Sona was 15 in Afghanistan, spending her time in school and borrowing her grandmother's romance novels. Her father was a 4-star general in the Afghanistan army, but there was opposition growing in the communist party. One day, her father called and told the family, mother and seven children not to go out, trouble was brewing. They had a party planned for Friday and they canceled it.
Later that day, her mother called her father's post. The phone was answered, "Slaughterhouse". She hung up. While they were eating diner, they listened to their cousin on the radio that read the news. She reported an attack by the communist party on the Afghanistan army. She listed the names of the people who were executed, she came to Sona's fathers name and then stopped. She passed out. Sona and her family stopped eating and ran outside cursing the communist party.
Her father was lined up against a wall with other army officials and told that if they joined the communist party they could keep the same rank and be released. He spat on the floor and was gunned down in a machine gun execution.
From then on, when extended family came to visit, their house was surrounded by Afghanistan army men with machine guns with several inside the house as well. They slept in clothes with shoes on, in case, they would be taken to prison in the middle of the night.
Sona's mother bribed government officials a lot of money for fake passports with fake last names. Early one morning, the mother gathered everyone and they sneaked to the airport, praying that no one would recognize them. They went to Germany. Sona's father was friends with the German ambassador to Afghanistan. He arranged a hotel for them and then had the government buy them a house. They eventually got their names corrected in their passports, but their birth years remained incorrect. Sona's says she is 4 years older than she really is. Her sister, who is 9 years older than her, has a passport that says she is 8 years younger than she really is.
My grandpa was offered a similar choice in 1916, back in Russia. The Czar's men rode through his village and told all the young men of a certain age, "you're in the Czar's army now, son." And grandpa said, "or what?" and they said, "Or you'll be shot" and my grandpa said, "all righty then" Which says something about the stock that I come from.
ReplyDeleteBut back to Sona ... is this a real story, or a piece of fiction you cooked up? Either way, it's sad and gripping.
M
It is a true story. Last night I was on break with Sona and she told me the story. My jaw dropped. I think that if I made up the story I would have put in more details. This was almost like the police report. Please note, I didn't include, "fearing for their lives".
ReplyDeleteAnd you also admirably avoided the phrase "they found their way to America ..."
ReplyDeleteM
They didn't though. They are all still in Germany, except Sona who is the black sheep of the family. The strangest part of the story though is that one of the floor supervisor's fathers were also killed in the same execution. His father was Sona's father's assistant. Sona did not know this person until coming to work at the Golden Nugget.
ReplyDeleteI feel bad for writing this down. I'm going to ask Sona if it is all right. Not that I'm selling it or anything, but it is the right thing to do, ne?