Too Little, Too Late

by Marta Tandori

  Her mother, Sonja, was a Norwegian national. After her birth in Norway, Katya had been anointed one of the Fuhrer’s blond-haired, blue-eyed elect with her father pledging her fealty to the Nazi regime in a special indoctrination ceremony. Shortly afterwards, Karel Bauer had received his transfer orders and their little family had moved from Norway to Chelmno nad Nerem, in occupied Poland. Katya and Lilly were tutored by the Nazi elite, their mother worked as a translator for the Third Reich and their father ran the facility in nearby Chelmno.

  Katya’s first years of life were a kaleidoscope of hazy memories filled with elegant surroundings, important-looking men in handsome uniforms and enviable privilege. Although Katya and her peers were constantly reminded that there was a war waging all around them, it had little impact on their relatively sheltered existence within the compound they called home. Today was their first field trip outside of their compound and the children were excited at this unexpected treat.

  As their bus finally cleared the endless hectares of forest and paused in front of a high wooden fence, their teacher, Herr Gunter, stood up and impatiently clapped his hands in order to get their attention.

  “As we exit the bus, you will find your partner and form a straight line. Do not deviate from this line unless you are told to and remember to stay with your partner at all times. This is a working camp and we are only here to observe, not to get in the way.” He regarded each of them with his steely gaze. “Do I make myself clear?”

  A uniform chorus of “Yes, Herr Gunter.” was heard as the gate in front of them slid open to let their bus through. A minute later, they pulled up to a large elegant building.

  Herr Gunter got off the bus and the children quickly followed suit, falling into a perfect straight line formation. Katya’s heart swelled with pride as she caught sight of her father striding toward them. He looked so handsome in his soldier’s uniform! She tugged on her sister’s skirt but Lilly just swatted her hand away. After a brief word with their teacher, Katya’s father offered them a hearty greeting.

  “Heil Hitler!”

  “Heil Hitler!” the children chorused back, as they raised their arm in salute.

  “I’m Commander Bauer. This,” he motioned all around him, “is Chelmno and it is here that we carry out the Fuhrer’s work.” He regarded them solemnly before gesturing to the impressive building behind him. “The building we’re about to enter is called Manor House which is part of the Schlosslager. The SS, police staff and guards are housed in other buildings in town. This courtyard is where the prisoners are brought by truck. Each prisoner’s valuables are collected, each prisoner is processed and then each is disposed of.” He regarded them with a clinical detachment. “We happen to be in the midst of processing a new shipment of prisoners right now. All of you will be able to see firsthand how efficiently the system works.”

  As he led the group inside Manor House, Katya instinctively slipped her hand inside her sister’s. This time, Lilly gave it a quick squeeze.

  Commander Bauer stopped inside a reception room and waited until everyone was inside before continuing. “In order to make the entire operation as efficient as possible, the prisoners are told they will be going to Germany as laborers but must first bathe and have their clothes disinfected.” He gave them a cool smile. “Of course, this is not what happens but it makes matters simpler to let the prisoners think so.” He opened a door to his left. “This room contains some of the prisoners’ valuables that have been processed but have not yet been transferred to one of the other larger storage facilities on site.”

  The room was filled to the rafters with everything from fur coats and jewelry to large sculptures and paintings. The children stared wide-eyed at the treasures before them.

  Hans Ubermann eyed some large white buckets neatly stacked against a corner. “What’s in the buckets, Sir?”

  Commander Bauer gave the youngster a delighted slap on the back. “That, my boy, will become evident later on in our tour. Come! Let us continue.” He led his charges to another door further down the hallway being guarded by two soldiers with rifles in hand. “Inside this room, the prisoners are made to strip off their clothes for their “bath”. From here, they are led down a corridor that supposedly leads to the baths.” Commander Bauer shepherded them towards a long corridor where more soldiers were strategically positioned on either side at evenly spaced intervals. “If you stand behind the guards, you’ll have a clear view of the prisoners as they head towards the next phase in processing which is in the cellar.”

  Try as she might, Katya didn’t understand much of what her father said nor could she read any of the signs posted on the wall that gave directions to the pretend baths. When Katya turned to Lilly to ask her what it all meant, her sister just gave her one of her looks that meant Katya had to keep quiet. Katya nevertheless sidled closer to Lilly and watched wide-eyed as a trickle of naked prisoners walked past them. For the most part, the men remained stoic but many of the women were crying as they modestly tried to cover their nudity with their arms. Some carried smaller children in their arms while the older ones walked beside their parents, tightly gripping their hands. Katya had never seen anyone naked before, except for her sister, and was shocked to see they had hair down there. Most of the women also had big, floppy breasts and Katya looked away in embarrassment. She was relieved when her father finally motioned for them to move on.

  They followed Commander Bauer down a series of steps into the cellar. He stopped in front of a closed door, before seeking out Hans Ubermann. “You are about to see the second-last phase in processing before the prisoner extermination and this phase involves the white buckets.” He raised his voice so he could be heard over the agonized screams coming from behind the closed door. “After this phase, the prisoners are loaded into a truck, between 50 to 70 prisoners at a time. When the truck is full, the doors will be closed and sealed. The driver attaches one end of a tube to the van’s exhaust pipe and the other end into the truck before starting the engine. Can any of you guess what happens next?” Karel Bauer scanned the earnest young faces staring up at him before his eyes came to rest on his eldest daughter. “Lilly, do you know?”

