The Road to Liberation: Trials and Triumphs of WWII

by Marion Kummerow

  One drizzling day, the temperatures dropped to an unseasonable low. Jana sent Magda to fetch wood, saying she would heat the main rooms before Dr. Tauber returned from his shift at the hospital.

  The pile was outside the service door, and Magda caught sight of Aleš and Walter returning from the stable. She hurried back into the kitchen, quickly gathering up a plate of biscuits to make it look as if she’d at least had a reason to leave when they appeared.

  Jana came out of the pantry. “What do you think you’re doing with those?” She playfully smacked Magda’s hand and almost made the biscuits slide off the plate. “Those are for Frau Tauber’s coffee guests this afternoon.”

  Magda reddened. “I thought I’d bring some to Eliška.”

  “Bring some to Eliška,” Jana tutted. “Bring some to Eliška, I bet. Look at you. Since you came to work here, you’ve put on weight. Be careful, or you’ll be round and fat like an old farmer’s wife.”

  Magda replaced the plate onto the table. She understood Jana was teasing, but it still stung. When Walter and Aleš appeared, Magda quickly hid her face in the palm of her hand.

  “Are you harassing the staff again?” Aleš said to Jana. “Look, Walter. Jana’s baked for us. How sweet.”

  He swiped three from the plate and offered one each to Walter and to Magda before popping the third one into his mouth. “Very sweet,” he said through his mouthful. He took the wood out of Jana’s arms, and Jana chased after him with a diatribe on how she’d have to bake all day to keep up with their pilfering.

  Magda stood alone in the kitchen with Walter.

  “Aren’t you going to eat that?” he asked.

  She ducked her head and weighed the biscuit in her hand.

  “You may as well. You’ve already touched it.” He took a bite of his. “These are good. Where did Jana get anis?”

  Magda sniffed hers. Anis. That was what the scent was. “She has her connections.”

  “Is that right?” Walter looked amused. His eyes were a pale green. “So you do speak.”

  She bit into the biscuit.

  “Renata says you’re interested in the deer management,” Walter said matter of factly. “It’s mostly Aleš’s doing. His father used to work here before the Taubers moved in. Dr. Tauber decided to keep doing it because it helps the deer through the winter, but also because Frau Tauber likes them, and Aleš does too.”

  “Oh.” Magda shifted on her feet. She was finished with the biscuit. “And you?”

  “I did it for fun. And to stay out from underfoot, I suppose.”

  “How is your mother?”

  Walter winced.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean…” Magda’s face flushed.

  “It’s all right. She hasn’t gotten better. Dr. Tauber says a few months at most.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that.”

  He nodded.

  “So if you’re not working here after the summer, what will you be doing next?”

  Walter shrugged. “Swim. Find a job. Work.”

  “What about working here?”

  “I’m looking to do the kind of technical work I’ve been trained for. This agricultural stuff, it’s not really for me.”

  “I suppose.” What was really for her then? Was this it? Then she realized, back in Voštiny, her prospects had been fairly limited as well.

  “Then there is…” He tilted his head toward the door. “I suppose I’ll get the letter at some point. Get conscripted.”

  She thought about that. She thought about her brothers. Her parents, piled into a house that was not theirs, onto land that did not belong to them. Her heartbroken grandparents, hours and hours away from their farm in Voštiny. The lines on her mother’s face the last time Magda had seen her. And how very wrong Mayor Brauer had been. Hitler seemed far from finished with his efforts to expand Germany’s territories.

  “Yeah,” Walter said. “There is that too.” Then, “I’m in a swim meet next week. You could come watch.”

  Magda looked up at him.

  “Renata and Aleš are coming.” He grabbed an apple off the table and tossed it into the air, then winked as he polished it against his shirt. “Would be nice to have a whole cheering section.”

  It was only a friendly invitation then. He was not interested in her.

  Walter stood in front of her. She only came up to his chest. She shifted to the left. He moved to his right. She smiled a little and turned sideways so he could get past her. He still stood before her, the apple in his hand.

