The Gypsy Moon

by Gilbert, Morris

  “Yes, I think there is, but he’s a relatively young man and new to all this power. He’ll gather some wise men to advise him. It’ll be all right.”

  “I should go in.”

  He turned so he could look straight into her eyes. “Don’t be afraid of me, and don’t be afraid of Germany. If you and I love each other, we’ll find a way. I love you—I’m sure of it—but I sense your fear, Gabby. It won’t stay. My love for you will send it away. You’ll see.”

  Gabrielle got out of the car, and they were silent as he walked her to the door. She turned to him and smiled. “Thank you for the wonderful time.”

  He leaned over and kissed her lightly. “We will have many times like this. Things will work out for us. You will see, my dear.”

  Gabrielle watched as he turned and went back to the car. Their conversation had excited her and frightened her at the same time, but she knew that somehow the future was rushing toward her at a furious speed, and there was nothing she could do to control it.

  ****

  “You look tired, dear. Didn’t you sleep well?” Liza asked.

  Gabby’s aunt was right. It had taken her a long time to drop off to sleep, and even then she had not slept soundly. Erik’s mention of marriage had filled her mind with many thoughts. Fitfully, she had tossed on her bed, waking several times, and had risen the next morning with swollen eyes and feeling groggy.

  “Not very well, I’m afraid.”

  “Perhaps after breakfast you can lie down and take a nap.”

  Gabby laughed. “I need to get to the hospital.”

  The two women looked up as Dalton entered the room and greeted them cheerfully. He sat down at the table and told them excitedly about the research he was doing at the university. He was working on developing a new kind of power that involved splitting the atom. It would be so much more powerful than any of the known energy sources that Gabby could hardly comprehend the scope of the project.

  Gabby said little but listened as her uncle spoke of the progress that was being made and how Germany would become the envy of the world when this discovery was made public. She was puzzled about her uncle, for he was a genius in his field, but he appeared to have little sensitivity to some things. She knew he read the newspaper and was familiar with the excesses of the Nazi machine that was growing stronger every day. A man of his intellect should have been able to see some of the troubling developments, but he seemed blind to them. She could not understand why he would not be more concerned about the use of such power in the hands of the Nazis.

  After her aunt left to go to the store, Gabby said, “Uncle Dalton, doesn’t it worry you that Hitler doesn’t seem to have any morals?”

  “Morals, my dear? Why, whatever do you mean?”

  “I mean he’s not a man of honor. You must know that. He’s ignored every treaty that Germany has made. Why, the whole world knows that his ambition is leading Germany straight into difficulty.”

  “Oh, my dear, that’s the way it is with politics and new movements.” He picked up the newspaper. He had little confidence in women as far as political affairs were concerned. He admired and was tremendously proud of Gabrielle’s skill in medicine, but he was quite sure she didn’t understand the way Germany operated.

  “I wish we’d never left Holland,” she blurted out.

  “What’s that? Why, Gabby, I can’t believe you would say that! You’re doing so well here. You’ve made such progress, and so have I.”

  “Progress isn’t everything. I’m afraid of what’s going to happen in this country. Why, Germany has given Hitler absolute power, and that kind of power can be very dangerous. I can’t believe they would let a single man act as both president and chancellor. Germany is being run by a dictator!”

  “You’re right about that, but power isn’t always dangerous. Not if it’s used wisely.”

  She saw that it was impossible to reason with her uncle, so she fell silent while he turned his attention back to the newspaper.

  “Are you going to the rally at Nuremberg?” he asked as she took her dishes to the sink.

  “No, I don’t think so.”

  “You should. It sounds like it’s going to be a wonderful spectacle.”

  “I’d really rather not, Uncle.”

  ****

  Gabby had no intention of going to the rally at Nuremberg, but Erik had been trying to persuade her to go with him.

  The day approached, and finally she gave in, partly out of curiosity but more so out of a desire to be with Erik.

