The Luck of the Weissensteiners (The Three Nations Trilogy) (17 page)

Johanna arrived at the workshop on Gajova just as Alma was coming back from the market and the two women entered the
private quarters together.  It was a little strange to her to witness the overly familiar way in which Jonah and his children treated their employee Alma. Johanna was surprised by the warm and close nature of their relationships with each other and she felt a little sting of jealousy that Jonah seemed to have an eye for Alma when she had always assumed he was holding a secret candle for herself.

When Jonah
recognised Johanna he did make a huge fuss over her and thanked her many times for her kindness and the food she kept bringing. He got Ernst up from his afternoon nap and showed him off to their visitor but Johanna still was not overly interested in the boy; lately she could see both the Winkelmeier and the Jew in him. To many people this strange combination seemed cute or adorable but to her it was a little unsettling and disgusting. To see the handsome Winkelmeier features disfigured in such an ugly way was too much for her. Ernst was a freak of nature and a proof that humans should not mess around with the races that God had created. She could tolerate individual hard working Jews but as a whole there was something wrong with them and she had to make sure not to get carried away in her affections for Jonah and his family.

Greta and Wilma briefly came up from the workshop to say hello to their benefactor and to enquire about the news from the farm but they had to carry on working urgently on a carpet that was to be completed later that week and could not stay long for any more pleasantries. Alma got herself busy in the kitchen and left Johanna and Jonah alone in the living room to talk about Gunter
’s future.

“The army is the best thing that ever has happened to my Egon,” Jonah reassured her. “I tell
you, I hold a deep resentment to the war effort as you can imagine but I have never seen that boy happier in his life. They have made him a man. He is proud and purposeful.”

“Our Gunter is such a weakling,” Johanna said worriedly. “How will he even manage the initial training? Do you think he is as strong as your
Egon? Is he as clever?”

“If my Egon has survived the init
ial training, then so will your Gunter,” Jonah reassured her. “If they have singled him out at the school it is clear they want him. They are not looking for just anybody. It is not necessarily numbers that they want, they need clever people who can help plan and build up the army. The army is still in its infancy here. When it was the Czechoslovak army most of the leaders were Czechs, now they need to fill those gaps.”

“Then how can we be sure that they know what they are doing?” Johanna worried. “Can we trust them?”

“Who can be sure in these times?” Jonah said. “No one can. They took Egon on and first made him infantry, pure cannon fodder. Then they discovered his brain and got him a good position. It will be the same for Gunter. Even if they just want anyone right now, they will see his potential and make good use of it. I am sure it will work out, Johanna. They are learning from the Germans and they seem pretty successful. ”

“Oh I wish I could be as optimistic as that,” she said agitatedly. “He is so weak and
so clumsy. If he does not get recognised for his brain and gets selected for an infantry job he will be amongst the first to die. I can feel it.”

“Don't be silly woman. Where do you even think there would be such a battle or a war for him?” Jonah asked. “The Ger
mans are doing fine without any help. Almost every country in Europe is occupied, is an ally of theirs, or is cooperating with them in one way or another. Let him train and reap some benefits for his patriotic duty, he will be stationed somewhere safe, I promise.”

“I hope you are right,” she said. “I am almost certain that Gunter will join up. These recruitment officers are very persuasive. He has to wait for another year to go to University and he hates it on the farm. He would do almost anything to get away from that.”

“Can't you pull some strings to get him into University despite the time deadline?” he asked. “Bureaucracy has been established so that it can be overcome by favours and persuasion,” Jonah said with a wink.

“Jonah, we are farmers. How would we have useful connections at a University?” Johanna said argumentatively.

“I thought someone at his boarding school might know someone. Isn't that how it always works?” he asked.

“If we knew someone they would not have let the army
recruiters get hold of him,” she replied. “We have no such help and he will sign up.”

“If he does, I am sure it will be as big a success as our Egon. He is a smart boy
your Gunter,” Jonah said.

“If only I was as sure as you that bei
ng smart will be an advantage in the army,” Johanna said without hope.

When Johanna got back to the farm Roswitha noticed the empty satchel and decided she was going to find out the secret behind it. Her mother
was always so mean and stingy, it seemed impossible to imagine to whom she would give or sell food from their own larder. She decided not to ask her mother directly, but to use the food that had disappeared from the house as an attack on Sarah. Over dinner she would accuse her of stealing the food and her mother would either have to come clean about her activity and save the maid or go along with it and sacrifice her to keep the secret; either outcome seemed desirable to Roswitha and all afternoon she smiled smugly waiting for the big moment to come.

“I think Sarah is stealing food from us!” she blurted out at the dinner table a few hours later.

“You are ridiculous child!” Johanna cut her short.

“But she must do. There are two pieces of ham missing from the la
rder. Who else would take them?

“You don't know what is in the larder. Stop talking nonsense!” Johanna tried to halt the accusations.

“I do know,” Roswitha insisted. “I was in the larder twice today. There were two pieces of ham the first time I went in and the next time I had to go they were gone. I swear!”

“Don't swear.
You are imagining things as usual,” was all Johanna said on the matter but Benedikt suddenly took interest in the matter.

“Did you see her anywhere near the larder?” he asked.
His old mistrust of Jews – especially since the incident of his daughter with that married Jew – flared up immediately.

“I tell you that
the girl is dreaming this up,” said Johanna. “She has hated Sarah from the very beginning and is trying to get her out of the house. I won't have it. I'd rather believe that you ate the ham yourself so you can blame it on Sarah,” she accused her daughter.

