The Luck of the Weissensteiners (The Three Nations Trilogy) (24 page)

After Jonah had completed not one but two erotic carpets for Esther and Edith as well as one for the Countess
, there were suddenly no new projects or commissions. Even though many friends and acquaintances of the ladies had expressed an interest in ordering some carpets, nobody seemed to be coming forward and the Countess decided to commission more herself as an investment, to keep her promise and to keep Jonah and his family in business.

She was without inspiration as to what theme the new carpets should have though and so it was up to Jonah to draw up some designs for her. In this rather quiet period Greta and Wilma took Ernst for long walks into the forest with its astonishing
ly coloured leaves. To Greta this was an amazing time of the year and she adored the changing colours around her. Wilma in contrast only noticed the shortening of the days, the early darkness and the cold temperatures that were coming to stay. She became even more depressed than before and could not understand how her sister could be so cheerful and happy when all of their lives were dependent on the good will of the President and the Church. On top of that their brother was somewhere in Russia fighting for the very people that may destroy his family, Jewish people were being murdered in Poland and there was no work for the family right now to distract themselves with.

Greta replied
to these complaints that she was happy just to be with her family, for being relatively safe and that she thought that the extreme resistance that the German army was currently experiencing in Stalingrad was a reason to be hopeful. Radio propaganda by the Allies painted a less glorious picture for the Axis states than the German and Slovak newspapers and broadcasts. Optimists said there was hope for a peace treaty soon. However, the Allies also gave voice to the Czechoslovak Government in exile, which was threatening the Slovak 'traitors' and spoke of the restoration of the Czechoslovak state after the war. Slovak Nationalists knew now that their only future as an independent nation was through the continued success of the Germans and that in the case of a defeat for the Axis states, the current government would find themselves prosecuted by a returning Czech one.

Greta spent a great deal of time explaining the complexities of the political situation to h
er sister but Wilma had lost interest in politics. Quiet and withdrawn she endured the lectures without really paying attention to them and whenever she could she now tried to go for walks alone – with or without Ernst.

It was on one of those lonely outings that she encountered a steward from the
manor house. She mumbled a quick hello and continued on her way but he called after her and when she did not respond he followed her and made her stop.

“Hey! I was calling you. Won't you talk to me?” he said angrily.

“I am in a hurry and I don't want to talk!” she said curtly and tried to hurry on her way.

“You think you are something special? An artist way above us common wo
rkers," he shouted, continuing his rant.

“I don't know what you mean,” she said anxiously. “I don't think anything like that. I don't trust strangers and prefer my own company. Please respect that and accept my apology for any offence I have caused you.”

“Not so hasty. I am no stranger. We both work for the Countess. We are colleagues, both proletarians. We should be friendly to each other,” he said and came closer.

“Be that as it may I am not a communist, I am just a woman who tries to mind her own business,” she s
aid and quickened her step. She was shaken by fear and worry. Would anybody hear her if she screamed? What did that guy want from her?

“You don't like communists?” he sneered. “Do you prefer the Nazis? I find that hard to believe, they'd shoot you on the spot. We communists give everyone a fair chance.
Even you Jews!”

“Why are you talking to me like that? I have done nothing to you.
Can you please, please let me go? You are scaring me!” Wilma said, hoping that her honesty would make a difference to this irate young man.

“I thought you and I
were the same,” said the rejected steward with sadness in his voice. “Both oppressed by politics. I liked you. I have seen you on the grounds many times and you have always been so much fun with the little boy. I am sorry I scared you but you have hurt me by turning me down without even talking to me.”

“Sorry, but I have got to
go,” she called out to him and ran away.

“Go to hell!” he
said and threw a conker he held in his hand at her.

The incident pushed Wilma into further states of anxiety. She refused to leave the house or the studio on her own. Greta knew that something was wrong but it took her a lot of persuasion before Wilma was ready to tell her about the steward and his unwelcome advances.

Apart from the fear, she also felt guilty for hurting his feelings. The incident had gnawed on her mind. She hoped that by ignoring the matter it would all go away but it didn't. Since the incidence on the bridge with the Hitler Youth it took little for Wilma to feel threatened.

Greta told Edith and Esther about it, who offered to have the steward fired but the Countess said it was wiser to let it go. A disgruntled and unstable employee like this one could easily try and get his revenge on the Jews with help from the Hlinka Guard. There were always other ways of making him pay for his outrageous behaviour. Patience
was of the essence. A few weeks later the insensitive man found himself locked in his sleeping quarters with a hungry rat family, an action of revenge that Edith had thought of so he could experience himself what it felt like to be scared.

Jonah had drawn up several new designs of carpets for the Countess but it took her a long time before she decided to go ahead with at least a  few of them. Last year she had been confident she would be able to sell or help to sell many carpets without any difficulties, now she was no longer sure she could. The main problem was not finding buyers but choosing the right designs that prospective customers would be able to put on a wall freely and without controversy.