  The two of them drove to Nuremberg in his big automobile. The streets of the city were lined with storm troopers, and all the church bells were pealing loudly for the huge rally. They stood in the crowded streets watching as Adolf Hitler and his entourage arrived, and the opening of the National Socialist Congress began.

  Gabrielle was stunned by what she saw. A foreboding sea of Nazis turned out in Nuremberg. The size of the congress was staggering. Hitler reviewed a parade of six hundred thousand men who pledged absolute loyalty to the führer. Hundreds of trains transported army and paramilitary units to Nuremberg, and the men were housed in thirteen tent cities. Many European celebrities attended the political festivities, including Benito Mussolini.

  Hitler dominated the event, of course, and Gabby noted that Erik’s face nearly glowed as he stood tall and straight beside her. As she looked out over a sea of steel helmets toward where Hitler stood on a white platform, she felt weak. The night before she had dreamed of Madame Jana. The old lady’s face had appeared before her, her eyes filled with compassion and yet with warning. Now as she looked out over the massive display of armed men, she knew all this was wrong.

  There before her hung three towering black banners, each with a large swastika in the middle. Hitler stood behind the microphone, a faint figure from her vantage point far back, and yet the personality of the man filled the air.

  Erik turned and smiled at her, but when he saw her pale face, he asked, “Don’t you feel well, Gabby?”

  “I’m fine,” she assured him, but she knew in her heart that all was not fine. An overwhelming sense of foreboding at what was happening in Germany closed in upon her, but she did not know what to do or where to flee.

  ****

  Three weeks after the Nuremberg rally, Gabby returned home after a hard day at the hospital. She entered the house and at once was met by her aunt, whose face was tense with strain. “Gabby, something terrible has happened.”

  “What is it, Aunt Liza?” Gabby put a supporting arm around her. “You look ill. Is something wrong with Uncle Dalton?”

  “No, it’s Otto and Hulda.”

  Otto and Hulda Marx were close friends of the Burkes. They were a Jewish couple with three children. Otto was a well-to-do manufacturer, and they had visited often in the Burke home. Gabby liked the couple very much and was especially fond of their children. “What’s the matter? Are they ill?”

  “No, they’ve been arrested.”

  “Arrested! That’s impossible!”

  “I’m afraid it isn’t, Gabby, and even worse, their children have been taken from them.”

  “What’s the charge? I can’t believe it!”

  “I just got word from Hulda’s sister. The court has arrested them because they refuse to teach their children Nazi ideology, so they took their children away.”

  “I can’t believe it,” Gabby said. “What does Uncle Dalton say?”

  “He’s gone to see what he can do, but it’s very serious, I’m afraid.”

  “Where are the children?”

  “They’ve been taken under the charge of the State. Here, this is part of the ruling that will explain it all.”

  Gabby took the sheet of paper that her aunt handed her. It was a lengthy statement delivered by the judge, and she read one section aloud, her voice tense with pain and disbelief: “ ‘The law is a racial and national instrument entrusting German parents with the education of their children only under certain conditions, namely,
that they educate them in the fashion that the nation and the State expect.’ ”

  Gabby looked in disbelief at her aunt, who was visibly shaken by this turn of events. “This is terrible! This means that the State will break families apart if parents don’t agree with Nazi doctrine.”

  “Dalton is hoping he can do something.”

  Gabby straightened up. “I’ll go see what Erik can do. His family has great influence.”

  ****

  “But, Gabby, I can’t interfere with the policies of the government!” Erik protested. He had gotten a frantic call from Gabby, and now the two were seated in a small café on the outskirts of Berlin not far from the hospital. He had listened as she explained the problem, and then he had read the judge’s ruling. “This is very serious. These Jews, they’re friends of yours?”

  “Of course!”

  “What do you expect me to do, darling?”

  “I expect you to go to your father and see if he can do something. He’s a powerful man. These are good people, Erik.”

  “I’m sure they are, but you know my father is very rigid when it comes to politics.”

