Like us on Facebook
The next photo is the PROMPT. Remember, all photos are property of the photographer, donated for use in Friday Fictioneers only. They shouldn’t be used for any other purpose without express permission. It is proper etiquette to give the contributor credit.
PHOTO PROMPT © Mikhael Sublett
Give us a little click.
Genre: Historical Fiction
Word Count: 100
KEEPSAKE
Hadassah stood amid the ruins of her once elegantly furnished home.
She ached for two-year-old Aaron who had been seized and taken to the gas chamber. Peter took a bullet trying to save their son.
Typhoid claimed thirteen-year-old Gittel hours before the liberation.
Seven-year-old Gittel held out a piece of paper splotched with color.
“What is it?”
The child huffed. “Anyone can see it’s a butterfly.”
“Our daughter’s an artist.” Peter beamed. “I’ll frame it.”
“How on earth…?” With a gasp, Hadassah dropped to her knees and pulled the unscathed picture from the rubble.
“I painted it for you, Mama.”
Rochelle Wisoff-Fields-Addicted to Purple 
A heartbreakingly fitting tribute to all those who died at the hands or in the camps of the Nazis, Rochelle. —- Suzanne
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Suzanne,
I don’t think enough can be written…lest we forget. Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLiked by 1 person
I am utterly impressed, m’lady, that you managed to effortlessly include a flashback in a 100-word story.
I am unsure if the picture will give Hadassah comfort or more heartache as a tangible reminder of her loss.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear C.E.
I suspect the picture will be both a comfort and a heartache. Thank you for your kind words.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLike
Like CE, I loved the braiding of two times, two moods, in so short a space
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you so much, Neil. I’m glad it worked.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLike
Wow, so much story in 100 words. A neat way to put pieces of the story together.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Tanille,
I was a little apprehensive when I posted this about whether or not the segues from past to present would work. I’m glad they did. Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLiked by 1 person
I must admit I did have to read twice. But that’s the beauty of some stories – the oh yeah moment on the second read.
LikeLiked by 1 person
😀 Can’t complain about a reader going back for seconds. 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
There is such sadness in this piece Rochelle.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Colline,
It’s the saddest of subjects. Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLike
It is. And it is important to keep it in our memories.
LikeLike
Excellent pacing in this, Rochelle. Very dense. I remember reading Spiegelman seeing a photo of his murdered brother Richlieu in his parents’ bedroom and realizing they didn’t have one of him because he was alive. I need to re-read Maus, I think. It’s been a few years.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Josh,
Beside being inspired by the picture, this story is also inspired by the return of art stolen by the Nazis. I decided to go with priceless art of a different kind. Never read Maus. Shall I add it to my ever-growing bucket list? Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLiked by 1 person
Very touching and heartbreaking. It was painted with a master’s touch.
LikeLiked by 1 person
What a wonderful comment/compliment, Trent (from one artist to another) Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLiked by 1 person
🙂
LikeLike
It’s difficult to execute two timelines in a 100 word story. You nailed it beautifully. And heartbreakingly.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Sandra,
Thank you for such a huge compliment. 😀
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLike
Such a powerful image Rochelle. That one found memory gives her something to hold on to.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Iain,
I think she will guard that picture with her life. Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLiked by 1 person
There is both beauty and memories sometimes in rubble. As Leonard Cohen said “she looks among the garbage and the flowers”. Sometimes we need to step back and find those treasures in what we think is trash in our lives. Good job.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Jan,
There are those momentos that remind and bind us, aren’t there? Thank you, m’luv.
LikeLike
This one brought tears to my eyes Rochelle.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Your tears. My compliment. Thank you, Di.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLiked by 1 person
❤
LikeLike
Hadassah. Esther. I’ve always loved that name 🙂
I recently watched a video recorded in Sioux Falls, SD of Eva Schloss, who was friends with Anne Frank. Eva survived. Her mother married Anne’s father. She is an amazing speaker, and managed to convey the horrors and grief everyone endured. I truly respect and admire those who came through all of it with their sanity intact.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Linda,
My middle name in Hebrew is Ester (Persian actually). Esther is also my favorite book. 😉 I’ve often wondered what happened to Otto Frank. I’ll have to look Eva up. Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLiked by 1 person
According to Eva, her mother was married to Otto for about 20 years, perhaps longer. He was somewhere between 15-20 years older than she was.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Heartwrenching!
