The Luck of the Weissensteiners (The Three Nations Trilogy) (22 page)

“Johanna is implicated enough herself by putting you up here in the barn and bringing you food, I would not worry a
bout her.  How was the party?” she asked.

“Grand as you can imagine. A lot of people I would not normally feel comfortable with. I would say the Countess has a very varied spectr
um of friends. Fortunately I was accepted into the circle of artists and eccentrics and that felt more relaxed. She must have spent a small fortune on the festivities; there was even a small orchestra. I can't believe she managed to keep that much of her fortune to afford all this,” Jonah told her.

“I don't think I would feel very comfortable at such a big party,” Sarah confessed.

“I was far from comfortable,” Jonah protested. “Maybe something good will come of it. I may be moving my workshop to the manor house.”

“To the
manor house? How?” said Sarah, amazed.

“I am meant to stay in an outhouse to fulfil a private commission. I would be removed from the public eye and solely employed by the Countess and her rich art lover friends.”

“You would be nearer us.” Sarah said excitedly.

“It would solve a lot of my problems but I will have to talk to my children about it and to Alma,” Jonah said. “I found out that my name is on the lists of Jews the Hlinka Guard have compiled. The Countess is paying to keep me safe. I am not sure I can refuse her anything now that I know.”

“You would be safer here than in town,” Sarah reflected. “Most attacks on Jews happen in bigger places. Apart from our co-workers, we rarely see any these days; nobody wants to travel unless they have to. We have not seen our relatives for a long time. Roswitha has been to town more often and she says she has seen some ugly scenes. I can't believe everything she tells me of course. She hates me and likes to make me feel bad.”

“I have heard of a few incidents myself, but like you and your family we hardly ever leave the house. Alma is too protective of our feelings to tell us if she had witnessed any attacks on Jews herself. Listen, I better go, I just stopped to let you know that I am fine. They
will be waiting for me and worried at home too. Give my regards and thanks to Johanna.”

“I will. You be careful!
”

Greta and Wilma had spent New
Year’s Eve with Alma, whom they welcomed as an unofficial stepmother with open arms. They had never seen their father happier than he had been the last few months.

The daughters had been most amused when they had c
aught the love birds holding hands for the first time. There could not have been a better timing for this romance. It made the whole business of the Jewish Code a little bit more bearable, since the family’s focus was on the new lovers instead of the political climate outside. New commissions kept coming their way and the girls were so busy that they never would have known a week had gone by without either of them setting a foot outside the door. Ernst was a remarkable child who would happily play with his toys next to his mother and aunt or use some wooden building blocks to build a house. Wilma had found an old song book and Greta had taught him new tunes, which they sang during their long hours of labour in the workshop. It was all the distraction and attention the boy needed.

However, when Jonah did not appear back at the workshop the next morning all three women started to become agitated and worried. Wilma imagined the worst and would not rest. She could not concentrate, was hopeless with the weaving and useless in the kitchen. She followed Alma
’s advice to go upstairs and lie down but she could not keep still and soon came back down again, pacing through the house in a complete state of hysteria. Alma shook her, shouted at her and even slapped her lightly on the cheek but nothing seemed to bring Wilma to her senses. Greta tried to calm her by talking to her but could not persuade the distressed sister that their missing father was alive and well.

“We knew it was going to happen. How could he have been so stupid and walk outside without the Yellow Star?” Wilma lamented. “I bet they were just waiting for him. I told him to be careful. We must go to the police and find out what has happened to him.”

“You are insane!” exclaimed Greta. “Not a word to the police. There is probably a simple explanation to the whole affair. Maybe he got drunk and slept in at the farm or maybe he is hiding somewhere by the road.”

“What if he has been arrested?” Wilma worried.

“If he has been arrested there is nothing we can do for him right now. Come on, think. It is New Year. There won't be many soldiers and policemen on the road. They all have been partying themselves, they always do.”

“We must look for him. Maybe he needs help,” Wilma urged her sister.

“Yes, more Jews on the road, that will help him if he is hiding,” Greta ridiculed her. “Go on, you know we cannot do anything. We just need to be calm and patient and wait.”

“I wish I could be calm!
” Wilma exclaimed. “How do you do it? Father is missing. He may be already half way to the camp in Terezin!”

“Oh Wilma, of course I worry too but I won't allow myself to think
that way. Not until I know anything for sure. Maybe his host has invited him to stay or maybe he is still drinking with his new friends. There are many good things that could have happened as well as bad ones.”

All of her efforts were in vain. Wilma cried and paced madly around the house all day long. When it got darker out
side and Jonah had still not returned she became quieter and began rocking back and forth in her chair. Greta and Alma decided to take shifts to stay with her and to make sure she was not going to run off and look for her father. In her state anything seemed possible and the last thing they wanted was another missing person to worry about.

Ernst kept waking up because of the noise Wilma was creating and it was his intervention that signified a turning point. He came downstairs from his afternoon nap crying looking for his mother and when he saw the state Wilma was in he stopped and hugged her legs hard with his arms. It was this action that brought Wilma back to normality. She wiped her tears away with her sleeve, picked Ernst up and said to him:

“Young man, we can't have you up all day. Let’s go to bed. I'll read you another story.”

“Max und Moritz
,” Ernst shouted, the name of his favourite story.

“Max and Moritz it is.
” Wilma said gently and calmly and the two of them disappeared up the stairs.

The three wo
men were hugely relieved when Jonah arrived safe and sound back at the workshop later. Once they had scolded him for worrying the entire family he told them about the offer he had received and asked them for their opinion. They were very excited about the prospect of moving into the manor house.

