She was at home working on a translation of Walter Edmonds’sDrums Along the Mohawkwhen a radio announcer interrupted the musical program to announce that German troops were marching into Austria.
In public speeches, in the press, in radio addresses redolent with the historic significance of the day, every German official who spoke publicly on the annexation of Austria was careful not to call it an invasion. Uniting the two nations into a Greater Germany had been contemplated since the nineteenth century, they pointed out, although they neglected to add that far more recently, the union had been expressly prohibited by the Treaty of Versailles and the Treaty of Saint-Germain. They referenced polls and referenda to prove that theAnschlusswas overwhelmingly popular in Austria, and indeed, newsreels showed thousands of Austrians lining the streets, cheering, waving swastika flags, and offering the Hitler salute as German tanks rolled across the border and into Austrian villages. Girls and young women, their blond hair in pretty braids and ribbons, presented soldiers with bouquets of flowers as they marched past.
As all the Berlin newspapers reported in the days that followed, on the afternoon of March 12, Hitler and an entourage of bodyguards four thousand strong received a hero’s welcome at his birthplace, Braunau am Inn, just over the border. A triumphant four-day tour of Austria culminated in a rally at the Heldenplatz in Vienna, where two hundred thousand exultant Austrians gathered to celebrate as their Führer declared their once independent country to be “the newest bastion of the German Reich.”Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Führer, the Nazis declared: One People, One Nation, One Leader.
Arvid had known theAnschlusswas coming. He had observed the steady flow of money for months, and then the sudden rush in the days before the troops moved across the border. It had all come about with the collusion of Austrian Nazis, but that did not make it any less a violation of international treaties. In the days that followed, Arvid, Mildred, and their friends tuned their radios to foreign broadcasts and waited, hopeful and expectant, for news of a strong, united response from the free nations of Europe and America. Statements were released. Condemnation was expressed. But in the end, not even the most vehement opponents of the annexation—Britain, France, Italy, and Mexico—did anything but talk. Meanwhile, in Germany, Hitler had never been more popular.
Although Mildred was disappointed with the ongoing reluctance of the United States to take an unambiguously firm stand, theAnschlussand the rising militaristic fervor permeating Germany compelled her to draw closer to the American expatriate community. Although the Dodds were gone and membership in the American Women’s Club had diminished as husbands resigned posts or arranged transfers to safer regions, she found comfort and companionship at embassy events and club meetings. American accents, foods, and stories felt like letters from home, a soft, warm shawl draped over her shoulders on a chilly morning.
On Sunday, April 17, she attended an Easter tea with the American Women’s Club at its fashionable suite on the Bellevuestrasse. She missed seeing Martha and her mother there, but she enjoyed catching up with other friends, grateful for each who remained. She met a rare newcomer, too, when the chairwoman introduced her to Louise Heath, the vivacious brown-haired wife of the new first secretary and monetary attaché, Donald Heath.
“Monetary attaché?” Mildred remarked, smiling. “Is he an economist?”
“Not really,” replied Louise. “He was a newspaper reporter in Kansas before the war, and after serving in the army he became the White House correspondent for the United Press. Before long he joined the State Department, and that led us here. The reason he’s working for the Treasury Department as well as State is because, thanks to budget cuts, the Treasury Department couldn’t afford to hire a second man.”
“So your husband has to do the work of two?”
“Yes, for the price of one, unfortunately.” Louise sipped her tea, her blue eyes bright with mirth. “You know what bothers me most? The Treasury Department, of all places, ought to know how to squeeze one more salary out of even the tightest budget.”
“That might explain something about our country’s financial woes.”
“My thought exactly.”
“Economist or not, as the monetary attaché, your husband probably has a lot in common with mine,” said Mildred. “He works in the Ministry of Economics and will happily talk fiscal policy for hours on end.”
Louise’s eyebrows rose. “The Germans hired an American to work in the Economics Ministry?”
“Oh, no. Arvid is German. We met as graduate students at the University of Wisconsin.”
“How marvelous,” said Louise, her gaze keen. “We’ll have to introduce them. Donald needs some German friends.” Leaning closer, she murmured, “Just between us, he’s not inclined to make any among the ‘Sieg Heil’ set.”
“I like him already,” said Mildred, and Louise smiled knowingly.
As it turned out, they did not need to introduce their husbands. As Mildred learned afterward, Donald was so delighted to hear that his wife’s new friend’s German husband had studied in the United States that a few days later he called on Arvid at the Economics Ministry and invited him to lunch. Intrigued, Arvid had accepted.
“I’m glad you’ve become friends,” said Mildred, smiling as she set the table for supper, charmed by his enthusiasm.
“He’s more than a friend,Liebling. We’re going to be partners.”
After lunch the men had taken a walk through the Tiergarten, the only place where one could speak without danger of wiretaps or hidden recording devices. There Heath had revealed that his role in Berlin involved far more than his job titles disclosed. He was also an intelligence officer assigned to obtain vital economic information about the Reich, including the state of the German treasury, the Reichsbank, money markets, national debt, gold, foreign exchange—all subjects squarely in Arvid’s purview. Arvid had agreed to provide him with the information the Americans sought.
Mildred nodded as he spoke, her heart thudding. She knew this was exactly the sort of work they wanted to do, reopening the flow of vital intelligence that had been choked off with Ambassador Dodd’s departure and the loss of their contacts at the Soviet embassy. But the Reich had declared the delivery of economic information to foreigners to be treason, punishable by death. Arvid knew almost nothing of Donald Heath, nothing to ensure them that he would value his informants’ lives as much as his mission.
“Are you sure Heath can be trusted?” she asked. “Will he protect you?”
“I have no idea. My instinct is to trust him, but we’ve only just met.” Arvid shrugged. “You liked his wife.”
In spite of herself, Mildred laughed. “That’s hardly an exhaustive background check.”
He smiled, but then he grew solemn again. “My instincts tell me to trust him, and everyone else who could get him this information is loyal to the Nazis. It has to be me.”
She knew he was right. As the chief of trade policy, Arvid was in nearly daily contact with the Foreign Office and the desk chiefs for individual nations. Since it was his responsibility to monitor Germany’s economic capacity, production levels, financial reserves, and foreign trade, he knew more about the state of the German economy than almost anyone. And, as he had recently been promoted to government counselor, he was required to confer with his counterparts from other nations. He could meet publicly with Heath without raising any suspicions.
He did not need Mildred’s approval, but she knew he wanted her support. And so she suppressed her worries, put her arms around him, and murmured, “Promise me you’ll be careful.”
He held her close, and only then did she realize how hard his heart was pounding.
As spring bloomed, green and fragrant and warm, Arvid and Heath became trusted partners, and before long the two couples became good friends. Mildred and Louise met often for lunch, teas at the embassy, or events with the American Women’s Club, and they frequently enjoyed dinners out together or evenings at home playing cards and listening to the radio. On sunny weekend afternoons, the Heaths’ ten-year-old son, Donald Jr., would join them for walks through the Tiergarten or on picnics by the lake in Wannsee. Any observer inclined toward suspicion would see only an innocent family friendship between three expatriate Americans and one indulgent German husband. Mildred did not ask what Heath did with the information Arvid risked his life to give him, but she fervently hoped that it would compel the United States to take bold measures to constrain Hitler’s military expansion before catastrophe struck.
