Chapter 17

Holland and Germany.

Wednesday, December 24th 1941.

The communications room in Richard's house was crowded, Richard sat alongside Anna while she operated the transmitter, Henri stood behind him, and Manfred and Alex were packed in at the far end away from the entrance.

Anna tuned the transmitter to the French frequency that Henri had provided.

"It's time," Richard said as he checked his watch.

'Phoenix' she tapped out on the Morse key.

They listened for thirty seconds and then the message quickly followed: 'HENRI BELLESTRASSE HELENS'.

'AK', Anna tapped acknowledgement and handed the message to Richard, "What do you make of that," she asked. It was a distant transmitter, the message had faded, and she wondered if she had copied it correctly.

Richard placed the message on the small table and everyone except Henri craned their necks to read it.

"I don't know. Let's see what Henri makes of it," Richard said as he passed the message to him.

Henri and Richard talked about the message in French. They saw Henri smiling and shaking his head in agreement.

"He says that there's a church in Strasbourg, on Bellestrasse called St Helens. He asked if we could take him there tomorrow and after a day or so waiting they will pick him up and take him home. St. Helens was one of five locations that were selected before the mission. The priest gives shelter to people in the resistance. We must remember St. Helens for the future."

"Tomorrow?" Manfred asked.

"Why not? It's Christmas day there'll be many people going to the church tomorrow so Alex and Henri can mingle with the crowd as they enter the church. You go into the church alone and at the end of the mass, the church will empty and Henri can see the priest then you escort Alex back to your car. This will be a safer time for everyone."

Manfred looked at Alex who slightly shrugged her shoulders.

"I'll check the map and work out when we need to leave," Manfred said, he wasn't happy, he wanted to spend Christmas day with Cornelia.

At three AM on Christmas morning Manfred, Alex and Henri left for Strasbourg, it was snowing lightly, and they did not see a car until they were on the outskirts of Karlsruhe. The new autobahn from Karlsruhe to Strasbourg took some of the strain out of driving but Manfred continued driving carefully worried about encountering 'black ice' on the road.

At seven thirty in Strasbourg, they found Bellestrasse easily near the town centre. Manfred drove past the church and saw that the next mass was at eight AM. He proceeded down Bellestrasse and parked in a side street. They sat in silence for twenty minutes, the waiting making them more nervous.

Henri and Alex walked to the church, she slipped her hand in his arm, and they walked closely together. Heavily clothed against the weather, they looked no different to other couples converging on the church.

Manfred locked the car and pulling his collar high around his neck, he pulled his hat over his forehead and with his head thrust forward into the wind he walked down Bellestrasse toward the church.

"Your papers," the deep voice said with authority.

Manfred had not seen the two SS soldiers who had been standing against a brick wall sixty metres from the church.

Caught by surprise Manfred walked to the brick wall using the delay to collect his thoughts. He noticed one of the soldiers undoing the catch on the holster that housed his pistol as he reached into his inside pocket for his papers. He stopped immediately.

"I'm just getting my papers out," Manfred said smiling trying to defuse the tension.

"Go ahead," the older SS man said.

Manfred withdrew his wallet and extracted his identification.

The older SS soldier snatched it from him, and as he read the document, "You're a long way from Goppingen."

"St Helen's is my family's church and while my parents have passed away I still come here every Christmas. I hope to meet my sister at Mass." Manfred lied.

The older SS man leaned close and handing his paper back, "Merry Christmas, Mein Herr."

Manfred hurried on to the church, he exhaled heavily with relief knowing that he had cleverly covered his exit from the church with Alex.

The old priest droned on through an uninteresting sermon, Manfred could see Alex and Henri sitting together in a pew halfway to the altar.

When the service concluded Manfred pushed up through the parishioners and grabbed Alex by the arm.

"It's urgent, we have to leave with the main crowd," Manfred said as he nodded to Henri. Alex squeezed Henri's hand and stepped into the aisle. She didn't want to kiss him fearing that she would draw unwanted attention.

Henri stood and quickly moved to the front of the church and disappeared through the vestry door that the priest had just used.

Manfred steered Alex across the road and she put her hand in his arm as they headed toward the car. They walked with the crowd and as they passed the SS soldiers, Alex was surprised as Manfred casually waved at them. She smiled at them and they moved on down Bellestrasse, into the side street.

