But with filming over, things settle back into some kind of normality. Each day, the girls discuss whether today will be the day when they pick up their story again. But each day, they take no action. The notebooks remain undiscovered and untouched.
Then, towards the end of September, matters are taken out of their hands when it is announced that there are to be a new series of transports.
That evening they retrieve the notebooks.
‘I’ll restart, if you like,’ sys Julia.
‘Sure,’ says Suzanne, ‘but I want to write something first.’
When she’s finished she hands it to Julia who reads.
The last piece of filming had hardly been completed when the Great Unbeautification – would you call it an ‘Uglification’? – began.
Just as with Grigory Potemkin a hundred and sixty years earlier, dismantling the fake settlements he had built along the banks of the river Dnieper once the Empress Catherine II had passed, the Paradise Ghetto, the Theresienstadt that its occupants had spent six months building, was dismantled.
Claw hammers hooked the heads of nails and extracted them slowly like teeth, all the time trying to keep the nails straight so that they could be used again. (Nothing must be wasted in the ghetto.) Screwdrivers turned screws counter clockwise. Walls could hardly be unpainted but there was still plenty of time for overcrowding, diarrhoea and infestation to take its toll on the paintwork. And anyway – it was only the bits along the route of the tour and the filming that had been painted.
Bunks that had been moved out of barracks to relieve the overcrowding were put back. The third tier on the bunks, that had been removed temporarily, was replaced. The bandstand in the square was dismantled, carefully, of course, the timber being used for other, more pressing purposes – beds, partition walls, barracks.
The clean clothes that had been given to the inhabitants were taken back, fumigated (since Jews had been wearing them) and would eventually find their way – one assumed – to bombed-out families in German cities. The toys that the Jewish children had played with would end up in the hands of orphaned German children. At least the extra food that some of the inmates had been given during the Red Cross tour and the filming couldn’t be taken back – though if that had been possible, then surely the Germans would have done that too.
And continuing the theatrical theme that had characterised the Paradise Ghetto, since there was no further need for a set, there was no point in having actors or a cast, so once the autumn came, the deportations resumed.
Julia looks at Suzanne.
‘It’s wonderful,’ says Julia. ‘It’s vivid and fierce and angry – so angry. It seethes with anger –’
Suzanne acknowledges the compliment with her eyes.
‘And if anyone finds it, we’re dead,’ says Julia.
‘They won’t find it,’ pronounces Suzanne and Julia finds herself believing completely that Suzanne is right.
‘These things have to be recorded,’ says Suzanne. ‘And now – off you go. Your chapter.
Chapter Thirty-eight
A Trap (Julia)
Galena shook her head.
‘I won’t do it, Birkita. I can’t. I can’t ask her. Sevi’s still in shock.’
‘It’s the only way,’ said Birkita.
‘How can you ask me to do this – after everything that’s happened? After what I’ve lost?’
‘It will work, I swear it will.’
‘It was an accident, Birkita. An accident.’
‘It wasn’t an accident. You know it wasn’t. He’s found us. He’s out there somewhere, watching us. You know him. He’ll kill Sevi next. That’s the way he works. He’ll want you to suffer as much as possible. Then he’ll kill you. Or maybe me. Maybe I’ll be next – because he knows how much you mean to me.’
It was about the last appeal that Birkita could make.
Galena looked up. Her face was tear-streaked.
‘And what if it goes wrong?’
‘It won’t go wrong. We’ll have all the men of the village there. How can it go wrong?’
‘All the men of the village? Are you mad? He may be a Roman but he’s not an idiot.’
‘Then just me. I’ll go by myself. I’ll either kill him or bring him back alive and you can kill him.’
‘And what if Sevi is the one who gets killed?’
‘She won’t be. I swear it.’
Galena shook her head.
‘How can you say that? How can you promise such a thing?’
‘We can’t live our whole lives in fear, Galena. We have to do something and rid ourselves of this threat for once and for all.’
Birkita could think of nothing more to say, no other argument. Galena’s gaze became distant. Birkita couldn’t tell whether she was considering all of this or whether the argument was over. The silence lengthened. Outside, a horse neighed. A dog barked. In the silence which followed, Birkita could hear birds singing. In the normal world.
She had lost. She could feel it. Now, she would just have to try to go and find the bull Roman herself. But she knew that wouldn’t work. While she was hunting him he would find a way to kill Sevi. If he had abandoned his farm and come all this way, there was only one thing on his mind now – vengeance. And Birkita knew that feeling. She knew that only too well – with nothing to lose, how single-minded you could become.
Galena’s focus returned to the here and now. She looked at Birkita.
‘Please,’ she said, ‘please – don’t be wrong about this.’
50
The transports that are to go are to consist of men only. According to Communications of the Jewish Self-Administration – in other words, the SS – these men will ‘be employed in priority tasks outside Theresienstadt’. A first transport of men leaves at noon on September 28th.
Then a flyer is circulated saying that a limited number of family members can go with the men, if they like. On this basis, a large number of women volunteer for the next two transports that leave on September 29th and October 1st.