  “Rigid!” Gabby exclaimed, eyes flashing. She usually kept her emotions under careful restraint, but now anger scored her face. “It’s not right, Erik, and you know it’s not! The Marxes are not enemies of the State. They’re not political at all, as far as I know.”

  He held his hand up, but she would not be quiet. There was a fire in her he hadn’t seen before. She usually presented an appearance of cool reserve, but her anger was evident today. He tried to quiet her, but she wouldn’t stand for it.

  “I’m going to do something,” she promised. “I just don’t know what.”

  Alarm swept across his face. “Gabby, these are dangerous things you are saying.”

  “Dangerous! It’s dangerous to try to keep a family together? If it’s dangerous, then what kind of a leader is this Adolf Hitler?”

  Erik looked around the room and saw that her voice had reached others in the café. Several people had turned to stare with frowns toward Gabby.

  “You must quiet yourself, Gabby—”

  She got up and walked out without another word. She was furious and frightened and at the same time determined that nothing could stop her from doing what she could to right this terrible wrong.

  ****

  Gabrielle tried, but she was powerless. She was a foreigner, not even a citizen. She attended the trial, and her heart was broken as the Marxes’ children were taken from the court-room weeping, their parents having been sentenced to a short time in prison along with a stiff fine.

  As she watched them being led away, a sense of fear came over her. She left the courtroom and returned home. When she told her uncle about the trial, he was shocked but said, “These matters are beyond us.”

  “I hope decency isn’t beyond us, Uncle Dalton.” This was the first time Gabby had spoken anything close to sharply to her uncle, and his eyes opened with surprise.

  “I’m going to do what I can. I’ve already written letters, but I will write more,” he said, trying to comfort his niece.

  Gabby did not answer, but from what she had observed of the rising Third Reich, she knew well what little effect the letters of one man who wasn’t even a German would have on Hitler’s loyal henchmen.

  When Erik called her the next day, she put him off. He begged her to meet him for coffee, but she simply said, “I have to work today.”

  “You mustn’t turn away from me,” he pleaded.

  Gabby’s only thought was, It’s probably the first time in his life that he has ever begged anyone for anything.

  “I’m sorry, Erik. I need a little time. I’m very disturbed about this whole situation.”

  But as the days passed, things did not get better. She did not see Erik again, and she had the suspicion that his parents had heard of her activities and had pressured him to stop seeing her. It hurt her deeply, for she had been falling in love with Erik. She knew it was happening, yet at the same time, she knew it would only bring misery to both of them. Their love was strong, but it was becoming apparent it might not survive their political differences. As to what she would do, she had no idea. Then her mind was made up when she received a call from an American newspaperman who had been acquainted with her stepmother. His name was Frank Templeton, and he called on a Thursday morning in November asking urgently to see her. She agreed, and at noon she met with him in a small café near her home. He was waiting for her at the door.

  “Hello, Dr. Winslow.”

  “Mr. Templeton.”

  “Just call me Frank.” He was a short man, not young. He had thinning gray hair, and his face was red from drinking too much the night before. “Here, I’ve got a table,” he said. “Sit down, please.”

  He ordered something to eat, and to be agreeable, Gabrielle ordered some soup. While they were waiting for the food, Templeton spoke of her stepmother. “She was the best newspaperwoman I ever knew. Better than any man. I still miss her.”

  “It’s kind of you to say that, Frank.” She leaned forward and asked, “Why did you want to see me? It wasn’t just to talk about my stepmother.”

  “No, not exactly, but in a way it is.” He hesitated and then grinned. “You’ll never believe this, but I wasn’t always a fat old slob. I was lean and mean back in the early days and very much in love with your stepmother.”

  She stared at him. “She spoke of you often, but I didn’t know you two—”

  “Oh, she never knew it. I wasn’t the marrying kind, and even if I had been, she did much better with your father. I met him several times. He was a great man.”

