The Unlikely Allies

by Gilbert, Morris

  The thought discouraged Grüber, and as he left, he thought about Himmler’s pronouncement that it was the patriotic duty of every man in the SS to sire at least four children. He had flatly ordered all SS men to impregnate their wives, and when possible, to serve as “conception assistants” to childless women age thirty or older. It was not the sort of world Grüber could admire, but he was a faithful German and had given his life to the military. He knew better than to question anything that went on with these three men.

  ****

  As Derek stepped outside headquarters, the brisk March wind bit at his face. It had been a cold, hard winter, and he imagined how welcome spring would be. But he soon became gloomy once again as he thought back to his interview with his superior officer, Major Hinton. Derek had gone in to see if his request for leave had been approved, but Major Hinton had smiled and said, “These things take time, Lieutenant. You must be patient.”

  Now as Derek moved along the sidewalk, he struggled not to feel angry with his father. When Hinton had first refused his request, he had thought, It’s my father. He’s behind this. He and his father had not spoken about Rachel Mindel since their first conversation about her, but the subject lay like a wall between them, almost physical in its enormity.

  As Derek continued along the sidewalk, he passed a group of six SS men, one of them a major. This in itself was not unusual, but there were two civilians framed within the group, and both of them had placards with writing hung about their necks.

  The woman was tall with blond hair and blue eyes. The man was short with protruding ears. He wore a gray suit and a neat blue bow tie, and misery was written across his face. Derek read the sign on the woman, which said, “At this place I am the greatest swine: I take Jews and make them mine.” The man’s sign said, “As a Jewish boy, I always take German girls up to my room!”

  Instantly Derek understood that these two had violated the Nazi doctrine forbidding sexual intercourse between Jews and Gentiles. He watched as the SS men shoved them so that they almost stumbled and jeered at them, cursing and laughing. Other soldiers they passed took up the catcalls, but Derek was disgusted. He tried to put the scene out of his mind but could not help wondering what would happen to the two. He suspected that they would be sent to concentration camps. This thought troubled him so deeply that his face assumed an iron cast. He had never been to one of the camps, but he had heard rumors about the inhumanities that went on there. Derek was a sensitive man, but clearly the German leadership was not. They seemed to care nothing about snuffing out the human spirit in the most degrading way possible.

  When he reached his quarters, he picked up a pen and began writing a letter, dating it March 12, 1938.

  I hate this life, my dear Rachel. It is not what I want to do. I take every spare moment I can to read and write. I have started writing a novel, which I will probably never finish. Poetry comes so much easier to me. I’m saving all the poems I write so that when we meet again you can read them and I can watch your face.

  He wrote page after page before he had said everything he wanted to say.

  I will not stay in the army longer than absolutely necessary. I have thought about going to Basel in Switzerland to continue my studies. You and your parents would like it there, and it is a neutral country. We could be happy and safe there.

  The phone rang, causing him to start, and when he picked it up, he heard his friend Frederick’s almost hysterical voice shouting, “Have you heard the news?”

  “Don’t deafen me, Frederick. What news?”

  “It’s Austria. She’s given up without a fight. Now Germany has a foothold. Come and meet me. We’re all going out to celebrate.”

  “I’m sorry, I can’t do that, Frederick. You’ll have to celebrate without me.” He waited until Frederick expressed his displeasure, then hung up. Derek couldn’t believe it. It sounded as if Hitler had taken Austria as easily as a man takes a piece of cake at a party. Austria had simply folded, unable to face war with the powerful German war machine.

  “What will be next?” Derek whispered. He closed the letter, signed it, and ended by saying:

  I love you, my dear Rachel, and I always will.

  ****

  Derek did not get his leave, although he continued to reapply for it for months. In November, he was disgusted by what happened after a young Polish Jew named Hershel Grynszpan, an unemployed seventeen-year-old, shot and killed the third secretary to the Germany embassy in Paris. The boy’s parents, Germans with Polish ancestry, had been among the Jewish refugees transported to and left at the German border a month earlier.

