by Jane Thynne
‘There are three surveillance teams looking for you. No one’s looking for me. I can take the first train out of Berlin. I can leave Germany tomorrow.’
‘No.’
‘When war comes Erich will be called up and I might never see him again. I have to see him before I leave. And then I will come straight away. You must trust me, Leo. You do trust me, don’t you? There’s no point in anything if you don’t.’
He cupped her face. Although his expression remained controlled, a tremor in his hands betrayed the depth of his emotion.
‘I do.’
‘And you believe I’m capable?’
‘That’s one thing about you that I have never doubted.’
She linked her fingers into his, as tightly as if they had been parachute jumpers planning to fling themselves into the cold unknown.
‘Go then.’
He walked along the bridge. She could see the soft glow of the car’s gauges and the gleam of the leather inside. But whether Conrad Adler saw her, as the door opened and Leo got inside, it was impossible to tell. She stood watching, until the car’s lights dimmed into the distance and finally faded from sight.
Author’s Note
No event was more central to the outbreak of World War II than the Nazi-Soviet Pact. Signed on August 23rd, 1939, it was an enormous coup for Hitler, turning Germany’s greatest foe into an ally overnight and avoiding the danger of a war along the eastern borders of the Reich. Leni Riefenstahl records how she was present at the film evening at the Chancellery when Hitler’s remarks about Stalin gave the first inkling of his intentions.
The Sonderfahndungsliste G.B., the Gestapo ‘Special Search List for Great Britain, was designed to be given to every soldier. It was a Who’s Who of the British establishment with details of more than two thousand people, complete with photographs, home addresses and private hobbies. It also probed every facet of British life, from political parties, police forces and secret services to newspapers, radio stations and trade unions.
The Rote Kapelle, the Red Orchestra, was a network of seven resistance groups with more than one hundred and fifty members, including the fortune teller Annie Krauss. They sheltered Jews and Communists and provided forged papers for those attempting to flee. More than a hundred and twenty members of the Berlin group were arrested in 1942 and sentenced to death.
Alois, the half brother of Adolf Hitler, ran a restaurant at 3, Wittenbergplatz for many years. He was approached anonymously by the Rote Kapelle with an invitation to join them and circulate a typed flyer denouncing the Nazis’ culture of lies. Instead he handed over the note to the Gestapo, and the leaders were ultimately arrested and executed.
Albert Goering, brother of Hermann Goering, took a different approach. The SS kept a file on him and he was declared a ‘Public Enemy of the Reich’ but Hermann rescinded the arrest warrant. When he was arrested at the end of the war, Albert secured a speedy release by producing a list of thirty-four key figures who would testify to the numerous Jews he had helped. He refused to change his name after the war and died impoverished.
Magda Goebbels’ affair with Karl Hanke came to an end when he volunteered for military service. When The Journey to Tilsen was launched in November 1939 in Berlin, Magda ostentatiously walked out of the premiere.
A large amount of the ‘degenerate art’ seized by the Nazis went missing but in 2013 a celebrated haul was discovered in the Munich apartment of Cornelius Gurlitt, whose father Hildebrand Gurlitt had privately amassed more than a thousand works by painters including Matisse, Chagall, Beckmann, Nolde and Picasso while he worked for the Nazis.
Elsa Neuländer-Simon, also known as Yva, was a celebrated fashion photographer in Berlin and gave Helmut Newton his first apprenticeship. She and her husband were deported to the Majdanek concentration camp and murdered in 1942.
Leni Riefenstahl abandoned her film Germania on the outbreak of war.
Acknowledgments
Behind the name on the title page, there are many people involved in the appearance of a novel, and I would like to say a huge thank you to them. I am truly grateful to my agent, Caradoc King, for his early encouragement for the adventures of Clara Vine, and to everyone at United Agents. Thank you also to my superb editor, Suzanne Baboneau, and the team at Simon & Schuster UK – Ian Chapman, Clare Hey, Hannah Corbett, Isabel Prodger, Elinor Fewster and Rik Ubhi – to name but a few. I am thankful to many magnificent booksellers I have met around the UK, including all at Hatchards, Wimbledon Books and the energetic Colin Field of Waterstones.
In particular I want to thank John Carey, writer, critic, wit and beloved uncle, for whose inspiration and encouragement I am always grateful.
