The Luck of the Weissensteiners (The Three Nations Trilogy) (41 page)

The furniture shop that
had once housed the old weaving home had also been vandalised. Jonah remembered that the new owners of the shop had been members of the Hlinka party and must have felt the wrath of retribution. As they were standing helpless and confused outside their old residence a neighbour came out on the street and walked up to Jonah.

“Aren't you the
weaver?” he asked right out.

“Yes
, I am,” Jonah replied.

“Big mess that house,” he said. “It is even worse inside.
Everything has been broken. The husband has been executed on the main square on Benes’s orders, the wife and children were made to watch, then they were taken away to a camp.  Are you thinking of living here again?”

“N
o. It isn't mine and without my tools it would be a bit big just for me and my wife. I am trying to find out about my son. His name was Egon. Do you remember him?” Jonah asked. “Have you heard anything about him? Has he been here?”

“I sure remember him,” said the neighbour pointedly. “He was a soldier wasn't he?
Real proud!”

“Yes, he was with the army,” Jonah said reluctantly. “I have not heard from him
for a while. You wouldn’t have seen him?”

The man leaned close into Jonah's shoulder and
whispered:

“
Sorry my friend, I know nothing about him. But let me warn you: Be very careful who you speak to. Benes and his men are running a retribution campaign against the Hlinka party and what they call the collaborators. He says the government was illegal and needs to be prosecuted. That is why the owner of the furniture shop was killed. If you mention that your son was a soldier you may not get any help from those who associate the Slovak army with the Hlinka guards. Your son looked particularly proud when he wore his uniform.”

“It is funny,” said Alma. “You had to join the Hlinka party to su
rvive the war without problems - even if you didn't want anything to do with them - and now that very party affiliation can cost you everything if you are unlucky.”

“Yes!” agreed the old man. “It is
a real witch hunt out there, so be careful. Fortunately Benes has unknowingly chosen many of the old guards to execute his plans for him. Some examples had to be set to satisfy his thirst for revenge – but now if you keep your head down you will be fine,” he said with a wink. “I bet you must be proud of your son. I heard he was amongst the few who were selected to fight with the Germans.”

“Oh I am!
Very proud. I just wish I could find out what has happened to him!” said Jonah quickly, hating to play up to this fascist in order to keep his trust.

“
I am sure the family who lived here would have told us if a letter had come from your son. They were very patriotic which is why the house is such a mess. I guess the survivors of that family are now in a labour camp in the north along with the Germans. God help them,” the old man said. “You could ask the Svoboda's opposite. Maybe they know something. Just be careful: They were hiding a Jew in their loft, I think their dentist or something like that. They walk around all high and mighty now. Ask, but be careful what you say.”

“I could always claim to be a Jew myself!” said Jonah in a joking tone.

The old man burst into laughter. “Good one! Best of luck. Now do you want me to tell your son anything if I do see him?”

“Yes, tell him I am looking for him. Tell him to leave word with you where he is. Once I have found a place to stay I will let you know
where he can find me. Maybe I will try and stay at the workshop while I am waiting. I will let you know if I do. Thank you. You are a life saver,” Jonah said.

“Don't mention it. Hard times ahead for us good people, we need to stick together,” said the old man and disappeared back into his house.

Jonah went over to the Svobodas and knocked on their door. A young woman with a baby on her arm came to the door. She looked him up and down and then at the two women with him before she even greeted him and then she asked him abruptly what he wanted. He explained about his son being missing and asked her if she had heard anything.

“Wasn't your son a soldier?” she asked.

“Yes he was. Drafted,” Jonah replied.

“We w
ere against the war and the Germans. Why would I help you find someone who murdered innocent people?” she said, but she didn't slam the door in his face as he would have expected from her tone.

Jonah pointed at his face and said: “I heard you w
ere hiding people from the Nazis. Well look at me closely and have a think if I am really a collaborator with the Hitler regime. I am a Jew and so is my son. His joining the army saved us from certain death. His being a soldier was our alibi. I beg you to tell me if you have heard anything about him.”

“I am afraid I can't help you. We had to keep to ourselves during the war and not attract any attention. We avoided you because of your son and we did the same to the people that came after you. We would not have heard anything and we certainly wou
ld not have thought it noticeable if a soldier came to their door. I am very sorry for you, but I have to go inside and feed this little bastard. Best of luck.”

With that she closed the door.

“Well we better go back to the farm now and see if we can find out anything about Johanna,” said Jonah. “Now that we came this far I can't just stop.”

“You need to rest, and so do we!” said Alma in disagreement.

“We can sleep some other time. We can find a new place some other time. Everything can wait, but not this. I am not wasting a single moment more,” said Jonah with determination.

“If it is bad news it certainly could wait another day!” Halyna added to the discussion. “I think we better wait.”

There was no holding back Jonah and reluctantly the two women followed his lead back out of town. Alma's ankle had started to play up again over the last couple of days but she saw how desperate Jonah was in his quest and so she kept it to herself. He was too obsessed to notice her slight limp and hopefully after today there would be no more long journeys.

When they were
near the burnt out farm building Alma went to speak to the people on the neighbouring farms to see if she could at least find Sarah and her family. Once she had discovered what had become of her Jewish friend she could investigate the rest of the farm more easily. She left Jonah and Halyna behind in a small forest at the edge of grazing fields and limped away, cursing her swollen ankle. Halyna was exhausted and fell asleep on the soft moss, while Jonah paced nervously up and down the entire time his lover was gone.

