Watching the Village: Another Scandal From the time the Germans arrived in our village, and this Befehl (order) continued all the time they were there, they imposed a strict curfew. No one was to be found outdoors after 6 PM. this was very trying during the summer months since we had no way of communicating with our neighbors. The days were bright and it was too early to go to bed. We had a high window in our one room with a good-sized ledge to sit on. This became our own little theatre as we watched the various happenings outdoors.
One day, we saw an old man hurrying to get home without being caught by the guard. Every few steps he took he'd look around as if he were a thief. In the end he was spotted. At the same time a reputedly loose woman was also caught and since the two of them were brought together before the court he was punished for her sin.
Though we could not hope to repeat such exciting observations often, nevertheless we spent many hours looking through the window pane. We became quite adept at analyzing the soldiers on our beat. If we decided that he looked mean, we left him alone. But if the next one seemed decent, we would attempt to speak to him through the glass. Soon the conversation would become involved and we would even open the window. But all of them had the same advice: “go to sleep.”
