‘Do you really trust the prisoners to do a good job?’ asked Gustav incredulously. ‘The Russian Army is their salvation.’
Klaus slammed the table with a frail hand. ‘Exactly! We will be idiots to wait for the Russian Army to come. We must fight them or they will liberate every prisoner our sons and grandsons have sacrificed their lives to capture. Do you know how many prisoner-of-war camps there are in the Reich?’
Grandfather wearily shook his head.
Klaus was triumphant in his knowledge. ‘A lot! And every one will be ready to fight along with the Russians who liberated them. They will have a new army ready to kill us all.’
Elsa craned her neck to look through the kitchen door beyond her mother’s chair. She could see Gretchen walking to and fro dabbing her cheeks with a tea towel. She wanted to go to her, but her grandfather’s hand returned to hers.
‘Two minutes,’ he whispered again.
Klaus was in full swing, helped by a belly quickly filling with cabbage and potato. ‘If we all pull together, we can beat them. They are not trained as well as us.’
Her grandfather sat back in his chair. ‘Klaus, my dear man, we have known each other for years. We are friends, are we not?’
Klaus nodded uncertainly.
‘You know I’m loyal to my country.’
Klaus’s eyes narrowed. ‘What are you going to say?’
‘I’m going to say it is time you faced the truth. We are no match for the Russians.’ He raised his hand to stop Klaus interrupting. ‘They have one thing that we do not. They have many,manymen of fighting age. They will sweep our army away like a flood.’ He waved his hand in the air to demonstrate his meaning. ‘Theyaresweeping our army away like a flood. The Red Army are no underdogs, Klaus. They are brave, determined and have an unwavering commitment to their motherland. We found that out in the Great War.’
‘Oursoldiers have commitment to their motherland.’
‘But the Russianshateus, Klaus, and want revenge. Our ordinary German soldier has loyalty, but he doesn’t have hate or revenge in his heart, like theirs.’
Klaus’s nod of agreement sent an icy chill through Elsa’s spine. Her grandfather’s light touch woke her from her shock.
‘Now you can go to your mother, Elsa,’ he said quietly. ‘And Frieda, you can go to your room.’
As soon as Elsa entered the kitchen, her mother rushed to shut the door behind her. ‘We are leaving.’
‘Leaving?’ Elsa had been trying to persuade her mother to join the road westward for days, if not weeks, and now suddenly she had agreed to go. The about-turn shocked her.
‘Yes.’ Her mother began to pace the room again. ‘Tomorrow, with the family upstairs.’
Elsa’s mind raced. ‘I will have to tell them at work—’
‘Your classrooms are emptier by the day. They will not miss you.’
Elsa nodded. Perhaps it was best to give no warning that they were planning to disobey the Führer. She thought of all the refugees arriving already, using any means of transport they could find. By wagon or train, even walking, prams piled high with all the belongings they could gather.
It was the news Elsa had hoped for, but now the enormity of it hit her and made her reticent. They would be leaving their home and most of their possessions for ever, hoping to build a new life in a city where they had nothing.
‘Grandfather will never make it. He can hardly walk.’
‘Our leaving has already been agreed, so don’t change your mind now. Frieda is packing.’
‘You have already discussed this without me?’
‘We are always discussing it!’ her mother snapped back in a whisper. She relented with a sigh. ‘But I’ve only just agreed to go while you were out. The tales about what the Red Army is doing to women and children are too awful to think about.’
Tales of looting and burning had been circulating for a while, but horrific accounts of rape and murder of civilians had also begun in recent days, along with growing numbers of victims and eyewitnesses.
‘The family who arrived today...’ Her mother wiped her tears away. ‘What they saw. It is too awful. I can’t speak of it.’
‘I must talk to Grandfather about this.’