  “You doing a treasure hunt with Eliška this afternoon?” he asked.

  He must have seen her setting up secrets on the grounds earlier. Magda looked out the kitchen window. The drizzle seemed to have let up, but the sky was still cloudy. She could have Eliška dress warmly. She nodded.

  Walter grinned. “OK. See you around.”

  Magda’s school in Voštiny had been a whitewashed one-floor building. It had looked innocent enough from the outside, but Magda’s hell had been inside.

  “Look, she’s got the map of Siberia tattooed onto her cheek,” hollered one of the boys. It had been that fateful geography lesson that shaped Magda’s youth. The schoolchildren taunted her, and sometimes the adults in the village also made snide remarks about the devil’s marks and vampires. It did not help that she had ginger hair even after, when she was older, it had turned more into a light chestnut color.

  Magda’s brothers kept busy, standing up for her any time they caught someone teasing their baby sister. Often it came to fistfights. And Magda felt that the only people that could possibly love her—or defend her—were those in her family.

  Except for one other person. Radek Jelínek, the next door neighbor’s youngest son, was Magda's age. Radek accepted her disfigurement because, he’d once logically explained, he had seen it all his life so there was nothing novel about it. For Magda, Radek’s friendship was a relief from her loneliness, until it all changed. In the summer they turned thirteen, Radek became uncertain, shy, silly, and sometimes downright flabbergasting. Magda’s brothers had been the ones to reveal to her that “it’s because he’s smitten with you.”

  She had been astonished by the revelation. The next time Radek wanted to walk with her to school, she pretended she had forgotten something, later following at a distance. When she showed up empty-handed, Radek was standing in the doorway waiting for her. His confusion turned to anger, and it stabbed her in the heart. She knew how rejection felt, and she swore she would never do that to him again. It was time to talk to him.

  Except when she tried to explain she could never love him other than as another brother, Radek kissed her instead. First, quickly on the cheek—on the left one—and that left a tingling that was not at all unpleasant. He watched her for a moment with those dark, deep brown pools of his, and then he leaned in to kiss her mouth. She pulled back and so did he.

  She placed a hand on her cheek, where the gesture of affection still lingered, and said, “That’s enough for now.”

  They continued being friends after that—but not without humiliation and moments of discomfort. When they were both fifteen, it was clear that Radek would remain persistent. He showed up at her house one day with a bouquet of wildflowers and an invitation to the village dance. Her mother shoved her outside the cottage to accept the flowers and the invitation, and when Magda—inconsolable—begged her mother to let her renege, her mother sat down on the bed.

  “Why won’t you go?”

  “Because they’ll all make fun of him.”

  “Who all?”

  “Everyone, simply everyone!”

  “Your brothers will be there.”

  Magda huffed. “They’re going to be defending me until I’m an old woman, is that right?”

  Her mother had remained silent, but she stroked Magda’s arm.

  “I don’t want to go out there,” Magda said. “Not so that he can be made fun of. At some point, Radek will be sick of it too. Besides, I think he’s doing it b
ecause he feels sorry for me.”

  Her mother sighed, took Magda’s hand, and held it. “Magdalena, your birthmark is not an excuse for avoiding risks. It should not be the thing that prevents you from performing acts of courage.”

  “There is nothing courageous about letting Radek take me out.”

  Her mother smiled gently. “Everything about showing love requires an act of courage. Absolutely everything. But loving yourself is perhaps the most heroic act a person can perform.”

  Magda told her she did not want to be a hero.

  Eliška flung herself into Magda’s arms after she came down the stairs, dressed for the outdoors in a light raincoat and rubber galoshes. Magda told her she had a whole new treasure hunt set up for her.

  “Don’t forget your hat,” Magda said, rising up from buttoning the girl’s coat. She placed the bonnet-like hat on the child’s head.

  Eliška skipped across the flagstone terrace and down the steps toward her play area.

