Chapter 29 New “Friends”
New “Friends”
Berlin
Helene put off the inevitable visit to the Meyers as long as she could. The weeks went by without much variation, and Christmas
came and went quickly. The city was decked out to a degree that reflected how much the German economy had picked up in recent
years. Nearly every household was back to making their traditional holiday foods. For Helene, the season was tinged with sadness
due to her grandmother’s absence. But the world kept turning. Hitler had become a routine part of life, and few seemed to
notice that his rule was increasingly authoritarian.
Working at Kedem continued to prove refreshingly uncomplicated. But Helene had decreased their visits to the Secret Library
in order to spend more time preparing holiday things for Alexander, now that he was big enough to start enjoying them.
When Derek got home from work on New Year’s Eve, they got dressed to go out, buttoned Alexander into an adorable little suit, and crossed the hall.
A maid opened after the first knock, which surprised them, but then Lauralei appeared, dressed in a long red silk gown.
Her bright blond hair was gathered at the nape of her neck, and she had on enough makeup for several women.
“Forgive me,” she said, nodding toward the maid, “but we’ve got people coming over at eight. Do come in, come in,” she said
with an aggressively wide smile. She cooed over how darling Alexander looked.
Derek had brought a bottle of wine. He did not know if these neighbors preferred wine or beer, but he had not wanted to show
up empty-handed. Joss came out to meet them as they passed through the hall to the living room. He wore a svelte, tailor-made
suit with a spotless white shirt. His expression was one of tolerance rather than eagerness.
“Ah, the neighbors. We’ve been wondering when we’d see you—waited till the very last day of the year, I see.” He cast an uninspired
look at the bottle of wine Derek held out.
The Meyers’ living room was much larger than their own. The entire apartment was larger: four bedrooms, plus one for a servant.
It was a corner apartment, and the view from the windows was even more impressive than at Helene and Derek’s. The Brandenburg
Gate was practically at arm’s length. The Christmas lights from the Pariser Platz were magical, a nearly unreal spectacle.
Alexander was mesmerized and kept tapping at the glass trying to reach them.
They settled onto the couches, and Lauralei could not take her eyes off the child. “He’s grown so much since the last time
I saw him!” she cried.
“Yes, he’s bigger and bigger every day,” Helene answered proudly. At sixteen months, Alexander was definitely starting to
look like Derek.
“We, well . . .” Lauralei hesitated, then dropped her voice so that only Helene could hear. “We can’t have children. It’s a shame not to be able to help grow our Führer’s nation.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry,” Helene said, truly sad about the first part of Lauralei’s grief.
“Can I hold him?”
Helene smiled. “Of course,” she said, and she held out Alexander. He was squiggly at first but then settled into the woman’s
lap and ran his fingers up and down the smooth silk hem of her dress.
“Oh, he’s just a dream. Do you take care of him all by yourself? Or do you have a job? Joss doesn’t want me to get a job.
When we met, I was a secretary at the Ministry of the Interior, but Joss thinks the proper place for a good German wife is
at home taking care of her husband and children.”
Helene took a deep breath, not sure where to begin. The Nazis had relegated women once again to anonymity in the private sphere.
The fairer sex was only useful in so far as they provided progeny for the Third Reich.
“Well, I used to be a librarian. But now I help out in a bookstore in the mornings, just for a few hours, while my mom watches
Alexander. My parents don’t live too far from here.” Helene tried to keep things vague.
“A bookstore! I used to love to read, and I’ll still pick up a book every now and then. But between the radio, going out,
seeing my friends, and my duties with the Party, I’ve got no time. I’m a founding member of the National Socialist Women’s
League and head up several of our programs, mainly the ones with the young marrieds. We teach them everything they need to
know about being faithful mothers and wives. It keeps me busy. I’m sure you’re in the League?”
Her tone was casual, but Helene could tell she was fishing. “I haven’t gotten to that. Before Alexander was born, I was busy all the time. And now that he’s here, nothing has slowed down!”
As if on cue, Alexander scrambled out of Lauralei’s lap and made a dash back to the window. Helene whisked him up just before
he started banging on the glass.
“Of course. Anyhow, I’m home many mornings if you need someone to watch him. I really would love to. I’m hoping to adopt,
but it’s complicated. You know how it is. There aren’t very many Aryan orphans . . .”
Helene nodded and made a noncommittal noise to cover up how awkward she felt. They would only have to stay another thirty
minutes. Their excuse to leave would be going to Derek’s parents’ house, which was not an enjoyable prospect, but at least
it would get them away from the Meyers. “Yes, thanks, I’ll keep that in mind.”
At the other end of the couch, Derek was skillfully maneuvering an even more awkward conversation with Joss, who was interrogating
him from every angle to define his relationship to the Party.
“Two years? Why did it take you two years to join? Don’t you support the Party?” Joss said. His face muscles tensed with loathing
as he sipped at the wine Derek had brought.
“Well, at first, you know, there was a lot of confusion about whether the military could or should affiliate. It took a while
for all of that to get cleared up. When it did, I joined.”
Joss did not seem convinced. His lips pursed as he forced down another thimbleful of the wine.