  Lilly cleared her throat nervously. “The prisoners choke to death on the fumes?”

  “Yes!” He gave her a pleased smile. “That’s exactly what happens. Once all the prisoners are dead, the tube is detached from the exhaust pipe and the van full of dead prisoners is driven to the forest camp where the bodies are disposed of.” He gave them all a stern look before opening the cellar door. “Remember to stay behind the guards at all times.”

  The scene that greeted them when her father opened the door would forever be etched in Katya’s memory and she bit her lower lip to keep from crying out in fear. The naked prisoners were now in two lines. Separating them and the ramp leading to a truck were two men in lab coats splattered with blood. Each was holding a pair of pliers and beside each man was a white pail. Katya watched as the next prisoner in line, a woman, was forced to open her mouth as the man in the lab coat looked inside. Finding what he was looking for, he motioned for two soldiers to grab her arms while he quickly reached inside the woman’s mouth with his pliers and wrenched out what appeared to be a gold tooth which he then dropped into the bucket beside him. The children instinctively moved closer together as the woman let out a blood-curdling cry of agony that continued as the process was repeated until she had no more gold teeth left. Only then was she allowed down the ramp into the truck.

  One of the male prisoners, probably the woman’s husband, suddenly lunged at Katya’s father, grabbing him around the neck. Her father’s body was slammed against the wall and as the guards scrambled to pull the man off of him, Katya noticed that a small black notebook had fallen from her father’s pocket. She managed to snatch it up before a guard quickly led them from the cellar. They were halfway up the stairs before a single gunshot reverberated around them, followed by a woman’s primal scream. Seconds later, there was a second
gunshot followed by eerie silence.

  But the silence didn’t last long. By the time their group made it up the stairs to the main floor reception area, a different kind of noise could be heard in the distance – the sounds of combat. Katya’s father soon followed them up the stairs and after a hurried conference with their teacher, he ordered them to board the bus. The sound of approaching tanks was becoming louder and the children instinctively ducked under the seats as a loud explosion went off close to the road in front of the camp.

  “What’s happening, Papa?” Katya clutched her father’s hand.

  “The enemy is getting closer,” he told her grimly. “But it’s nothing for you to worry about.”

  “I want you to come with us,” Katya told him tearfully. “Lilly and I don’t want to be alone.”

  “You won’t be alone,” he told her, tucking her hair behind her ear in a comforting gesture. “Herr Gunter will look after you. Papa needs to take care of things here at the camp.” Karel Bauer looked at his eldest daughter. “Look after your sister, hear?”

  Her father had just left the bus when Katya realized she still had his notebook. She wanted to call out and tell him but he was already running towards Manor House, shouting orders to his soldiers, and the opportunity passed. She would just have to hold on to the notebook until she saw him again.

  Their bus took off through the back gate of the camp. Rather than take the main road, it headed for the dirt road leading to the forest. They were ordered to crouch down in front of their seats, away from the windows, as their bus lurched back and forth, painstakingly navigating the rain-rutted roadway.

  After what seemed like an eternity trying to keep her balance in a crouched position, Katya’s knees began to hurt. “I want to sit down.”

  “Stay down and do as Herr Gunter tells us,” Lilly admonished her. “If anyone has a right to complain, it has to be Hans. With his long legs tucked under his chin like that, he probably has terrible cramps but you don’t hear him complaining, do you?”

  “I suppose not,” Katya relented. “Still, I just want to go home to Mama.”

  Before her sister could reply, there was a loud noise, followed by a flash of fire. Chunks of forest burst through the open windows, showering them with dirt and debris. Several of the children screamed while many others began coughing from the acrid smoke filling their bus. The bus swerved sharply to the right, tossing those that weren’t holding on to something secure, all over the bus. More screams followed. The children were truly frightened now.

  “Quiet down, everyone!”

  Katya could hear their teacher’s urgent voice through the cloud of debris although she could no longer see him. Lilly had covered Katya’s body with her own as they held on to the leg of their seat for dear life. The second blast, which followed a minute or two later, was so close that its impact managed to flip over their bus several times, before it finally came to rest on its roof.

  “Katya!” Lilly’s shrill voice rose above the crying and groans of pain. “Where are you? Are you all right?”

  Katya tried to see through the dirt and smoke but it was impossible. “I can’t hold on anymore! My hands are slipping!”

  “That’s because we’re upside down,” Lilly explained. “It’s okay to let go, Katya. You won’t have far to fall, I promise. Let go now!”

  Crying quietly, Katya did as she was told, mentally preparing herself for a jolt of pain, but instead of the hard landing she had been expecting, something cushioned her fall. Peering down, she saw that it was Hans’ body.

  “Katya, over here!” Lilly was crawling towards her on her hands and knees, the impact of the blast having thrown her clear across the bus. “We’ve got to get out of here!”

  “No!” cried Katya, clearly petrified. “Herr Gunter will be angry with us.”

