That’s even (Coughs) colder than it is here.
KARL: Yes, much colder. Worse. Like many other men, I’m going to be used up as Kanonenfutter.
GIRL: “Kanonenfutter”?
KARL: Yes, cannon fodder. Soldiers sent to clear minefields. And other dangerous missions. Very few ever return. Not human beings any longer. Just cheap human grub for enemy fire. We’ll be wasted. Like millions before us.
GIRL: Most of us on this side of the fence won’t make it, either.
[. . .]
GIRL: (Girl nods, and with a bout of energy, makes an announcement, still looking behind her, to make sure that no guards are nearby.) Look, there are nine of us on this side of the fence. (Coughs) And with you we’re ten. (Joyfully) That’s a minyan.
KARL: A “minyan”? What’s that?
GIRL: When ten Jews come together and pray. That’s the number we need for our prayer.
KARL: You said ten. Ten Jews. (Pause) But I’m not a Jew.
GIRL: True. But we’re all going the same way: we are the dead. And you are now (Coughs) one . . . of us.
KARL: (Deeply moved) “One of us.” All of us. (Pause) Let’s pray. Together. Let’s pray. Right now.
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