It was a recently built landing site for planned aggression on the USSR. I worked there until the fall rains. Grunberg was like most people... but soon. He had a son, an only child, and he fell on the front.
One day, I come to the German on the roof to ask what to do as usual, and the foreman sits... and cries. I felt stupid due to the fact that he was always tough and steamed with hatred for the lower race. Now he was feeling pity - as he cried like a small, profoundly hurt child.
- I'm sorry. What happened, Mr. Grunberg?
- Mein Soni ist gefffalen... - said, weeping, and looked at me for the first time in person.
From that minute on, we frequently talked about different subjects - besides about our common distant history, which so frequently destroyed both our nations. erstwhile it came down to Polish-Cross relations. Grunberg claimed that the Germans had received quite a few beatings from Poles.
- I'm sorry. Where was it - and when? - I ask.
- I'm sorry. I'm certain you know that. It was a large Polish triumph over the Knights of the Cross bei Grunwald - Tannenberg.
The reality is different present - I thought in spirit - but let it be... The crucial thing is that the shoe and the pride of the Teutonic Knight were broken. So I say that I know the past of fighting the Teutonic Knights, which are only a fragment of Polish struggles with them, Germans, Drang nach Osten. He understood. And as I told him, what happened in countries that rapidly gave up - like Czechoslovakia, any Western European countries and so on - his eyes opened. I ended up like this:
- I'm sorry. We Poles have always been where the conflict for freedom was brewing. We never gave up without a fight.
He admitted that their newspapers praised the attitude of the Polish soldier and ridiculed the inability of our command and the deficiency of modern military equipment in Poland. quite a few things my foreman understood, quite a few my understatements. I couldn't even talk plainly due to the fact that I inactive didn't trust him. However, his attitude changed, as I mentioned, just erstwhile he understood why his only boy died. He slow began to like me, never to challenge me, never to rush me again, and I sensed his concern in his voice erstwhile he asked:
- I'm sorry. What will happen to you erstwhile the rain starts and the roofing work is stopped?
The tallness of everything was erstwhile he saved my life. We had peculiar slippers to decision on the roofs, and yet erstwhile I slipped and hung on a sewer gutter with my hands and belly attached to it. Old Grunberg slow slid down to me without hesitation and slowly, resting, dragged me back to the roof. If it wasn't for his help, I would have yet fallen from the hangar tallness consecutive to the concrete protective wall!
Soon all of his fears came true. In the fall, the weather started, and I had to go to bed, due to the fact that there was nothing to do on the roofs. Grunberg protected me as much as he could, yet somewhere in October he said:
- I'm sorry. Go to ``Bauleitungu`` and study for another job. The best way to ask for a referral to the company is to call on Waschkuhn.
I thanked him for everything and... I went to Grudziądz.
