Call To Arms

Chapter 3

 It was three days after the German occupation and life commenced as if nothing had changed. It struck me, to be honest. Before the war, I had always had this whimsical image of what it would look like to live in a city that wasn't ruled by its rightful authorities. I imagined German soldiers watching your every move, empty schools and abandoned offices, people outside that wished nothing more than to get back inside again to avoid confrontation of any sort.

In reality, I learned, people spent little time of their daily lives occupied with the war. Money still had to be earned and mouths still had to get fed, boys still liked to play soccer in the streets. It was as ordinary as it had ever been. It's not like people didn't talk about it, though, they definitely did. It just didn't consume a large part of their day.

I had rounded up another morning at the legation, catching up with the other staff members and discussing some bilateral issues we were facing now the Germans officially weren't on our side anymore. We briefly talked about a trade with Sweden, who had become increasingly more interested in negotiations with the allies as they learned the Germans were losing the war. Afterwards, Danielsson approached me. "I received a call from Horthy this morning, Eichmann is setting up a special unit to take care of the Jewish deportations" he said.

We both knew what was coming couldn't be anything good. At first, we hadn't been able to do a lot for the Jews, since we had no clue what would be in store for them. After hearing the news, however, we understood that the Jewish population was going to face a rough time and thus it was from then on, that we decided to gather our forces and work towards one thing and one thing only; saving the lives of as many as we possibly could.

"I'll get straight into it. Do you have any names for me?" I asked him, after which I immediately got handed a file. I thanked him and retreated to my office, where I sat down behind my desk and started the investigation work. Hermann Krumey, Heinrich Hunsche, Theodor Dannecker and Dieter Wisliceny were the four ruthless henchmen who were going to be responsible for the death of many Jewish inhabitants. I made a few phone calls here and there and learned that the men were all still in their thirties. It blew my mind how the voice of one speaker had the ability to mobilize and trick so many into the exercise of evil. Had they been aware of their inhumane actions? Or were their minds so far overawed by an unrealistic ideal like the one Hitler had about his realm that they couldn't see the sole reality of their wrong-doing anymore?

The thought had me pretty occupied, and I spent most of my afternoon getting into the background of the men, trying to discover whatever motives they might've had regarding their fanaticism for the Nazis, but all I could really unveil was the life of four young soldiers who saw in Adolf Hitler a man that had managed to conjure up a once broken Germany. And it was probably therefore that they felt such strong admiration for him. In reality, it was merely a dim, false light that was casted around the hollow shadow Hitler really was. But it shone just brightly enough to make nearly everyone in Germany fall for him.

Around four o'clock that day, when I had almost finished my day at the legation, I received a phone call from my wife. "Per, I just came back from lunch, Alfonse approached me. The Behrman's are missing, we think they have taken them" as she rambled on, I heard a tremor in her voice. "I walked home today, all the Jewish people are wearing the stars, they have all been forced to wear them and sometimes they try to cover them up with a hand or a briefcase. I saw a man cover up his star today, I was nearly a meter away from him and he got hit, the man fell to the ground, Per. He couldn't have not been younger than sixty and they just socked him right in the eye, just like that" she continued hastily. I fell silent for a moment as I tried to take in all that she had told me. "It's alright, are you home now? take some rest and I'll see if there's maybe something, anything, I can do" I assured her.