A Flicker of Light

by Kagan, Roberta

  Then one night as the family slept together in one room, an Oberfurher brought a young woman of questionable repute back to the barn for a private tryst. It was one of the Nazi officers who’d been in charge of the camp prisoners. He lit a candle for light. Then he took her into his arms. His lips met hers and she sighed as his hands reached for her breasts. Then he pinned her arms above her and for a moment he laughed as he sucked hard on her nipples. When he grew fully erect, he unzipped his pants and raised her skirt, moving her undergarments aside as he entered her. Filled with lust, he settled on top of the girl with wild abandon. When he finished he dismounted from her. Then he stood up, when he stomped his boots to remove the hay from his uniform, he heard the hollow sound of the wood beneath him and realized there was an underground cellar in the barn.

  Curious, he tossed the girl out of his way like a rag doll. Then he pushed the hay aside with his foot and discovered the entrance to the underground room. He pulled the latch, opened the trap door, and stepped inside. He grabbed the candle and fixed his eyes on the stairs. Slowly, he began his descent. When he reached the bottom, he witnessed a sight that staggered him. The Bruchmeiers had deceived the Nazi Party. They had squirreled away food like thieves. Anger filled him as he eyed the radio with the dial set on to the BBC.

  He stormed up the stairs and marched up to the main house while the other SS men and soldiers slept. He thundered across the threshold into the bedroom where Klaus and Siegland shared a bed. Petra was sleeping in the corner on a small cot.

  “What have you done, Bruchmeier?” The Nazi bellowed at Klaus.

  Klaus, awakened so abruptly, did not instantly comprehend.

  “Bruchmeier, do you hear me?”

  “Officer, I don’t know what you are talking about,” Klaus said, clearing his throat.

  “You don’t? We’ll see about that.” He grabbed Klaus’ arm and pulled him from the bed.

  Siegland jumped out of bed. “What is this? What do you want? Why do you do this? We are good to you, no? Stop, you will hurt him.”

  Daisy leapt from her place at the foot of Petra’s bed. With all of the strength in her body, the old dog tore at the officer’s pants leg, trying to free Klaus.

  A single shot from the Nazi’s gun and the animal lay dead. Petra ran to kneel beside the elderly mutt. Tears filled her eyes as she looked at Siegland, who cried too.

  “Shut your mouth, sow; you are in trouble too. All of you are in trouble for stealing food from the Reich,” the Nazi said glaring at Siegland.

  A knowing look passed over Klaus’ face. They’d found the reserves in the cellar. He’d take the blame and the punishment, if only he could somehow protect Siegland.

  “These women don’t know anything about it. I did it. I stored the food. And the radio is mine, too. I am the only one here who can speak any English at all.”

  Klaus gave Siegland a warning look, and she slumped back down and sat upon the bed.

  “You are coming with me, Klaus Bruchmeier. You are a traitor, an embarrassment to the Aryan race. We’ll go to headquarters and get this matter settled.”

  “Wait! When will he come back?” Siegland asked.

  But instead of answering, the officer pulled Klaus from the room, leaving Petra and Siegland staring at each other. A deep wail sprang from Siegland’s lips, and Petra went to her side. Siegland shivered. Her body felt cold to the touch. Petra placed the blanket around her shoulders and hugged her tightly as she sobbed.

  Stored away out of sight under the bed, the family kept a half-full bottle of whiskey. Petra poured a glass, and Siegland downed it in a single gulp. The harsh liquid burned her throat, but she asked for more. After several shots, Siegland lay down and turned to face the wall. Finally, after lying there for several hours in silence, she slept.

  Gently, Petra carried Daisy’s body outside and buried her in the yard next to little Hans, under her favorite weeping willow tree.

  Later that night, Siegland rose from her rest to find Petra at her bedside.

  “You think he will come back?” Siegland, her eyes blood shot, asked Petra.

  “Yes, of course he will, Mama.” But Petra had her doubts.