  Adolf Hitler flew into a rage and vowed the Jews would pay. On his instructions, all German Jews were to be punished, and the German non-Jews responded with terrible enthusiasm. Within sixty hours of Hitler’s orders, a wave of lethal vandalism swept through Jewish synagogues, homes, and stores. A virtual orgy of violence, it came to be called Kristallnacht, the night of broken glass, for the shards of glass that littered German streets. The Nazis killed thirty-five Jews, arrested many thousands, and levied fines against all German Jews that totaled a billion marks. They also wrecked seventy-five hundred shops and destroyed more than a hundred synagogues throughout Germany and Austria. Derek knew this marked a turning point in his thinking. There was nothing noble about this type of military action, and a bitterness grew in his heart.

  Finally toward the end of November, he was promoted to captain, and his leave came through.

  It came only because I told Father I was going to the mountains to hunt, Derek thought as he packed his things. But he was not going to the mountains. He was going to Czechoslovakia to see the woman he loved.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Is Anyplace Safe?

  An eerie feeling came over Derek Grüber as he sat in the parlor of Rachel’s home, facing Jacob and Sarah Mindel. It had something to do with the furnishings of the room, all of which appeared old and fragile. Age had brought a dull patina to their finish, and though they were in excellent condition, something about their aged fragility made Derek uncomfortable—for Rachel’s parents also had a patina of age. Rachel had told him that they had been unable to have children early in life, but she came as a surprise when they had long since given up thinking about children. “Your mother is like Sarah of old,” Jacob used to tell his daughter. “You were such a blessing to us in our later years.”

  Both were very small people, especially Sarah. Both had silver hair, and neither of them appeared to weigh much more than an average twelve-year-old. Their bones were fine, and the age lines etched in their faces were pronounced. Jacob had a large nose, while Sarah’s looked English—narrow and straight. They were gentle and gracious, and they spoke German quite well.

  “Rachel tells me you are a scholar, Mr. Grüber, that you intend to become a professor.”

  Derek suddenly realized that Rachel had not told her parents he was a German officer. He had chosen not to wear his uniform on his visit to Czechoslovakia and was glad of it. The anti-German feeling was very strong in this country. Since the Nazi takeover of the Sudentenland, a portion of Czechoslovakia populated largely by Germans, the Czech government had been coming under great pressure from Hitler to give up their independence and be joined to the Third Reich entirely. The Czechs, however, were a proud, independent people, well armed for war, and as Derek had seen the tanks and armed men patrolling the borders, he knew that Hitler’s army would have a tougher time with these people than with the Austrians, who had given up without a struggle.

  “Yes, that is my hope, Mr. Mindel, although I’m not certain I have the mind for it.”

  “From what Rachel tells us, I’m sure you do,” Sarah Mindel said. She was smiling gently and there was a warm light in her brown eyes. It was difficult for Derek to imagine that she had once been as rounded and lovely as Rachel was now, but he could see traces of her early beauty in her.

  “What would you like to teach?” Jacob asked. He was sitting on the edge of his chair
and turned his head to one side like a small bird. There were moments when he seemed to go off into a world of his own. Advanced age. He cannot live long, Derek thought. “I would like to teach literature, sir.”

  “Ah, literature! Then you and Rachel have much to talk about. She loves stories.”

  “Yes, I know. We’ve had a great deal of pleasure talking about literature at the university.”

  After the conversation went on for a short time, Derek realized that the aged couple were tiring. He stood up and said, “I must be leaving.”

  “You must come back tonight for dinner. Rachel is a fine cook.”

  “I would love to, but I’m afraid I can’t. I need to get back to Germany. It’s been a pleasure to meet you both.” Derek bowed and left, and Rachel accompanied him to the door of the small house.

  She put on her coat after handing him his, pulled a knit cap over her auburn hair, and said, “I’ll walk with you for a way.”

  Derek was pleased. He had not had a chance to be alone with Rachel since his arrival, and now as they walked along the streets of the small village, he knew he had to persuade her to follow his plan.