Several hours later Alma returned, not smiling but bringing some potatoes and bread with her, which Halyna immediately grabbed and devoured.

Alma had not found out much at all. One Slovak farmer had told her to go to hell when she mentioned Benedikt and Johanna but she had spoken to a servant girl on a different farm, who had seen the mob that had gone to Benedikt’s farm, set the farm on fire and had hanged the former minister from a tree outside the house.

Only after a few days when the body started to smell did someone cut the rope. It had been rumoured that the body had been fed to the pigs but nobody had actually seen it happen. The farm animals had been split between the other farms, as had all equipment. Johanna had been spared because one of the slave workers on the farm had stood up for her and praised her for the way she had helped the Jews before they had been deported. He spoke animatedly how Johanna had taken her maid Sarah under her wing
s and how she had settled a dispute amongst the workers in favour of the Jewish people. Johanna had come under the protection of a former rivalling neighbour and now worked in his kitchen but the girl had not been able to tell Alma where exactly that farm was.

Jonah was too excited that night to sleep but Alma was exhausted from all the walking and emotionally dra
ined. With the first beams of sunlight he woke up Alma and Halyna and urged them to hurry. The women were now really feeling the strain they had been under since leaving the camp in Brno and found it hard to order their bodies to obey. Together, slowly, they made their way from farm to farm until they finally found Johanna. Her new Slovak boss was clearly besotted with his new cook – despite her obvious lack of expertise in this area of house work – and he was happy for her to receive visitors.

“I can't tell you how much I have missed you!” Johanna said to Alma. “Since you disappeared I have felt completely alon
e. They killed my Benedikt. Hanged him outside our house. Can you believe it? Before you left the Gestapo took Sarah to Poland. After that I couldn't risk visiting you anymore and then the Countess came and said you were all leaving the manor house for France. I prayed that you would be safe. I am so glad you are alive! What brought you back so quickly?”

“We never made it to France!” Alma told her. “It was a close call a couple of times but
here we are. Back home. Thank God you are alive.”

“What about your
girls?” Jonah asked her.

“Maria was
shot,” Johanna told him without much emotion. “Do you remember when the Germans brought in the army to deal with the rebels during the uprising last year? Well, the little floozy went with one of those Nazi officers. She was head over heels in love with him apparently. A stunning looking man I must admit but he had a reputation for cruelty. People on the street said that he was an utterly sadistic pig. His unit retreated when the Red Army approached Brno and we haven't seen him since, of course. The locals never forgave her for the connection with him. She died the night they came to our house and burnt it down. First they hung Benedikt, simple and quick, but when it came to her they took their time. Someone ripped her clothes off, they cut off her hair and then they beat her mercilessly. They spat on her, shouted at her. Then one man took out his gun and shot her in the head.”

“Oh that is terrible, Johanna.” said Alma.

“Oh she was still lucky,” came the outrageous reply. “They have done much worse to women who went with Germans and they could have gone on for longer if the guy had not ended it for her with his gun.”

“I am not sure lucky is the right word,” Halyna disagreed.

“How about Roswitha?” Alma asked quickly.

“Roswitha was in the field wh
en the army pushed north and came past our area. We have not seen her since. I don't know whether I should hope for her sake that she is dead or still alive. Skirts and gold is all they can think of. Not very good communists are they! Very greedy.”

Alma was sorry to hear all this bad news but was amazed how easy Johanna seemed to take all of it. These events had only taken place several weeks ago and already it sounded as if her friend had accepted the new circumstances and had made her peace with it.

“You seem to be coping well,” she said, voicing here thoughts.

“I have to,
Alma. I survived and I have fallen on my feet. I am safe here. I might even become another farmer's wife but not with a miserable face and red eyes from crying. I mustn't dwell on what has happened but doesn't mean I don't have feelings,” said Johanna.

“It seems a little quick to have come to terms with so much death and uncertainty around you,” said Jonah.   

“Well that is the way it is,” Johanna said defiantly.

“We ar
e just concerned for you, that’s all!” Alma tried to clarify.

“What about you?” asked Johanna, turning the focus
away from herself.

“We took Wilma, Greta and Ernst across the border
on their way to Paris but decided to separate from them and wait in Brno for the end of the war. Now we have come back to find Egon. Tell us, have you heard from him at all?” Jonah finally got to ask.

“I am afraid I haven't,” was the disappo
inting answer. “I am so sorry but don't worry. It is going to take some time before everyone in the world gets home from where they are now. I am not going anywhere and if you have been able to find me, then so will he. My own children Roswitha and Gunter could come back any day. We just have to wait. Where are you going to live?”

“We don't know,” replied Jonah.  “I am not sure I will be able to make a livi
ng with my carpets. I have to find some other occupation.” Jonah said. “My looms are still somewhere in the manor house anyway,” he added.

“Th
e manor house is now a quarter for the Soviet army,” Johanna informed him. “You could go there and ask for your belongings back.”

“
Oh I would not want to draw any attention to my former connections with the Countess, especially not where the Communist Army is concerned. That will have to wait until they are leaving and our society is back to normal,” Jonah said.

“Could you return to the workshop in town?” Johanna asked.

“I doubt it,” Anna replied. “The place is totally devastated. We went there yesterday and it is completely inhospitable.”

“Did it get hit by the bombs?” Johanna asked.

“No, by vandalism. The new owner ran a furniture shop there, but there is not a single piece left now. He was a Hlinka politician according to the neighbours and was executed in the main square,” Alma said.