The Ninth Jew • Chapter 4

Summary

On October 30, 1942, the Gestapo commander in Estonia received a message that the Finnish government intended to hand over nine Jewish refugees to Germany.
A week later, on November 6, 1942, only eight Jewish refugees were handed over to the Nazis.

Where did the ninth Jew go?

Nadav, a young Israeli photographer, loses his way in the frozen wilderness of Lapland and is saved from death thanks to a survival cabin. A mysterious cipher engraved in a hidden corner of the cabin arouses his curiosity and together with Heidi, a young Finnish woman he met, they crack the cipher and reveal the secret behind it. During the investigation, the two discover the connection between a Jewish-Finnish sniper unit that exterminated Nazis in World War II, a stolen treasure of diamonds and the mysterious disappearance of the ninth Jew.

In the settlement of Yad Hamona, established near Jerusalem by a group of Finnish immigrants in memory of those eight Jewish refugees, the mystery is finally solved. The message conveyed by the ninth Jew in the cipher takes on a chilling meaning in the horrific massacre that took place in Israel on October 7, 2023, and brings together the fate of Nadav and Heidi with human evil.

It is an imaginary historical suspense novel written inspired by real events, while being based on places, people and historical facts, and takes place in Finland, Austria, Germany and Israel.

The book will be published soon. Selected chapters from it will be published in Hai Pa in the coming weeks.

Chapter 4 - A hidden cipher

I tossed the backpack back onto the floor and made room on the bed to spread out the tablecloth. I opened the door to let the light in and leaned over it.

It was a standard topographical map on a scale of 1:50000. I could read the words that appeared on it in different places, but I did not understand what was written. My knowledge of the Finnish language was poor, but I knew that Finnish is a phonetic language. The written words are almost exactly the same as the way they are pronounced.

I carefully examined the map. Height lines, forests, roads, roads, buildings and settlements were marked on it, but what is most important is to understand where the cabin is?

My eyes searched frantically for an identifying mark when suddenly I noticed a small circle marked with a red pencil, probably by the unknown person who left the map in the cabin. The circle surrounded a tiny spot on the map, near a small lake.

I quickly folded the large sheet of paper and went out behind the cabin. I held the map in my hands while carefully scanning the landscape that unfolded in front of me and comparing what was drawn on the map to the cover and relief in front of me. I immediately recognized the small lake and the forest pattern around it and joy flooded me.

I finally knew where I was!

Now I knew for sure that the circle marked the location of the cabin that saved my life. The small lake in front of me bore the long name of Ylimiën Untamolampi.

It slowly dawned on me how lucky I was, or maybe just the opposite? When I looked at the map it dawned on me that if I had continued about four kilometers north, I would have encountered the road leading from the town of Salla in the east to the small town of Kemijärvi in ​​the west.

I went back inside and got ready quickly. My plan was simple - move in a straight line north until I hit the road.

I memorized the route, as I had learned in the army, and returned the map to its place, for the use of the one who would come after me.

I was ready to move. As usual, I took one last look to make sure I hadn't left anything out. The flashlight I used last night was on the dresser. I took it and went to the backpack that was lying on the bed, to put it back in its place, but due to my loose grip, the flashlight fell from my hand and rolled under it.

I knelt down lazily, feeling the soreness of my muscles from yesterday's exertion, and bent down to see where the lantern had rolled. It rested there in the darkness, near the opposite wall. I laid down on the floor and crawled to get to him.

Suddenly I noticed something that caught my attention.

I turned on the flashlight and lit up the place. On the wall, right next to the corner of the room, near the floor, I saw an inscription engraved on a log that was part of the wall. I examined the address with curiosity and it seemed to me that I noticed letters, numbers and unclear signs. It was evident that the teeth of time had blurred the scriptures.

what could it be? I thought. I crawled out, took the camera, went back and illuminated the place with the flashlight. I took a picture of the strange address, sat on the bed and looked at the image that appeared on the camera screen.

Although the letters, numbers and signs were barely discernible, it was clear that someone had gone to the trouble of leaving some kind of message with them.

Why in this cabin? Why in the dark and hidden corner under the bed? Who was it that bothered to engrave the marks in the wood and when did it happen?

I looked at the picture and couldn't ignore the thought that I had discovered some kind of code. I knew myself and knew that after I got out of here, I would make an effort to decipher what was hidden behind this engraving. I had a feeling that this was not a prank but something meaningful.

I took out a pen and pad from the pocket of my snow suit, tore a page from it and wrote:

I truly owe my life to those unknown people who built this cabin and equipped it with everything necessary to save the lives of stray passers-by.

I took a picture of the cabin from the inside, loaded the backpack on me, took one last look at the place, and when I was outside, I took a picture of it from there as well.

I fastened the skis to my feet, stuck the poles in the snow and skied down the hill towards the frozen lake, moving quickly north. The sun disappeared behind a heavy layer of clouds and the weather turned gloomy. It was easy to guess that sooner or later it would start snowing.

I accelerated and moved quickly along the edge of the forest hoping that the road I was supposed to meet would not be covered in a layer of snow and hidden from view. The thought that I would miss him and continue to wander through the snow without orientation made me shiver. I made a mistake not taking a picture of the map, I thought to myself.

After a while I reached the top of a snow-covered hill from where I finally saw the road stretched out in front of me, although it was difficult to see due to the layer of ice and snow that covered it.

I breathed a sigh of relief, hurried to surf towards him and stopped at his edge. Although it was a major transportation route between two small cities, it was deserted. The fear that I would have to wait here for long hours began to creep into my heart.

I released my skis and stood at the edge, dressed in a blue-red ski suit, wearing a red wool hat, snow goggles and a large backpack. In one hand I held skis and ski poles and on my other shoulder hung the camera.

I stood like that for a long time, anxiously looking left and right, waiting for a savior to come to rescue me from this place, when suddenly I heard the sound of an approaching car's engine. I turned my head in the direction and saw a blue station wagon approaching from the east.

I straightened up in my place, waved my hand and looked around to see who was sitting inside. Apart from the driver, there were no passengers in the car. She slowed down, gave me a suspicious look, and passed me without stopping. For a moment I was horrified to think that she was not going to pick me up, but she slowed down, stopped a little further down the road and waited for me to arrive.

I breathed a sigh of relief, covered the short distance with a light jog, went to the car window, looked inside and knew I was saved!