Ship of the Hunted: A Blend of Fact and Fiction
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Historical fiction is a type of genre that helps paint a more captivating and colourful picture of the past. It combines fact and fiction as it presents mostly fabricated characters set in a definite period of history. Ship of the Hunted, by Yehuda Elberg, defines this genre as it entwines the lives of a fictional family with historical facts and elements such as life in the Warsaw ghetto, hiding to survive, and the Brichah movement of Jews out of Poland.
History has recorded that over half a million Jews were crowded into the Warsaw ghetto between October and November of 1940. The squalor, starvation, disease, exposure to cold, and the daily shootings claimed the lives of about 5, 000 to 6, 000 Jews each month. In Ship of the Hunted, the Heshl family struggles to survive this trend. Like so many others living in the ghetto, Golda and her son, Yossel, scavenge the blocks, looking for any items that can be smuggled out of the ghetto in exchange for food. After his father and older sister are deported, Yossel is confronted by Golda, who wants him to stop smuggling.
” ÐThis stuff buys food. We have to eat, Mama.
ÐYossel, youre still a child. You know they shoot children for scavenging!
ÐThey shoot mothers for scavenging, too. (Elberg, 17)
This conversation demonstrates the desperate measures taken by the Jews to obtain food. The raids in the ghetto also caused their numbers to dwindle. Daily, thousands of Jews were removed from the ghetto and transported to concentration camps. After surviving one such raid by hiding in a bunker, Golda surfaces to find out about another raid on a hospital. “Liquidated, floor by floor. On foot and by stretcher, they had been sent off Ð- a man with an incision still open; an infant, newly born.” (Elberg, 23) These raids led to deportations, which eventually led to extermination. News spread, and those who refused to be led away to death took part in what would be one of the greatest periods in Jewish history. The Warsaw ghetto uprising began on April 19th of 1943, as the surviving inhabitants of the ghetto resisted the German troops and police who had come to deport them. This battle held out for 20 days till the Germans finally overpowered the lightly armed Jews. In the novel, Golda is a witness to the uprising and its end.
“The ghetto was ablaze, and out of each flaming hulk came the horrifying smell of scorched human flesh. Some survivors were being led away with their hands over their heads.” (Elberg, 119)
Elberg brings to life the historical truths about life in the Warsaw ghetto from the standpoints of his two fictional characters.
During the Holocaust, the only way most Jews could survive was to hide. Marek Edelman, a hero of the Warsaw ghetto uprising, estimated that about 18, 000 Jews went into hiding in Warsaw. In the novel, Elberg provides two examples of when Hannele, Goldas youngest daughter, has to go into hiding. Yurek (formally known as Yossel) has the advantage of having blonde hair and blue eyes, and can therefore pass as an Aryan. However, Hannele has very Jewish features, and when it becomes clear that the Nazis are deporting all children, Golda sends her son to find a place to hide Hannele.
” ÐDid you find something? she whispered.
ÐI think so. The Wilchinskis want ten dollars a month for each of us. (Elberg, 24)
The Wilchinskis provide a haven for Hannele and a place for Yurek to sleep for nearly three months, during which Hannele is restricted to the innermost rooms of the house, away from windows. Later, Yurek and Hannele are forced to leave the Wilchinskis and look for another hiding place. They travel to Shwider, where Yurek finds work as a farmhand and manages to hide Hannele in the attic of his employers barn. Like many others in hiding, Hannele has to remain quiet and motionless throughout the day. Her food consists of meager portions of bread and water, and for nearly two years, she lives in filthy and unhealthy conditions.
“The attic was swarming with insects. Hanneles dress was a breeding ground for lice, and they multiplied faster than he could pick them out. Her poor little body was all chewed up.” (Elberg, 89)
These examples give an idea as to what many Jews had to tolerate while living in hiding.
Another historical aspect of this