  “Herr Gunter is dead,” Lilly told her. “So are many of the others and if we stay here, we’ll die, too!”

  Katya began crying in earnest. “I just want Mama!”

  “I’ll get us to Mama, I promise.” Lilly held out her hand. “Please, Katya, we’ve got to hurry!”

  Lilly grasped her hand and pulled Katya through one of the windows. Several of the other children who had survived the blast were already out of the bus and running in every direction. Lilly pulled Katya closer to her as they followed the forest road, well behind two older boys. The road was little more than a narrow, muddy path at this point and the artillery fire around them was deafening. They were about four kilometers northwest of Chelmno, off the east side of the road to Kolo, which abutted their compound to the south.

  Katya froze in terror as another blast hit the road in front of them, sending her sister’s classmates hurtling up in the air before pieces of their bodies dropped from the sky around them like grotesque chunks of disfigured confetti.

  “Don’t stop now!” Lilly tried pulling her sister around the bloody stump of an arm. “We’ve got to keep going!”

  Katya refused to budge. She raised a shaking finger at the huge tank that had just broken through the underbrush and was bearing down on them. “That monster’s coming straight for us!”

  CHAPTER 2

  1949

  Oslo, Norway

  Out of all their chores at the internment camp, Katya disliked latrine duty the most. She despised it, in fact. The camp had 165 women and children and only twenty-seven holes. The guards and administrators of the camp had actual toilets but they, the prisoners, had holes in the ground and latrine duty meant looking after both. She shouldn’t complain, really. All she and the other children had to do was fill the boxes beside each hole with long strips of newspaper that served as toilet paper. The women, on the other hand, had to scrub the toilets and the shit-encrusted metal enclosures that went over each hole. The buzzing flies and the stink were terrible and it was a job Katya didn’t wish on her worst enemy, let alone her poor mother.

  Their days in the overcrowded camp, which lacked even the most basic of necessities, were long and filled with despair. Not a single day went by that Katya didn’t long for her former life – before the allied troops had marched into Poland and turned her world upside down. When the tanks had crashed through the woods, the soldiers had gathered up Katya and the other surviving children and had taken them back to their compound. Her mother and the other adults had been taken to one of the outbuildings where they had been interrogated. Thanks to Sonja Holberg’s Norwegian citizenship, they had eventually been released. The only problem was, there had been nowhere to go.

  In the end, they had taken a night train to Berlin but with the fall of Germany, there had been no available jobs. Her mother had resorted to entertaining countless men, civilians and soldiers alike, who appeared on the doorstep of their squalid tenement at all hours of the day and night. This came to an abrupt end in the latter half of 1946 when the German government declared them, and others like Katya’s family, to be an embarrassment to Germany and shipped them back to Norway where an internment camp had been set up for them in Oslo harbor. The camp had been their home for the past three years.

  Katya fervently hoped her father had met with a better fate. The day they were captured was the last day she had seen Karel Bauer alive and all Katya had left of her father was his little black notebook which she would take out from her secret hiding place and look at every now and then. She had told no one about the notebook, not even Lilly.

  “Here, Mama, let me scrub for a while.” Katya took the bristle brush from her mother’s worn hands. “Why don’t you take a break?”

  Sonja Holberg nodded gratefully. “Do a good job. Remember, there’s going to be an inspection today because of the visit.”

  “I remember,” Katya reassured her grimly. Pulling the neck of her shirt over her mouth and nose, she got down to work.

  Word had quickly spread among the women that the visitor to their camp was going to be Lars Thomassen, a hero in the Norwegian resistance. None of this seemed particularly significant to Katya as she watche
d her mother go over to a corner and collapse against the wall, as far away as possible from the stench and lapping flies. While the years since the fall of the Third Reich had been hard on all of them, they had been particularly hard on Sonja Holberg. It showed in the dejected slump of her mother’s shoulders and in her weary countenance. When they had first arrived at the camp, all the women had been ruthlessly shorn; their shaved heads branding them as traitors in the eyes of their countrymen. Any remaining scrap of dignity her mother may have managed to hold on to until that point had fallen away with her hair.

  As fate would have it, Katya’s path crossed with the visitor’s later in the day as she made her way over to the laundry facility where Lilly was assigned. Lars Thomassen dropped one of his gloves and she ran to pick it up for him. He rewarded her with the briefest of smiles and a small piece of candy which Katya was quick to share with Lilly. Overall, the encounter had been fleeting and Katya had all but forgotten about it until she and her family were summoned later that afternoon to the office for what turned out to be the visitor’s personal inspection.

  Lars Thomassen took his time as he looked over Katya and Lilly, making them bend over to touch their toes several times. Katya thought it was a game until he turned his attention to her mother. There was something in the way he looked at Sonja Holberg that chilled Katya to the bone but then Lars turned to speak to the guard and the uneasy feeling passed. After a brief haggling and an exchange of Norwegian Kroners, the fate of Katya and her family was quickly settled. They were brusquely ordered to gather up their meager belongings and the relative security of the camp was soon left behind as they found themselves on a train heading to northern Norway in the company of a man they didn’t know.