The Luck of the Weissensteiners (The Three Nations Trilogy) (25 page)

It was only when the German army was defeated in Stalingrad in February that
Jonah seriously started to worry. He was not sure which division of the German army the Slovak units had been assisting but he felt a sad certainty that the spy or radio work that Egon was involved in simply must have been part of this enormous battle of all battles. He could only hope that his son had been fortunate enough to be taken prisoner by the Soviets rather than being amongst the huge number of casualties. Alma on the other hand was not so sure that being a prisoner of war during winter was preferable to an immediate death or to a lengthy stay in a hospital. She tried to keep the family from talking about it as much as she could. In the absence of concrete news it seemed futile to speculate and Wilma in particular was already on the verge of losing her calm.

Spring came and the awaited reprisals from the Soviet army or the predicted push from Allied troops against the Western front still had not materialised. Newsreels at the picture houses and radio broadcasts painted the usual optimistic picture of the course of the war for the Axis powers, while the BBC broadcasts said the exact opposite. Since the defeat at Stalingrad
, Germany seemed too busy with its own problems to interfere with Slovak politics. Life in Bratislava was full of unfulfilled expectations and everything seemed to hang idly in a state of suspension, waiting for the big unknown. There were still no further deportations of Jews, only hard work in the labour camps for the ones already arrested, continued high productivity at factories and mines, food shortages and black market activity.

Benedikt had risen even further within the party hierarchy and was elected as one
of the agricultural advisers to the government. This meant that he had to spend several days a week in Bratislava to attend meetings and he had to delegate more of his own farm duties to someone else, especially the supervision. He had obtained exemption papers for all of his farm workers but kept a reign of terror by making it quite clear to them that these could be withdrawn on his wish at any given moment.

Of course there
was no need for such threats. His employees were all aware of the advantages that they were enjoying by working for such a big fish. Senior labourers had already warned the more recent arrivals of the fate Marius and his family had met when the married servant had been caught with the farmer's daughter Maria. That was enough of a deterrent for them to toe the line. Benedikt had chosen two workers as supervisors in his absence. One was Sarah's brother Elias, the other was a slightly older Gypsy by the name of Hanzi.

The two of them had been chosen because they represented opposing groups within the work force, making it difficult for anybody to steal or to be lazy without being reported to Benedikt by a member of the opposing group. This divide and conquer method had worked well for Benedikt in the past and even though the tensions amongst his labourers grew the farm seemed to do well in his absence.

Hanzi had not been very pleased when he was appointed to his new position; life had been difficult enough for him already. The Jews on this farm were a closed group and seemed to look out only each other. Gypsies were fewer in number and had less support behind them to help them to survive. Hanzi’s family members were eager for him to get his hands on some of the farm produce to feed their hungry mouths and he had difficulties to stop them from helping themselves. If he got caught he risked denunciation and would probably be made responsible for any thefts committed by his own community. Because there was no solidarity between the two groups the set up was toxic for the relations between them and both sides eyed each other with suspicion and kept double checking everything the other side did. Elias had suggested a truce or a deal between himself and Hanzi but the Gypsy elders warned him off. They were certain such a deal with the 'untrustworthy' Jews would only short change them.

During Benedikt's
absences from the farm Johanna was free to visit the Weissensteiners at the manor house. There was no longer a need to bring them free food as the cook was willing to buy it off her at exorbitant black market prices and Jonah and his family would still have access to it later in the staff kitchen. Of late her trips to the Estate had become an escapism for her. At the farm she felt increasingly frustrated and unwanted. She had never known a loving atmosphere at her own family home when she was a child and had certainly not sought to create anything like it with her own children and husband. Then the Berlin relatives had arrived and turned their life upside down by bringing with them a sense of familiarity and closeness. This was the first time in her life that she had encountered such a way of living. Having observed it suspiciously and having at first rejected it she gradually had come to like the new atmosphere on the farm without even realising it herself. She had fought against it and made it hard for her guests to feel welcome and at home. Now that they were all gone she found she missed those days, yet she lacked the ability to connect to her own children in this way and to establish warm and friendly relationships with them.

The Jewish maid Sarah had become her new best friend instead of her chi
ldren who were equally unsure how to bridge the gap between them and their own mother. The bond between the mistress and her servant did not help with this situation at all and caused further problems with Johanna’s children. They had grown understandably jealous first of Wilhelm and Greta, then Karl, then Ernst and now of the Jewish maid. When Johanna naively tried to reach out to her daughters they withdrew from her. It was not just jealousy. They were uncomfortable with this unprecedented kindness and were fearful of hidden ulterior motives. Sarah was unable to mediate because Maria and Roswitha were stonewalling her attempts to break the ice too. It was astonishing how much could be said without any words being exchanged between the women on the farm.

At the Weissensteiners all these politics, tactics and mind games were absent. Jonah and Alma were living in a friendly and peaceful manner and it was easier for Johanna to follow their lead of exchanging pleasantri
es than having to create such harmony herself. Maybe one day she might be able to apply what she was observing here in her own life but for now she was only here to enjoy and to rest from the harsh climate at home.

Whenever
possible she took Sarah with her as well, knowing how much Sarah needed such a diversion and how helpful the maid’s presence was for Wilma and her peace of mind. It was probably another nail in the coffin of her family relations but Johanna was gradually giving up her hopes for success in that endeavour.

