The Girl from Berlin, #1

by Ellie Midwood

  “I swear.”

  “I’m the Reich’s most terrible fencer.”

  I expected anything but that and couldn’t help but burst into laughter. He was the Reich’s best comedian, that’s for sure. Absorbed in yet another laughing fit, we didn’t even notice when Gruppenführer Heydrich and my husband approached us.

  “What did I tell you, Friedmann? Our celebrated leader of the Austrian SS at his best, trying to seduce your wife.”

  Heydrich’s smug expression was immediately met by Dr. Kaltenbrunner’s sarcastic smile.

  “It’s not my fault that you got her so bored with your never-ending speeches that she had to find better company, Gruppenführer Heydrich. Somebody has to take care of the lady.”

  “If you paid more attention to the politics instead of the ladies, you would have long been in the office in Berlin, Gruppenführer Kaltenbrunner.”

  “And if you paid at least some attention to your wife instead of politics, you wouldn’t have been facing a divorce right now.”

  That was a very low move, but Gruppenführer Kaltenbrunner definitely didn’t like anyone messing with him. The two were staring at each other like two dogs, ready to tear each other apart. Heinrich was certainly not in a position to do anything, so I did the only thing I could in this situation. I put my hand on top of Dr. Kaltenbrunner’s, at the same time addressing Gruppenführer Heydrich.

  “Herr Gruppenführer, Dr. Kaltenbrunner was just making sure that no one bothered me at the bar. I’m almost the only German girl in the whole hotel, and he was keeping an eye on me for my husband, who you plain out stole from me for the whole evening.”

  Gruppenführer Kaltenbrunner chuckled and shook his head at me. “Don’t try to flirt with him, he wouldn’t get it anyway.”

  I barely suppressed my laughter and decided to leave before he said something worse. Neither me, nor Heinrich, wanted to be in the middle of this war.

  “Thank you for a wonderful time, Herr Gruppenführer. I really appreciate you keeping me company.”

  “Always my pleasure, Frau Friedmann.”

  With these words Dr. Kaltenbrunner kissed my hand and gave it to Heinrich, as if handing me directly to my husband.

  “Standartenführer Friedmann, please, do me a favor, take your beautiful wife back to your room before your boss starts talking again.”

  Heydrich, who was almost fuming at this point, squinted his piercing blue eyes at the sarcastic Austrian and said, before leaving, “You should really mind your drinking, Gruppenführer Kaltenbrunner. Reichsführer doesn’t approve of it, and neither does the Führer. I can definitely see why.”

  He obviously hoped that the last word would be his, but it didn’t happen.

  “When I need your opinion on that matter, I will have my adjutant call you so we can discuss it in detail. But until that happens, you can shove it, I’m not going to say where, because I want to spare Frau Friedmann’s gentle ears.”

  Gruppenführer Heydrich, obviously understanding that he was not going to win this one, just pursed his lips and, ignoring his opponent’s last comment, proceeded to the exit. Heinrich saluted Dr. Kaltenbrunner, and I, still trying not to laugh out loud, gave him a wave goodbye and followed my husband out.

  I was hoping that we wouldn’t be anywhere near Gruppenführer Heydrich, but unfortunately in a minute we found ourselves in the same elevator with the annoyed general.

  “Did you hear that, Friedmann? What a drunken moron! A typical Austrian half-breed commoner. And Reichsführer appointed him to run the country? A Jew would be a better candidate!”

  Heinrich politely chuckled, but didn’t say anything.

  “Next time he pesters you again, Frau Friedmann, just walk away, don’t be afraid, he won’t bother you.” Before I could interject that Gruppenführer Kaltenbrunner wasn’t bothering me at all, Heydrich already addressed my husband. “Don’t leave your wife alone with that man, Friedmann. He needs to have his mouth washed with soap several times before he can talk to a lady.”

  I thought that I would much rather listen to Dr. Kaltenbrunner than to Heydrich’s anti-Semitic propaganda, but of course didn’t say it out loud. I thanked God that it was our floor, but as Heinrich’s boss followed us, I realized that it was also his floor. It looked like he just wouldn’t leave us alone!