Susan A Eames at
Travel, Fiction and Photos
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, Susan.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLike
At once heartbreaking and heartwarming.
Shalom,
Ronda
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Ronda,
Mission accomplished. Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLike
Jesus, Rochelle! You went for a gut-punch to the soul on this one, and it landed perfectly. You’ve masterfully crafted a tale that’s simultaneously heartbreaking, heartwarming, and heartbreaking. Did I mention heartbreaking?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Nobbin,
You might have mentioned heartbreaking a time or two. Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLiked by 1 person
What an emotional story, Rochelle. Terrible grief for all the loss, and incredulous joy at finding such a treasure. Technically, the two timelines worked well, and you handled them masterfully.
Shalom
Penny
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Penny,
I’m relieved to know the two timelines worked. Thank you for your encouraging comments/compliments.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLike
Dear Rochelle,
Like everyone else, I am blown away by your managing to put two timelines within 100 words. Beautifully done and heartrending.
Shalom and lotsa love,
Dale
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Dale,
Aw shucks. Now I’m blushing. 😉 Thank you for such a mind blowing compliment.
Shalom and lotsa timely hugs,
Rochelle
LikeLiked by 1 person
You know me… I’m a tell-it-like-it-is kinda gal…
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, Rochelle, for this eloquent and heart-piercing piece. It was the reality of added sorrow for those who’d survived, that when they finally got ‘home’ they found it in ruins, ‘appropriated’ (i.e. outright stolen) by neighbors, even sometimes ignored, dismissed, chased away, and beaten up by those who’d thieved their home. And then refused entry into countries where they sought refuge, and told to “go back where you came from.”
The horrors of the holocaust did not end when the camps were ‘liberated.’
And the remainders and reminders were often just as devastating.
I left my entry with the froggy. A breaking of another kind. Ongoing, for some.
Hugs
Na’ama
LikeLiked by 1 person
Na’ama Y’karah,
I’ve heard so many of these stories. Most recently I interviewed Sonia Warshowski, a Polish survivor. She shared some horror stories of returning ‘home’ from the camps only to find the have the Poles attack in a pogrom to keep the Jews from returning. Not to mention what happened to the liberated Jews who fled to Russia. I think we could volley these events for weeks or years to come. Thank you for ‘going there’ with me.
I don’t know if you’ve caught the story of the gentleman whose picture I’m standing beside in my icon. That’s Erwin Stern, my first crush when I was three or four. He lived down the street from us and was an Austrian refugee. Interesting for me to realize the year I was born was only 7 years after the liberation. (for what that’s worth ;))
Shabbat Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLiked by 1 person
Wow for the story of the man next to you … and yes to the wonder of realizing how not long at all any of this was. I grew up surrounded by people whose family members were holocaust survivors (and by extension, whose family members had had most of their family massacred and brutalized by the Nazis). Many did not speak at all about the war, let alone about the horrors that followed. But we knew, from words uttered here and there, from the refusal to speak of it, from the ‘don’t even go there’ looks in their eyes, that there was pain not only in what was lost before the war and through the war, but in the injustices and trauma faced AFTER the war. And that’s even before we speak of internment camps and refugee camps and being turned away and refused safety and put behind barbed wire, again, by so-called humane societies.
So, yes, there is a lot to remember and a lot to never forget. Lest we repeat more than we are already repeating. …
XOXO
Na’ama
LikeLiked by 1 person
So tragic! I’m fighting back the tears. This just reminds me to treasure the things that young Hannah makes. She’s got great artistic potential, already well beyond stick figures at four years. This is a great piece, Rochelle, beautiful and painful all at once.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Eric,
I hope you’re nurturing Hannah in her artistic abilities. 😉 I’m sure you are. I have managed to keep a few cherished pieces my children who are now grown men did all those years ago. Now I watch my granddaughter who is a talented little artist at eight.