“A man with principles will always do what’s right, even if he has to go against tradition or, in this case, the bunch of outdated cuckolds in charge of the army.
They’re the reason we lost the war. If it were up to me, I’d slit the throats of the entire lot, just like we did with the SA traitors.
” He made no effort to lower his voice or modify his brashness in front of the women and the child.
One thing Joss had going for him was consistency between thought and word.
Derek also took a sip of wine. To him, it tasted perfectly balanced. He regretted having brought such a nice bottle over.
Joss resumed his interrogation. “The doorman told me your wife was absent for a period of time and then came back with the
baby, but she was emaciated.”
Derek sidestepped. “Yes, she had a very high-risk pregnancy. It was extremely hard on us. She almost lost the baby, and we
thought we were going to lose her as well. Thank God they’re both healthy now.”
Joss seized on the last comment. “‘Thank God’? You still hold on to those old-fashioned beliefs? Surely you’ve read Hegel and Nietzsche and figured out by now that God
is dead!”
Helene turned to the men and rested her hand on Derek’s shoulder. “Honey, I think we should be leaving. We don’t want to keep
your parents waiting.”
“Oh, of course,” he said, glancing at his watch and feigning surprise. “The time has flown by!” He shot up like a spring and
kissed Lauralei’s hand, then shook Joss’s.
“It’s been a pleasure to have you. It’s a pity you’ve got other plans,” Lauralei said. Then, in a syrupy, casual tone, she
added, “Heinrich Himmler himself will be one of our dinner guests. You know him?”
“Only professionally through work,” Derek answered.
“Well, we won’t keep you. Traffic is sure to be ghastly tonight.”
The maid led them to the door. When they were safely in the elevator, Helene and Derek let out a deep breath.
Helene followed it with a nervous little laugh, which turned into both of them snorting with hysteria by the time they reached the bottom floor.
Sebastian looked at them with a puzzled expression as they giggled their way to the car.
Turning on the ignition, Derek loosened his tie and said, “Well, when people complain about their neighbors, now I know why.
Those people!”
“She’s a National Socialist fiend! Every word out of her mouth sets my teeth on edge. I hope we don’t have to see them again
for a loooong time.”
It took an hour to get to the von Sholtzes’ house. They had moved to the city from their house in Konigsberg a couple of years
before and now spent most of their time in Berlin. Though he was in the reserves, Blaz had accepted a job as instructor at
the War Academy at Potsdam.
The elderly maid opened the door. She was so much a part of the family that she had made the move with the von Scholtzes,
though she should have retired years before.
“Derek, my love! How delightful to see you together with your beautiful wife. And let me see that baby!” She bent down, pinched
Alexander’s cheeks, and planted a kiss on his forehead. “Oh, he looks just like you at that age. Stay here with me, little
prince, while your parents go greet your grandparents and uncles. Now, watch this: Patty-cake, patty-cake . . .”
Alexander happily followed her movements and tried to clap along to the rhyme while his parents walked into the living room.
Derek’s brothers were no longer the goofy adolescents they had been three and a half years prior at the wedding.
One was at an officer’s academy and the other in college.
They each gave Derek a big hug, but Blaz held out a cool hand.
He was still displeased to have a half-Jew in the family.
It was harder and harder to accept, given the political climate.
He had gone so far as to tell Derek to leave his wife and retain custody of the child. Derek had not mentioned that to Helene.
Gisela gave Derek and Helene polite hugs. She was always more agreeable toward Helene, even bordering on maternal.
“You look lovely, dear,” she said.
“Thank you, so do you!” Helene answered truthfully.
“Ah, well, at my age . . .” Gisela sighed. Her dress fit neatly and was tailored to avoid the physical aspects that did not
meet her standards of perfection.
Dinner was rather quiet and serious, the only laughter coming from an occasional joke from Dieter and Ebert. When dessert
was over, there were still two hours to go until midnight. The men retired to the library to smoke while the women stayed
in the dining room with Alexander.
“Derek,” Blaz began, “there’s talk of the Führer annexing Austria, and maybe a war. So you’ll soon get to put all your schooling
to use and test your mettle on the battlefield, like your ancestors before you.”
Derek did not answer. He concentrated on the cigar his father had handed him. Dieter and Ebert did not yet smoke but seemed
content to watch the rings swirl around the room.
Blaz continued. “That woman is a hindrance to you. She’s a Jew. Things have been calm enough so far, but your marriage might
cost you—and us—our status in the new Germany.”
“We’ve gone over this before, Dad,” Derek said, frowning. He sat in the armchair closest to the fire.
“She’s been imprisoned in a concentration camp like a common criminal. Her family are left-wing Jews, enemies of the state
and of the army—”
“This is my wife you’re talking about. Please choose your words more carefully.”
Blaz looked his son full in the face and made to speak again, but Derek put out his cigar and walked out of the room. Though
it would upset his mother, he was about to tell Helene that they needed to leave.
Just then he heard the distant popping of fireworks. It was the beginning of 1937, Hitler’s fourth year in power. Derek had
no idea what the future would hold, but one thing was sure: The world that stretched before his family was nothing like the
one they had known before.