One of Jules’ first birthday memories: May 8, 1945. Nina made the same simple apple cake for each of her three son’s birthdays. Sam’s in January. Morty’s in March. Jules’ in May. Philip’s in October. Jules sat at the table, watching his mother. That year, Jules’ birthday happened to coincide with Germany’s surrender. The radio was on in the kitchen, with an update from Reims of the official end of the war in Europe. Nina made the apple sharlotka, a light eggy cake, topped with walnuts and cinnamon. Philip came into the kitchen, holding a newspaper and sat opposite Jules.
Through the airwaves, the family listened as President Harry Truman shared the news: “General Eisenhower informs me that the forces of Germany have surrendered to the United Nations. The flags of freedom fly all over Europe. For this victory, we join in offering our thanks to the Providence, which has guided and sustained us through the dark days of adversity. Our rejoicing is sober and subdued, by a supreme consciousness of the terrible price we have paid to rid the world of Hitler and his evil band…”
Jules remembered inhaling the wonderful aroma of baked apples, the measured but joyful sounds of the newscasters spreading word that the war in Europe was finally over. Jules sat at the kitchen table, practicing writing with his pencil and notebook. Philip and Nina embraced, with Nina sobbing and Philip repeating under his breath, “Finally. Finally. Finally.” Morty and Sam left the kitchen. Philip looked at Jules, holding out his hands. Jules held out his tiny hands toward his dad’s big calloused ones. “The evil man is dead and his soldiers finally gave up,” Philip said. “Freedom won, son.” When Philip left the kitchen, Nina told him words to write down, and helped with spelling. “Apple. A-p-p-l-e. Surrender. S-u-r-r-e-n-d-e-r.” Freedom. “F-r-e-e-d-o-m.” The Nazis were defeated.
A week earlier, Jules heard Nina and Philip celebrating the broadcast of Hitler’s death over the radio, explaining the news to his older brother Sam. As the Russians invaded Berlin, it was only a matter of time. Finally, the war was over in Europe.
The end of the war in Asia would come in September, after the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. For Nina and Philip, the German surrender was the real moment of celebration. The concentration camps had been liberated in January and February. The Holocaust was now officially over. Nina and Philip believed Ukraine and all of Eastern Europe might find hope in the decades following the end of the war.
Jules took it all in, there at the kitchen table. The war that had engulfed the world was finally ending. There would be light where years of darkness had hidden humanity. Where mass graves and destruction had become the norm. Nina and Philip had escaped the destruction of their tiny village as children, but the constant reminder of their survival weighed heavily on Nina. Through the early years of the Holocaust, she couldn’t escape the thoughts of her own survival, the absence of her family, and the fears that lost relatives were sent to die in the camps.
In May of 1945, finally she believed there would be a time for peace. The red scare of the 1950s was more than five years away. Jules would be “ducking and covering” in eighth grade. Air raid drills became common in his high school. But for the moment, during Jules’ fifth birthday, Nina could breathe a deep sigh of relief and find a sense of optimism. Living in Philadelphia, far from their childhood homes, and away from so much bloody history, Nina and Philip were proud to be United States citizens. They were hopeful that their children would know lasting peace.
Morty came over to the kitchen table with a checker board. He and Jules played a few games while the apple cake warmed in the oven. Morty always let young Jules take a couple of pieces at the beginning of the game, but never let him win.
After dinner, the family gathered around the small Formica table and sang happy birthday. Jules remembered even his father smiling while they all sang. There was the one candle in the middle of the cake. Nina said, “Make a wish!” Jules looked around at everyone. Then he told his family, “My wish is for no more wars.” Jules blew out the candle.