Chapter 2 “You know what?” Jack said to no one in particular. “These last eight months have been really busy.” Little Albert and Georgie took no notice but continued to bicker over some insignificant disagreement. “Is it really?” he continued, the sarcasm...
The old man sat at the table, watching the couples dance. He stared into his glass of Schnapps. The taste did nothing for him. Nothing did anything for him anymore. He wasn’t sure why he’d come. The lecturers and professors got younger every year. He felt...
Zwickau, February 19th 1945 When Maria opened her eyes again, the room was in total darkness. The only light emanated from a thin gap under the door. From the other side, she became aware of the sounds of someone moving about. Beside her, Katarina still l...
Berlin, February 16th 1945 As Maria turned the handle of the apartment door, she pushed and stepped forward, only to find that there was nothing but empty air in front of her! She screamed as she fell forwards but kept a tight grip on the handle. Almost...
Katarina didn't sleep at all. After being arrested the previous day, she had been thrown into a cell in the basement of the Gestapo headquarters on Prinz Albrecht Strasse. The only food she was given was a bowl of thin soup and a small chunk of stale, gre...
Berlin, February 15th, 1945 Maria woke suddenly. The room she occupied was filled with the eerie wailing of an air-raid siren. She had been in a deep sleep, bourne from exhaustion, and the sound echoed and screeched in her ears. The room was no larger t...
Berlin, February 14th 1945 It was a tired and very nervous young woman who walked away from the supplies truck. Katarina felt that it was better not to be associated with the young man who had stolen it. She had enough trouble before she left, almost fi...
Chemnitz, February 14th, 1945 Maria lay on her back, the weight of her assailant pushing her against the stack of rolled canvases. From the vicious slap he had delivered, her cheek stung. A small drop of blood dripped from his lip and splashed onto her...
Berlin, February 14th 1945 The convoy moved slowly through the oppressive darkness. The presence of the Allied bombers precluded that the vehicles could not use their lights. Since the bombers were protected by fighters, the line of trucks and cars woul...
Chemnitz, February 14th 1945 Katarina was sitting in the cab of the third lorry of the convoy. A few minutes after the air raid sirens began, they tailed off into silence. She couldn't be sure whether it was because they had sounded the warning for long...
Dresden, February 13th 1945 Katarina and Maria seemed to be waiting for a long time for a tram that they were beginning to think, wasn't coming. Furthermore, they seemed to be the only ones waiting. The sky was devoid of clouds, and the stars twinkled a...
Neither Maria nor Katarina had any time to react before the office phone began to ring. Immediately, Katarina lifted the receiver. “Matron Langsdorff.” “Ah, Matron Langsdorff. This is Herr Frank's secretary. Please evacuate the hospital immediately. All t...
Krakow, January 15th 1945 From time to time, news came through about the uprising in Warsaw. The stories that reached Maria and Katarina horrified them. Young, Polish men and women had risen up against the Germans. The word was that they had been expect...
Krakow, June 10th 1944 The cobbled square was teeming with soldiers. It took Maria and Katarina a little while to locate someone who had even the slightest clue as to where they could eat. So far as refuelling the bus was concerned, that was not their p...
Ostrava, June 08th 1944 Maria and Katarina had to wait a few more days before they heard anything at all about being discharged. They waited patiently and took the time to continue with the therapy but, more so, helped the other nurses with some of the...
