Page 73 of The Last Safe Place
As she reached the head of the train, she stepped out onto the platform to get some air. After a few minutes, it became uncomfortably chill, so she stepped back inside, found an empty compartment, and took her diary, a simple notepad with pen, out of her jacket pocket.
She wrote the date, September 29th, 1942, and below it:The Road to Freedom. Brief consternation at the station because my rash has disappeared. Frau Seifert’s sister has been taken away this morning. Otherwise, uneventful journey.
Then she snapped the notebook shut, wondering how she’d ever become a famous journalist if she didn’t even have something interesting to report on her escape from the Nazis. She almost wished there’d be an air-raid alarm, which were so much more common over the Ruhr than in Berlin. She allowed her imagination to run free, visualizing in dazzling colors the inferno as a direct hit derailed the train and she herself became the radiant heroine, saving her fellow passengers, including the dashing Lieutenant Hesse, from certain death. Overwhelmed with gratitude, he would confess his secret love for her and elope with her to cross the Mediterranean together…
The sound of the compartment door sliding open tore her out of her daydreams.
“Good afternoon,” an elderly lady in an elegant dark blue skirt suit greeted her in an unmistakably Swabian accent.
“Good afternoon,” Leonore replied. “I hope you don’t mind me sitting here. My reserved seat is at the other end of the train.”
“Of course not,” the lady answered graciously, closing the door behind her. As soon as she sat down, her gaze fell on the yellow star on Leonore’s jacket, and she flinched.
Leonore could kick herself for not taking it off before she walked along the train.
“I wasn’t aware that Jews are allowed to travel by train.” The elegant lady was obviously struggling to stay calm.
“We’re not banned from everything yet,” replied Leonore bitterly.
“You only have yourselves to blame for that! If your kind hadn’t been constantly working against the German Reich, none of this would have happened! Look at what your avarice and greed have led to! Jewry has brought nothing but war and destruction upon us.”
A fuse blew in Leonore’s brain. “Now just you listen! Who started the war? And who is constantly being bullied and harassed? Who gets abuse hurled at them on the streets from so-called good Germans? Who has to fear for their lives every day? It’s not you!”
“I will not allow you to speak to me in that tone!” said the woman, adding, “And now leave my compartment immediately or I will fetch the conductor.”
As long as Leonore wore the hideous star, she was a second-class human being, and this baggage of a woman could issue as many orders as she pleased. Fuming, Leonore stood up, accidentally bumping into a huge hat case on the neighboring seat, which then slid to the ground.
The stranger gave a very unladylike cry. “What impudence!” she screeched, as Leonore bent down to pick up the hatbox. “I will report this to the train staff. They will make sure you are thrown off the train. Shameless Jewish filth!”
“I’m sorry, it was an accident. It’s not damaged.” Leonore hurriedly pressed the box into the woman’s hands and pulledthe door open to hurry away. But she hadn’t reckoned with the woman getting up and chasing her down the corridor. “Who knows what else you’ve done. Did you rummage through my other suitcases as well?”
Leonore stopped, racking her brain for a way to calm the woman down.
“Come on, admit you’ve been stealing from me. You’re worse than gypsies! Thieving rabble! You should all be shot!” Her voice was growing louder and more hateful with each insult, and Leonore was on the verge of showing a clean pair of heels.
Given the impossibility of running away inside a train, she had no choice but to try and de-escalate the situation. She raised her hands in a placatory gesture. “Please calm down. I didn’t steal anything. I just sat down in the compartment briefly to jot down a few notes.”
The woman turned as white as a sheet. “Help! Someone help me! An enemy spy! Someone come and help me! Police!”
Leonore would have liked to put her hand over the woman’s mouth to shut her up. The next second she imagined what it would look like when the conductor, SS, Gestapo or whoever else came running. They wouldn’t believe a word she said, and she’d be done for.
In that moment a deep voice sounded behind her. “Is there a problem?”
Leonore turned around. Seeing Lieutenant Hesse in his Wehrmacht uniform, she had to resist the urge to hug him.
“This Jewess is an enemy spy!” the woman spat.
“That’s a serious accusation. I shall deal with it right away,” Lieutenant Hesse reassured the woman, before turning to Leonore and barking, “And you, come with me. I’m taking you into custody.”
Meekly, Leonore allowed him to grab her by the elbow and push her ahead of him. When they reached the platform betweenthe carriages, he stopped and glared at her so furiously that all her dreams of a happy ever after dissolved in an instant.
“What were you thinking, Fräulein Vogel? Didn’t I emphasize how important it was not to talk to anyone about your cover story?”
“But I didn’t,” she protested lamely. “Honestly, I didn’t. The woman thought that up all by herself.”
He stared at her with a stern face.
“I swear. I’d just sat down for a moment in the compartment to jot down a few notes.” She felt herself blushing at the thought of what she’d been dreaming of before she’d been interrupted.