Chapter 30 #2
Anger welled in Lizzie, making her breathless.
How could the Swiss fat cats turn away innocents who were marked for certain death?
She knew from Tom that the occasional refugee slipped through if they were lucky to get a soft-hearted border official, but mostly they were doomed.
Even those who got through were sent back if they were discovered hiding in the woods.
In her training footage at Baker Street, she learnt that in 1938 the Swiss had requested Germany mark Jewish passports with a large, red-coloured J for border efficiency, so they could easily identify them and refuse them entry.
Switzerland may be officially neutral, but it was complicit.
And after what she had discovered from the bank ledger excerpt, they were also complicit in funding the industrialised murder of Jews, with Jewish assets.
Lizzie shook her head. If she thought about it too much, it would drive her insane. How could people be so cruel? She would never understand it.
Checking her watch, she left early because something was weighing on her mind and she couldn’t shake it.
There was still no sign of Pemberton, so she put the translated documents on his desk.
Scouring his office, nothing unusual caught her eye.
If her wily boss was up to no good, he was clearly very careful about covering his tracks.
Lizzie left the Legation and, instead of walking back to her apartment as usual, she took a tram from the Kirchenfeldbrücke, heading for a neighbourhood called Breitenrain.
The tram network was efficient, but she enjoyed walking and had only travelled on it a few times.
Bern was a compact city, but the destination that had hovered in the back of Lizzie’s mind for some time, was too far on foot.
Checking her watch again, she alighted from the tram and followed the directions she had committed to memory. She had been waiting for the right moment, and after reading the devastating article about Jewish refugees, she could resist the temptation no longer.
The local primary school was in the same neighbourhood where Hildegard’s mother lived.
Liesel and her new family had stayed with her until they found their own little home a few streets away.
Lizzie had hoped they might have been able to escape Europe and get to America, but she knew it was close to impossible to get a visa.
Gazing around, Lizzie noted it was a neat but unremarkable residential neighbourhood, and she could think of no more suitable haven for Liesel.
After what she had been through by the age of seven, unremarkable would be the best they could hope for.
Turning the corner, the school was across the road just as she’d expected.
The bell rang, and children streamed into the playground as Lizzie’s eyes welled up.
The children didn’t know how fortunate they were to be in Switzerland, safe from Hitler’s bombing campaigns that had killed so many.
Hovering on the opposite side of the road, she watched for a glimpse of Liesel. It was difficult to make out the faces of the children as they skipped and dashed around the playground, waiting for a parent to collect them.
Lizzie’s heart seemed to grind to a painful halt. There she was. Dear Liesel was chatting to another girl as they walked down the path to the school gate. That was her new sister, Rosa, and Lizzie was overjoyed to see how normal they looked together.
Lizzie’s eyes flooded as if someone had turned on a tap, and she searched for a handkerchief in her handbag to wipe her face. Some spy.
When she looked up again, Miriam Kaufmann had arrived, and the two little girls were each holding one of her hands and chattering at the same time.
The forger in Berlin had created Miriam a new identity as Maria Müller, so she wouldn’t be suspected of being Jewish in Bern.
As they neared the opposite side of the narrow street, Lizzie caught snatches of Liesel’s sweet piping voice but couldn’t make out her words.
She could see her expression, and the little girl was happy to be with her mother and sister. It didn’t take a spy to work that out.
Lizzie stood, rooted to the spot, her hands buried in her coat pockets as she watched them walk along the street, weaving between other parents and children.
Her emotions were ablaze as she tried to keep her feelings for Liesel under control.
She longed to rush across the road and scoop her up in her arms and tell her how proud she was of her.
Miriam Kaufmann raised her head, and Lizzie saw recognition strike as she paused; the two little girls still chattering like excited children do after a long school day.
She hesitated for a few seconds, and then Rosa pulled her hand and urged her to hurry.
‘Come along, mother, we want to get home so we can play out before it grows dark.’
Their eyes locked briefly, and then the spell was broken as Lizzie turned her head.
She couldn’t endanger them and risk Liesel recognising her because of her own selfish desires.
Standing there, she watched the little girl turn the corner and disappear from her life once again.
Her heart hurt, but she was relieved that they were all safe.
At least for now.