INT. OFFICE-DAY
Bondy is seated in an office. On the wall behind a desk is a sign: GERMAN ZIONIST COMMITTEE. Bondy is in an increasingly heated debate with the man behind the desk.
ZIONIST
No, we cannot help you because we are on different sides of this issue.
BONDY
There is only one side: saving the children.
ZIONIST
Okay, there is only one side, but there are facets to this side.
BONDY
I see. The old joke that for every two Jews in an argument there are three sides.
ZIONIST
At least three sides, but for me, for my organization, there is only one side on this issue. You wish to send these children to the four corners of the earth. Another diaspora. This cannot be allowed.
BONDY
You have a better idea?
ZIONIST
Emigration of Jews must be to Palestine. At some point, Hitler will be gone, the Nazis will be gone, but there will always be Jews and we will always need our own country.
BONDY
But this is now. Hitler is now. The Nazis are now. We must save these children now. You are dealing in abstractions, some pie in the sky. There is no Jewish country. There is Germany, there is Poland, there is…
ZIONIST
The goal must be for a Jewish state. Everything must be aimed at that. By shipping your kids all over the world, you are undermining our cause.
BONDY
Look, I have nothing against your goal of building a Jewish state, but my goal is to save these kids and the clock is ticking.
INT. CAFE-DAY
Joseph and LEO sitting in a café. Joseph is wearing conventional clothes. Leo is wearing clothing that reflects a more orthodox affiliation. Nazi officers sit nearby. Joseph and Leo are obviously effected by this as they speak.
JOSEPH
It’s as if I’m in a maze, but every turn is gradually being closed off. There is less and less room for us to maneuver.
LEO
It’s true. There is no room here for us.
JOSEPH
(angry) And I’m telling you, Leo, there is no room here for them.
LEO
But “them” have guns, Joseph.
JOSEPH
So I’m supposed to give up my future because these pagans with guns say so?
LEO
Maybe not give up your future. Maybe just change it a little.
JOSEPH
(angry, petulant) No, they have no right to deny me an education, to deny me scholarships, to deny me a job just because I’m Jewish. I won’t tolerate it.
LEO
Joseph, these are run-of-the-mill anti-Semites. They don’t understand us, don’t share our values or our lives. You are asking too much of people who hate us.
JOSEPH
And you ask too little, Leo.
LEO
I ask for what I am allowed. I am content.
JOSEPH
When we were kids, we made plans for our future. Now I have no future and you have no plans.
LEO
I have plans.
JOSEPH
To marry a girl your parents picked for you, to become your father, to run away to Palestine.
LEO
And what is wrong with becoming my father? You make me sound like a coward, but I will marry Leah and we will emigrate to Palestine because this is right for me and for my family.
JOSEPH
I will miss you. (beat) When?
LEO
When it is right. When my father, or the Rabbi, says it is the right time.
JOSEPH
Look around, Leo. Do it quickly.
EXT. STREET-DAY
Bondy and Joseph pass each other. Bondy stops, as if to speak with Joseph. Joseph continues to walk on until called.
BONDY
Not even an hello to an old friend? Or should I say a goodbye.
JOSEPH
What…?
BONDY
I was terminated. Ah, poor choice of words. I was shown the door.
JOSEPH
Well,.. (shrugs)
BONDY
Yes, well. (beat, brightens) But, as they say, every door closed is another door opened.
JOSEPH
Not if there is only one door, Professor.
BONDY
That’s why you can’t continue to focus on only one door.
Bondy reaches into a pocket and then hands Joseph a card.
BONDY (CONT’D)
I have something you might be interested in. It could be your way out. Mine, too. Come to see me tonight. There’s the address. We’ll talk.
JOSEPH
Tell me now.
BONDY
Tonight. After dinner. We’ll have more time and (looks around) fewer eyes.
INT. BONDY’S APARTMENT—NIGHT
Bondy is seated at a desk. The room is floor to ceiling with books. They are strewn about, threatening to overrun the entire room. Bondy sits reading until the bell RINGS. Bondy goes to the door and Joseph enters. Joseph looks around in awe.
JOSEPH
You’ve read all of these?
BONDY
Most. It’s a disease.
JOSEPH
They don’t seen to have helped.
BONDY
Look, Joseph. Except in age and that you have more hair, you and I are not much different from each other. Mostly, we both just want to be left alone to pursue our lives. I’m not interested in power, money, any of that stuff. I am interested in being a responsible force for growth. That’s why I teach and teaching is all I want to do.
JOSEPH
Forever?
BONDY
Forever.
JOSEPH
And don’t have much to show for it.