Manfred opened her door and quickly ran around the car and climbed behind the wheel. The car started easily and Manfred drove down side streets until they joined the autobahn on the northern edge of the city.

"You startled me when you started getting friendly with the local SS," Alex said.

When he explained, she had her hand across her mouth.

"As your potential mother-in-law I want to make a crude observation. No one can doubt that you've got balls, Manfred."

She laughed heartily at her own joke, he couldn't help joining her, and they laughed for minutes. He was pleased that her attitude towards him had changed.

They arrived home mid-afternoon; Anna had a surprise dinner cooking.

While Manfred and Gerry had been away up north, Alex and Anna had persuaded the farmer who had sold them the piglets to visit them and slaughter one of the now large pigs. He brought with him a selection of knives and an iron and carved the meat for them, which they stored in the freeze house.

Today, Anna had persuaded Richard to behead one of the chickens that was now cooking in a boiler.

Anna and Cornelia had worked most of the morning making a variety of small fruit pies and tarts.

With Cornelia, she served coffee and a light lunch.

When dinner was served they sat down to a table loaded with a feast of foods, chicken soup with matzo balls that was Anna's favorite, they had roast pork with apple sauce, roasted potatoes and sauerkraut. For dessert they had a choice of fruit pies, jam tarts, and apple strudel with custard that Cornelia had learned to make at school.

After dinner, Richard was the first to start clearing the table, his action surprising everyone but most of all it was Alex who was the most surprised as he had never given a hand with kitchen duties when they were growing up together.

After the cleanup they sat around the dining room table Alex placed two bottles of schnapps on the table and Richard returned from his room with a large box of cigars. With the main lights off, side lamps gave dim light to the room; Alex hoped that they would all enjoy the rest of Christmas day.

But it was Cornelia who gave voice to what they were all feeling.

"I miss Gerry, I hope that he's safe. There's never a dull moment when he's around."

On Christmas Eve Gerry pedalled Maike's bicycle to a general store, a kilometre away, in Hattem. With Maike sitting on the bar, it brought back vivid memories of his long ride from Rotterdam to Amsterdam. His mind shifted to his parents and the happier times that he had at Christmas with them.

Maike worked part-time at this store; the owner was one of the first to join her resistance group and had installed a small printing press in his large basement where he printed the northern underground newspaper.

Gerry leaned the bicycle against the front wall of the shop and accompanied Maike inside. He felt uneasy, he had a small amount of money but it was German currency, this meant that he had no money to buy food or a small gift for Maike. Maike introduced him to the owner, Johannes, a man who looked like his father, a large rotund frame, and his face unremarkable except for his large lips.

"Can you wait for me to close the shop for lunch?" he asked Maike.

When she nodded her agreement, he went on serving customers and Maike assisted him until noon when he closed and bolted the front door. He waved them through a door covered by a curtain.

He introduced Etta, his wife who was much shorter than he was. As he sat in his favorite chair at the kitchen table, he was surprised to see that Etta had set places on the table for Maike and Gerry.

"How did you know that we had two guests for lunch," he asked Etta.

"I keep an eye on you, I'm making sure that you don't turn into a Lothario with the woman customers, so I peek through the curtain to see who is in the shop." she replied her face lit with a happy smile.

They all laughed, it was difficult for them to imagine the large overweight Johannes as a womaniser.

During lunch Johannes turned to Gerry, "Where are you from?"

"I'm from Amsterdam..."

Gerry replied but Maike quickly interrupted him. She insisted on telling them Gerry's history, exaggerating his part in getting Wim and Karla back home.

His story had a considerable effect on them, as they both knew Wim and Karla. Gerry noticed that Etta's hand covering her mouth in shock when Maike was embroidering his exploits.

"Maike, I think you've told them enough, you're boring them."

She tried to continue but Gerry silenced her by deftly changing the subject.

"What are the food supplies like since rationing started," Gerry asked Johannes.

"Bad, very bad, there are many things that I can't get anymore, yet I have more than enough coupons to trade for new supplies."

After lunch they were back in the shop, Gerry spoke to Johannes out of earshot of Maike who was busy collecting some groceries.