  Under orders of the officer who had arrested Klaus, the women were confined to their home. However, due to the hospitality Petra and Siegland had previously shown them, the German soldiers enforced the order with reluctance. Instead of persecuting the two women, the soldiers were lenient toward them, even sympathetic. As she served them breakfast, Petra noticed an older soldier watching her intently. She handed him his plate.

  “You are so pretty, Frauline. You remind me of my daughter.” He smiled as he took the food.

  “Thank you,” Petra said

  “I know you are sad because the SS have taken your uncle. He will be alright. He is a good German. They will just question him and then take the food away. You will see. It is not such a big crime.” His smile filled her with warmth and comfort.

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes, Frauline. Right now Germany has many more important things to concern itself with than a greedy old man. It appears,” the soldier’s voice dropped to a whisper, “that we are losing the war.”

  Chapter 34

  Dachau Concentration Camp

  W

  ithout Saul, Aaron was lost in loneliness. He worked in the hospital by day and slept there by night. The patients recovered under his care. The doctor was amazed at how effective all of the drugs he’d been testing proved to be. He never suspected that Aaron only administered the effective ones. Had he counted the pills, he would have realized. But he had grown to trust his Jewish helper, so he did not bother. Instead, he became engrossed in his own personal experiment. He wanted to prove to the Reich that he and his wife could produce four natural children after the age of forty-eight. As each child was presented to him, Himmler raved about the doctor’s Aryan strength and virility. Dr. Rascher was given commendations for his wonderful demonstration of Germanic superiority.

  In March, Aaron received a new assignment. Outside, the earth had begun to thaw, and it was time to begin planting. The doctor allowed Aaron to help with conducting research in the lab offices of the Plantage, a farm created by SS Reichsfuehrer Heinrich Himmler. Its sole purpose was the production of medicinal herbs and a synthetic fertilizer. Located adjacent to the concentration camp, German scientists supervised political prisoners while conducting their research. The Nazis allowed the captives to live, but only as long as they proved themselves useful. Aaron, the only Jew on the project, found that he was met with constant mistrust and suspicion.

  Down the road, a lake ran along the perimeter of the farm. While adding hormones to enrich manure, Aaron overheard some of the prisoners.

  “They take the Jews out to the lake when they get too old to work the land. Then they make them stand there in the cold water until they are dead.”

  “I know, and those that remain alive they take back to camp and execute there.”

  Aaron left the area; he could not bear to hear anymore. Day after day, he watched the others of his race toil as they tilled the earth. He knew the pain of being submerged in ice water. The thought of others, particularly the elderly, suffering such torture made him sick. But what sickened him even more was that he had no power to help them; all he could do was stand by and watch.

  The Jewish prisoners were forced to work as fast as they could while they loaded the wagons with crushed rock. Many fell dead as they toiled with the heavy materials. Aaron could not block out the sound of the guards as they yelled at the shaking Jews, “Shnell! Shnell!” When an inmate collapsed, the guards would make one of the others toss his body aside so the workers would not have to step over it.

  Aaron knew that soon the time would come when his scientific background would no longer buy him time away from the hard labor. Once he finished the doctor’s project, he would be treated as any other Jew. He had never been a weak man, and prided himself on his integrity and strength of character. I
n his other life, before the Nazi regime, he would never have allowed such brutalization of the weak. Now, he found himself unable to fight an entire staff of SS guards. Even if he could convince the others to join him, they had no weapons. Soon Aaron lost heart. But more importantly, he felt as if he had lost himself.

  The malaria patients began to die now that Aaron was no longer in charge of their care and medication, and the typhoid epidemic grew to monumental proportions. New SS doctors came to assist in the horrifying experimentation. Aaron tried to make the patients comfortable, but with the new staff, Dr. Rascher no longer needed him, and he finally Aaron ushered back to the barracks and factory work.

  At night Aaron returned to his bed with a pounding headache from the noise and dust from the machines at the factory. On a night in late March, Aaron had just fallen into an exhausted sleep, when he felt a tug at his arm. He awoke abruptly, frightened.