  “The first clue is near here,” Magda said. “You need to look for some sort of mark, a ribbon or something else out of sorts with the natural environment.”

  Eliška smiled slyly and tapped her temple. “The knot in the tree.”

  “You would think so,” Magda said, “but today it’s different.”

  But the little girl was already scrutinizing the old hiding place. “No, it’s not. You’re trying to trick me.” Eliška raised herself on tiptoe and reached her hand into the knot.

  Magda hurried to her side just as Eliška withdrew a red satin ribbon.

  “See,” the girl said. “You’re trying to trick me.”

  But Magda had not put it there. She glanced around.

  “OK,” he’d said. “See you around.”

  Walter.

  Magda hid her delight by pretending to concede. “You’re right. I tricked you. Let’s see if you can figure out the next clue.”

  Eliška was already ahead of her again. She twirled slowly around and then dashed to a nearby hedge and pulled off a second red ribbon. “This is easy, Magda.” She laughed. “Now I know what I have to look for.”

  The third ribbon hung from a white rose bush. The fourth, on the rail by the pool. The fifth—a large one—around one of the oak trees at the front of the house. The sixth, up high, in the bird feeder. Magda was enjoying the game, and she guessed even more so than Eliška. But to where was it all leading?

  The stable. And to Walter.

  He was leaning against the doorway, tossing the apple he’d taken from the kitchen. Magda felt her middle flutter.

  “Look, Magda!” Eliška clapped her hands. “There’s a ribbon.”

  It was around Walter’s neck, tied in a bow.

  Eliška laughed and jumped at Walter, trying to reach the ribbon.

  Walter grinned and straightened.

  “I’m too short to reach it, Magda. You get it.”

  “She’s not that much taller than you are,” Walter said. He winked at Magda, then bent his knees. Eliška tried again, but he straightened once more.

  “Magda, you take it,” Eliška said.

  Magda stepped in front of Walter.

  “Hey, you’re smiling,” he said. He bent forward, the ribbon within grasp.

  She reached to pull on it, but Walter snapped at Magda’s fingers, as if to bite her.

  Magda pulled back. Eliška shrieked and laughed.

  “Go on,” Walter said. “Try again.”

  Carefully, like testing lake water, Magda reached for the ribbon again, and this time he caught two of her fingers in his teeth. She yelped, more in surprise than pain.

  Walter and Eliška laughed, an echo from those schoolyard days.

  He bent forward once more. “Again.”

  “You take it off.” Magda stepped away and went behind Eliška, placing her hands on the girl’s shoulders.

  Walter looked disappointed for a second but turned to Eliška and covered his mouth as he bent to her level.

  Eliška reached out and grabbed the ribbon, yanked it, and had it in her hand in a second. She gleefully dangled it before Magda. “I win, I win,” she cried.

  Walter glanced at Magda as he spoke to the girl. “We’ve offered to keep one of the neighbors’ ponies while they’re away. I thought you’d like to meet it.”

  Eliška widened her eyes, made that O with her mouth, and dashed into the stable where the Taubers kept a few horses. In the last stall was a dark-brown pony.

  “What’s his name?” Eliška asked, already climbing up the slats and stretching her hand over.

  The pony took a step forward to nuzzle her hand, and she pulled it back.

  “Coco,” Walter said.

  Magda leaned on the wall, arms crossed. “I don’t know if her parents would allow her to be here.”

  “It’s just an apple,” Walter said. He handed Eliška the apple, and she wrapped her hands around it.

  “No,” Magda called. She went to Eliška.

  Eliška pulled back with a little gasp.

  “Look.” Magda took the apple and held it flat in her palm. “Like this. Coco can’t taste the difference between your fingers and your apple when he bites down.”

  Eliška looked up, checking to see if she was holding it correctly. Magda guided her hand back over, standing behind her so she would not slip, and Coco raised his head to take the apple. It fell to the ground, and Eliška groaned.

  “Look what I did.”

