War Girls Complete Collection Chapter 352

Chapter 19

Berlin, June 1948

L

otte was at the university, chatting with her girlfriends about the upcoming finals. She’d adapted surprisingly well to studying at university and diligently did her homework each night. Well, most of the nights. On Fridays, she went out with her friends to bars, dance clubs or the motion pictures.

Life was good, but it could be so much better with Johann by her side. Not a single day passed that she didn’t think about him, hoping he’d return home like his friend Karsten and her own father had.

From her professor she knew that the Allies had agreed at the Moscow Conference, one year prior, to release any and all German POWs by December 1948. That was only half a year away and gave her hope to be reunited with Johann before Christmas.

Lotte smiled. She couldn’t wait to see him again, lose herself in his arms and finally present him to her family. Anna and Peter were preparing to leave Germany for Harvard University in the United States, but Ursula was still living in Berlin on Gatow Airbase with Tom and their daughter Evie.

The Western Allies had returned most of their POWs, except for those who wanted to stay voluntarily in France as civil workers. And while the Soviet Union dragged their feet, they had sent home close to half a million men since the Moscow Conference. Once or twice a week a new transport arrived at the transit camp Friedland near Göttingen. But the Russians needed to up the frequency of their transports if they intended to repatriate the remaining estimated one million men before the end of the year.

She bounded up the stairs to her apartment, taking three steps at once. Unlocking the door, she took off her coat to put it on the rack in the hallway. Anna’s coat hung there, indicating her sister was home. Lotte would miss her. A lot.

A worrisome thought entered her mind. With Anna, Peter and Jan gone, she would be the only occupant of the family apartment. On her own she wouldn’t be able to pay the rent. A knock on the door distracted her and she opened it to see the mailwoman standing on the landing with a strangely disturbed face.

“Here, this is for you,” the mailwoman handed Lotte a postcard. It had the Red Cross logo in the corner and Lotte’s pulse raced in her throat.

“Thank you,” she said, pressing the postcard against her heart. Despite the mailwoman’s apparent need to exchange gossip, she dismissed her and flopped on the sofa to read the postcard.

She caressed the paper, reading her name in Johann’s spidery handwriting that was so different from the way it used to be before his captivity. It didn’t matter. He was alive. That was all that counted.

Turning the postcard she began to read –

Dearest Lotte,

It is with a heavy heart that I must tell you that I have been sentenced to twenty-five years in a Russian prison.

Lotte didn’t remember screaming, but that’s exactly how Anna found her moments later. Hysterical with grief, she clutched the dreadful postcard to her heart.

“What’s wrong, sweetie?”

Lotte shook her head.

“Stop screaming, please.” Anna climbed beside her on the sofa, wrapping her arms around Lotte’s shoulders. “Please tell me.”

“Johann,” Lotte whispered. That fatal sentence echoed through her mind, rendering her unable to read the rest.

Anna pried the postcard from her fingers and read it out loud –

Dearest Lotte,

It is with a heavy heart that I must tell you that I have been sentenced to twenty-five years in a Russian prison.

Please do not wait for me. Find another man you can love and build a life with him.

Know that I love you with every cell of my body. Loving you has given me the strength to survive this long. My mind will be at peace if I know you are living a happy life.

Love Forever,

Johann

“Oh,

my god, Lotte. I’m so sorry,” Anna held her, rocking her back and forth as she continued to scream and cry in anguish.

“Why?”

“I don’t know. It might be a mistake. They may reverse the verdict…”

“You know those vile Russians. They will never…” Lotte broke out in even louder bawling.

“They may let him go after a few years…”

“A few years! Do you know how the men look when they return from Russia? How much longer can he survive this?”

“You have to have faith,” Anna said.

“Faith? In what? In a God who has abandoned us? Or in the corrupt Russian legal system?” Lotte’s voice echoed from the apartment walls, no doubt carrying over into the neighboring flats.

“Please, calm down, will you?”

“Why? Anyone knows the Soviet court trials are a sham! Those Stalinists are worse than Hitler was! But nobody dares raise their voices. Those bastard communists will be the ruin of all of us!”

“Lotte, please…”

“You can talk. Your man came home three years ago. And you’re leaving this sorry place that’s called Berlin.” Lotte’s voice broke down.

Anna looked at her for a long minute and then said, “Do you want to come with us to America? I’m sure Professor Scherer could arrange a visa for you.”

For a short moment Lotte was tempted. It would be the perfect way out, leaving all her sorrows behind. The food shortages, the lack of heating, the buildings in rubble, everything… But she shook her head. “That’s nice of you, but I can’t. I have to stay and wait for him. What if he returns and I’m not here?”

“You seriously want to wait for him? Haven’t you read his plea to find yourself another man?” Anna said.

Lotte pushed out her lower lip. “I know he’s not serious about this. He just wants me to be happy.”

“And what’s so bad about him wanting you to be happy?”

“Nothing.” Another wave of violent sobs wracked Lotte’s body. She curled up into a ball, clinging to the notion that twenty-five years wasn’t that long a time.

Finally, she got up and threw herself onto her bed.

She didn’t leave her room for two full days, despite the coaxing, sweet-talking and threats of her family.

When she emerged on the third day, she told Anna, “I’m ready to live again. And I will not give up. On the contrary, I will fight for Johann’s return every way possible. Even if I have to speak to Stalin himself!”

“You’re not going to do anything stupid? Are you?” Anna asked with horror in her voice.

Lotte had to giggle at the sight of Anna’s shocked face and said, “Don’t worry. This time I will fight only with legal means. But one thing I can guarantee you: he will return. And if it takes the entire twenty-five years, I won’t give up. Not until I take my last breath.”

“I believe you will.” Anna said. “And I so hope you’re successful.”