The Man Next Door – A Memoir
August 18, 1971
Pardon my
handwriting. It’s pretty bad. A
Nazi dislocated my hand and he really dislocated it.
My wife and I were in
the same concentration camp, Auschwitz 3 or Monowitz.
We both survived. I was living
alone when they found me. I was carried away from my life and my cat Betsey. Me and Laura are different. Laura’s a Gypsie
and I am a Jew. My friend John was a Jew and he was killed in a gas
chamber. Me and
Laura are both 50 and we have kids ages 15, 16, 20 and 21. I always wonder about our 16 year olds Allisa and Caitlin. They are twins and despise each other
so we had to have our 20 and 21 year olds Joey and Sal share a room. The boys are moving out in about…oh,
soon enough.
August 19, 1971
My 15
year old Rebecka is not happy with her mother.
But anyway, here is the story of my life.
I was born on November
17, 1921. My childhood was boring. The biggest event was
taking a train to Germany and back. When I was 20 I was
taken away from my life in my tiny house in Holland. I met my Laura in Auschwitz. When we left I proposed and she
married me on October 6, 1945. We
have five kids, Rebecka, Ayllisa,
Caitlian, Joey and Sal. Those kids are all very smart but I think Rebecka gets bored with all her friends back in
Czechoslovakia, where we used to live. I have never left Europe and I wanted to
go to America but all my children were sticking to Europe. I speak Dutch, German, Czech, English
and Spanish.
Right now I’m waiting to
meet my fate.
August 20, 1971
I have been thinking and
that biography is bad. The Nazis were bad people as was Adolph Hitler. In fact
I event wrote a poem about him.
I
hate Jews
I
took over Germany and eventually Europe
I
am Adolf Hitler
It’s pretty bad huh?
Now. My worst experience
was seeing my mother being pushed into the gas chambers. One night I went to
take a peek at my mom and a Nazi caught me and that was when he dislocated my
hand.
There’s this guy next
door and he seems oddly familiar and I think he feels the same way about be. My
tattoo I got from the Holocaust is still here on my right arm and it says
674800
Have I even mentioned my
name? I am Shep Grendfeld.
August 21, 1971
Apparently that guy next
door is a former Nazi. He’s the one who gassed 647801, who was my mother. I called the cops and apparently they
are hanging him so its, um…kinda a good thing. Maybe. I don’t know.