  “By the way, Friedmann, since you take your wife everywhere with you anyway, why don’t you let her work in the office?”

  Heinrich obviously didn’t look ecstatic about his boss’s idea and politely replied, “She already has a job, Herr Gruppenführer. She’s a dancer in one of the ballet companies in Berlin.”

  “That’s not a real job, Friedmann. Now that we’re in the middle of the war we need all our citizens working for the victory of the Reich. And she would make a great secretary. Or even a radio operator, we always need them.”

  “Oh, that would be great! I always wanted to be a radio operator!” I excitedly exclaimed, before Heinrich could say something.

  “See? She wants to work with us in SD. Great, Frau Friedmann, as soon as we’re back in Berlin I’ll have you enlisted in the SS. Goodnight, Standartenführer. Frau Friedmann.”

  Heydrich nodded at me and strolled down the hallway to his room. I remembered how Gruppenführer Kaltenbrunner said that Heydrich always walked so funny because of the stick up his ass and suppressed yet another laugh. Heinrich, however, was staring at me hard and my laughing mood soon disappeared.

  “What? Am I in trouble?”

  “Why on earth would you agree to that?”

  “Heinrich, it’s perfect. As a secretary or a radio operator I’ll have the easiest access to all the papers and orders that need to be signed or forwarded all the way to the very top.”

  “And also the easiest way to incriminate yourself. Don’t you think they can realize where the leak will be coming from?”

  “I’ll have to be very careful then.”

  “You’re opening such a can of worms, Annalise, you don’t even realize.”

  “Well, let’s go to our room and you can explain it to me in detail.”

  Heinrich smirked, but gladly opened the door for me. He knew what I implied under “explanation” and didn’t have to be asked twice.

  “I’m going to Berlin right after you do.”

  “No, you aren’t, Adam, you’re staying here in Paris, and that’s the end of it!” I whispered as emphatically as I could; after all we were in church and I couldn’t actually yell at him.

  “You just said it yourself, you’ll need an operator in Berlin and I can be the one.”

  “No, too many people know you in Berlin, if someone recognizes you all your fake papers won’t mean anything.”

  “No one will recognize me! Even you didn’t! And besides, I’ll be useless here, I speak French with a terrible accent, there are more chances that the Gestapo will get me here than back at home.”

  He did have a point there, but I was still hesitant about the whole idea.

  “What about your superiors? Do you think they’ll just transfer you like that?”

  “I already contacted them, and it’s a ‘go.’ A great idea, they actually said.”

  I knew that despite his soft nature, Adam had one certain trait: he could be very stubborn when he would set his mind on something. That’s exactly how he persuaded his father, Dr. Kramer, to let him become a dancer instead of following his footsteps into medicine. I had to give it to the American Secret Service, they were taking very good care not only of their agents, but also of their family members. I couldn’t be happier when Adam told me that his father was already assisting a doctor in one of the New York’s Jewish hospitals while learning enough English to become an independent specialist. The American Intelligence were gladly taking care of all of Dr. Kramer’s needs, while his only son was risking his life on the other side of the ocean. To Adam, at least, it sounded like a fair deal.

  “All right then. I guess you’ve made up your mind and no matter what I say won’t
make you change it.”

  “You guess right.” He smiled at me.

  I sighed and shook my head but there was nothing I could do. I finally realized how Heinrich must have felt when I decided to get involved in espionage and the other illegal activities. And that’s why I knew that I had no right to try and stop Adam from doing the same thing.

  I looked around just in case and, seeing just regular people whispering prayers to themselves several benches away from us, opened my purse and handed Adam a little wrap that I brought with me. It was one of the SD border stamps, the new one, for the newly occupied French territories, the one that Heinrich plain out stole from the table of one of the officers while inspecting it. After I asked him if it was a risky thing to do, he just smiled and shrugged: who’s going to suspect their superior of embezzling state’s property? The only consequences would be that the unfortunate officer’s adjutant would get a reprimand for being inattentive to the office supplies, but the case probably wouldn’t even be investigated; anything could happen in the chaos of setting up a new office.

