Once We Were Family (eBook)

Chapter Eighteen

Hans warned us that the police would be coming for him soon. He was right. We had just enough time to breathe before the police knocked on our door two days later.

It was near sunset and the family was cleaning up the meal and doing other chores. The twins were playing in their room before bed.

I noticed the police were the same two men who had reported Hans’s original injuries. Father didn’t want them in his study so he led them into the small parlor adjacent to the kitchen to be seated. Everyone else scattered to other rooms.

The Wehrmacht policemen wore brown and this time they were armed —the familiar Heckler and Koch P7 model hanging from their belts. They came to pick up Hans.

“Hans needs to leave with us to return to his unit. Could you fetch him?”

Father cleared his throat. “Hans has had a difficult recovery. His leg wounds are healed but mentally he does not speak and he stares all day as if in a coma. The doctors call it catatonia, I believe, or shell shock. He has spent the last two months like this, completely removed from reality.”

“Have you sent him to a head doctor?’

“Yes. A well-known therapist, Herr Bruner, worked with Hans for days. He eventually gave up, saying that time was the best remedy for his condition.”

“Do you have such a report?” the older one said.

“Yes. It is in my study. Let me get it for you.” Father hurried out and rummaged through his desk to find the letter. It was under a folder. As he left, he looked at the exposed books in the corner that were illegal. He decided he better hide them now. He pressed open a hidden door that looked like a bookcase. He placed all ten in the cubby hole and then returned to the parlor.

“Sorry for the wait. I couldn’t locate it on my messy desk.” He handed it to the policeman.

The man read it and gave it to his comrade. “I want to see Hans myself. Many of these cases are riddled with fake injuries, including plain stupidity.”

“I would get him, but he’s gone. You see, he was behaving exactly as I described, up until a few days ago. Then one morning his mood changed. He emerged from a night’s sleep after a fever and began to pace the halls mumbling angrily that someone had tried to poison him. When we tried to calm him down, he just became more volatile. He broke glasses in the kitchen. He kicked the table and chairs and dumped food from the crockery.

“I corralled him back into his room and he seemed to quiet down. My wife called the doctor but could not reach him in the morning. Everyone went to work and we didn’t have time to speak to him further. Nana stayed to watch over him. Later that day, he told her that he had to get out of the house before he hurt someone. He packed a few clothes and left mid-afternoon. We have not seen him since Tuesday nor have we been able to locate him.”

“I see. How convenient. Can we search the house and see his room?” They were asking but didn’t require Father’s approval.

“It is late and we have children going to bed. Would tomorrow be suitable?”

“And allow him to escape if he is hiding here? We will search now. Please let your wife and children know that we will be going through their rooms, searching the basement and attic.

Call them down to the dining area. We won’t be long.”

So, the whole family sat at the dining table. We thought about having tea but no one moved. We could hear the two men opening drawers, pawing through stuff and banging on the walls. They called down to Father to open any hidden passages. He did show them the laundry chute and panel between Nana’s room and their bedroom. He said nothing about the wall behind the study.

I looked at the twins and hoped that Father had never shown it to them. They were indoctrinated little Nazis and couldn’t be trusted. For once they were quiet.

Helga offered to show the two men the basement, which was the dress shop and her bedroom. She took them down the stairs and unlocked the shop. While there, the younger man complimented Helga. Called her beautiful. She just smiled.

The other man asked her if she knew anything else about Hans and where he would go.

She said no. “He has spoken little and has shut himself in his room most days.”

Finally, they left the shop and entered the dining area and announced they were finished. “Herr Klaus. We need you to come to the police station tomorrow morning to make a statement. We will expect you at 9:00 a.m. sharp.” They turned and left.

The minute they were gone, the twins started chattering. “Why do they want Hans?” Brandt asked.

“He is supposed to go back to the Army but he isn’t well,” Father said.

“Where is he?” Brandt asked. Hans had left for the church when the twins were at school and that evening when they asked where he was, we explained that he had gone away.

“If he left, why don’t you tell them where he went?” Zella asked.

Here was the dilemma. The kids were told at school that any secret kept from the Nazis was considered to be an enemy act. Thus, to keep us all safe, we lied to them.

Father sighed. “We told you that he went away with our knowledge, but he actually left on his own. We don’t know where he is. You were at school that day and Hans awoke terrified of something. Instead of just sitting on his bed and staring, he started to run around the house breaking glasses and saying we poisoned his milk. Later he grabbed his belongings and left. We have been worried about him, but we didn’t want to worry you.” I could hear the words choking in Papa’s throat.

Helga frowned and then got up in protest but Father told her to please sit. Then he asked Nana to take the children up to bed.

After they were safely upstairs, Father spoke. “I want you all to know exactly what I told the policeman before you were herded into the dining room,” he said. Then he explained the whole story as he had concocted it.

“Now we have a problem. If I go into the police station, I may end up being interrogated in the basement. I may never come home. They don’t for a minute believe my story.”

Mother wrung her hands. “What do we do?’

“This is the best I can do. Annalise, you will take a note to the university to let them know I will be absent due to some illness. Helga, you have been to Herman’s office a few times?” She nodded. In fact, she had bothered her brother more than once by showing up with a pretended concern in the hopes of meeting his handsome colleagues. “You will go early and take him an urgent note. He needs to meet me at the police station at the time of my arrival. I want him to enter the building with me. Hopefully, he has some influence being the protégé of Albert Speer. At least enough to keep me out of the basement.”

He turned to Mother. “My dear, you have to call the therapist. Fortunately, you did call to let him know that Hans was sick with a fever. He was too busy to return your call so far. Call him tomorrow and let him know that Hans had left after erratic behavior. That he did have a fever which changed into a paranoid episode. That will cover that part of the story.”

I spoke up. “What about going around the neighborhood asking if anyone has seen Hans to support our worry?”

“He has no friends here to ask. I don’t see that as a problem,” Father said. “Please, just keep the story straight. The police may ask one of you separately while I am in interrogation.”

We all arose and Father went into the study to prepare his note. I decided I would make sure Helga was up and out of the house by 8:00 a.m. Her part directly affected Father’s fate.

The next morning everyone went into action. Nana walked the twins to school as usual. The rest of us hurried around doing our part. Helga took time to pretty up but with my urging, she was out of the house and rushed to Herman’s office.

After she gave him the urgent message, he rushed out, leaving her behind. She smiled at the young men entering the building and then reluctantly left. She picked out a few handsome fellows to quiz her brother about later.

Herman was there at the building a few minutes before 9:00 a.m. and quizzed Father to get all the details before they entered the police station. The main floor and entrance looked like a normal police station with a desk officer and sign-in sheet. Herman and Father sat on a wooden bench and waited.

The Wehrmacht police, called Feld gendarmerie, performed many duties for the armed forces. One was bringing in deserters who were usually shot at the time of capture. Others were court-martialed with deferred execution. These men were forced into high-risk units where survival could be counted in hours if not days.

At precisely 9:15 a.m., an officer came for Father. He seated him in a glass-paned front office. Herman hurried in although not invited. The policeman nodded to Herman but said nothing. He evidently saw his Nazi armband and decided to let him sit in.

Another officer came in with a file folder and sat across from Father. The questions reflected the fact that they thought he was lying through his teeth. All he had to do was tell them where Hans was.

Herman soon...