If Greta and her sister were busy in the library at the
manor house, Sarah would go there directly without spending any time with Jonah. She would help the sisters by taking care of Ernst or assist them with the library project and rejoice in the all-female company, something she did not know from her own life. Her siblings were all boys and since his promotion at the farm Elias had become very bossy – as if she did not have enough people breathing down her neck.

Greta always welcomed it when Sarah came to see them because it meant either extra attention for Ernst or it speeded up their progress with the preliminary sorting of books. She was so involved in the process that she often forgot to talk about anything else but the library. By
letting herself be absorbed in the project and the search for a logical and easy solution to the sorting problems she seemed to be able to push any other worry out of her mind.

The effect was sadly that she had become an obsessed woman quite out of touch with the real world.
Wilma shared her enthusiasm but found it hard to deal with her sister’s seriousness and single minded focus. With Sarah, at long last, came the diversion and the youthful influence that both sisters at times needed. The lack of word from Egon had seriously damaged all of their spirits. 

At the house by the lake Alma would usually ask Johanna about her life and listen patiently to all the news and worries on her visitor
’s troubled mind. Jonah tried to make time from his work to sit down with the women whenever he could but he welcomed that Alma should have a female friend her own age and so he tried to strike a balance between attentiveness to his visitor and giving space to the developing new friendship. The bond that was forming between them was against all odds. Alma stood for so many things that the otherwise hard minded Johanna was opposed to: being with a Jewish man, living with him in sin, not supporting Hitler and the war, not supporting the Christian or any faith for that matter, being so soft on the younger generation and being so god-damned happy despite her modest income and simple life.

In turn Johan
na's ambition, her coldness, her abrupt manners, her judgemental character and her belief in a Christian and conservative world order were so alien to Alma that she could watch them in bemusement as an observer, but she could also see the vulnerable woman underneath the harshness, the woman who did not always behave as heartlessly as she preached, the fearful woman who hid behind big words but who had a soft core and a little child who just needed reassurance, attention and love.

Alma made Johanna forget about the loveless world she lived in. For a few hours she could enjoy the presence of someone who tried to see life from her perspective, who understood how difficult her two daughters were, how her husband had moved out of reach and was only thinking about his career and the party and never paid her any attention any more, how her son was somewhere in that war and with his weak constitution was probably in grave danger right now, how she still missed little Karl and her beloved Wilhelm, how dull life had become since everyone had left her on the farm and how lonely she was when Sarah went back to her home every evening.

Alma understood her very well and she felt sorry for the farmer’s wife, even though she knew that Johanna really only had herself to blame for the state her life was in. Personally, she found Johanna’s abrupt and rude manners endearing and knew that the insults and harsh remarks were not meant to hurt but she could see how other people would take offence and try to cut that mean spirited woman out of their lives. Underneath that edgy and bitter exterior there was someone capable of loving and giving, who just needed to be handled with a little bit of care. By ignoring the criticism and the judgement and encouraging the nicer sides of Johanna’s character, Alma was able to bring out the best in the rigid German and became a close friend.

Alma on the other hand was flattered that Johanna would open up to her and seek out her company. Even though the
farmer’s wife was desperate for love and companionship she had singled her out and valued Alma’s opinion. Alma had quite a lot of needs herself, some of which were perfectly met by Johanna’s interest in her. At the age of 14 Alma had been sent to Budapest to live with relatives and to learn a trade. Her father died of pneumonia and when her mother remarried it was made clear to Alma that there would be no room for her in the new family home, especially since her mother wanted to have more children as soon as possible. Alma stayed in Budapest until the foundation of the Slovak state. She had always felt as an outsider in Hungary, unwanted by her own family and since her first love died in the Great War she had also given up on love.

She had hoped to find some kind of solidarity and kindred spirit in the new state of Slovakia, where her nationality would bind her to an entire
country but these romantic ideas of a new Nation fell short of the reality. No one had been waiting for expatriates to come home and join them, no one was welcoming her with open arms. The only good thing in her life had been Jonah and his family and so she felt very reassured and pleased that Johanna, this Jew hating harsh German farmer, had not only gone out of her way to help this kind man of hers to survive with the food supplies, but she also had started to trust in Alma and confide in her.

Alma desperately needed to believe in a world where kindness existed, where solidarity and charity were exchanged even between people on opposing sides of the political
and sociological conflicts, otherwise her Jonah would have no chance of survival in the long run. Seeing the good in Johanna’s character was therefore a necessity in Alma’s war survival strategy and her trust in the good in the other woman became a self-fulfilling prophecy that encouraged Johanna to better herself and to want to become a nicer person.

It was a relief for Johanna to be able to confide in her new friend and at long last be allowed to talk about her husband in a way that she would have p
reviously described as disloyal. She disliked his new party involvement, the time he spent away from the farm and the image consciousness he had recently begun to display. Her husband was a proud man and he had never wasted time on what other people thought about him. He used to look in the mirror for approval, not into other people's faces. Johanna had a hard time catching up with what had become important in his new philosophy now.

Jews had been a minor topic
in his life, now the issue was political and could not just be laughed off or brushed away any more. Johanna was not cut out for the life of a party official, she longed for simplicity and she felt threatened by his new ambitions. In their times alone at the weaving workshop the two ladies practised imitating the way Benedikt was talking at those party meetings and laughed about how ridiculous it must sound to his fellow statesmen. They were both astonished at his rise within the party when his mannerisms were so boorish and unsophisticated. Was that really what the new regime was all about?