The rainbow never sets

week. Only this one is special, it's the first indoor pool for Posen."

"Yes," I piped in, "We all went there. It's huge." "They converted a Jewish Synagogue into this pool. It's near the market place, absolutely enormous."

"Oh?" Vater said, "tell us more about it.." "I saw a star of David on the wall, above the main entrance. And some of the windows looked more like cathedral windows, not really suitable for a swimming pool. But it was really nice."

"They must have done a thorough job, to make a place of worship into a swimming pool!" Vater pondered. "Didn't you feel funny swimming there?"

"No," I said, "The water was a bit cold, though." I had no concept of what Vater was hinting at. I accepted that it had formerly been a Synagogue, but so what? Jews in Germany simply had no rights, and I never questioned that.

"But," Vater said cautiously, "just imagine someone converting our church into a swimming pool."

"Ah, but that's different," I said. "Jews are criminals. I have seen some Jews being marched along the street with a yellow star of David on the left sleeve, or on the backs of their shabby coats. They had a guard marching with them. They are not like us. They are all criminals."

"Really?" was all that Vater could answer. He wasn't too sure whether he could trust us on this point. Had we been so much indoctrinated by the Nazis, that we would report him to the authorities? He preferred to err on the safe side. I would have probably welcomed some guidance from him on this issue, but as this subject was never mentioned again, I didn't question why Jews were being marched along the streets, nor what might be happening to them afterwards.

"Do you remember at Tante Joni's the other day, where we met a nephew of hers, I think Fritz was his name?" Günter asked me.

"The one who said he was a quarter Jewish?" "Yes, he was very nice. He said, and I think he was telling us a joke, 'it was an advantage to have a Jewish grandmother, because: (a) she didn't cause you any harm (in terms of Nazi persecution), and (b) she brought money into the family.'"

"Everyone laughed, when he said that." "That's enough, boys. This is serious, and not a laughing matter," Vater said sternly.

He continued: "You know the war is affecting us all. Many places in western Germany have daily air raids, especially in the Rhine/Ruhr area. Similar to Hamburg earlier in the war. People are tense and anxious, because they don't get enough sleep."

"We are lucky here. At least we can sleep through the nights." "And have enough to eat!" I added.

"While we are on that subject," Mutter came in, "I wanted to tell you

106