Schwartzbrot

Bessarabia - 1910 In the late 18th century, Czar Nikolas I opens the desolate land of the Russian Steppe to Jewish immigration. The subsequent development by immigrant farmers establish what is now considered the Breadbasket of Europe. Ester Oks is born in 1910 to the descendants of one of those families.

From a family of tradespeople, Ester has a unique educational background which helps her with her mysterious escape in 1928.

The Escape - 1928 Ester’s flight takes her across the Carpathian Mountains, through Prague, Budapest, Berlin, and finally on to Hamburg, where she finds employment as a bank clerk for a company establishing an office in Cartagena, Colombia. Cartagena - 1929 Ester establishes a life in South America and meets a German machete salesman. They court, eventually marry, and return to Germany to be introduced to his family in 1934. Integrating into an accepting society was important to Ester’s initial success and starts to draw a contrast to the monolithic culture developing in Germany at the time. Hamburg 1933 In 1933, Hitler impose the Jugenboycott, declaring a boycott on Jewish-owned businesses throughout Germany.

Brownshirts with menacing looks patrol the streets of Berlin in trucks, post bills, and whitewash threats onto storefronts as Ester arrives in Germany. Despite her brother-in-law’s Party allegiance and his knowledge of her Jewish ancestry, there is no incident during her visit. She and her husband Hans return to Colombia to start their new import/export business. It is the calm before the storm. Hamburg - 1937 Nazi’s pass legal framework in 1937 to persecute Jews and establish concentration camps in Germany. Antisemitic violence and Nazi ideals envelope the country.

Ester unwittingly returns to Germany to give birth to her first child, and quickly, it becomes evident that she shouldn’t have returned. She quickly rebooks passage and, two days later, gets back on a ship heading to Colombia, narrowly escaping with her unborn child. Submarine Attacks - 1937 Ester’s first child, Hanno (The Narrator), is born two weeks after returning to Colombia.

Understanding that they can’t return to Germany, they settle into Caribbean life as German submarines lay in wait off the Colombia coast for ships coming through the Panama Canal, a threat to the vital supply routes. The submarine activity in the Caribbean ultimately culminates in German citizens being deported across South and Central America. Bogota - 1942 German citizens who are allowed to remain in Colombia are forced to move away from the coast, are blacklisted from work, and have all their assets confiscated.

Ester’s young family arrives in Bogota and establishes a small bread-baking business, providing the Eastern European community with traditional black bread (Schwartzbrot) while learning to survive under the radar.

Esters bakes forms the loaves and places them in her coal-fired oven, and her husband Hans is responsible for taking orders and delivery Hotel Sabaneta - 1944 A battle between a German submarine and a Colombian Naval vessel results in internment for all German and Japanese men remaining in Colombia. The prison camp in Fusagasuga is housed in the abandoned Hotel Sabaneta. Before internees can move into the overgrown hotel, the inmates clear the overgrown building, erect barbed wire, and exterminate numerous poisonous snakes.

Forced to move again, Ester supports her husband from outside the prison by continuing the baking business. Fusagasuga - 1944 No longer able to bake at home, Ester partners with a local bakery to bake her loaves. She establishes a chicken consommé business within the prison camp, which is delivered daily along with the bread by their young son, Hanno. Ester and Hanno regularly venture to the open-air markets to shop for their fruits, vegetables, and chickens to make the consommé. Hanno’s interests extend beyond the food stalls to orchids. Enthralled, he questions the flower vendors who are bemused by his queries.

Red Ants - 1945 On the way home from his prison camp deliveries, Ester’s son Hanno wanders into the jungle, searching for orchids. He scrambles down an embankment, crosses a stream, and climbs a tree in short pants in his quest for the elusive flower, only to be attacked by red ants. The prized orchid is captured, taken home, and transplanted onto bark to encourage its root development, an analogy of Ester’s journey.

Coming Home - 1945 At the end of World War II, Hans is released from the prison camp and is sent a bill for his confinement