  The winter wind was cutting, and they ducked behind a wall to get out of it momentarily. “Rachel, I’m sorry we have so little time to be alone together.”

  “Can’t you stay for a few more days?” Her face was turned upward to his, and he placed his hand on her cheek. She covered his hand with hers and said, “I haven’t seen you in so long.”

  “I was fortunate to get away even for this brief time.” He hesitated, enjoying the feel of her silky skin, and then he put his hand on her shoulder and squeezed it imperatively. “We’ve got to do something about your parents and about you, Rachel.”

  “What do you mean, Derek?”

  He was certain that Adolf Hitler would not allow Czechoslovakia to remain independent for long, and urgently he said to her, “You must realize that Czechoslovakia will be invaded. Hitler will have all of it, not just the Sudetenland.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “I have no proof, but I’m sure. Czechoslovakia stands in Hitler’s way to the Balkans. You’re going to have to leave with your parents for a safe place.”

  She lowered her head and said quietly, “There is no safe place in all of Europe for Jews, Derek.”

  “There could be. Marry me. I’ll leave the army and we’ll take your parents and go away together, perhaps to Switzerland. If not there, we can go to one of the islands in the South Seas. I’ve always wanted to go there.”

  “Do you mean it, Derek?”

  He felt like he was standing at a fork in the road. He had spoken from his heart, but now he realized that his whole life was at stake here. He thought of his father, and although he had never been on warm terms with him, in Germany fatherhood was a strong force. “I mean it,” he said desperately, “but I’ll have to go home first and talk to my father.”

  He saw something change in Rachel’s eyes at those words. “What’s wrong?” he asked.

  “You must go, then, and talk to him.”

  “It’ll be all right,” he assured her. “I’ll convince him.”

  Still Rachel did not answer, but she put her arms around his neck and pulled his head down. When she kissed him there was a fiery flavor on her lips, and it was as if she were saying good-bye. She clung to him as if she were a child, then released her grip and stepped back. “Good-bye, Derek. God be with you.”

  “It’s only good-bye for a time, my love.” Derek felt a sudden dread, as though something inside of him were terribly wrong. The world was going crazy in many ways, of course, but he had always felt he could conduct himself in a way that combined honor with his own desires. But at this moment he saw reflected in Rachel’s eyes the impossibility of continuing his way of life. His inside world was collapsing as the love of his life walked away without another word.

  “Rachel, I’ll be back!” He called loudly, but she did not turn around. And as Derek stood, his eyes fixed on Rachel, he felt a dark despair. He was tormented with the desire to desert the army and flee with Rachel to a place where this madness could no longer touch them . . . yet he did not.

  “I’ll go talk to Father. I’ll make him understand! He has to!” He turned and walked purposefully away, looking back once at the back of the woman he loved, knowing he loved her more than anything else in all the world.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  When the Heavens Are Falling

  The prime minister of England, Sir Neville Chamberlain, was a gaunt man, austere, unimaginative, and colorless. Chamberlain was neither a thinker, a writer, nor a soldier, but a businessman—and the biggest mistake of his entire career was that he tried to do business with Hitler.

  In 1936, when Hitler marched into the Rhineland, Chamberlain persuaded the British parliament to do nothing, claiming that this would be the end of Hitler’s raid on neighboring countries. When later that year Germany and Italy ganged up on helpless Spain, it was Chamberlain who persuaded his government to do nothing to help that country. In March 1938 Austria was taken without a shot by Hitler, and once again Chamberlain did nothing.

  Finally, in September 1938, Hitler cast his focus on Czechoslovakia. The Czechs were a formidable barrier to Nazi expansion through the Balkans, and the very last bastion of democracy in central Europe. A line of fortifications comparable to the French Maginot Line stretched across Czechoslovakia’s northern frontier, but her main defense was a pact of mutual assistance, and France and the Soviet Union and England were bound by a pact with the Czechs’ defense. With these three great powers on her side, the Czechs felt no doubts about their abilities to stand against the armies of Germany.