Chapter Thirty-nine
Sevi (Suzanne)
Birkita knelt in front of Sevi. The little girl’s face looked resolute but Birkita could see it in her eyes – she was terrified. Galena looked on, stony-faced and saying nothing.
‘You understand, don’t you, Sevi? The Roman has come back. He tried to make Kelyn’s death look like an accident but we know that it wasn’t.’
‘How do you know?’ asked Sevi.
‘This is what we think happened. She went to get water. He surprised her and captured her. Then he took her upstream somewhere and killed her. Then he let the body float back down the river. So now he thinks he has us really frightened. We don’t know whether it was an accident or not. We think it might have been. We hope it might have been. But we’re not sure. It’s worked before so now he thinks it will work again.’
Sevi listened to all of this, her eyes becoming more and more frightened.
‘You know you don’t have to do this if you don’t want,’ said Birkita.
‘It’s dangerous, isn’t it?’ said Sevi.
‘It’s dangerous,’ said Birkita, ‘but I’ll be there with you, watching over you. You’ll be safe. I won’t let anything happen to you.’
Sevi looked at her mother but Galena’s face remained expressionless. Then Sevi looked back to Birkita. Her eyes held Birkita’s. Eventually, Sevi said, ‘What do you want me to do?’
‘We’re going to set a trap for him. You’ll do exactly as Kelyn did. Go to get water. First thing in the morning. When he tries to take you, I’ll be waiting for him. We’ll capture him – you and I – and then your mother can kill him.’
‘Can I help to kill him?’ asked Sevi.
Birkita looked at Galena.
‘Yes,’ said Galena. ‘You can help.’
The plan was simple. Since Kelyn’s lifeless body had been floated downriver with the current, it was clear that the bull Roman was hiding upriver somewhere. Birkita assume
d he had some kind of camp there. So he had come down from there to stalk the riverbank. Presumably he had hidden somewhere in the undergrowth off to the left of the open area, waiting for Kelyn or Sevi to appear. Then, when Kelyn had gone down there, he had surprised her. Maybe he had crept up on her and overpowered her. Perhaps he had stepped from the bushes and spoken to her. Her surprise might have given him just enough time to seize her.
Now, Sevi was going to act as the bait but Birkita would hide in the undergrowth on the downriver side. When the bull Roman appeared, as Birkita was convinced he would, she would confront him. Sevi would run back the short distance to the village and bring Guidgen and the men. Meanwhile, Birkita would take the bull Roman. If she failed, if he got the better of her, then by the time that had happened, the men would have arrived and he would either be killed or captured.
Birkita hoped she would live to see it.
That night, Birkita took enough food and water for several days and found a place to hide in the dense undergrowth. It was an opening, almost like a spherical cave, underneath some high, thick gorse bushes, just off the riverbank path. She cut some branches with her sword and camouflaged her position further. From where she sat, she could observe the open grassy area that led to the river. The spot where Sevi would kneel to draw water was no more than ten paces away.
Sevi came for water just after sunrise. She was alone. Birkita crouched down ready to move. Sevi knelt down and slowly filled each bucket in turn. Having done so, she carried them back up to the house.
Soon after that, the village came to life and there were lots of comings and goings throughout the day. Birkita relaxed though she continued to observe everything. He wasn’t going to strike while there were lots of people there. The day passed slowly. As it started to grow dark, the river bank became quiet again and finally, Sevi came down one more time alone. However, just as before, she drew her water and made her way back home.
It was in the morning they discovered that a different little girl was missing.
51
The small piece of flimsy yellowish paper that Suzanne holds by one corner is a deportation notice.
She hands it to Julia as though it were diseased. Julia reads. It says that Suzanne is to report for the transport designated Eo, leaving on October 6th. It takes Julia a minute to work it out. October 6th is Friday. Today is Tuesday.
‘We have to finish the book,’ says Suzanne, her face suddenly becoming bright. ‘We’re so close. We’re nearly there. Come on. Let’s think what happens next. What does Birkita do now?’
‘Fuck Birkita,’ says Julia. ‘We have to get you off the transport.’
‘You know that’s not possible, Julia. We’re not prominent or important or anything. We’re just two insignificant Dutch girls. What matters now is the book. We get it finished, we hide it. Then we come back after the war and we find it. If we finish it, we’ll survive. I know we will.’
‘You finish it,’ says Julia. ‘There’s something I need to do.’
Adolf is working at his ledger when he looks up and sees Julia. He doesn’t seem surprised to see her. Julia wonders if he had something to do with Suzanne’s ending up on the transport list. He continues working for several minutes. Julia waits silently. Eventually he puts the pen down.
‘What can I do for you, Dutch girl?’
‘My friend has been put on the transport list for Friday. Can you get her taken off?’
Adolf sits back in his chair and steeples his fingers. He looks into Julia’s eyes. A smile plays around lips. For a long time he is silent. Julia wants to pick him up and shake him. She actually wants to strangle him. Instead, she manages to stand patiently. She holds her hands behind her back and interlaces her fingers in case she does something she’ll regret.
‘It’s possible I could help her,’ he says eventually, speaking the words slowly, easing them out one at a time.
‘How quickly can you do it?’ blurts out Julia, despite herself. ‘We don’t have much time.’
