Jews, chicken-killers, and Uncle Henry

Uncle Henry looms large here at Falling Downs. Had a tough time of it back in the WW 2. Lost a lot of family to the Nazi extermination campaign.

We cleaned up his apartment in Toronto when he passed. Just off Bathurst. Nice area. Jew friendly. For a kid who had to outrun and outfox the powers that were the powers in central Europe in the early forties that was quite an accomplishment.

We got his rocking chair, his stereo, and his hall carpet. They are now our hall carpet, our rocking chair, and our stereo. We also got a pack of smokes that must have been twenty years old, but that's another story.

My parents came out of the same shithole shtetl in Poland as Uncle Henry. Half the Neumanns in town were Jewish and the other half weren't. I think if you go back a hundred years they were probably all Jewish, but times changed. In the latter half of the eighteen hundreds all the smart folks were saying no thanks to their religion. All the peasant folk who wanted to look like smart folks were doing the same.

So the Nazis come along, and all the smart folks survived, at least for the time being. You know what happened to the other ones.

So Uncle Henry, not having the good fortune to be born into the smart crowd, had a tough time of it. Spent the best part of the early forties hiding in the woods. Strangled stray chickens with his bare hands to keep body and soul together.

Made it to Canada in the early fifties. Made a living in the tailoring trade all his life. Hated Germans. Did well enough that we got a real nice carpet and chair and stereo. Had a nephew Fred who became a big cheese on Broadway. Another nephew is on the PGA tour to this day.

My mother, born into the smart crowd in the same shtetl, got by the Jew cull, and then found herself running for her life as the Red Army rolled in. They didn't give a shit what your name was or where you went to pray. She had a tough time of it too. Killing chickens well into the mid sixties. Not with her bare hands though; she used an axe.

My mother the chicken killer. Uncle Henry the chicken killer. People came through dark times. German, Jew, Arab, Hindu, people will do what they have to do to survive.

We are entering dark times again.

The future belongs to people who can kill chickens and feed their families.