Mimeographed German words in a faded purple color
were printed on a fragile sheet of paper, so thin that it was almost transparent.
At the top of the page was his grandmother's name.
The place, the date: Nürnberg, 1933.
The title: "Wir Können Nicht Hier Blieben".
"'We Cannot Stay Here,'" he translated.
"I think it is about the day she met my grandfather."
He read her words out loud, translating them line by line into rough English.

"'It began in a cafe near Dürerplatz,
in May, on a day when it should have been spring.
The coffee that the waiter had brought me was cold.
ohne Begleitung. I was alone.
'Jews are not welcome here.'
The words were hissed from another table."

The words Gunter's grandmother had overheard reverberated in our home,
as if over seventy years later it was difficult to understand
that such a terrible phrase could be spoken.

"'I was alone. Writing.'" Gunter continued to read Claidia's words.

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