Thank you so much for the comment and the tears.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLiked by 1 person
It feels like a miracle that the painting would be intact when everyone/thing else has been obliterated. Touching and sad and wonderfully done, Rochelle.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Sascha,
It is something of a miracle, yet, I’ve heard these kinds of stories time and again. Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLike
Hdassah’s loss and pain is symbolic of all who suffered and perished during the days of the Holocaust. In a mere 100 words who have written a short story that srikes home the terror. Another example of your immense talent, Rochelle.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Neel,
Your comments humble me. Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLike
Wow💞
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, Lyneane. I’ll always take “wow” as a comment. 😉 ❤
Shalom,
Rukhelita
LikeLike
Emotional and heartbreaking.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, Ali.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLiked by 1 person
Heart rendering story.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, James.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLiked by 1 person
Heartbreaking and beautiful Rochelle, a real masterpiece of emotion. ps for some reason wordpress won’t allow me to like anything, for the record I do!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Shrawley,
Such a wonderful comment. I’ll certainly accept the implied ‘like’. What’s up with Word Press? At any rate, thank you very much.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLiked by 1 person
surviving a traumatic event can be both a blessing and a curse if we factor in the feelings of guilt that the survivor has to endure.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Very true, Plaridel. Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLiked by 1 person
Sad and beautiful as always Rochelle, Thank you.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Siobhan,
Thank you for your kind words.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLiked by 1 person
A poignant piece that stopped me in my tracks.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Keith,
I couldn’t ask for a better compliment. Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLiked by 1 person
https://christinebialczak.com/2019/12/13/friday-fictioneers-100-words/
LikeLike
Dear Christine(?),
Welcome to Friday Fictioneers. For future reference, this is my comment section so it’s not likely anyone but me will click your link. I did, as I said in your comments, I’ve added your link to the list. To find the list, click the frog just below the photo prompt.
I hope you read and liked my story while you were in the neighborhood. 😉 Thank you for coming by.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLike
I enjoyed your story quite a bit. Demonstrates a certain amount of strength and control despite what someone may be putting “you” through.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, Christine.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Rochelle,
Good storytelling doesn’t do this one justice. It expands the mind, evoking so many thoughts and impressions. As I read it, the contradiction of the loss and destruction of lives and a family with the mother finding that artwork by the daughter — which to me symbolizes a tiny glimmer of hope for a future — stirs confusion and anger at God in that so much evil was visited upon them and now they are supposed to somehow be grateful for finding her picture/artwork unscathed?
Shalom,
Lisa
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Lisa,
Of course a child’s crude sketch will never replace the child, but will serve as a precious keepsake. On that note, I’ll simply thank you for such a magnificent, head-swelling comment.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLiked by 1 person
Rochelle, you are welcome, it was my pleasure.
Shalom,
Lisa
LikeLike
What a treasure!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, Liz.
Shalom,
Rochelle
PS We mothers treasure our children’s early works of art anyway, don’t we?
LikeLike
Both heartbreaking and touching Rochelle, saying so much in so few words.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you for such a wonderful comment, Francine.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLike
Sad yet uplifting, the strength of humanity is our memory, yet we we seem not to learn,
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Mike,
We don’t seem to learn from history, do we? Thank you for your affirming comments.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLike
This really tugs at the heartstrings, Rochelle. The extent to which humans can hurt one another boggles the mind!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Mags,
It is mind-boggling, isn’t it? Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh this hurts. How sad for her, losing everyone. Thank goodness a little color survived.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Laurie,
Sadly, millions lost everything. I can’t imagine the cruelty…brutality and a hundred other descriptions. Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLike
I’m new to this but can’t wait to get involved.
LikeLike