  “Thank you,” she said. She listened as Templeton continued to speak of how much he admired her parents, and then he said, “Look, you’ll say it’s none of my business, and it probably isn’t, but I came for the sake of your stepmother. I think you’d best get out of Germany.”

  Gabrielle grew absolutely still. “What have you heard?”

  “Rumors about your taking up for the Marx family. It’s made waves, especially since you’re tight with Erik Raeder. What about that? Are you two engaged?”

  “No!” Her retort was terse. “What is it that you want to say? Please just say it, Frank.”

  He put his elbows on the table and clasped his stubby hands together. “Things are going to get bad, I’m afraid. I got a tip from an inside source that something’s going to happen tonight.”

  “What’s going to happen? What are you talking about?”

  “It’s no secret how Hitler feels about the Jews. Your friends the Marxes are just the beginning. The crackdown’s going to begin tonight.”

  “I can’t believe it, and yet from what I’ve seen, I suppose I ought to.”

  “If you want to come with me tonight, what you see may convince you more than anything I could say.”

  Gabby lifted her head. “All right, Frank, I’ll go.”

  “It might be dangerous, Miss Winslow.”

  “I’ll go. What time shall we meet?”

  “Meet me here at six o’clock.”

  ****

  It was already dark by six o’clock when Gabby met Frank Templeton in front of the café. It was cold, and she was wearing a warm wool overcoat and gloves. Templeton got out of his car, muffled up to his ears also. “Can’t stand this cold weather,” he said. “I’d like to be back in Georgia, where I grew up. Believe me. They know how to have hot weather there.”

  “Where are we going?”

  “To the Jewish quarter. Come on.”

  Templeton apparently knew Berlin well. They drove in silence until he indicated they had arrived at their destination. When they got out of the car, he led her through the silent streets until he finally pulled her to a halt. “Wait a minute! You hear that?”

  Gabby had heard shouting and screams in the distance. “What is it?” she whispered.

  “I think it’s the beginning of Adolf Hitler’s war against the Jews. Come on.”r />
  They had not gone more than a hundred yards when suddenly Frank grabbed her arm. “Hold on.” He pulled her over into a shadow, and as Gabby looked down the street, she saw brown-shirted storm troopers breaking the windows of shops.

  “What are they doing?” she whispered in horror.

  “Those are Jewish shops,” he said tersely. They continued down the street, staying in the dark shadows as much as they could.

  That night Gabby and Templeton saw hundreds of homes and places of worship set on fire and ransacked. The men who looted and killed were mostly dressed in civilian clothes, but as Frank Templeton pointed out, many of them wore the boots normally worn with Nazi uniforms, and they drove Party cars.

  When they had seen more than Gabby could have ever imagined in her worst nightmares, Templeton said, “Let’s get you out of here. I’ve gotta try to get this story out of Germany. It won’t be easy.”

  Gabby sat in the car silently as Templeton drove her home. She was stunned by the brutality she had witnessed. She could not blot out the terrible scenes of the Jews, young and old, being beaten with truncheons, some of them killed.

  When Templeton stopped in front of her house, he said, “You need to get out of here. I’m afraid the violence is only going to get worse.”

  “What about you?”

  “It’s my job to tell America what I see. They’ll throw me out of Germany sooner or later, but it’s no place for a woman. Let me know if I can do anything for you.”

  “Thank you, Frank.”

  “I think about your stepmother a lot.”

  “I appreciate that,” she said. Gabby went into the house and found her uncle in the library. “I’ve got to talk to you, Uncle Dalton.”

  “Why, of course, dear.”

  “Where is Aunt Liza?”

  “Here I am, dear.” Liza came in and noticed Gabby’s pale face. “What is it?”

  Without sparing any of the gruesome details, Gabby told them of the horrors she had just seen. She gave them a moment to take it all in and then said, “I’m leaving Germany.”

  “Leaving Germany!” Dalton gasped. “Wherever will you go?”