She stopped at the café and bought some food. She charmed the assistant into wrapping it up for her, explaining she had to catch the train to Berlin. When they got on the train, she gave the food to Heinz, ignoring his lack of response. She took her paper out of her bag and opened it.
“Since when do you read that?”
“Since it stops questions. Now shut up and eat.” The look she gave him dared him to say something, but he got the message. Their journey passed without incident and they changed at Munich onto the Berlin train.
They had only traveled for an hour when trouble came in the form of a group of SA soldiers. Despite the relatively empty carriage, they pushed into the seats beside Trudi and Heinz. Trudi thought Heinz was asleep, but she didn’t dare to look at him. She continued staring at her paper.
“What’s a pretty Fraülein doing with a convict?”
Trudi raised her eyes to look at the man who’d spoken. He was of a similar age to her, blonde-haired and blue-eyed, a model for Hitler’s Aryan look. Shivers ran through her as she looked into his eyes, the palest shade of blue she’d ever seen. She sensed his cruelty. She put the paper down and smiled her sweetest smile.
“Doesn’t he look just dreadful. If the hospital had told me he would be so emaciated, I would have taken his suit to the tailors and had it altered. But there wasn’t time. Do you think it will take us long to reach Berlin?”
She saw the curiosity mingling with surprise in his eyes. He’d expected her to be nervous and perhaps scared.
“Hospital?”
“Why yes. What did you think was wrong with my husband?”
The SA guard looked from her to Heinz and back. “Husband?”
“We married just over six months ago. My beloved wanted to join the SS. I insisted we got married first as I didn’t want him to go away without first becoming a father. You know how our amazing Führer loves families. But he failed his medical. He has TB, probably from back when he was a child and his widowed mother had to live in such squalid accommodation.”
Trudi was almost enjoying herself now, as the SA men moved away from Heinz. She sensed he was awake but hoped he would keep his eyes shut, as well as his mouth.
“TB?”
Trudi forced some tears and scrambled in her bag for some tissues. As she wiped her nose, she bit her inside lip hard enough to draw blood.
“It’s just horrible and so unfair. You should have seen him in our wedding photos. He looked rather like you but not as good-looking,” she flirted, batting her eyelashes. The SA man, looking horrified now, drew back as if she would contaminate him.
“Now we’re married and I’m stuck with an invalid. I can’t divorce him. Isn’t much point as I probably have it too. I never knew it was so infectious, did you?” She coughed delicately into a tissue, seeing it turn slightly red. That sent the SA men fleeing from the compartment, with a mumbled Heil Hitler.
Trudi sank back into the chair, feeling weak and shaken. The other passengers had already fled, some having left as soon as the SA men sat down. Others left after hearing Trudi’s tale. She was thankful they were alone. She sensed Heinz watching her.
“You should take up acting. You had me believing you at one point.”
His scathing comment pushed her over the edge.
“Shut up Heinz, before I denounce you myself. You have no idea what I’ve had to do over the last few months to protect my family. Don’t you dare sit there in judgment of me. Grow up.”
She closed her eyes and feigned sleep until they reached Berlin. She couldn’t wait to feel her baby’s arms in hers. Liesl, the light of her life. She couldn’t bear to be separated from her child but how else could she protect her?
She’d tried to escape, planned different routes, but always her husband said no. Why had she listened to him? It was too dangerous now for her to leave with the children. She didn’t have enough money left for bribes. The only option was to get the children out first and then try to follow them.
8
November 1938 London
Sally Matthews and her friends, Maggie and Susan sat shocked into silence at the reports on the radio. The Nazis had attacked the Jewish population in Germany and in Austria.
“Oh, those poor people. Nobody deserves to be treated like that. And now the Nazis expect them to pay for the damage to the properties. How can the German people stand by and let this happen? We wouldn’t let that happen here, would we, Sally?”
Sally hoped not, but who knew what was really going on in Germany. She had heard people talk well of Hitler, in the early 1930s, as he seemed to be creating jobs for his people. Some had even suggested the British government could learn a thing or two from him. As Britain coped with severe depression and unemployment, Germany’s economy was going from strength to strength.
“My dad told me you could never trust a German,” her neighbor said, as she finished off a slice of cake. “Maggie, that was delicious.”
“Enid, you can’t judge people based on their nationality. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of Germans who don’t support Hitler,” Maggie replied.
Enid wasn’t listening. “You’re Irish Maggie. You don’t understand how much we English hate the Germans. Things had sounded too good to be true. Yes, Germany was booming but they had been doing things they weren’t supposed to do. Like building up their army, navy, and air-force. Hitler and his friends have to be stopped. There will be war soon, I’d bet money on it.”
Sally hated it when