BONDY
I just discovered another way we’re different. You make decisions based on superficial evidence. You don’t know what I have to show for the way I lead my life. For example, one of the things I have is that now I’m in a position to offer you something that might turn out to be very important. And if it works out, my simple life might have enormous impact on your simple life. Now, do you want to continue to pout and criticize, or do you want to hear about it?
Joseph takes some books off a chair and sits.
JOSEPH
I’m not pouting.
BONDY
Maybe too strong. Maybe it’s sulking.
JOSEPH
Maybe you should tell me what this is about.
INT. STUDY-DAY
Bondy is seated with MR. BEINER, an obviously Orthodox man, full beard, large, furred hat. The room is filled with books. This conversation is quieter, more civil than the one Bondy had with the Zionist, yet not without tension.
BEINER
You’re trying to steal our children, Mr. Bondy. We are a family, a community.
Our children are our treasure. We don’t need an outsider to tell us what is good for our children.
BONDY
I may not dress myself in the manner of a hundred years ago, but I have as much right to my Judaism as you do. And it is your children I am trying to save.
BEINER
For what? For what should my children give up their family, their history, their learning?
BONDY
Look around, Mr. Beiner. We are living in dangerous times, in a dangerous country.
BEINER
You may be right about the danger, Mr. Bondy, but we have lived with this danger for 2,000 years. You should study your history.
BONDY
I know my history, but this is of a different degree.
BEINER
Do you have children, Mr. Bondy?
BONDY
No.
BEINER
Are you married?
BONDY
No.
BEINER
Were you ever married?
BONDY
No.
BEINER
So, then, you won’t be asking any children of yours to leave their family, give up their learning, move to a strange new place, and study to be a farmer or a plumber or a carpenter?
BONDY
No.
BEINER
But after we raise our children for 16 years, you want us to give them to you to send to some foreign country, to give up their traditions, to live among foreign people.
BONDY
I think the important word there, Mr. Beiner, is “live.”
BEINER
That sounds arrogant, Mr. Bondy. We will help our children “live,” as we have for the past 6,000 years. We have nothing more to discuss. Good day, Mr. Bondy.
Bondy leaves and through another door, Leo enters.
BEINER (cont’d)
You heard?
LEO
Yes.
BEINER
Do you have a reaction?
LEO
My life is in good hands. I trust in you, Papa, and God.
BEINER
So do I, but that doesn’t mean I’m not worried that I am doing the wrong thing. Bondy seemed so sure, and there is so much responsibility.
LEO (smiles reassuringly)
It’s time for evening prayers, Papa.
INT. APARTMENT
Joseph and his PARENTS are seated in a shabbily-furnished, run-down apartment. Their clothes are as worn as their apartment.
JOSEPH
There is no point in continuing this charade. I’m heading nowhere.
FATHER
Quit school and you are finished. Like me. Finished.
JOSEPH
I would rather be finished like you than continue the humiliation of having them squeeze the life out of me.
MOTHER
School is going to be your way out.
JOSEPH
There may be another way. Professor Bondy told me about this camp he is starting. He’s asked me to join.
FATHER
What is this about?
JOSEPH
I don’t have all the facts, but it’s to train us to become farmers, to work with our hands.
MOTHER
That sounds promising.
FATHER
I suspect there is more. Is there more, Joseph?
JOSEPH
Then they find us work in another country.
MOTHER
Like Poland?
JOSEPH
Like the United States, or Australia, or Kenya.
MOTHER (frightened)
To leave us, to move away?
FATHER
I would like to speak with this man Bondy.
INT. OFFICE-DAY
Bondy and MR. SCHNEIDER both sit in an opulent office.
BONDY
…so the estate with the mansion and the land is a gift for us to use as we see fit. It will suit the teenagers perfectly. My job is to get them ready to emigrate, to get out while they can.
SCHNEIDER
And how will you get them ready?
BONDY
Teach them a trade, carpentry, plumbing. Teach them to be farmers, workers with animals. Make them appealing, acceptable to the countries willing to take them in. Without the training, they would be turned away at the border.
SCHNEIDER
They’re probably going to be turned away anyway.
BONDY
But at least with this camp training, they will have a chance at starting a new, safe life. Without it…
SCHNEIDER
And what, Mr. Bondy, do you want from me?
BONDY
I want money, Mr. Schneider. I was given the orders, I was given the list of students, but now I have to round up the money.
Mr. Schneider reaches for a checkbook.
SCHNEIDER
And how much money do you need, Mr. Bondy?
DISSOLVE—FLASH FORWARD
EXT. GARDEN-DAY
We are back in Israel.
JOSEPH
The thing about Bo was how tenacious he was.
MAN
Tenacious, yes, but what about Curt Bondy most impressed me was his discipline. The most disciplined man I ever met.
