There was an arrogance to everything the German did, as if he was in charge and everyone else conformed to his will. He knew that Frederic would not dare shoot him. Not just because of the trouble he would find himself in with the German authorities, but because a man of honour would not shoot an unarmed man. But behind it all Jack could also feel an uneasiness, as if the man was not as sure of himself as he was trying to appear. It was as if he was trying to prove a point to himself as well as Frederic.
‘So,’ he continued, raising his arms in a gesture of surrender, palms facing out above his head. ‘Shoot!’
Frederic looked down at the weapon in his hands, and Jack could only guess at the emotions running through his head as he pointed the pistol at the German’s forehead. Jack didn’t know what was going to happen next, but all he could think about was Frederic pulling the trigger. Would Jack be labelled an accomplice and punished? He wouldn’t be able to protect Johanna, and that thought filled him with dread. It would no doubt mean a firing squad for both of them. Apparently coming to the same conclusion, Frederic sighed a deep sigh and handed the weapon back to the German. The air changed as if a storm had suddenly cleared, and Jack realised he had been holding his breath.
‘You see,’ the German said, wiping the rain from his face. The arrogance dropped from him like the water from the sky, his point made. ‘You do not want to shoot me, nor do I want to shoot you.’
He returned his pistol to its holster, taking care to make sure that it was safe, then held out his hand again for Frederic. ‘I don’t want to be here,’ he admitted. ‘I am a farmer, like you. I would rather be back on my own land than here on your island.’
Frederic shook his hand, albeit reluctantly. They would all have to get used to the changes.
‘Let me help you with the swine.’ The German rolled up the sleeves of his uniform and knelt in the dirt where Frederic had been before. It was the first time that Jack had seen any of them abuse their uniform like that.
They set to helping the sow together, spending the next hour or so in silence. They had done enough talking for one day and it was as if they had said everything they could possibly say. It was awkward at first, at least for Jack, but after a while he returned to what he had been doing before, leaving them to handle the birth of the piglets.
When everything was finished, Jack caught the German washing his arms. ‘You will have to register the birth with the authorities,’ he said to Frederic. ‘I can do that for you.’
The implication was clear: there would be no way that the farmer could lie about the number of pigs that he had. The Germans would know everything. Again Jack thought of Henry, wondering where he was on the island. By now the game would be up, and he should have handed himself in, but Jack had a feeling Henry would spend as much time with his parents as possible before leaving. Jack hoped that his friend would be all right, but he knew it would be hopeless.
Chapter 12
21 October 1940
‘What have you got there?’ Jack asked as he pushed his way into the small room. There was a faint smell of damp in Johanna’s small flat above a shop on the High Street, and the windows had picked up dirty condensation again. He had often thought about Johanna moving into his home, but neither she nor his mother would hear anything of it, and he had yet to find a satisfactory solution. Whatever happened, Johanna couldn’t go on living like this. She was holding a metal tin between her hands, with the Niederegger Marzipan logo stencilled across it. As he looked on, she pushed it under the frame of her bed, then looked up at him with a smile.
‘Just a collection of memories. Some photos of my family,’ she said. ‘You startled me.’
He wondered what it was that she appeared to be hiding from him, but he respected her enough to leave it be. If it was important, she would tell him in time.
‘I didn’t know you were coming.’
‘I thought I would surprise you,’ he replied, reaching down to unlace his boots. Despite the poorness of the room, he knew that she didn’t like people entering with their shoes on and walking more dirt into the place. He placed them outside the door and closed it, leaving the two of them alone in the flat. It wasn’t appropriate for them to be alone, but he didn’t care. ‘I wanted to see you.’
She moved along to the head of the bed so that he could sit next to her.
‘They’ve ordered all German citizens to report to the authorities,’ she said. Her voice was hollow.
‘I know,’ he replied, feeling stupid that he didn’t have anything else to say. ‘It’s why I came.’
‘They intend to do away with us, Jack. They hate us.’ Her body rocked with a sob, but she immediately regained her composure. Jack sighed, letting out a breath he didn’t know he had been holding. He wanted to reach out to her.
‘It’s just a record – all they want is for you to register. It doesn’t mean you will come to any harm. They can’t just “do away” with you. We wouldn’t let them.’
She placed a hand against his cheek, turning to look into his eyes. He could see the fierce intelligence burning there, part of what had attracted him to her in the first place.
‘You’re so naive, Jack,’ she said and even the burr of the way she said his name did not comfort him. ‘I don’t mean that unkindly. Would that I could live in your world, to have no fear. It’s not registering as German that I’m afraid of, but them finding out I am Jewish.’
She took her hand away and his cheek felt suddenly cold. ‘I am not like you. Since I was a child my life has been filled with fear. From the day I understood what death meant I knew with certainty that it would come for me one day. What am I going to do?’
