Page 3 of The Righteous

Julia finally said, “We fought it, Theresa. We knew we couldn’t win, but we fought as hard as we could to save as many Jews as we could, especially the children, but it wasn’t nearly enough.

We knew that we had to find places where Jewish families could hide from the SS, or else they would be captured and sent to die.

That’s what underground rescuers did. We searched for basements, attics, barns, toolsheds, you name it.

We split up families when we had to. You couldn’t put a family of five into someone’s attic.

Parents gave up their little children, Theresa.

It was so sad. They gave us their children to be placed with a non-Jewish family who was willing to adopt them.

Otherwise, those little children would have been killed.

We found good, loving Christian parents who would take in an extra child, or even two.

Or maybe three. We did whatever we could until the babies were all gone: adopted or taken away.

All those little Jewish babies.” Julia’s voice caught again in her throat, and the words were blocked. She blotted her tears. It was too soon.

“I’m so sorry, Julia. I didn’t want to bring it all up.

Your mother told me what a hero you were, and I’m so proud to have you as my friend.

What baffles me is why people in Nazi countries go along with it.

Why do they turn their heads? Why do they look the other way? Don’t they have a conscience? A heart?”

“They don’t all turn their heads, not all of them, but you’re right—Hitler’s racism wouldn’t go anywhere if people didn’t support it. They buy into it. They chant Nazi slogans. Hitler speaks to cheering crowds.”

“As far as I know, that doesn’t happen in Hungary,” Theresa said. “I hope and believe that Hungarian people will stand up for their countrymen. All of their countrymen. So far, Jews are safe there.”

“Well, I hope you’re right, but don’t be too complacent.

It was safe for Jews in Amsterdam too until 1940, when Hitler invaded and appointed Seyss-Inquart as his governor.

Almost immediately, he imposed rules and regulations that had the effect of limiting Jewish freedom, and the non-Jewish majority just looked the other way.

They went along with it. Maybe they were afraid, maybe they didn’t give a damn.

There were signs in restaurant windows, ‘No Jews Allowed.’ Small steps at first, then bigger.

Soon the Jews were separated and forced to live in small cities, where they could be rounded up and sent away.

If you talk to the average non-Jewish Dutch citizen, and I did, he would respond by saying there was nothing he could do.

He was only one man against the power of the Nazis.

And maybe a lot of the Dutch felt that way, but there were plenty of people who felt otherwise, good people, and they stood up.

Just keep praying that Hungarians stand up too. ”

Theresa agreed. “I have to believe that Hungarians are different. Judaism is a recognized religion there. Jews are well integrated and economically prosperous. They own over half of Budapest. Anyway, I’d hate to think that such a nightmare could ever come to Hungary.

I love Hungary, and Budapest is such a lovely city.

I’d love to take you there someday, when all this madness is over, and show you around. I know you’d fall in love with it.”

“You didn’t go home to Budapest after we graduated, did you? There wasn’t any war going on then. It was safe in 1938, wasn’t it?”

Theresa shook her head. “It depended on where you lived. It was safe in Hungary, but not across the river in Austria. That’s where the Anschluss took place in March 1938.

But I didn’t stay at Michigan because I was afraid to go home.

I stayed so that I could go to graduate school and get my master’s degree.

I always wanted to be a teacher. European history, of course. ”

“Of course.”

Theresa nodded. “Just last week, I became an associate professor at the U of M.” She paused and said, “There was a ceremony, and it was a wonderful day, but it all took place under a cloud, if you know what I mean. My parents couldn’t attend, and there’s no doubt they would have come if they could.

It broke my heart; they were the reason that I received my diploma in the first place.

My father was the guiding force. He sent me to the University of Michigan to study history.

He loves history too. He used to read history stories to me at bedtime when I was a little child.

Edited, of course. Just the good parts.”

“I’m sorry for you, Theresa. I know they would have been here. After this horrible war is over, I’m sure they’ll come to the ceremony when you are promoted to full professor. I remember your mom and dad so well. Your father is a doctor, isn’t he?”

Theresa nodded. “A surgeon, but he doesn’t practice full-time anymore.

He has slowed down quite a bit. Now he’s in an advisory position.

He’s called in to help on difficult cases, and he’s on the board of a well-known Budapest hospital, Semmelweis University Hospital.

” She sat back and gazed up. “I’d give anything just to hear from them, Julia, just to know that they’re all right.

I want to know what’s going on with my older brother, Sammy, and my younger sister, Becca.

” Theresa paused as a few tears rolled down her cheek.

She bit her lip. “I can’t help it, Julia, I’m so damned worried. ”

Julia gently placed her arm around Theresa.

“You have a right to be worried, Theresa. I would be too. But I’m thinking of something; maybe there’s a way for me to help you get information about your family,” Julia said with raised eyebrows.

“My friend Teddy is still in Washington working for the State Department. They have contacts all over the world. Maybe he can find out what’s happening to the Hungarian Jewish community or maybe even learn something about your family.

Write down their names and addresses, and I’ll give Teddy a call. ”

“That would be wonderful,” Theresa said. “I would really appreciate it.” She took a sip of her drink and said, “Let’s change the subject. What is Julia Powers going to do with herself now that she’s back home?”

Julia tipped her head to one side as she shrugged, what her friends referred to as Julia’s tilted shrug.