  Chapter 35

  Berlin

  T

  he Nazi Headquarters in Munich were in a building at the end of a long, picturesque road. There, Klaus found himself surrounded by men in black uniforms. Their faces blazed with fury as they wielded the authority they had over the old man in his flannel pajamas. Two armed guards seized him on either side and forcefully led him to a room where he stood in front of a large cherry wood desk.

  “Oberstgruppenfuhrer, this is Klaus Bruchmeier. He has committed treason against the Fuehrer and the Fatherland. I found a large supply of stolen food hidden away in his cellar.”

  The Oberstgruppenfuhrer stood up to his full height of six feet, two inches. Despite his heavy frame, he looked imposing in his crisp, freshly starched uniform. Behind his desk, he flew the red flag of the Third Reich, its swastika insignia hovering like a black widow spider in its center. To the right of the desk a large framed picture of Adolph Hitler hung proudly on the wall. He glared down at Klaus, “So, you would choose to feed yourself rather than the soldiers who fight for the good of the Fatherland, old man?”

  Klaus did not answer. Terror rendered him speechless.

  “Answer me.”

  “I am sorry,” Klaus’ voice was a hoarse whisper.

  “Sorry?” The SS officer’s voice rose to a thunderous pitch, “Sorry, you say? That is treason. Treason, do you hear?” From the side of his belt the Oberstgruppenfuhrer released a thick metal pipe. Without warning he cracked Klaus across the shoulder.

  The old man let out a howl of pain.

  “Fool! Stupid, stupid fool!”

  Klaus fell to the ground as urine seeped from his bladder.

  “I am an old man. Take pity on me, please,” his voice cracked.

  “Pity? You pissed on my floor. You dirtied my office. You stole from the party, from your homeland.” Then, with a swift whack, he hit Klaus across the side of his head.

  Klaus never uttered another word. He just crumbled to the floor. Blood poured from his temple, and feces dirtied his pajama pants.

  “Gruppenfuhrer!” the officer yelled. “Get this piece of trash out of my office, and have the cleaning woman come right away. This smell is atrocious.”

  The Gruppenfuhrer dragged Klaus’ dead body out of the room and tossed him outside the building into the grass. Then he called for the maid to have the Senior Ranked Officer’s office cleaned.

  “Deutchland Uber Alles!” said the Gruppenfurher.

  “Heil Hitler!” The Oberstgruppenfuhrer saluted.

  “Heil Hitler!” The Gruppenfurher returned the salute.

  Chapter 36

  Near Munich

  T

  wo weeks had passed and Klaus had not returned. Siegland could not sleep. She ate constantly, until she became ill and vomited. Petra grew concerned. As she brought the evening meal to the soldiers, Petra approached the older one who had once shown her a kindness by declaring that she reminded him of his daughter.

  “Please, can you find out where they took my uncle?” Petra asked the soldier.

  “I can try, but I do not recommend that you go to look for him. You know we have been told not to allow you or your aunt to leave the house.”

  “But we must.”

  Another soldier who sat eating quietly overheard them, even though they spoke in a whisper. He turned to Petra as he swallowed a large bite of buttered black bread.

  “He has probably been taken to the headquarters in Berlin. That is where they take those who are considered traitors.” Biting off another piece of the bread, he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “I would venture to say he has probably already been executed.”

  The older man saw Petra’s skin turn pasty white and he said, “I don’t think they would kill an old man. They will probably just decide he is silly and incompetent. Perhaps they are keeping him there for a while as punishment.”

  Petra could not speak. She nodded her head and left the men alone to finish their food. When Siegland and Petra finally found themselves alone that night, Petra told her that perhaps they should make a trip to the Nazi Headquarters in Berlin to find Klaus.

  “You don’t think they would take him to Munich?” Siegland asked.

  “I don’t know. One of the soldiers said with certainty that he would have been taken to Berlin.”

  “Then we must go to Berlin.”