He had been thinking about that question on the way over to her flat. He wanted to help, but he also didn’t want to give her false hope. Only Johanna knew with any certainty what the Nazis were capable of. ‘If they ask, tell them you’re a Christian’
Her head shot up. ‘I should lie?’
‘Not a lie. You’re not exactly practising, but saying you are Christian may help alleviate any suspicion. We can make it look true. And if a lie keeps them away from you, then why not? And it might be best to keep your distance from Susanne, for the sake of both of you.’
He liked lying even less than she did, but for once it was worth it.
‘I suppose you’re right,’ she said. ‘But in the long run, I don’t think it will be enough. What if they look into my background, my parents?’
‘We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. Germany is a long way away; information like that may never make its way here.’
She dropped her head into her hands. ‘I’ll think about it,’ she said. ‘For now I have to go to work.’
It was his turn to put his hand to her cheek and she placed her hand over it. ‘Be careful,’ he said. ‘Do what you need to do to be safe.’
*
They left the flat together, hand in hand because they couldn’t bear to be apart, not even for a moment. Eventually Johanna had to walk one way and Jack another. They reluctantly let go of each other’s hands. They had decided it was best to keep apart until Johanna had registered.
As he passed a doorway a man stepped out in front of him. Jack sidestepped to walk around him, putting a thumb and forefinger to his hat in apology, but the other man stepped into his path.
‘Excuse me,’ Jack said and tried again, but the other man wouldn’t be moved.
‘Wait,’ he said, in a clipped manner.
Jack looked at the man properly for the first time, wondering if they had shared a conversation before. He was vaguely familiar as one of the German cohort that had come over to Guernsey and worked in the kommandant’s offices. Jack had seen him at various meetings, but had never spoken to him. He didn’t even know his name. It was clear that the German wanted something from him, but his body language was not threatening. He stood with both hands in his pockets, and a slight smile played across his face. He was tall like many of the Germans and had closely croppe
d light brown hair. It was unusual to see one of them out of uniform, and it struck Jack that this man looked totally at ease in civilian clothes, and somehow normal. It was sobering to acknowledge that, beneath all the bluster, the regimentation and everything else, these men were human just like Jack and the other Islanders.
‘That woman,’ he said. ‘The German nurse from the hospital.’ It was somewhere between a question and a statement. His English was good, better than most of the Germans. It lacked the usual harsh consonants, as if he had tried to work on his pronunciation.
‘The two of you are close?’ he asked, nodding as though he had answered his own question.
It wasn’t a secret that he and Johanna were a couple, but even in these modern times it was not considered appropriate for a man and woman to be seen together unless they had made some formal arrangement. Who knew what the Germans thought of such things? Given how they were about everything else, Jack suspected that they wouldn’t be any more tolerant of young love.
‘That depends on how you mean,’ Jack said, already regretting his choice of words. His casual attempt to deflect the issue may well backfire. The German watched him through narrowed eyes. It was clearly not what he had been expecting Jack to say.
‘We’re a long way from my home,’ he said, ignoring Jack’s response. ‘But that does not mean we are any safer here.’
*
‘The Germans want the Royal Court to register a new law.’ The chief looked at the paper, adjusting his glasses and wiggling his nose as he read. Apparently he needed new glasses. ‘The new law would require … blast it,’ he said, raising his voice for the first time in the conversation. He took his glasses from his nose and looked at them from the other side as if that would help his ability to see. ‘These damned things.’
He handed the sheet of paper to a sergeant. ‘You read it. I lost my good pair last week, and my optician evacuated with the others.’
The other man hesitated, looking between the brief in his hand and the chief. ‘Err, sir, it says that they are introducing a law in all German-occupied territories, to bring it in line with the Reich.’
‘To do what?’
He hesitated again. ‘They say that all Jewish shops must be clearly identified as such in English, German, and French.’
‘How can they ask us to do that? What’s it got to do with us?’
‘The kommandant is keen to uphold the laws of the Reich. They will come down on us just as hard as the civilians if we’re found not to be following their new laws. It says here that he is keen on better integration between our peoples.’
‘How is this better integration?’ Sergeant Honfleur asked.
No one had an answer. The chief looked at them all. ‘That’s enough of that talkback,’ he said. ‘They expect us to enforce these laws and make sure that they are followed. They have also asked whether we have a list of Jews on the island?’
Jack’s heart dropped when he heard those words, and he clenched his fists to stop himself from making it obvious.
‘No, sir,’ someone answered. Jack didn’t catch who. ‘But we can see about making one.’
‘All right,’ the chief said, scratching his temple. ‘Make a list and then I will personally see what their situation is. Better than letting the Germans do it. PC Godwin, I want you to attend Grange Lodge; they’ve asked for someone. Everyone else, back to work.’
Jack was suddenly thankful for the chance of some fresh air. He wanted to be as far away from them as possible, to keep Johanna safe, but no matter what he did he kept ending up under the Germans’ watchful gaze. He inwardly cursed his luck.
