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Opa (Grandfather)

Opa was Adelfried’s favorite person. He was his most favorite person in the entire world. Opa was a calm and patient man, and underneath his glasses and thin white eyebrows were the clearest, most sincere blue eyes. On weekends, he and Opa had all the time in the world, it seemed, to read books. It was Opa who taught him how to read, Opa who taught him about trees and animals, Opa who taught him how to be a good and gentle boy.

One day, Adelfried returned from school to find Opa at home sitting on the kitchen table having tea with his mother.

“Opa! Opa!” Adelfried cried out in delight. In his excitement, he dropped his books and flung his arms around his grandfather.

Opa hugged him with all his might and placed him on his lap. “You are growing as fast as cornflowers in summer.” he said with a chuckle.

“Why are you here? It is not even weekend yet…”

Opa lived in Sommersdorf, not in Penkun, where Adelfried lived. He had a small farm where he kept geese, chickens and goats.

“Opa brought some books he wants your Papa and I to read.” His mother replied.

Adelfried looked at the hardbound books on top of the table. The cover and spine of each book was covered in bright red cloth. He reached out and picked them up. “My Battle: An Accounting, My Battle: The National Socialist Movement, by Adolf Hitler,” he read out loud.

He flipped through some of the pages of the first volume. Except for a photograph of Adolf Hitler, it didn’t have any illustrations, something Adelfried always wanted in a book. He loved the detail of the brush strokes and the vivid colors, but not all books had to have illustrations. He supposed if Opa had these books, they must be good. “Will we read this together when you come to visit this weekend, Opa?”

Before Opa could answer, Mama laughed and took the books away. She placed them in the cabinet, where she kept the precious few pieces of porcelain that they had. “The family treasure” was what mama called these precious pieces. Adelfried decided Herr Hitler must be a very important writer for mama to keep his books in the porcelain cabinet.

“Come, come, now,” Mama said, “Opa and I need to talk. Go upstairs and study your books. Look,” she pointed out to him, “you left them on the floor.”

 “I’m sorry, Mama.” He reached down and picked up his books. He wished he could stay and hear what Opa had to say, but Opa would have dinner with them for sure and they could talk then.

But all throughout dinner, Mama, Papa, and Opa were quiet. It was unusual. The family usually had a lot to talk about in the evening, especially when Opa was here. But this evening there was nothing but quiet, and Opa left almost immediately after dinner. Although he was a good and obedient boy, Adelfried decided that there was something not right, so even when Mama told him to go upstairs and sleep for school the next morning, he stayed, hiding himself behind the wall beside the entrance to the kitchen.

He heard Mama unlock the porcelain cabinet. “What will we do with Papa?” Adelfried’s mother asked. They were talking about Opa. “He worries so much. The closer the vote on the plebiscite is, the more worried he gets. There is less than a week now…Do you think it is as serious as Papa thinks?”

“It is very serious,” Adelfriend’s father answered, “but maybe, small towns like Penkun and Sommerdorf will not change much. It will be the bigger cities like Berlin and Frankfurt that will change the most.”

Mama sighed. “He is so worried that is not good for him.”

“Papa is always worried about what might hurt Germany, whether it is war, or the loss of morality...”

- - -

“Mama, what is a plebiscite?”  Adelfried asked the next day.

Mama was washing the dishes. Adelfried’s question made her silent for a moment. She turned off the faucet and wiped her hands on her apron.

“Where did you hear that word?” She asked him.

“Well…” He thought of maybe telling her that he heard it school, but decided not to. “I heard it when you and papa were talking last night.”

Mama was quiet again. For a while, Adelfried felt Mama would say that he was wrong not to go straight to bed after dinner after she told him to, but Mama was a wise woman. She knew by looking at him that he knew he had done something wrong.

She answered his question. “A plebiscite is when a country’s government asks a question on whether the government should do something or not, and the citizens of that country have to vote if they want it done or not. The government may ask if we should paint all picket fences only white, and the citizens have to vote yes, if we think it is a good idea, or no, if they think it’s a bad idea.”

Adelfried thought about what Mama said for a moment. It was hard sometimes to understand the things grown ups needed to do. “What is the plebiscite now about, Mama?”

“Adolf Hitler wants to combine the powers of the President and Chancellor. The people of Germany are being asked if they want the powers combined.”

“Oh…” Adelfried wasn’t quite sure if he understood. He knew Herr Hitler was already Chancellor; that much he knew. “Herr Hitler wants to be President too?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because he wants have more power.”

“Is that why Opa is worried, mama?”

Mama sighed. “Opa is worried because he believes Hitler is bad for Germany...”

“Why?” Adelfried asked, recalling times he had heard people talk about Herr Hitler with great respect.

“Because Hitler belongs to the Nazi party. They hate some groups of people who are a little bit different from the Germans. They call these people Untermensch. They say they are not even people, but animals.” Mama opened her arms.  

“Come here, Adelfried.” Mama embraced him. “Do not talk of this in school or anywhere else, except with me, Papa, and Opa, with us it is alright.”

“Yes, mama.” Adelfried answered, although he could not understand why he must not talk about it with anyone else…