| | 2022-12-23
领导在信箱里收到一本自传体小说，名字叫改变（Changed)。是加州一个叫Tom Cantor的犹太裔商人，因打官司赚了不少钱，就自费出版并在圣诞节期间广泛散发的一个小册子。篇幅不长，85页，典型的商人体，文笔朴实无华，讲他如何从一个颇具反叛性格的犹太裔小男孩，逐步转变为基督徒的心路历程的。
这些都无关紧要，紧要的是他在小说的第二部分讲的二战期间发生在德国犹太人社区的一个真实的故事，故事的主人公叫西蒙瓦塞曼，是生活在柏林上流社会中的一员，1932-33年的时侯想法从德国移民到了英属巴列斯特。西蒙的一个朋友是盖世太保的一个高官，1938年11月在希特勒开始大规模杀戮犹太人的前夕给西蒙写信，说是给西蒙两个星期的时间让他自由出入德国，把在德国的父母兄弟姐妹等亲人带走。西蒙冒着自己的生命危险回到德国去劝说亲人们离开，结果是遭到所有德国亲人们的白眼和嘲讽，说全世界都相信的希特勒迫害犹太人都是谣言和无稽之谈，西蒙只好两手空空，白跑一趟，无功而返。
When he arrived, he showed his family the
letter and explained the reason for his coming. What do you suppose that his family
told him? They said, Simon, we are Germans! Palestine? Simon,
are you out of your mind? It is dangerous in
Palestine – there are Arabs in Palestine, bullets, plus it’s dirty — look at how beautiful it
is here in Berlin! You want us to leave the
beauty of this city for the sand, dust and dirt
of Palestine? Simon, look at the beauty of
our house and all our possessions! You want
us to leave all of this? The letter is a trap to
get us to abandon our possessions to your
so-called “friend” who is really just a thief.
To leave all of our possessions is a terrible
price to pay. Don’t speak such foolishness,
Simon – we are Germans. Simon again
showed them the letter and they reiterated that it was only a trick to confiscate their
nice home and possessions. Simon told
them of the reports of concentration camps
and mass exterminations and they replied
with Rumors, Simon – did you see these
camps yourself? Did you see any of these
mass exterminations? We are talking about
Germany, the highest civilization in the
world – don’t talk such nonsense. Simon
pleaded with them to consider Adolf Hitler
to which they replied, Hitler? He’s a madman – he will be assassinated. He will be
overthrown or voted out of office – he is a
temporary problem. Simon pleaded with
his family for two weeks and was finally
forced to leave Germany empty handed. All
of his family were murdered.
当然，西蒙走后，他在德国的犹太裔亲人，都被杀害了。
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