  Edvard Beneš, the president of Czechoslovakia, looked with pride at his country’s four-hundred-million-dollar defense fortifications and proclaimed, “We shall never be an Austria. Hitler will not add us to his list of victims!”

  But Beneš did not understand his enemy, and he overestimated his friends. Adolf Hitler moved toward Czechoslovakia, aiming first to take Sudentenland, a C-shaped territory in the western part of the country. On September 14, 1938, Prime Minister Chamberlain flew to Germany for a meeting with Hitler. He was desperate to keep the small British armed forces out of the hostilities.

  Another meeting two weeks later, this time with the participation of France and Italy, resulted in the Munich Agreement, which turned Sudentenland over to Germany. When Chamberlain returned to England, he stood before the cameras of the press and pronounced, “It will be peace for our time.”

  In early October 1938 German troops marched into Czechoslovakia unhindered as huge crowds waved Nazi banners and cheered.

  This was the beginning of the end for the last democracy in western Europe, which would finally fall to Hitler in March 1939, and the fault could lay, many argued, at the door of Neville Chamberlain.

  ****

  Derek was sickened by Germany’s invasion of the rest of Czechoslovakia in March of 1939, and it was with a heavy heart that he marched with his father’s command into the homeland of his beloved Rachel. He sadly watched the brokenhearted Czechs standing in the streets weeping as the Nazis took over their country. Hitler’s word that he would be satisfied with Sudetenland, and not attempt to take control of any more of Czechoslovakia, was not good, as Derek had feared.

  The first night after arriving at their station, Derek was confronted by his father. The two men were in a hotel that had been commandeered for use by the German general’s staff. Derek had been dreading this moment, and now his father faced him and demanded, “What’s wrong with you, Derek? You act like a man who’s half dead!”

  Derek knew it was time to tell his father what had been burdening him like a millstone. “I have served faithfully in the army for two years, and I want out now, Father. I’m in love with Rachel Mindel, and I want to marry her and spend my life with her.”

  Wilhelm Grüber stared at his son in disbelief. “I can’t believe it!” he shouted. “Have you l
ost your mind? You have a wonderful future in the military. Are you going to throw away everything for one woman—and a Jewish woman at that?”

  “You and I don’t think alike, Father.” The words were hard to say, for in all of his life he had never stood up to his father. He had always simply caved in when there had been confrontations. But now he stood tall and straight, and he wished with all of his heart that he had taken Rachel and her parents when he’d had the chance and fled to some safe place. That was still in his mind, but he saw the anger in his father’s eyes and knew he would never get a blessing from this man. “I’m sorry we see differently.”

  Wilhelm Grüber had been trying for weeks to convince himself that Derek had changed, that he had put his feelings for the Jewish woman aside. Wilhelm was a proud man, and the source of his pride was in the Fatherland. He had a heritage reaching back into history. The Grüber men had always served Germany, and now that the Fatherland needed every man, to hear of his son refusing to take his part, to speak of marrying a Jew, made his blood run cold. Forcing himself to control his anger, he said, “Derek, young men often make fools of themselves over women. I could tell you a story about my own youth when I had to make a decision. I very nearly threw my career away by choosing the wrong woman.”

  “Who was she, Father?” Derek was shocked. He had never heard his father speak of anything like this.

  “It doesn’t matter. She would not have been a proper wife for me, so I chose your mother.”

  “And in the same way, I’m choosing Rachel because I love her.”

  “Romantic love is nothing to build a life on! It is no foundation,” Wilhelm said, biting his words off.

  The two men stood face-to-face, the tension crackling in the room, and Derek knew his quest was hopeless.

  Finally his father drew himself up and said, “What you ask is impossible. You are a soldier and an officer of the Reich. I will not allow you to abandon your responsibility to the Fatherland while this war is on.” He softened for a moment and went on, “When this is over you will see things differently. Now, get back to your duties.”