‘No, we don’t, do we?’ says Adolf.
After another long, trying to appear thoughtful, pause, he says, ‘I could do it straight away.’
Julia is struck by the word ‘could’.
She can’t stop herself.
‘And so will you?’
‘Funny, isn’t it, Dutch girl – how things turn out.’
Julia knows what’s coming.
‘Remember what I said the last time we spoke – how you’d end up begging me ... And here we are now.’
‘If that’s what you want,’ says Julia, ‘if that’s your price – then OK. But first you have to get her off the list.’
‘You’re hardly in a position to bargain,’ says Adolf. ‘So first – before anything else – I’ll be needing a down payment.’
Chapter Forty
Banished (Suzanne)
‘They must leave,’ somebody shouted.
‘They’re cursed and they’ve brought the curse with them,’ another voice said.
‘It’s not them – it’s the Romans,’ said a third person.
Guidgen called for quiet. The meeting was taking place in the open area outside his house. All of the villagers were there.
‘What says the woman whose daughter has been lost?’
The crowd went silent. All eyes turned on the short woman with a thin frame and blonde hair scraped back. Her eyes were swollen and her face was dirty with tears.
‘Haven’t we lost enough?’ she asked, looking around at them all. Then she added, ‘I don’t care. Decide for yourselves.’
It was Galena who spoke next. The crowd went silent.
‘You have been good friends to us. Even though we came from another place, you took us in. We fled from another land so that we could escape all of this. We are truly, truly sorry that it has followed us here and brought such tragedy upon you good people. We will leave here now ... at once.’
It was Birkita who suggested they follow the path upriver. It would take them inland, she said. They would find a new place. Galena said she didn’t care and Sevi just looked stunned. It was after noon when they left, marching until the sun had begun to settle and had dropped below the surrounding trees.
They found a grassy spot beside the river and lit a fire. They ate some food. Nobody spoke. Once it got dark, Galena and Birkita spread out their cloaks and the three of them lay down, side by side, with Sevi in the middle. The night was warm – there was no need for any covering. Birkita asked to borrow Sevi’s cloak and placed it beside her. It concealed her sword. Then she settled down to wait, wide awake, eyes not quite closed.
He came, as she had known he would.
She heard no sound. For such a squat, heavy man he had moved incredibly silently. The first she became aware of him was when she saw his dark shape suddenly blot out a piece of the starlit sky. And then she smelt him – a mixture of sweat and horse.
He was strong and his plan seemed to have been to seize Sevi, who wasn’t very heavy, and carry her off as he might have carried a sack of grain. He was bent over, legs parted for balance, hands reaching down when, in one smooth movement, Birkita reached under the cloak, pulled out the sword, lifted it and placed its point into his groin. She stopped just short of stabbing him.
‘Leave her,’ she said.
Birkita began to rise and was on one knee, in the act of standing, when she felt a terrible blow to the back of her head, a light seemed to flash for a moment and then there was darkness.
When she came to, the first thing she was aware of was grass – blades of it that seemed incredibly big. They were spattered with droplets of dew and the light sparkled through them with all the colours of the rainbow. A ladybird was walking up one of the stalks and passed through a droplet, destroying it. Birkita remembered a faraway time and place, several lifetimes ago.
Her head throbbed, a savage pain at the base of her skull and another across her forehead. Her hands were tied behind her back and she was half on her side, half on her be
lly, face down in the hard ground. She rolled onto her side and lifted her head, trying to look around.
They were in a small clearing. In the background, everywhere she looked, were trees. This seemed to be deep forest. Galena and Sevi lay a few paces away, tied up the same way. Their backs were to her. Birkita was glad she couldn’t see their faces.
Beyond them, the bull Roman and another man were working. Birkita could just see the top halves of their bodies above Galena’s prone figure. They appeared to be digging. Birkita lifted her head and it was as though she had been hit again as her whole skull seemed to be one mass of pain. She had to ease her head back down until the wave of pain passed. Then she lifted it again, higher this time.
The bull Roman and the other man were digging all right. Each was digging a hole. Beside them, on the ground was a pile of heavy timber beams.
And Birkita knew what they were for.
52
The next day, Wednesday, October 4th, Suzanne gets notification that she has been taken off the list for the Friday transport.
Suzanne’s face seems like it has been washed with relief.
‘How did you do it?’ she asks Julia.
‘I just talked to some people,’ says Julia quietly.
The ghetto is in uproar. Transport summonses are being issued day and night. It is said that the transport office is working round the clock and certainly lights are burning there twenty-four hours a day. People are packing, giving away their belongings, saying goodbye. There are huge crowds at all of the Jewish self-administration offices – anywhere people feel they might be able to get an exemption, on whatever pretext.
That day, Wednesday, there is a steady stream of people, in as much clothing as they can wear, carrying luggage and heading to the Hamburg Barracks from where they are processed onto the train that waits on Bahnhofstrasse.
While all of this is going on, Julia has to go to Adolf’s quarters again that night and the following night, Thursday. It is almost like Suzanne doesn’t notice, she is so intent on the book.
The Paradise Ghetto Page 33