“I can't wait!” exclaimed Wilma
, as if all her hysterics earlier had never taken place. “It is such a beautiful house, I can't believe we could be living on those fantastic grounds. Even a broom cupboard there is better than here. Have you seen the gardens there? They are huge!”

“Calm down, Wilma!” objected Greta. “We won't be there for a holiday. We will be working and not be mingling with the Countess and her friends.”

“It will be much better all the same,” insisted Wilma. “We see nothing but grey houses and smoke from our windows here and we never go outside. On her estate we must have some kind of view and a little bit of beauty around us.”

“We will be hiding there just as much as we d
o here,” Greta warned.

“We will have a little bit more freedom,” Jonah contradicted. “We will be on private grounds under the protection of the owner.”

“We should go as soon as we can,” Alma said.

“I don't see any reason to rush anything. We are already kept safe by bribes,”
Wilma said confidently.

“Whoever is taking the money could change their mind. We
cannot take our luck for granted!” Greta warned.

Jonah took her point
and informed the Countess of their decision to accept her generous offer. Preparations for the move started immediately. At the same time as the Wannsee Conference in Berlin decided on the total extermination of all Jews in Germany, in sharp contrast, the Weissensteiners felt more protected than they had in a long time.

The Countess assigned Jonah and his family a small cottage-like guest house to live in. The house was situated away from the
manor house in the middle of the extensive forests on the grounds, next to a very small lake. The cottage had been erected by the previous owners who had a passion for fishing and who liked to retreat here for days at a time. The kitchen was small and basic but the family was invited to eat with the house servants whenever they wanted. The Countess emphasised that this was purely for practical reasons and did not mean that the artist and his family should feel reduced to the ranks of mere employees. There were only two bedrooms in the cottage. The sisters shared their room with the child while Alma and Jonah shared the other.

The weaving workshop was installed in a former farm building. There had not been any animals on the estate for years and the building had been derelict for a long time and needed some work done to it. It was very spacious and it was possible for the family to start working there right away at the end of January. Tw
o carpenters were employed to furnish the place according to Jonah’s needs and specifications. 

The
Weissensteiners felt like small Gods in their new life.  Wilma was hugely relieved to be away from the streets of Bratislava and those ugly memories. The haunting incident on the bridge had left deep scars on her soul and she had never been able to properly relax since. She was hopeful to return to her non-traumatised previous self. Being surrounded by woodlands the cottage felt like a secret hideaway, which helped the anxious young woman to settle in. No one would find them here.

Jonah did not miss Bratislava and its dangers either but he did feel bad for letting his other customers down by becoming exclusively employed by the Countess. Apart from occasional trips to get artistic supplies
, there was no need to stray from the premises which left them all plenty of time to focus on their work. The servants from the main house were reserved but polite towards the newcomers and there was so much work to do for the family that – were it not for Egon's occasional letters from Russia - they almost could have forgotten that there was a war going on.

March
, at last, saw the first of many planned mass deportations of Jews from Bratislava to Poland. Like everywhere under German influence, most Jews had lost their jobs due to the discriminating laws. According to the Codex Judaicus in Slovakia they had a duty to work and were rounded up in labour camps in Novaky, Vyhne and Sered. The government had been slow to organise the promised deportations but gradually succumbed to the heavy pressure from Germany. First selected were men between 16 and 35 which meant that families that had previously been kept together were now in danger of being broken up. The Christian wing of the Hlinka Party was opposed to these measures and only the reassurance of the Reichsprotektor Heydrich that prisoners would be humanly treated in the camps and families would be reunited, enabled the government to proceed. So the first transports commenced.

The Weissensteiners were unaware of this situation for several months. They enjoyed themselves in their new safe haven at the
manor house. They were very much left to their own devices and could do as they pleased in their spare time. Wilma took Ernst for long walks around the lake and through the forest, never seriously worried about their safety. The other employees were not interested in them and left them alone.

Greta, Alma and Jonah spent most of their days together in the workshop, occasionally interrupted by visits from the Countess or her lady friends. Jonah had been looking forward to the frequent contact and the philosophical discussions with her Highness that Visser had promised him at the New
Year’s Eve Party, but those scenes never materialised. The Countess was far too busy to make it regularly to the house and it occurred to Jonah that she was not only busy but also a little flaky and easily bored, a privilege of the rich he had heard about many times.

Esther to
ok a particular liking to Ernst and spent a lot of time playing with him, seemingly unconcerned about her dress getting dirty during hide and seek and other games. She appeared to be a child herself, an untamed wild one at heart who refused to grow up and become a respectable member of society. Edith was a little more business like when they paid visits to the workshop and kept her focus on the progress of the carpet but when Esther went outside with Ernst she let her guard down a little more. It was noticeable that she had taken a fancy to Greta.

When she asked Jonah questions her eyes would wander over to where Greta was working and she was always paying a little more attention to her than to the others. Alma could see the struggle in Edith to start up a conversation with Greta amateurishly concealed under her restrained manner. Jonah was aware of the infatuati
on as well but felt it safer not to draw any attention to it and possibly offend their generous benefactors. In their isolation in the woods these visits were welcome diversions.

Sarah also managed to visit the family occasionally and she struck up a great friendship with Wilma. Unfortunately it was the blossoming of their friendship that
one day in September brought back Wilma’s anxiety when – without considering the impact of the information on the anxious woman - Sarah told the family about the continuous deportation of Jews from the camps in Slovakia to Poland.