  Chapter 37

  Dachau Concentration Camp

  “Q

  uiet, don’t make a sound.” A junior ranking Gruppenfuhrer stood over Aaron. Aaron had seen him before, a young man of no more than twenty-five years with serious gray eyes that stared out of a troubled face.

  “I need your help. My girlfriend is pregnant. Her parents must not find out. You must terminate it for me. And you must never divulge what you have done to anyone.” The young officer whispered in the darkness.

  Aaron knew that terminating the pregnancy of a pure Germanic child was considered a serious offense, and for that reason this officer must maintain secrecy. He felt the power of a bargaining tool like a wizard’s wand in his hand, and he would use it.

  “Take me to the woman. I will help you,” Aaron said.

  The young Nazi told Aaron to lie down on the floor in the back of his auto. Then he covered him with a black blanket. From the street and in the darkness, Aaron could not be seen. If the guard at the gate did not scrutinize the car, they would soon be outside the camp grounds. As they approached the gate, Aaron felt a sudden need to cough and clear his throat. He knew his nerves were on edge, but still the need grew stronger. Stifling it, he nearly vomited as the car moved smoothly out of the camp and into the world. As they drove, Aaron cleared his throat and sucked in air, sighing with relief. At the end of the road, the Nazi turned the car into an open lot behind a factory where he threw a set of civilian clothes at Aaron.

  “Put these on in case we are stopped,” the Nazi guard said. Aaron changed his clothes, but stayed under the cover of the blanket as they continued their journey.

  The young man lived in a small flat, with only a single bed and an attached kitchen. The girl sat on a metal chair at the table, sipping tea, when they arrived. As he studied her, Aaron pegged her at about fifteen years old and very afraid.

  “This is a doctor, Elki. He is a good one.”

  “Hello, Herr Doctor. You already know everything?” Elki asked Aaron.

  “Yes, I know,” Aaron said. He saw the terror in her eyes as he took Elki’s hand into his own. “You will be all right. I am here to help you.”

  “Girls die from this sort of thing.” Her heart beat frantically her chest.

  “You will not die. I’ll take care of you.” The kindness in his eyes and the gentleness of his voice soothed her. In many ways she reminded him of Petra, just an innocent child. Although he could easily do so, he would never hurt her to avenge his hatred for the Nazis.

  “May I clean myself up?” Aaron asked the guard who had brought him.

  “Is it necessary?”

  “It will help to prevent infection.”

  “Yes, then go ahead.”
/>
  “Do you have hot water? Alcohol? Clean towels?”

  The boy nodded.

  “Gather them please. It will also be wise for you to steal some medication from the hospital tomorrow. I will tell you what you need to take.”

  Once again, the boy nodded in agreement. Aaron studied him. Outside the camp, he looked like a young boy wearing an adult’s uniform. His clear gray eyes looked on as the Jewish doctor prepared to operate on his girlfriend. He had no choice but to trust him.

  “I will do this for you, but first I have a request, and if you agree to it, you will be on your honor as a man to keep your promise,” Aaron said.

  The boy’s eyes grew wide.

  “If I take care of this problem and all goes well, which I have no doubt that it will, you must set me free.”

  The boy looked at Elki. If he were caught releasing a Jewish prisoner, he would face certain death.

  “I cannot. I command you to do this.”

  “And if I refuse? You will kill me? Then you will be in the same situation that you are in now, only then you will be forced to explain why you have a dead Jewish prisoner in your home.”

  The boy thought for a moment. He glanced at his girlfriend. Her eyes pleaded as she looked back at him. She could never let her father find out about this. He would never forgive her.

  “I will allow you to go free.” The boy’s head dropped, and he sank onto the bed. Sitting there, he looked back at Aaron and added, “On my honor as a man.”

  “And as a German?” Aaron asked.

  “And as a German.”

  “Gather the things I asked, please. I will scrub my hands and ready myself.”

  Aaron had never performed an abortion before, but he knew what he needed to do. The girl undressed and lay across the bed with just a sheet to cover her.

  “Please bring her a blanket. I don’t want her to be cold,” Aaron turned to the officer.