The Last Safe Place

Chapter 1

Knut was deep in thought as he climbed back behind the wheel of the car he had borrowed from the Abwehr fleet. Less than an hour ago he had dropped his sister Edith and her Jewish husband Julius Falkenstein at Anhalter train station.

It had taken months for the couple to finally gather all the permits needed to leave Germany.

However, his relief that they were escaping Nazi persecution was mixed with shame at his own inaction.

Even though Edith and her husband would soon be safe in Switzerland, there were countless other persecuted people who wouldn’t be so lucky.

As an Abwehr officer, he was a part of Hitler’s vile regime, and despite his increasing political qualms, he had never rebelled against the government or any of its appalling decrees. That ended now. From this moment on, Knut would find a way to resist, even if he didn’t yet know how.

Mechanically, he drove the familiar route back to the Bendlerblock.

On the journey he went through all the known critics of the regime in his mind, searching for one he could turn to.

Finally, a striking face came to mind. He tried to remember the name…

something beginning with D… An unusual name… But it wouldn’t come to him.

Finally, as he handed the car back to the fleet manager, he remembered: Hans von Dohnanyi.

It was an open secret that he disapproved of the Nazis’ racial policies.

But Dohnanyi, a native of Vienna, clearly had influential connections: despite his exile in 1938 due to his political leanings, he had been appointed to the Abwehr’s foreign branch shortly before the beginning of the war, where he had quickly become Hans Oster’s right-hand man.

He was exactly the man who might help Knut, or rather, to whom Knut could offer his support. After a quick glance at the clock, he realized it was still early enough to find Dohnanyi in his office. Putting his decision into action, Knut walked the long corridors until he came to Dohnanyi’s door.

His heart was in his mouth; before he could change his mind, he knocked on the door.

“Come in,” came the answer.

Knut opened the door to reveal a man with an impeccable side parting and rounded glasses that lent him a learned air. “Herr von Dohnanyi?”

“What can I do for you, Lieutenant?”

“Hesse. Lieutenant Hesse.” Knut closed the door behind him, shoving his hands into his pockets as he searched for a way to broach the subject he wished to discuss.

Perhaps it would have been better to wait until the following day; he could have thought more carefully about what exactly he wanted to say.

“I… I… well, my brother-in-law is Jewish. He left the country today and—” He broke off mid-sentence with a flush of realization, as he remembered the Gestapo might easily have planted bugs in Dohnanyi’s office.

Dohnanyi gazed at him for a few seconds, then unplugged the phone from the wall. “Go ahead, no one can hear us. Why have you come to me?”

A hundred-pound weight lifted from Knut’s heart. “You have a certain reputation.”

“Hmm, so it would seem. And yourself?”

“To my shame, I haven’t offered any resistance yet.”

“That can change. But you will understand I must make inquiries about you first?”

“Of course.” An apprehensive feeling began to creep over Knut: this was too easy. “However, I must warn you: my brother is Sturmbannführer Joseph Hesse, he is a direct subordinate of Reinhard Heydrich and is one hundred percent supportive of Hitler’s racial ideology.”

“Despite a sister married to a Jew?”

Knut nodded. “Yes, unfortunately. Thanks to pressure from him, my entire family has broken off contact with her.”

At that moment, there came a knock at the door. Glancing briefly at Knut, Dohnanyi replied, “Come in.”

The door opened, and Knut caught his breath as he recognized the dark blond head that appeared. Bernd Rubens. They had been on deployment together the previous year.

Bernd’s warm brown eyes flashed in delight as he shook his hand. “What a surprise to see you here!”

“The pleasure is all mine.” It wasn’t just an empty phrase. Knut had fallen in love with this handsome young man the instant they first met – although, naturally, he dared not hope his feelings would be returned.

“You know one another?” Dohnanyi’s voice brought Knut back to the present.

“Yes, sir.” While Dohnanyi was a civilian, his rank in the Abwehr was higher than Knut’s.

“We worked together on the preparations for Operation Barbarossa,” Bernd explained. He looked at Knut and added, “I was transferred to Berlin just last week, to Herr von Dohnanyi’s office.”

“It’s a good thing you’re here. Please close the door.” Dohnanyi waited until Bernd had done so. “Lieutenant Hesse would like to join the resistance.”

“Fantastic!” Bernd’s eyes lit up.

“You’re part of it too?” Knut hadn’t expected this; his head was spinning.

Bernd answered with a brief nod.

“Since when?”

“Shortly after Operation Barbarossa. The invasion of the Soviet Union finally opened my eyes. A man who betrays his most important ally is capable of anything.” Bernd frowned. “Unfortunately, my worst fears have proven to be true.”

Dohnanyi took control of the conversation again. “I’ll talk to your superior officer. You’ll be hearing from me, Lieutenant Hesse.”

“Thank you.” Knut was determined to prove to this man that he was trustworthy.

“I am at your service. You can rely on me.” He turned and left the office, but couldn’t resist a quick glance at Bernd, who turned his head at the same moment; for a brief second their eyes met.

Knut’s heart pounded in his chest. He must be mistaken.

He couldn’t possibly get that lucky. Slowly he walked down the long corridor toward the exit.

Just as he was approaching the stairs, Bernd caught up with him.

“Wait. I wanted to… I mean…” Bernd’s brown eyes stared at him with such intensity, Knut’s knees went weak. “I mean, I wanted to say, I’ll look forward to working with you again. Dohnanyi is a good boss… and a good person.”

“Yes, so I’ve heard.” Here in the stairwell, where they could be overheard at any time, it was far too risky to breathe a word about potentially subversive activities.

“Well then,” Bernd said, obviously equally as indecisive as Knut. He seemed to want to add something, but bit his lower lip. “I’d better go. I have a lot of work to do.”

“I took the day off today to take my sister and brother-in-law to Anhalter station.” Again, Knut felt lost for words. He fell silent, feeling incredibly foolish. Inwardly, he scolded himself for his prattling. Bernd couldn’t possibly have any interest in Edith’s story.

“Yes, well then.” Bernd still hesitated, before he finally moved to head upstairs.

“Wait.”

“Yes?”

“Would you like to have dinner with me sometime?” blurted Knut, before burgeoning panic forced him to add an explanation. “I mean, then you could explain the processes in your department.”

Bernd gave him a dazzling smile. “I’d love to. How about this Saturday?”

Knut was flabbergasted. Somehow he managed to nod happily.

“See you Saturday.” And with that, Bernd disappeared up the stairs, leaving Knut in a maelstrom of emotions.

On the way home to his apartment, just a few minutes’ walk from the Bendlerblock, he told himself repeatedly that this appointment was just a work dinner. It meant nothing. But he still felt as though he was walking on air.