In September 1939, when the Germans occupied Poland, a young soldier was sent to check the house for Jews. When he opened the attic door, he saw a dozen Jews curled up in a ball. "Are there any Jews in the attic?" and just as he was stunned, the voice of the chief came from the first floor.
The young soldier's name was Hans, and he had graduated from the military academy a few months earlier and had come to the front, and in a few months he had seen a tragedy that he had not seen in the previous ten years of his life.
Countless people lost their lives because of this war, and even those unarmed civilians had to face the black muzzles of their German soldiers, which also made Hans begin to doubt his original intention of joining the army again and again.
And in September 1939, when the Polish defense line was broken by the Germans, and most of the cities fell into German hands, the cruel Hitler followed up with a very outrageous order.
He began to arrest all the Jews in Poland, and it is needless to say what awaits them. So most of the Jews at that time were trying to hide.
But even so, under the search of German soldiers inch by inch, many people were still taken away. On this day, Hans was assigned by his superiors to search for Jews in a town.
Once in the town, the soldiers were divided into small groups and headed to different areas, while Hans followed his commander into a private house.
The chief scanned the furnishings of the house, and found it to be a dilapidated place, with dust everywhere, as if it had not been inhabited for months, and therefore did not look like it was a hiding place for Jews.
He turned around and was about to leave, but he noticed a plank on the ceiling of the house, and he realized that the house had an attic, and the attic was often the easiest place to hide.
Because the chief suspected that there might be danger, he did not intend to go to the attic to check it himself, and he saw Hans on a search mission.
He shouted Hans's name, then pointed his pistol at the attic, and Hans walked up and opened the attic door.
Because the door of the attic was facing the chief, he couldn't see the situation in the attic at all, and he could only get the news by asking.
And the moment Hans opened the attic door, he froze in place. In this small attic there were more than a dozen Jews, some of them old and some of them children, and fear forced them to huddle together and not dare to speak out.
There was despair in their eyes, and seeing Hans seemed to be seeing death. If he shouts to the Governor now that there are Jews here, then he will be rewarded.
But what will happen to the future of these dozen Jews? Will they become tombstones in the concentration camps? No one knows.
However, if he chooses to leave in silence, he can let these people escape from this fate, and they will not become prisoners, but that would mean that he will disobey the orders of his superiors, which is obviously contrary to his duty as a soldier.
Just as his conscience was being tested, his thoughts were interrupted by an inquiry from the chief, who had seen that he had been standing there for too long, before asking him about his condition.
Hearing this, Hans seemed to be convinced, and he slowly walked down from the attic and closed the attic door.
He calmly told the chief that there was no one in the attic. Hearing this, the chief did not doubt much, turned around and left the house.
Hans followed in the captain's footsteps, but when he turned back and closed the door, he did not forget to glance at the attic, and he prayed in his heart that the Jews would escape this catastrophe.
Thanks to this act of kindness by Hans, these Jewish children and old people were able to take care of it, and one of them managed to avoid this catastrophe and took it to heart.
Years after the end of the war, the surviving Jew came forward to tell the story, which also made it clear that there were not only cruel people like Hitler, but also people with such good intentions.
From ancient times to the present, the word war is terrible, after all, it represents bloodshed and death, but there are always people who will use goodwill to fight war, which is also the true love of the world.
Perhaps in that war, there were people like Hans who did many right things for the righteousness in their hearts, and their deeds will be passed down with Hans's name.
(Main source: Xinhuanet, "War History Today, September 1: Germany Attacks Poland")