A
lmost exactly a year ago, when Jonah arrived at the manor house she knew that his Christian and heroic motifs would be easy to find a market for, but now that the war could be at a turning point, it seemed unwise to manufacture carpets that may be prohibited, destroyed or confiscated by the Soviet Army or a communist government. Historical themes were controversial in a country that had been called Upper Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Czecho-Slovakia and which was in danger of becoming controlled by either German or Russian in the near future.

Should the Axis powers win she guessed anything liberal and frivolous would have to be h
idden or destroyed. Even those of her friends who had originally expressed a definite interest were now holding back until the outcome of the war was clearer to everyone. The compromise for the new designs was therefore a series of nature themes that the Countess felt were admittedly a little dull but which she could always give to the more conservative of her acquaintances. Production had to be delayed further because there were increasing supply problems caused by the army which needed more blankets and clothes for the winter. Textile materials were hard to come by.

The Allied air raids had not yet spread to Slovakia and its factories and so German interest in the country seemed to be focused on the productivity of the industry and its food production rather than the complete deportation of Jews to Poland. The sea blockade by the British and American forces had brought hunger to large parts of the population in the Reich, which demanded and took more than its fair
share from the produce in Slovakia to compensate for its own shortcomings.

The Countess hoped that the w
ar would come to an end soon now that the Red Army was expected to sweep in from the East and the US was rumoured to land in the West. Peace seemed to be so close and yet, at the same time, still so incredibly far out of reach.

She was glad however that she had brought Jon
ah and his family to her Estate. He had such an incredible talent and after the war it might well be possible for him to achieve worldwide fame for his art. It was all down to her to make sure he survived, to do everything in her power to keep the man out of reach of the Jew haters in the country. So far her schemes of bribes and personal favours had worked very well.

The administration of the country was young and impressionable and for the first time in its history only answerable to its own people, not to
Hungarian or Czech superiors. German requests were dealt with favourably but there were few of those as the super power was busy with the more rebellious of its recent territorial acquisitions.

The Countess knew when and how to address the egotism of the new officials she was working with and when to appeal to their greed. It seemed almost too easy to be true at times. In Jonah’s case another party was intervening to keep the names off lists, the Countess found out from one particularly talkative civil servant, someone related to the military. After investigating further - at her request - the official told her that this intervention was carried out by an old war veteran, a recruitment officer who was covering up for Jonah’s son Egon. Apparently the young soldier was very successful in the army and was regarded as indispensable. The civil servant of course was quick to point out that the weaver was only secondary to the army’s goal of protecting Egon and the Countess would be well advised to 'carry on with her own safeguarding measures'.

Getting the family out of Bratislava and on to her Estate had been the most important part of her plan. Her connections were powerful
, even at higher levels of the administration, but it was violence and unprovoked attacks on the streets that she worried about. Politicians could be controlled much more easily than the thugs in this country, even though she had her doubts how much longer it would be before the evil forces of Germany would put their foot down and demand the same measures against Jews as they were implementing everywhere else.

Jonah was not only a gifted
artist, he was also a lovely character whom she wanted to introduce to her own circles of friends. He had a disarming laughter and his outlook on life was very philosophical and a welcome alternative to the other Jews she knew. The ones she was friendly with often tended to be of the mystical branch of Judaism, free thinking and spiritually open one minute and then dogmatic about the teachings of the Kabbalah the next; something which was hard for her rational nature to accept.

Jonah appeared to possess
a more practical and pragmatic approach in his views of the world but – when queried in discussion - he confessed to having views that occasionally changed, very much in the Jewish tradition of questioning and searching oneself for the concepts of God and ethics. She used to host a series of discussions with her philosophically inclined friends but so many of the regular attendees had left the country that this would prove a rather dull affair now. Instead of such structured gatherings she tried to bring regular conversations away from mundane topics onto more spiritual subjects but it proved difficult with Jonah who tried so hard to keep his focus on the work tasks ahead of him. He remembered how Visser had predicted her interest in his philosophical views but Jonah no longer felt comfortable wasting time just talking to her when he knew how indebted he was to her financially. He wanted to pay his way and not be seen to be taking advantage.

Greta wanted to make
herself useful during this time of no work in the weaving workshop. She had mentioned her love of books to Edith who had suggested to the Countess that this knowledgeable young woman should be allowed to spend time in the Estate library to take advantage of the great treasures it held. When Greta visited the library for the first time she found it difficult to locate specific books and authors on the many shelves that held the collection. Frustrated and also challenged she offered to sort and organise the books in her spare time. The Countess welcomed the suggestion with huge enthusiasm. Not only had she been aware of how neglected the collection had been since the departure of her bibliophile former steward to Palestine.

Greta
’s interest also reassured the Countess that Jonah and his family were not planning to leave the Estate just because there was temporarily nothing for them to do until the new materials were delivered. Greta was delighted by the vast amount and the quality of the books on the shelves. There had to be at least 20,000 volumes, if her estimates were correct. The chaos that prevailed however was appalling. It seemed as if no one had given the order of the books any consistent thought for years. Works by one author were often found in separate places, translated texts were sometimes next to the originals in the French or Latin section and sometimes together with other books by the same writer, the history books were not shelved together either and for anyone to find a particular book would prove difficult if not impossible.

