“The tickets,” Sara’s mother exclaimed suddenly, clutching her pocketbook to her side. “Sara, do you have them?”
“I have them,” said Natan, taking from his coat pocket a thick envelope, which he gave to his father. “The visas are here too. You should carry them the rest of the way.” He raised his eyebrows at Sara, urging her to speak, as they had planned, before time ran out.
“Papa, Mutti—” Sara cleared her throat. “First, I love you both very, very much. Second, I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you the truth any earlier than this. Third—”
“She could only get two visas,” Natan broke in, impatient. To Sara he added, “They’ll miss the train if you drag this out any longer.”
For a moment her parents stared at her, dumbfounded, until realization dawned. “So, this is goodbye,” her father said, with false heartiness. He came forward and embraced her. “That’s fine. We’ll be all right. Kiss your sister for me.”
“No, Papa. The visas are for you and Mutti. You two are going. Natan and I are staying here.”
Their parents protested, as Sara and Natan had known they would. As the conductor called all aboard, Sara quickly explained that she might be able to get two more visas soon, but not before the two they already had would expire. They must go in pairs. It was the only way. Then their father and mother pressed the visas and tickets upon their children, and Sara had to point out that they were in their parents’ names. No one else could use them. Even the suitcases belonging to Sara and Natan held their mother’s and father’s clothing. Sara had emptied and repacked them the night before while their parents slept.
“You did all of this without our knowledge or consent,” her mother said tearfully.
“Yes, because otherwise you wouldn’t go.” Sara embraced her. “You have to go. Now. You can’t miss this train. We’ll see you again in Switzerland.”
Natan hauled their luggage toward the train, his jaw set as if he were prepared to carry his parents aboard too if he must. With minutes to spare, they embraced on the platform, distraught parents and resolute children saying farewell for no one knew how long.
At the last moment, Sara’s mother gripped her tightly by the shoulders. “Sell the silver. The utensils and smaller pieces are stored in two brown leather cases at Schloss Federle with the other heirlooms. Phone Herr Albrecht, the groundskeeper, and arrange for him to deliver them to you. It was going to be yours someday anyway. Sell it piece by piece. Find a good, safe place to live and don’t let yourself go hungry.” She released Sara and turned to embrace her son. “Please watch over her. She has a way of stumbling into trouble.”
“Don’t I know it,” Natan replied gruffly, holding his mother close and kissing the top of her head.
The whistle blew. Their parents hurried aboard the train and quickly appeared at a window. They waved, their eyes bright with tears, until the train pulled too far ahead and Sara and Natan could not see them anymore.
“They might forgive you someday,” Natan remarked as the train disappeared into a tunnel.
“Will you?”
He pulled a face. “There’s nothing to forgive. You did the right thing. Like I said in the ghetto, you and I can survive here. They couldn’t. And now, thanks to you, they won’t have to.”
Thanks to Mildred and her mysterious contact, Sara almost added, but she kept silent. She could tell from bystanders’ sidelong glances and curious stares that their tearful parting had attracted notice. Natan must have sensed it too, for he put his arm around her shoulders and quickly ushered her from the platform.
She tried not to brood over the onlookers’ hostile, curious stares as she and her brother made their way back to Friedenau. Just as they turned onto their street, a mechanical roar thundered overhead. Shading her eyes with her hand, Sara looked up and spotted airplanes flying in precise military formation toward the northeast, wave after wave of aircraft, dark, angular shapes stark and swift against the cerulean sky.
“Heinkels and Messerschmitts,” said Natan. “The Luftwaffe’s on their way to the Brandenburg Gate to send old Adolf best wishes on his birthday.”
“May he never see another,” Sara retorted, her gaze fixed on the soaring aircraft, heedless of who might overhear.
Chapter Forty-four
May–August 1939
Mildred
Although the American presence in Germany had greatly diminished, as long as Donald Heath remained at his post, Arvid and Mildred trusted that the State Department knew what was going on in Germany. What the United States government would do with that information was another question entirely.
On long, deceptively sedate walks through the Tiergarten, embraced by gentle breezes carrying the fragrance of fresh blossoms and the music of songbirds, the two men walked a few paces ahead, their voices quietly urgent as they discussed what Germany’s finances revealed about Hitler’s plans for the future. Mildred and Louise followed after with Don Jr., keeping a lookout for anyone who might be trailing them or observing them too keenly as they passed.
By late spring, Arvid was convinced that Hitler intended to invade Poland. He was equally certain that if France and Great Britain stood united in strong opposition, imposing strict economic sanctions or sending in troops to curtail Hitler’s plans for expansion, the damage to his prestige could be enough to bring down the Nazi regime from within. Arvid also told Heath that the resistance distrusted Neville Chamberlain and suspected he sympathized with Hitler. “Chamberlain suffers under the illusion that Hitler’s ambition is limited to Eastern Europe and that he can be appeased with some gifts of territory here and there,” Arvid said. “My friends and I aren’t fooled. We place our trust in Roosevelt and in his democratic ideals. We believe in him. We only hope he believes in us.”
Mildred and Arvid had no doubt that Heath trusted the intelligence Arvid provided, but as summer approached, they began to suspect that the United States government would never understand the perilous urgency of the situation unless they heard it from Arvid himself.
Unexpectedly, an opportunity arose to test their theory.
In July, the Economics Ministry sent Arvid to Washington to meet with U.S. trade officials. His official assignment was to secure copper and aluminum supplies for Germany’s factories, but he had a second, secret mission of his own to offer to help the United States against the Third Reich. Heath had arranged for him to meet with several trusted colleagues in the Treasury Department, and he assured Arvid that if they were impressed with his interview, they would take his offer to the secretary of state.
Mildred accompanied Arvid as he sailed from Hamburg to New York, but while he continued on to Washington, she remained in New York to visit friends, after which she would embark on a lecture tour of several universities in the Northeast and Midwest. Since it wasverbotento take enough money as she needed out of Germany, her friend Clara Leiser had invited her to stay with her while she was in the city.