MARLENE
And the most talkative man I ever met. And he never met an issue he didn’t have an opinion about.
ANOTHER WOMAN
Or ever feel he was wrong about.
CARL
True. But it was his discipline that got us out and his talking that kept us going.
JOSEPH
Bondy could be a nudje. It was bad enough he was constantly on us about our work, but then to also have to listen to his views on how to live in this world, how to behave properly, how to be conscientious, loyal, honest, everything. The man was a nudje. But he saved me.
CARL
It’s true he saved our lives.
JOSEPH
Not just my life. He saved me as a person. He may have been a nudje, but he was usually right.
DISSOLVE—FLASH BACK
INT. JOSEPH’S APARTMENT
Bondy, Joseph, and his family are seated around a table.
FATHER
Farming? My son was not raised to be a farmer. He was raised to study, to be a scholar. We have always been a family of scholars.
BONDY
Do you think the Nazis are impressed with scholars?
FATHER
It is not my job to impress the Nazis.
BONDY
You will excuse me, but it is your job to protect your son.
FATHER (angry)
I do not need you to come to my home and tell me of my duties to my son. You say that learning to farm will protect him. I say that his brains will protect him, his knowledge, his study will protect him.
MOTHER
Mr. Bondy, have some patience with us. We realize what’s at stake, but we need to think about this. It is a big step.
JOSEPH
It is my step, Mama.
FATHER
Ah, and what is it you would like to do?
JOSEPH
I would like to stay and study with you and live a full life. I’d like to marry, have children here in my country. I’d like to protect you both. That is what I would like. But this isn’t about what I would like or what you would like. It is about what is possible. I’m seventeen and I feel as if I’m living in a closet and the closet is shrinking.
MOTHER
Then you will leave us.
JOSEPH
I’ll go, then you will follow.
FATHER
How? How will this happen? You’ll go where? With what money? How will we go? Again, with what money? Joseph, this is a daydream.
BONDY
No, it is not…
MOTHER
Professor Bondy. If our son goes with you, do you promise to protect him and see that he is able to emigrate?
BONDY
I can promise that I will do everything I can to see that that happens.
DISSOLVE—FLASH FORWARD
The reunioners sitting talking.
OTTO
Look, he was tough, stern, whatever you want to call him, and the day was long and tiresome, but I wouldn’t have given it up for anything. I feel sorry for those kids in Germany who didn’t have our experience.
GRETA
We all had friends killed, kids who decided not to follow us to Gross-Breesen.
JOSEPH
My best friend, Leo. The last I saw him was the Spring of ’40. There was a roundup.
CARL
By 1940, I was in Virginia.
GRETA
Do you remember how Gross-Breesen looked when we got there? What was that line from the movie?
MARLENE
What movie?
GRETA
Bette Davis.
OTTO
She was an actress, not a movie.
GRETA
No, the movie when she said…
JOSEPH
“What a dump.”
DISSOLVE—FLASH BACK
EXT. EST. SHOT OF MANSION AND GROUNDS—DAY
We see a large mansion set on several acres. Behind the house is a poorly-maintained farm. Farm equipment stand to one side beside a weathered barn. Several animals, horses, cows, goats, sheep, chickens wander the field. We see general neglect and disrepair.
EXT. MANSION
Getting closer we see that the mansion is in poor condition. The roof is leaky, the windows broken, siding falling down.
INT. MANSION
Entering, we see the effects of age and poor maintenance throughout the lower floor of the house. We come upon Bondy and Hirsch who are wandering around the mansion, exploring it for the first time.
BONDY
This is it?
HIRSCH
Not much, is it?
BONDY
This is some sort of bad joke. Can you imagine my trying to talk nice Jewish kids into living in a run-down place like this?
HIRSCH
Maybe a few coats of paint…
BONDY
Yeah, I guess if I get the paint thick enough, it’ll keep the place from collapsing.
Hirsch takes out a notebook and begins to write.
HIRSCH
Okay, paint. And brushes.
BONDY
Brushes? Are you going to help?
HIRSCH
Me? No. But I know you’ll figure something out.
INT. MANSION—DAY
Bondy is seen painting a wall as a DAVID enters with uncertainty. Bondy approaches with a paint brush.
BONDY
Ah, the first. Good. I am Curt Bondy, and you are…?
DAVID
David.
BONDY
Have we met?
DAVID
No, but I heard about your camp and I…
BONDY
Good, David, nice to meet you. Pick up a brush and let’s get going.
DAVID
I thought I was here to learn to farm.
BONDY
Of course you are. But first we paint.
A TEENAGE GIRL, followed by her PARENTS, enters with some bewilderment.
BONDY (cont’d)
Ah, good, another. I am Curt Bondy, and you are…?
