War Girls Complete Collection Chapter 185

Chapter 40

L

otte stepped off the train, nostalgia sweeping across her heart. Gerlinde and Jan in tow, she walked through the destroyed city to Anna’s apartment on the grounds of the Charité clinic. A golden autumn sun shone down on them, casting Berlin in a warm light, but without the heating the air. At the beginning of November, winter hung in the air.

Several months earlier, she’d thought how much more beautiful Warsaw was than her beloved Berlin. But after what the Nazis had done to Warsaw, even a Berlin in ruins appeared to be the epitome of elegance.

She had phoned her sister Anna in advance to let her know she was coming to visit, but hadn’t been able to give details, for fear of the line being tapped. Now the three of them stood in front of the sad and dirty employee housing where Anna lived. Lotte shivered for a moment. She brought her sister – or friend in the official version that Gerlinde and Jan knew – good and bad news.

“Hello Alexandra,” Anna said as she opened the door and gave a confused glance at the small group. “Who’s this?”

“Anna, this is my coworker and friend Gerlinde, and the young boy is my cousin Jan, whom I rescued from accidentally being deported.”

Anna frowned but nodded and invited them inside. Lotte could see that her sister was bursting with questions, but with Gerlinde and Jan listening, she couldn’t ask them. In the small sitting room, Mutter was waiting. Lotte longed to throw herself into her mother’s arms, but even this she couldn’t do in her identity as Alexandra Wagner.

“Guten Tag, Frau Klausen,” she greeted her mother instead.

After the introductions were made, Anna found an excuse to leave the apartment together with Lotte to talk in private.

“You saw Peter?” Anna attacked her sister with the question that must have been burning on her tongue.

“Yes I did. It was a hellish battle, but he survived,” Lotte answered, watching how relief washed over Anna’s face. She hated to put a damper on it with her next words. “He went into captivity. I managed to classify him as wounded and send him to Fallingbostel, a POW camp that belongs to Bergen-Belsen.”

Anna blanched for a moment. “And who’s this cousin of yours really?”

“Jan?” Lotte giggled. “Don’t you know by looking into his eyes?”

“But Peter’s son is dead. He was deported to Chelmno two years ago,” Anna’s voice became soft.

“It’s him. His aunt gave payola to the guards to get him off the transport and then she hid him for all this time—“

“So Gerlinde is in fact his aunt?” Anna interrupted her.

“Oh, no. Gerlinde really is my coworker and we’ll both be deployed to Norway at the end of this week. Jan’s aunt, Agnieska, was sent to a labor camp. Peter begged me to take care of his son should anything happen to him or Agnieska. So I brought him to you.”

“To me? You mean…” Anna’s eyes became round. “I’m only twenty-two and I’m working all day. I can’t possibly care for him…”

“I’m sure between you and his new grandmother, you’ll do well. He’s a good boy. And besides, he has nowhere else to go.”

They walked for a few minutes in silence, before Anna said, “Of course we’ll take care of him. Somehow it’ll all work out. And Ursula is due to return any day. She’ll help, too.” Anna stopped and turned to hug her sister. “Thank you for doing this. Now I have at least a part of Peter with me.”

Lotte smiled. Everything would turn out just fine. The war would be over soon and then she and Johann would be reunited again. She could wait a few months for him.

***

If you’re

curious what happened to Johann in Shanghai and why he was accused of murder-rape, read

Shanghai Story

by my friend Alexa Kang. It’s a fantastic WWII tale in the world’s most decadent city in 1936:

Shanghai Story