Grateful for the shelter and protection the Jewish
community of Copenhagen had given you, you felt obligated to do something
for them in return. Your mitzvah has been to work as a volunteer
in the Home for the Aged, taking care of the elderly Jews. You have come
to love many of them. They have become your adopted family. Now that the
Nazis are threatening to deport all of Denmark's Jews, you cannot
leave these dear, older people to the terrors that you observed during
Kristallnacht.
You determine to stay with them at all costs.
Most of Denmark's Jews escape when their fellow Danes arrange to
ferry them to neutral Sweden. Those among the residents of the
Jewish Old Folks Home
who can manage the trip also go, but there
are some who are too frail. You choose to stay with them.
The Germans take you all to the Theresienstadt Concentration Camp. But the Danish government does not forget its Jewish citizens and finally secures permission to visit you in the camp. A number of the older people die of natural causes, but no one is sent to Auschwitz.
Your own hope for survival is cut short, however, when, one day, you begin to cough up blood. You have tuberculosis, and there is nothing that can be done for you. Gradually, you lose weight and become weaker. With your final breath, you whisper Shema Yisrael and close your eyes for the last time.
END