  “It’s all right,” Walter said. “If you want, I can put a saddle on her.” He looked at Magda meaningfully. “Coco’s a she.”

  Magda blinked. “Doesn’t matter. Either way, she could have been hurt.”

  Walter frowned. “How?”

  “Look,” Eliška said. “Coco’s letting me scratch his hair.”

  Walter laughed and stepped forward. “Coco is a she, and that’s called a mane.”

  Magda had to admit, Eliška was really enjoying the pony. She leaned on the wall again, and Walter moved next to her. She looked up at him.

  “I’m sorry if I upset you. I was just teasing.”

  Magda sighed. “I know. It’s just…”

  “Just what?”

  Eliška had climbed down and was now peeking at the pony through the slats as it munched the last of the apple from the ground.

  “I guess I have a temperament like the month of April.”

  Walter turned and faced her, and one hand reached out to stroke her cheek. She pulled back, and his hand hovered for a moment. “April, April, er weiß nicht was er will.”

  “What do you mean by that?” she said, smiling a little.

  “April, April, it knows not what it wants,” he said in Czech. “Do you know what you want, Magda?”

  Magda felt the heat climbing up her face. This time she let him stroke her cheek. Him. She wanted him.

  “There you two are!” Renata stood in the stable door. “Sorry. The three of you.”

  Magda whisked Eliška away from the pony and grasped her hand.

  Renata’s look shifted over all of them. “The Taubers want everyone in the house.”

  “What is it?” Magda asked.

  Renata looked at Walter, her mouth twisting. “Germany’s invaded the Russian territories.”

  3

  August 1941

  The sun shimmered on the surface of Žernosecké Lake, and beyond the beach, sailboats sailed lazily by and around the two small islands. The hills wavered on the horizon in the heat. At the sound of a familiar voice among the seemingly hundreds, Magda propped herself up on her elbows and shaded her eyes.

  “Is that Walter?” she asked.

  Next to her, Renata lowered the paperback novel she was reading and flipped her sunglasses down from her forehead. “From the look of that triangular torso, it must be.”

  Walter was sitting on the shoulders of a boy, wrestling another pair of boys. When Walter lost his balance and fell backward into the water, Magda laughed into her hand.

  Renata snorte
d and poked the sleeping Aleš next to her. He was lying on his stomach, his head resting on crossed arms.

  “Look,” she said. “Walter’s here.”

  Aleš twisted around, but lay back down. “You’re better off looking the other way.”

  “What on earth for?” Renata said. She looked at Magda over the rim of her glasses. “It’s summer. It’s hot. And I happen to know he was hanging around extra long his last day at the villa, hoping to see you, Magda. Go on. Go over and say hello.”

  Magda shook her head. “I’ll just stay here…”

  She watched as the four boys splashed out of the lake, laughing and jostling one another. She sat up and folded her legs beneath her. Renata smirked and lifted the book to her nose again. The boys fell onto four towels, lying in the sand just a dozen or so feet away.

  Still laughing, Walter leapt up, grabbed his towel, and started drying himself off. He suddenly turned in Magda's direction and paused for a moment. She lifted her hand, but one of his companions sprang up and swiped Walter’s towel away.

  Walter tugged on the towel, and the companion looked her way as well. Magda dropped her hand and pretended not to notice. The companion nudged Walter, and Walter shook his head. The other boy looked more intently at Magda. She knew these episodes. She’d had enough of them in Voštiny.

  Renata waved a Reichsmark in her face. “Why don’t you go get us some ice cream? Aleš wants strawberry, and I’ll have chocolate.”

  “I want no such thing,” Aleš grunted.

  “Fine. Get him a chocolate one too.”

  Magda sprang at the chance. She took the Reichsmark and started for the ice cream seller. Aleš rolled over onto his side, and she heard him arguing with Renata.

  “Magda!”

  She turned. Walter and his companion were racing each other up the sandy slope.

  “That is you,” Walter said.

  He was lying. He’d recognized her from the start. It was not as if it was difficult to identify her.