Sunday Story II

Shop Window, Rue Ferdinand Duval, Paris – 28Sept 2017

Hard right on the street from our vacation apt. bldg, was a Jewish shop. It was Marais, duh! Wish I’d made a photograph of the Scooby-Do Yarmulke advertised but I did make this. My goal on Sunday morning was pastries from the shop pictured below.

Bakery, Rue Ferdinand Duval & Rue des Rosiers, Paris – 28 Sept 2017

Rue Ferdinand Duval ends in a T here, crossed by Rue des Rosier. The buildings on all sides create a canyon. Just to the right of this door way is a marble plaque, one of far too many in Paris.

My poor translation to English is: “In Memory of the Principal, Staff, Teachers and Students of this School who were arrested in 1943 and 1944 by the Vichy Police and The Gestapo and deported and killed in Auschwitz because they were born Jewish.”

It was early and quiet. There was nothing to distinguish that street from 1943 or 1944. I closed my eyes, and opened them thinking, what if… It was the most chilling and frightening moment I’ve ever experienced. And I balanced that with knowing I’d been a Missile Control Supervisor on an American Fleet Ballistic Missile Submarine. Boomers are always ready. Never again.