  “Here, take it to the Resistance leaders before you go.”

  “How did you get it?”

  “Not important. Just take it.”

  Adam quickly hid the wrap in his inner pocket.

  “Thank you.”

  “Thank Heinrich, not me.”

  “They’re already transporting some of the Parisian Jews to Germany, so this will really help the ones who haven’t been arrested yet.”

  “I know. I hope it will. Did you meet any of them?”

  “Some people. They’re all in hiding. Thank God the French are being very supportive and take them in, unlike our fellow Germans.”

  “Because they haven’t dealt with our Gestapo yet. Here, take these too.”

  I took off my diamond earrings, two rings, leaving only my wedding and engagement ones and a heavy golden necklace. Adam’s brow furrowed when I wrapped all the jewelry in a handkerchief and put it in his pocket.

  “Sell it and give the money to the people who might need it, will you?”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes, of course I am. I couldn’t bring the actual cash, it would be sticking out of your pocket and look suspicious. This is much easier to hide.”

  “I mean… it’s your jewelry.”

  “It’s just stones and metal, Adam. If it’ll buy some bread for someone, I’ll be very happy.”

  “I’ll make sure it will.”

  “Good. And now let’s pray.”

  I knelt and crossed my fingers under my chin. Adam remained rigid in his place, probably still feeling very uncomfortable in the Catholic Church. I for one didn’t care in which house of God I prayed, I just hoped that He will answer my prayers.

  I was nervously tapping my foot on the floor. Heinrich was on the phone with the Berlin supervisor of the transportation for twenty minutes already. Our train was leaving in just half an hour, and the time was quickly running out.

  “Wilhelm, you’re my longtime friend. Have I ever done anything to harm you? I understand that the situation is very unusual, but think about it: they’re sending all these absolutely healthy people right to Dachau, and we both know what it means. It’s ridiculous. I know. Yes. Just because Heydrich wants every single Jew dead, that’s why. We’re sitting on some big money here, don’t you understand? If we send them to Gustav’s ammunition factory instead of Dachau, all the profit from their work will settle in our pockets, don’t you see? Jews don’t get paid, the SS does! These people can work, you didn’t see them, and I have! They’re on the other track, right next to me. They’re not walking skeletons like the German ones, this is really a waste! I can’t look at it, it’s as good as throwing money away, but Heydrich wouldn’t listen. You’re not risking, I’m risking. Under my sole responsibility, all right? Do it for me, please. I’ll pay you cash, for every single one of them. And after I sell them to Gustav, I’ll make sure that half of the profit from each worker will be yours. Don’t worry about the paperwork, I’ll be in Berlin by Wednesday and will sign whatever you need me to, just please, make a call and send them to Gustav. I don’t care if the Kommandant will be upset, tell him to call me directly. I’ll deal with it when I’m back in Berlin. I promise, Wilhelm, I give you my Officer’s word, you won’t get in any trouble. My full responsibility. Yes. Absolutely. Thank you. I’ll stop by as soon as I’m in Berlin. And I’ll bring you all the money, right away. Yes. Thank you again. Please, do it right now. I want to see that train leave before mine does. Thank you, Wilhelm, I appreciate it. I owe you one.”

  Heinrich finally hung up and gave me a victorious smile. It was only two of us in the Paris train station staff room, and he couldn’t contain his emotions.

  “We did it, sweetie. It cost us a small fortune, but at least now these people will have a chance.”

  I gave him a tight hug. Heinrich had just pulled off a very dangerous maneuver by asking a very corrupt supervisor of the transportation in Berlin to reroute a train with French Jews, which was supposed to be heading right to one of Germany’s worst concentration camps, Dachau. After we saw all those people boarding the train, who, we both knew, wouldn’t live longer than several months if not exterminated upon arrival, Heinrich shook his head and said that he would be damned if he didn’t get them all out.