INT. MANSION—DAY
Several dozen TEENAGERS are painting, hauling trash, hammering. Bondy watches for a while, smiles. Then he sees Joseph, giving what is obviously less than his all.
BONDY
Joseph, we only need one foreman on this job. You’re handling that paintbrush as if it weighed a thousand pounds.
Joseph moves a little faster, but barely. Bondy wanders outside.
EXT. MANSION
Bondy watches as other teenagers are busily hauling, fixing, moving stuff. One teen approaches clumsily carrying several tools.
GRETA
Director Bondy, what should I do with all these plows?
BONDY
Those are called scythes, Greta.
GRETA
I thought a sigh was when you let out…
BONDY
…a deep breath. Yes, you’re right. Put them in the barn. We’ll clean them later.
As she walks off:
GRETA
All this hard work is going to help us, right?
BONDY
Soon you won’t think its hard work, Greta.
GRETA
I hope so. Okay, I’ll stack these in the barn. (beat) Which one’s the barn, Director Bondy?
Bondy is about to answer when Joseph passes by. Bondy points to the barn, then calls out.
BONDY
Joseph. Wait a second. I’ll walk with you.
Joseph morosely stands and waits for Bondy to join him, then they both walk around the grounds.
BONDY (cont’d)
Is it because it’s the second day, or are you usually unhappy?
JOSEPH
Both.
BONDY
In my class, you had some life. You are walking around like you’re asleep.
JOSEPH
It was not exactly my dream to be milking cows and shoveling fertilizer.
BONDY
You knew this when you agreed to come with me.
JOSEPH
I came because I had no other options. This is worse than I thought it would be.
BONDY (ironical)
You were made for better stuff, right?
JOSEPH
Different stuff.
BONDY
Ah, maybe you are a snob, Joseph. And maybe a little short sighted.
JOSEPH
I don’t need any lectures from you.
BONDY
And too prideful. It will hurt you.
JOSEPH (looking around)
I don’t see too many things that won’t hurt me.
BONDY
Listen to me. You continue to insist on doing things your way, you will suffer under these Nazis. They will grind you under. The only hope you have is to get out.
JOSEPH
So I will get out. Maybe my father was right. I’ll get out using my brain, not by getting calluses on my hands.
BONDY
Other countries don’t want brains. They want people who can support themselves, who can do things, make things, fix things, grow things. You want to think things. Good. After you make, fix, grow, then you can think.
Joseph starts to stalk away.
BONDY (cont’d)
Do you remember that day in class when you said I spent too much time in theories, while you saw your life going down the drain. You challenged me to do something. Okay, I’m doing something. Now I challenge you. Do something.
JOSEPH
What?
BONDY
I’m tempted to say grow up and show some initiative, but I will say get a brush. The outside of the house needs some work.
As Joseph now ponders.
BONDY (cont’d)
Look, ten new kids came in today. I want you to help me get them settled. There’s one in particular I’d like you to meet. Come.
Joseph follows Bondy toward a grove of trees where ESTHER sits on the ground while reading a book. As they walk, we hear VO of Joseph and other reunioners.
JOSEPH (VO)
And that’s how we met our wives.
MARLENE (VO)
I think we were ready.
CARL (VO)
I think it’s because we were all scared, so we grabbed onto life preservers.
OTTO (VO)
For kids who may have acted impulsively, we must have known something. I mean, here we are 55 years later.
JOSEPH (VO)
That’s how I met my Esther.
CARL (VO)
She was such an energetic, lively girl.
MARLENE (VO)
I remember how jealous I was. That when the two of you met, it was love at first sight.
CARL (VO)
It was love at first sight for me too, Marlene. Well, maybe second sight.
JOSEPH (VO)
Well, it wasn’t exactly love at first sight for me.
BONDY
Joseph, this is Esther.
Esther reaches out to try and shake Joseph’s hand. Joseph does not reciprocate.
BONDY (cont’d)
Joseph, shake Esther’s hand.
Joseph mechanically puts out his hand. He appears indifferent.
BONDY (cont’d)
Well, I’ll show Esther to her room. Don’t go away, Joseph.
ESTHER
Yes, don’t go away, Joseph. I’d love to continue this sparkling conversation.
As Bondy and Esther walk off toward the house, Joseph stares at Esther, puzzled.
***
For all installments from “Gross-Breesen,” click here.
Previous installments:
Henry Meyerson’s full-length and one-act plays have been published by Samuel French, Inc and have been internationally produced. His plays The Activist and Jump Jim Crow earned grants from The New Jersey Council on the Arts. Many of his short stories have been published through the years. Meyerson has a Phd in Clinical Psychology and an MFA in Playwrighting. Synopses of his full-length plays and screenplays can be found at his website.
