91643

Elois Weismann fell in love under the most impossible circumstances. She would never forget the first time she saw the man she would eventually marry. It was on a day filled with a sky as angry as the guards who worked the camp. Out of the hundreds of workers that looked alike, it was Hyme she focused on. He was standing in the worker section on the other side of the razor wire when their eyes met. She saw sorrow in his eyes from such a long distance until his gaze locked onto hers. The transformation that washed over his face gave her hope. How could there be any hope in a place called Madjanek, she thought to herself? Though she didn't know him, she knew he shared a singular fate each of them did. As she looked at him, he seemed to be oblivious to the guard walking down the line he was in, shooting every third man. She frantically tried to do the math in her head to see if it was his fate to die that day. Her worst fear was realized when the guard stopped in front of him, and raised his pistol to his head, yet his gaze at her did not waver. Her own eyes filled with tears of terror with the realization that he was about to perish. The guard pulled the trigger.

Even from such a distance, she could hear an audible click as the gun dry fired. The angered guard cleared the chamber, and raised his pistol once again to finish his task. The horror and dread she was witnessing was too much to bear. She looked away as she knew this time would be different. Click. She looked up and saw the man was gazing at her with serenity that told her he would maintain his human dignity and grace at a time most men would plead for their life. The guard screamed something in German she could not interpret, but understood the gist of. Maybe it was the fact that he took too much time off from a tight schedule, or something as simple as losing interest, but the guard decided to beat Hyme with his failing sidearm instead, before moving along the line.

Three weeks later, they were wed in a secret ceremony performed by a former academic scholar who doubled as a rabbi. Less than a month later, her husband was transferred to another camp, and that was the last time she saw him. Hyme Weismann gave her a faintest spark of hope and enabled her to endure her existence until the camp was liberated by the Soviet Army after the war. 

She spent the next 30 years searching for him, but as meticulous as records the Nazi’s kept, she was unsuccessful in locating him. She never remarried and lost her whole family during those horrific times.


Jennifer Smith moved to Minnesota with her family after her father purchased a farm in order to raise his children in a safer place than New York City. She acclimated to her new surrounding well, and was editor of her High School Newspaper her senior year. She wrote articles about her classmates’ achievements, but her real passion was doing human interest stories. When Jack Nesbitt, a fellow senior who also lived on a farm in the neighboring county found a time capsule, she just knew she had to write about it. According to her classmate, he found it by accident when digging a hole behind his house in order to bury his family dog. The contents were over 80 years old because some of the items were newspapers dating back to January 15, 1946. She called Jack the next day, and agreed to meet him at his house to view the contents and write an article about what he found.
After school, she had her Mother drop her off at Jack’s house.  When they sat down at the dining room table for the interview, she saw a wooden steamer trunk sitting on the floor off to the side. It appeared to be in remarkable condition after spending so much time in the earth. She asked to see what was inside. Much to her amazement there was a treasure trove of old newspapers. She picked up each one and they all had something to say about the aftermath of WWII and the progress of the Allies. When she lifted the last one out of the trunk she noticed 2 old hat boxes underneath; each bound with a satin tie. She picked up the first and opened it. There, right on top was an old patch stitched in gold she immediately recognized because the word JUDE was emblazoned on it.
Underneath the word JUDE was the number 91643-12 embroidered. In addition there were other personal items that appeared to belong to a man. An old, but worn, pair of shoes wrapped reverently. A striped shirt, worn and filthy, folded neatly on top. Finally, in the other box were beautiful and intricate drawings of a young woman. There had to be at least 30 of them in the box, and though they were hand-drawn, it appeared to be the same woman. 

Jennifer took photos of each of the items in the trunk and completed her in depth interview about Jack’s story of finding the time capsule. Later that evening, she decided to write her article from the angle of the person who wore the JUDE badge. If she could locate who was issued the number stenciled on it, it would really be an impactful human interest story. She had some investigative work to complete.

It took three weeks of gumshoe work; canvassing any organization that could identify the JUDE badge, but it paid off. Her mentor at the local newspaper, whom she contacted, promised to help.  It wasn’t long after that her mentor received a call back from a source relaying the name the badge was issued to during WWII. It was issued to a prisoner of war liberated by the Americans from Auschwitz named Hyme Weismann. Her mentor said that wasn’t the only good news as the man was still alive and lived locally with his son and daughter in law. He then offered Jennifer her own byline in the paper because they were interested in the story. He told her that he made contact with the Weismann family, and they were invited to their home that night. Arrangements had been made to have the trunk and the young man who dug it up to be there. She was excited. She only had a couple of hours to come up with an interview plan, but already knew the angle she’d envisioned since viewing the trunks contents.

The next morning, after the interview, the article ran in the local paper. Within a week it went to all the nationally syndicated papers and newsrooms. The article included photos of the badge, Hyme and the drawings he made of his young bride that he lost after the war. The article was powerful because of the love gained and lost at the hands of the Nazi’s. It dramatized his own search for her after the war, hence all the newspapers in the trunk and his heartbreaking conclusion that she perished because Majdanek camp in Poland was one of the main extermination camps liberated by the USSR at the end of the war. He failed to get any information out of that government after these many years and finally placed all of the items in the trunk, then buried them in remembrance. 
He had buried his past under a darkened sky, not unlike the day he first saw his beautiful wife standing there that morning on what he thought would be his last day on earth. It was her face amongst hundreds that he found, as though he was pointed to her by God himself to ease his pain in this world. He reminisced that when he saw her for the first time, he was no longer afraid of his mortality because her beauty was so encompassing he was grateful she would be his last vision on this earth. 

Elois Weismann sat watching the news in a rocking chair her Son-in-Law built with his own two hands. She was just telling her daughter about her day when she saw the picture of the JUDE star, the number she would never forget. She could only point to the television set through tear filled eyes. When her daughter finally broke through to her, the only thing she could say was “Hyme”.

 

A rental car pulled up in front of a ranch style home in a lovely neighborhood of Portland, Oregon.  Hyme was helped out of the back seat and started up the walk with the help of Jennifer and her mentor from the paper. When they were half way to the front door it opened and there stood Elois.  Hyme stopped, and looked up at her with that same look he had on the day he first saw her. He stood there for the longest time, thinking she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen to this day. That was, of course, before he met his daughter for the first time who was standing next to Elois. A daughter conceived out of love amongst all the ugliness and unimaginable circumstances.