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37 FALL 2021 I would then deliver to a man living several blocks away. I didn't exactly know what I was doing for Motl, but I knew enough to feel proud. As the war waged on, Albert seemed to be placed deeper and deeper into hiding. At one point, he was brought to a farm near Waterloo, Belgium, and shown to his new home in an attic. The farmer pulled me up to a third floor that had only one door. He went into the one room and came right out holding a ladder. He set the ladder against the wall and told me to follow him up. Then, as if by magic, he pushed open a hidden door in the ceil- ing. There was no way to guess that there was a trap door there. You just had to know. I was as frightened as I was enchanted by this secret entry. The man pointed to all the things that had been put there for me: a mat- tress, a chamber pot, toilet paper, food in open cans, water, bread and jam, and comic books. The comic books were a nice touch. free: to go to school, to play, to be in the streets. Unfortunately, this idyll ended, with my departure as quiet and terrifying as my arrival. Motl suddenly appeared to take me away from the old couple and deliver me to another couple. I cried all the way to my new prison. All these new places seemed inhabited by people who were just doing Motl a favor without really paying attention to me. So, this time, Motl took me to the only place that would have me, I guess: his apartment. Motl had been involved with the underground. Since he worked at the hospital where he had to help Belgians as well as Germans, he had a special identity card, which gave him much more freedom to move around Brussels than did others. I was already seven years old and would sometimes walk around the busy neighborhood by myself. German soldiers walking along the wide ave- nues would pass by me, pat me on the head and greet me in German. I was blonder than all their children and my eyes were certainly bluer than theirs, or even than Hitler's for that matter. The first time a soldier placed his hand on my shoulder and then patted my head, telling me what a good little German I was, I nearly peed in my pants with fright. Thankfully, I knew enough to smile and say "danke," like a good little "Nazi." After that, Motl began burying envelopes under my clothes which Facing page: Albert's brother Max (back row) took care of Albert and his mother when their father died. This page: Three of Albert's closest relatives — his mother, Mirla, brother Max, and cousin Motl. " Quiet — the quiet of hiding — had been my new modus vivendi ever since leaving my mother. "

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