Greta was delighted to be able to help their beneficiary and together with Wilma and Ernst she went to the library almost every day. While Ernst was playing on the floor or at a little table, Greta was going through the shelves one by one and handed Wilma books that she thought needed relocating. Later they would go through these and decide how to classify the collection. For Wilma this work was calming and almost cathartic. It gave her a sense of restoration and order in this
period of suspension and lack of structure. With every tidy shelf she felt a little closer to the inner peace and stability that she was missing. For Greta, the reorganisation of the library was an equally emotionally charged experience but for quite different reasons. She came across a lot of books by her favourite German romantic authors, who she had not thought about for a very long time and she started to re-read them in the evenings.

She could not help but feel a little cynical about the big dreams and fairy tale happy endings in these books and the sharp contrast that the sound of the German language in those stories had to her these days, now associated with orders, war propaganda and Hitler's voice on the wireless. This spoiled many of her favou
rite novels for her for good. She found the same to be true for her Russian writers who had romanticised a Tsarist society, which had since turned into another heartless fascist state.

Edith offered to teach her some French, but Jonah advised his daughter to be aware of the potential implication of an intimate friendship with one of the two lovers and reminded her of the dangers a jealous Esther might bring to the family. Greta took this
advice and ensured that she did not spend too much time alone with either of the two courting ladies.

It was hard to shake
off the two women completely since they were also living under voluntary house arrest on the Estate. Greta was still raw and hurt from the loss of her first born son and her husband, and her stomach turned whenever she saw books that Wilhelm had liked.

She would have liked to know how he and Karl were getting on in Berlin. Had Karl successfully become an Aryan in the eyes of the authorities or
had he been found out and deported? The thought of it made her feel nauseous. She tried hard not to think of him at all. When the thoughts came back to haunt her she persuaded herself to believe that Wilhelm and his family connections in Berlin must have been successful in preventing such a fate. Wilhelm would have been drafted to the war by now or had he been exempt? Who would be looking after their son Karl if he was at the front? Did her boy have enough to eat? Did he still think about her, even remember her or had he forgotten his mother and been adopted into a new family?

Wilhelm had probably re-
married by now and produced more children for the Fuhrer. There was so much on her mind and so many questions might never be answered. She was too proud to ask Johanna and if anyone knew, they did not tell her. The books in the library had initially been a welcome distraction and an escape from her reality but the handling of some of those books brought back many memories she would have preferred to keep out of her mind.

Wilma was upset just as easily by the tainted memories
that the treasures of this library represented.  To her, they were symbols of an easier and happier time, when her sister had been happy and the flow of interesting books brought back by her brother-in-law had seemed never ending. Nowadays she could not make herself read much at all, she was too afraid that a story might not end well and add to her melancholic mood.

Children
’s books for Ernst would have been useful but there were very few of those in the manor house Library. The ones that she found were not in great condition and naturally most of them were written in Hungarian, which Ernst had not learned to speak. Wilma had not only lost her interest in books and reading but also the drive to sing one of the many folk songs which she had so loved to perform dramatically for Ernst in the past. She preferred to play with building blocks these days, or to build houses out of playing cards or fold papers into planes or boats – all activities that did not demand too much conversation or interaction with the child. He was the last person on earth she would have wanted to take her sad mood out on.

There had been no word from Egon for several
months now and Wilma was very nervous about that too. Mail deliveries during the war had always been irregular and Jonah had maintained for some time that there was no need to become worried. Alma added that no news was also always good news. While there was no confirmation that he was well at least they had no proof that he was missing or wounded either. Wilma suffered terrible nightmares and could not stop herself from imagining him lying wounded in a battle field, in a hospital or captured by the enemy.

It was hard to argue with Alma and Jonah about it. Their optimism was unbreakable
, yet even in her most pessimistic of moments Wilma never once thought of him as being dead. That possibility was completely banned from her imagination.

In that regard Jonah was actually much less optimistic than her. He knew that the death of his son was a very likely possibility but he kept up an outwardly cheerfulness and said that he guessed that Egon
had never received their notice of the new address and so all of his letters would not have been delivered. Besides, the military had to keep the location of their soldiers a secret and given Egon’s deployment in classified work, it was even less likely for them to hear from him.

Wilma took a little comfort in this poss
ibility. She knew that at least Alma might have tried to find out if any letters had been delivered to the address on Gajova. 

After they had left Bratislava
, the workshop had been empty for a few weeks but then new tenants had moved in and turned it into a furniture shop. Since the confiscation of Jewish property in Slovakia and even more so in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, there were a lot more goods available on the market.

Owners of new shops often had the right party co
nnections and also important free access to the warehouses of confiscated goods. It seemed advisable to Jonah not to draw the attention of such potential party members to himself and his new location. Even though his entire family had been issued with exemption papers he did not blindly trust their effectiveness and he certainly did not feel he could afford to trust the new occupants of his workshop by leaving a forwarding address. Jonah forced himself to believe that there were good reasons why they had not heard from his son and took comfort in the fact that there had never been much news from him before their move out of Bratislava either, but a small doubt remained miserably at the back of his mind.