“His life is in danger, sir. Wilhelm is deaf, and Adolf Hitler is killing disabled children like Wilhelm. I know how unbelievable that sounds, but it is true. The Nazis killed a little girl who I loved because her arms were deformed and she walked with a limp. They are killing all kinds of people they don’t like. Wilhelm is on a list of children to be taken from their homes and sent to a place where, I assure you, he will be killed.”
The official hesitated a moment. “Who are you with?” His voice was soft now, just above a whisper.
“I beg your pardon?”
“What group are you with? You need to trust me now.”
“I’m not with any group.”
“Who is working with you?”
“It’s just me, a teacher in Vienna, and a nun in Lucerne. That’s all.”
The official leaned forward in his chair. “Listen. I will help you now, but you can’t do this again. You’re going to get yourself arrested and deported, maybe even jailed for smuggling. Don’t do this again.”
“I can’t make that promise,” I said.
“What do you mean, you can’t make that promise? Did you not hear what I said?”
“There might be others we will want to save.”
“But you don’t know what you’re doing.”
“Well, I’m new at this. I need to learn. And all I required tonight was help, which you say you will give me.” And then, feeling braver, I added, “And could give me again, couldn’t you?”
The man said nothing.
“Hitler is killing children,” I said again. “You have to believe me.”
“I never said I did not. How are you planning to take care of Wilhelm in Lucerne? You cannot expect to hide him for months, maybe years on end.”
“We’re not going to try and hide him.” I quickly told the officer about Sister Gertrude’s convent and school in Lucerne and the telegram Emilie was going to send me in two days’ time.
“I hope for the child’s sake you are successful. But if you truly intend to rescue other children, you can’t expect that to work the next time,” he said.
“Yes,” I said. “I know. We need someone on the inside to help us. Look, I can come back here to this crossing as often as I must to fetch more children. Somehow my friend Emilie will get them here to the Austrian side. She will find a way. I know it. And if you can just get them across the river, I will take them. That’s all you would have to do.”
“No. That is not a solution, Fraulein. You would be back at the local canton office each time begging for asylum for another disabled child from Austria. Switzerland is not officially nor broadly extending refuge to beleaguered citizens of the Nazi regime, and that is who these children are.”
“And why isn’t it?”
“You and I may not like the reasons, but surely you can see that Europe is a sinking ship and Switzerland is just one little lifeboat. Everyone cannot climb aboard. There would be too many. The lifeboat, too, would sink.”
An idea suddenly came to me. “Switzerlanddoesshelter its own children.”
I paused, thinking. Imagining. It might work. It just might...
“Continue,” the official said.
“A child dropped off anonymously on the doorstep of Sister Gertrude’s convent,” I said slowly, “would not draw suspicion ifpinned to the child’s clothing was a tearstained note asking the sisters to please take care of the presumably Swiss child...”
He tipped his head, waiting for me to finish the thought.
“Churches have always been safe places for desperate parents to leave children they cannot care for, haven’t they?” I went on. “And if it seemed word had gotten out that Sister Gertrude’s convent was taking in abandoned children in these troubling times, it would not be unreasonable then if it happened again. And then again. But the sisters and I would be expecting the children each time. We would know who they were because you and I would’ve been in contact. The sisters could find homes for the children within the parish, homes where their true identities could be kept safe so if this madness ever ends, we can return these children to their rightful families. But everyone would naturally assume they were Swiss. Wouldn’t that work?”
“Maybe. But perhaps it would be better if you tried the normal channels first. There are many relief organizations in Switzerland working to do legally what you are trying to accomplish under this ruse. There are groups in Geneva—”
“But that would take too long, sir! Children just like Wilhelm are being murdered every day. We can’t wait. This other way will work if you help us. Once the children are safely in the country and housed with church families, then Sister Gertrude and I can ask for legal asylum—if we must.”
