The Yellow Baton by David Sebra

This story begins in 1993 at Milwaukee. CALEB KOHANOW is approaching his 13th birthday and is looking forward to his Bar Mitzvah. He has been studying hard to prepare for it with the aid of his rabbi and also his father, JOHN KOHANOW. The other family members are: his grandfather, JOZEF KOHANOW, also known as PAPA; siblings DEBORAH and JOANA; and Caleb’s mom, ANNA, a steadfast woman. In the year 1938, Jozef is aged 15 and is the only child of MIKEL and BELLA Kohanow. The family has a small dairy farm near the rural town of Olsztyn, Poland. Life is humble but good for them. They are a close knit family and love abounds in their home. In parallel to these events, Germany has taken over Poland. The Kohanow family has been falsely accused of poisoning a little girl and they are arrested. Jozef is sent to Germany and assigned to the Hamburg-Neuengamme concentration camp. For the next almost five years Jozef has to endure daily abuse mostly exacted to the lead guard, FREDERICK WAGNER. The ordeal ends for Jozef in May 1945 when the British liberate the camp. A deep hatred for Wagner has grown inside of Jozef. Jozef makes his way back to his Polish home town. He is destitute, hungry, and weak, but very happy to be free. His road to recovery lasts five years. In early 1950 Jozef travels to England to make plans to immigrate to Wisconsin. Jozef meets HANNAH SZPET in Milwaukee and they marry in May of 1952. After Hannah’s death Jozef moves in with John and his family. As Caleb grows, he develops a great love for his Papa and takes on the role of surrogate Wagner hater. Caleb graduates from high school in 1999 and enrolls at a local college. Caleb’s vengeful feelings lead him to perform much research and locates Frederick Wagner. The former guard is living in Buenos Aires. A plan is put into motion for Caleb to travel there to confront Wagner and probably do to him what he had done to Papa for five years. The trip is made and indeed Wagner is living there. Before Caleb carries out the act he begins to have conflicting thoughts about which is right: revenge or forgiveness. He finds himself in a real mental quandary and forgiveness wins out based upon that Papa Jozef had forgiven Wagner.