When he attended to them at Grange Lodge, the soldier on duty pushed a ledger in his direction without so much as a hello. He told Jack to take down all the details of the German residents who were in attendance and then left him to it. It was a responsibility he didn’t want, but what else could he do? He knew Johanna would be there, and he didn’t know whether to acknowledge her presence or treat her like any of the others. His thoughts raced, and as the German residents of the island queued up in front of him, he listened only enough to note down what was needed, even when Susanne passed by him, and went on to the next.
Then came a face he recognised well, and his heart raced. Johanna stood there, the faint approximation of a smile on her face that he knew was put on. He wouldn’t show outwardly that he knew her, or treat her any different, but he hoped she heeded his earlier warning. She pushed the recognition from her face as she took the pen and muttered a ‘thank you’ in that accent of hers that had originally drawn him to her. In her long flowing script she wrote her name on the register. She glanced up at him before she filled out the rest of the details, and he gave her a shallow nod, hoping that no one would notice. Next to her name she wrote the word ‘Christian’.
*
‘These are the names of people we think are Jewish. Once the inspector has it, he will conduct interviews with them.’
William passed Jack the list of names, and his heart dropped into his stomach. He had no idea that the island’s records were so thorough. People generally came and went freely and before the occupation the harbour had been awash with activity, fishing, import and export. He supposed it only stood to reason that someone would keep a record of everything that was coming or going. It wasn’t much of a leap to go from that to keeping a check on all the people living on the island. He knew the government took a census from time to time, but that was kept in London and they had no way of accessing it now. Jack wondered why the States of Guernsey had agreed to help with this, but they must not have had much choice – none of them did.
He carried the file over to a desk, took a deep breath, then flicked through the list. He was looking for one name, only one name. It wasn’t long until he found it: ‘BRASCH, JOHANNA’. He stopped and almost pushed the sheet aside. He couldn’t bear it. This was his chance to do something. Jack looked around to see if he was truly alone. William had gone back to his own paperwork and the only other policemen in the office were busy themselves. It would go badly for him if he was caught. He couldn’t trust them any more than he could trust the Germans. Not as far as Johanna was concerned.
He slipped a piece of paper out of the file and lay it next to a blank one. In the few years he had been in the police force he had seen almost every piece of handwriting and could make a decent copy of the clerk sergeant’s lazy scribble. Without a pause, he set to copying out the list of names, making sure that one was missing. Susanne’s name was also on the list and he thought about striking her out as well, but the more he changed the more dangerous it would be for Johanna and him. He then crumpled the paper into his pocket, safe in the knowledge that he had at least slowed things down. He would burn that list later.
The inspector stormed into the office, and Jack hastily thrust his copied sheet back into the folder. He was followed by Sergeant Honfleur pulling a prisoner. For the second time in as many hours, Jack had to clench his jaw to control his emotions. Henry was wearing a khaki uniform, but it was unmistakably him. Jack tried to make eye contact, but his friend was smart enough to avoid it.
The inspector turned to William. ‘Make a note in the occurrence book. British POW has surrendered to Guernsey Police. Will be processed and placed in the prison for the German authorities.’
Chapter 13
11 November 1940
‘How well do you know Henry Le Page, Mr Godwin?’
The question came again. The German police had rounded up all of Henry’s family and friends, placing them in prison. Jack had initially thought that his time was up, but then the questions had come again and again and he had started to realise how little the Germans knew. The outside storm racked the building, giving the proceedings an oppressive air.
‘That’s Constable Godwin,’ he replied, trying to inject some steel into his own voice and show that he was not afraid. They had been questioning him for a few days now. Each time a different German officer had spoken to him,
asking the same questions, and getting the same replies. The man sitting opposite Jack was one of the German secret police officers he had seen at the states offices when he had been speaking to Beth. He sat up straight in his chair, angular jaw jutting out. He had tried to be stern with Jack, continuing to stare at him until he answered. Jack hesitated, but not for long enough to make the German suspicious.
‘We went to school together,’ he said, trying to be as general as possible. He had said this all before and it would be on record. There was nothing new to tell them. The Germans knew that everyone practically knew everyone else, and if they were the same age then they very likely would have gone to school together, but that didn’t mean that they were friends. The German looked at his notes and hummed to himself.
‘But how well do you know, Mr Le Page?’ he asked again, determined to get a more thorough answer from Jack. As a policeman Jack was familiar with the technique.
‘No better than I know anyone on the island,’ he said. ‘As a policeman I meet most of them at least once a week, as I’m sure you can understand. He and I socialised in different circles, if that’s what you mean? He had his interests and I have mine.’
At least that much was true. The two of them were still good friends, but they had drifted further apart as adults. Henry had joined the Guernsey militia, while Jack kept away from it. As a policeman, he didn’t want a conflict of interests.
‘So you would say that you had no idea that Mr Le Page was back on the island?’
This time Jack didn’t hesitate. ‘No, absolutely not. If I had known, then I would have reported it to my superiors in the police force.’
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