“I don’t know,” she said. “My father owns a clothing store, and with the holidays approaching, I know he can use the extra help. That’s probably what I’ll do for a while.

You know, technically I’m still an officer in the State Department.

” She smiled with a twinkle in her eyes. “I have special skills.”

Theresa laughed. “So I’ve heard. Are you thinking about getting back into it anytime soon?”

Julia grimaced. “I don’t think so. Undersecretary Sumner Welles told me I was welcome to come back, but I don’t know what he had in mind.

Maybe something in Washington, something to do with transmitting coded messages and monitoring the OSS wires.

That’s what I was doing in Amsterdam. But I’m not ready to go back.

The whole thing has taken its toll on me, and I can’t see myself jumping back into it.

Not right away.” Julia looked out in the direction of the university quadrangle.

“Do you ever hear anything from our campus buddies?”

“Sometimes,” Theresa said. “Mostly the ones who live around here. Walter is a councilman. Glynnis runs a boutique in Midtown.”

“Ha!” Julia said. “That figures. Do you ever hear from Rudy?”

“Hmm.” Theresa grinned. “Raoul Wallenberg. I should have figured that you’d ask about him. You two were a number at one time. You knew he was enrolled in Michigan’s school of architecture, didn’t you?”

“Of course I knew. He graduated with honors, and he won the American Institute of Architects silver medal. It’s only awarded to the student with the highest scholastic standing in the architecture school.

Professor Slusser said Rudy was one of the brightest students he had ever taught in thirty years at the University of Michigan. Rudy was brilliant.”

“And good-looking?” Theresa said with a grin. “Wasn’t he that too?”

Julia’s hand covered her mouth. “That’s for sure, but after graduation, he left town, and we lost touch.”

Theresa raised her eyebrows. “I think I know the reason. It was called Spencer, the bass player.”

Julia exhaled. “What a mistake he was. When Rudy graduated, it was still in the winter term, and I had a semester to go. He went back to Sweden; I was in Ann Arbor. Rudy was over there and I was here, and I had to go out with someone. Anyway, Rudy and I stopped communicating.”

Theresa struggled to keep a straight face. “Too busy with the Spencer band?”

“Stop it.”

“Well, I kept up with Rudy, even if you didn’t.

We corresponded for a while,” said Theresa.

“When he returned to Stockholm, he found out that Sweden wouldn’t recognize his Michigan architecture degree, and they wouldn’t give him a license to practice.

They would have required him to go back to school in Stockholm and take a lot more courses before he could be licensed. ”

“That’s too bad.”

“Right. He didn’t want to do it; he was sick of school. You know he was a free-spirited kind of guy.”

“You don’t have to tell me,” Julia said with a smile. “Sometimes we would dream about going on trips to romantic places all over the world. We were going to go to Hawaii someday.”

“Well, I don’t know how romantic it was, but Rudy left Stockholm and went to South Africa.

He was there for about six months, and then he went to Palestine.

He sent me postcards from Jerusalem. He said, ‘Theresa, you should join me. This place is fabulous. There are some great Jewish sites for you to see.’”

“That sounds so much like Rudy, like it was a piece of cake to jump on a ship and take it halfway around the world to Jerusalem.”

Theresa smiled with a faraway look in her eyes.

“I know, but it sounded like a really good idea. Anyway, after Palestine, he returned to Stockholm and worked as an apprentice for a Jewish banker from Holland. The banker was a friend of his grandfather Gustav, who suddenly died shortly thereafter. A real tragedy.”

Julia had a pained expression. “Poor Rudy. You know, his real father died before he was even born. He was practically raised by his grandfather. Grandpa Gustav was a prominent Swede, and he mentored Rudy all his life. I was sure Rudy was going to be successful. But then in my last semester, I got sidetracked. Rudy was gone, and I met Spencer, and…”

“I know. Out of sight, out of mind.”

“I’m afraid that’s true, but I was twenty-two years old, and Spencer was in a band, and he was fun.” Julia hesitated. “At least he was for a while.”

“Well, after Grandpa Gustav died, Rudy wandered around Stockholm, took a couple of jobs that didn’t work out well, and was really down on himself,” Theresa said.

“He would write me a letter every now and then that sounded glum. Then his Uncle Jacob Wallenberg, a very successful industrialist, took Rudy under his wing. Jacob set Rudy up with another successful man named Kálmán Lauer. Mr. Lauer owns an export-import firm, and Rudy is now trading between Sweden and countries in central Europe. And that’s all the Rudy news I’ve got. ”

“He’s working in central Europe? In 1943? You mean like Germany, Slovakia, Austria, even Hungary? He’s there? You have to be kidding me. He could be killed.”

Theresa shrugged with a tip of her head to the side, which made Julia laugh. Julia pointed and said, “Aha.” A tilted shrug. “You’ve got it down pat.”

“Guilty,” said Theresa. “Rudy is traveling through central Europe, almost all of which is controlled by Nazi Germany, but he’s under the protection of the Swedish government. He has diplomatic immunity, which is recognized by Germany and all of its satellite countries.”

Julia sat back. “What a life, and to think I could have been part of it.”

The afternoon crowd was starting to filter in, and the two friends were getting looks from the hostess.

“I think she wants our table,” Julia said. She rose and placed a few bills on the table. “I’ll give Teddy a call and see if I can learn anything about Budapest.”