"I would like to buy a Christmas gift for Maike but I only have a small amount of German currency."

He took Gerry behind the counter and squatting behind the counter, he pulled a small carton of chocolates into view. They were now a scarce item and this was his last box, the only other box that he had, was now wrapped to give to his wife tomorrow.

"That would be a fine gift," Gerry said, "how much?"

Johannes shook his head as he slid the box of chocolates into a brightly printed-paper bag.

Gerry tried to press the German currency into his hand but he refused to accept it.

Maike made a simple dinner and after they had eaten they sat listening to the communications set, he heard a news bulletin issued by the Reich Commissioner of the Netherlands, Arthur Seyss-Inquart. "Any citizen found sabotaging essential services or production facilities will be executed on the spot. Four citizens who were attempting to set fire to a clothing factory in Utrecht were shot today. The factory produces uniforms for the Reich military and the fire was extinguished before it caused any damage."

"I've heard this kind of warning a hundred times," Maike said, "we must be having an impact on the Germans."

"Don't get caught," he said as he stood and went to the dining room and saw that he had ten minutes before he would transmit to Anna.

Maike was still listening to the news broadcast, "... our allies the Japanese have captured Wake Island in the Pacific Ocean a strategic communications link that was used by the Americans. The Philipines are now occupied and under the control of our allies, the Japanese."

"I don't even know where the Philipines are, this is brainwashing by that bastard Seyss-Inquart," Maike yelled startling Gerry.

"Calm down, you're a real hothead when you get stirred up! Aren't you?"

She went to the stove and she banged the kettle noisily on the stove as Gerry tuned to the three-megahertz band. He tapped out 'ANNA' then he flipped the switch to receive.

Thirty seconds later he received, 'GERRY OK WAIT'

"What does that mean," she asked.

"I think that they understand what I sent them and now I just have to wait."

She kissed him lightly, "I told you, just be patient."

His beard scratched her cheek as she pulled away, "You need a shave and your face is peeling."

"I'm peeling?" he said, "I don't have a razor do you..."

She reached under the sink, and when she straightened up, she had a small Bakelite box, which she placed on the counter. Inside was a razor with a packet of unused blades. He knew that this was her husband's razor.

From a drawer in the counter, she produced a small shaving mirror, and hung it from a nail in the wall above the sink.

Gerry looked at his face and was surprised to see that the skin was peeling from his nose, cheeks, and forehead.

'It was big explosion and a big fireball.' He thought as he remembered Karla's words that her husband would rest in peace when she saw the fireball.

The next morning Gerry was awakened by the sounds of a storm raging outside. He eased himself slowly from Maike's bed then he dressed quickly and went to the kitchen. He loaded wood into the stove and set a kettle of water to boil. Glancing through the kitchen window, he saw that it was snowing, the wind fiercely swirling the snow.

He went to the cupboard where he had hidden the box of chocolates and took them to the kitchen where he made two cups of coffee. He took the chocolates and a coffee to Maike's bedroom.

He set the coffee on the nightstand and then gently shook Maike's shoulder. When her eyes opened and were focussed, he leaned forward and kissed her lightly on the lips.

"Merry Christmas," he said and pushed the box of chocolates into her hands.

He wasn't prepared for Maike's reaction; she started sobbing loudly. She sat up, dropping the chocolates, and hugged him firmly but still she cried loudly.

It was some minutes before she calmed enough for Gerry to get her to drink her coffee. He went to the kitchen, picked up his coffee and returning to her bed, he sat on the edge facing her as he sipped.

"I must look a mess, I'm sorry. I don't have a present for you either," she whimpered as she opened the box of chocolates. She placed the chocolates on the nightstand and opened her arms to him.

"Let me thank you."

Gerry placed his coffee on the floor and went into her arms and she kissed him with fervour.

"I'm sorry but what you did this morning was almost what my husband did with me last Christmas."

She started sobbing again and Gerry thought that it was best to leave her alone so that she could recover. He took his coffee to the kitchen and watched the storm raging outside. His mind wandered and he became dejected as he remembered his schoolboy friend. The SS dragging him and his family from their apartment, his friend's mother screaming until they were thrown into a truck and driven away to oblivion. His mind jumped to the horror train ride to the concentration camp, the disease, and deaths in the camp with its filth...