“Maria was in the fields all day. The only people in the house were her, me and mother,” Roswitha claimed.

“Is that true?” asked Benedikt.

“I was in town, I wouldn't know,” admitted Johanna. “Sarah works so hard for us I refuse to believe that she is a thief. I would know by now if Sarah was capable of such a thing. What I do know is that Roswitha has a vicious streak in her and never misses an opportunity to blacken Sarah's name. I know she is just making this up. Go to the kitchen and don't come back,” she ordered her daughter.

Roswitha stormed out of the room stomping her feet like a toddler and the remaining family members could hear her clean up noisily.

“What is it with that girl?”
sighed Johanna.

“She is a spoiled princess who wants to be
the centre of attention. Maybe you should break her spirit a bit, get her to be tired in the evenings, work her harder so she won't dream up stuff like this,” Benedikt suggested.  “We have always been too soft on her. We don't need such childish games between young girls.”

Johanna was relieved that Benedikt did not question her about the ham in the larder any further. She did as he told her and made Roswitha scrub the floor and help Sa
rah with the washing. She kept Roswitha busy as much as she could and hoped that by making her daughter spend time with the Jewish girl the two of them might start to bond with each other and stop the jealousy.

What was wrong with Roswitha anyway? She should have been pleased about the extra help, not feel threatened by it. Johanna failed to see that it was her own coldness towards Roswitha that had created the strong and urgent need for praise and appreciation in her daughter.

For the next few weeks however Johanna decided to refrain from raiding the family larder for the Weissensteiners. Too bad, she had so wanted to find out what was going on between Jonah and this woman Alma. She had never had a chance to ask, Jonah had discreetly steered the conversation away from it when Johanna hinted at her suspicions and he had changed the subject onto other business and family matters. He was a clever man that Jew. That was probably why he had done so well for himself.

That very week Gunter decided to try his luck with the army and to everyone's surprise was immediately required to report for duty in the barracks. His leg was still not fully recovered but he was able to attend theoretical training as well as shooting practice from a wheelchair. Within a few days it became obvious that he was an outstandingly good shot and would make a great sniper.

Before he even had the all clear for his leg from the army doctor, he was already trained on the Karabiner 98, the German sniper rifle, of which there were only a few in the barracks. His further training was rushed and superficial. As proud as he and the whole family were about his instant success at the army, they were also stunned at the sense of urgency around his training. Johanna fortunately did not comprehend that snipers were front line pioneers who often operated behind enemy lines and who were always in grave danger of being caught. She was so visibly relieved that he had not been assigned a common infantry position that nobody had the heart to tell her any differently.    

In June the German army started its attack on
Russia. Twenty Thousand Slovak soldiers supported the campaign in the Ukraine and the Caucasus. Both Gunter and Egon were amongst them. Egon’s position was way behind the front line, whereas Gunter was right in the centre of the war activities. However, he seemed blessed with a sixth sense for enemy fire and was nicknamed the killing machine by his colleagues. The Russian army had significantly more snipers, most of whom were employed to keep the invading German and Slovak troops back while the rest of their own units reformed and positioned themselves ready for the attackers. Gunter’s mathematical mind could instantly work out where the shots were coming from and he took out several enemy snipers before they could cause too much damage to his fellow conscripts. His letters to Benedikt and Johanna were full of success stories and his parents were too proud to think about the danger he obviously had to be in to kill that many enemies. Johanna had no concept of how the war was being fought as Benedikt had not seen much action in the last war.

The surprise attack on its former ally Russia was proving a bi
g success for Germany and its troops quickly progressed deep into the Ukraine and the Caucasus. Egon was never far from the front line either, but he was working with the radio units which were usually stationed away from the line of fire. His sense of hearing was sensational and thanks to his great command of the Russian language he too proved an appreciated and valued asset to the offensive.

The Weissensteiner
s sadly were not aware of Egon's success in the army. Most of his work was classified and he was restricted to writing very few letters and even those were usually heavily censored. All that his messages managed to convey was to tell his family that he was alive and well. As happy as they were for Egon to be in a safe place in the war, they could not help but worry about him. Wilma especially felt a deep despair that nobody seemed to be able to stop the Germans. Whichever direction one took from Bratislava, one could travel for a long time before arriving at a peaceful and non-fascist environment; let alone a Jew tolerating or friendly one.

Greta was keeping herself busy with childcare and weaving work to take her mind o
ff her divorce and the loss of her son Karl. She also avoided talking about Egon and the war, leaving Wilma to worry all the more by herself. Jonah too was slightly distracted, in his case by a sudden attraction towards Alma, something which she seemed to be feeling too.

Jonah
knew it was madness to get involved with her and so he had fought the feeling for as long as he could but their desire for each other was so great that they were spending more and more time in each other's company. Wilma and Greta had their fun watching the two love birds courting while pretending that that was not what they were doing. Neither Alma nor Jonah were particularly good actors and the excuses they used to be in each other’s company were so farfetched at times that the two sisters started to imitate them behind their backs.

“Oh
! What a coincidence!” Wilma would mimic her father. “I was just going to look for you to discuss the new carpet design. Shall we go upstairs and talk about it?”

“Oh there you are Jonah!” replied Greta, mimicking Alma. “Could you please show me the new fabrics in the workshop?”

“Alma you must come with me tomorrow when I walk Ernst to the lake.”

“Jonah, Ernst woul
d like you to read him his goodnight story tonight. Would you be so kind and accompany me to his bedroom?”