  The only way he could do it was to make a call to the “friend,” who loved money more than the ideals of the Reich, and nicely ask him for a very well-paid favor. The “friend” didn’t need to see the real motives behind Heinrich’s request, which was to send the French Jews to one of the working factories, where the food portions were three times bigger than in Dachau and the work itself was not as exhausting. They could live in fairly normal apartment buildings in a ghetto nearby instead of Dachau’s stuffed barracks; they could survive. But the transportation supervisor only needed to know that he’d be making fifty percent of the profit from each worker, and it was enough to persuade him to break a couple of rules, especially when Heinrich took all the responsibility, in case somebody at the top got upset with the situation.

  “It doesn’t matter, Heinrich. It’s just money.”

  “Money can buy lives now; can you imagine? It’s like we’re in medieval times again.”

  “We are in medieval times. We have an Emperor, we have slaves and even our own inquisition – the Gestapo.”

  Heinrich just shook his head and opened the door for me.

  “Let’s go back to the platform. I want to make sure they leave with no problem.”

  In fifteen minutes, when both the conductor of the “Jewish” train and the officer with the list were scratching their heads at a loss and cursing out the Berlin authorities who “can’t seem to make up their minds,” Heinrich winked at me. I smiled back at him. We did it.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Berlin, May 1941

  * * *

  I rubbed my eyes in the hope that the stinging would stop, but it didn’t. After a nineteen hour working day the rubbing wouldn’t do anything. I looked at Barbara, another SS-Helferin radio operator, who seemed to be as exhausted as I was. There was only two of us left in the radio room, after Gruppenführer Heydrich let the rest of the personnel go home. Barbara volunteered to stay because she was desperately trying to get the approval of her superiors. I stayed because I needed to make sure that our latest operation was a success.

  The commanding staff, still in their offices despite the late night hour, were dreading the message we were about to get. I was praying to God that the news would be confirmed. And finally He heard my prayers. I could hardly conceal a smile when I personally delivered the decoded message written on a little note to Gruppenführer Heydrich’s adjutant. “Operation failed. U-110 is captured. The load is intercepted. Connection is compromised.”

  As Heydrich’s adjutant rushed to pass the message to Gruppenführer, I, for the first time, heard the latter lose his cool and curse out all the British Navy, their mothers, sisters, and all of
their other female relatives. I walked out of the anteroom smiling. The past several months’ work had paid off, and paid off big time: “the load,” which was intercepted by the British Navy from our submarine U-110, was a priceless possession of the Reich, the latest, transformed cryptography machine called Enigma. Enigma was first introduced during the Great War and even broken and reverse-engineered by Polish cryptologists almost ten years ago. But this one was a reinvented one, with added complexity and never seen before mechanisms, and the codes created on this newest model were considered unbreakable. But now, thanks to the joint effort of the British intelligence and our team here in Berlin, consisting of Ingrid, Heinrich, Rudolf (Ingrid’s undercover “husband”) and me, Enigma fell into the hands of the Allies.

  “Unheard of! This is a complete disaster!” Even in the hallway I could hear Heydrich’s voice. “Why didn’t they destroy the submarine when they knew they were getting captured?!”

  I stopped for a second to prolong my victorious moment a little longer and to later tell Heinrich about Gruppenführer Heydrich’s anger fit. He would certainly like to hear that. Meanwhile the adjutant mumbled something I couldn’t quite make out because I was too far away, but whatever he said made the Chief of SD explode.

  “What the hell does it matter if they didn’t want to die because of ‘a little box?!’ They should have been ready to do that! That little box was worth more than all of their miserable lives put together!!! I hope that the Brits will kill them all, the traitors of the Reich! Their feet better not step on our Fatherland’s ground ever again, I will personally order their execution, and their families too!!! Cowardly bastards!”

  I realized that Gruppenführer wasn’t going to stop yelling any time soon and walked back to the radio room, where Barbara was waiting in anticipation.

  “Well? What did he say? Was he mad? He was mad, right?”

  “Mad is not the correct word to describe his current state, Barbara.” I shook my head. “Furious and spitting fire is more like it. Right now he’s busy yelling at his poor adjutant.”