Page 46 of Library of Forbidden Books

Wehmeyer flinched at the mention of Heydrich’s name and jumped to his feet. He looked at the guard and ordered, “Bring the child here at once!”

A few minutes later, the guard returned, holding Alexander. Helene snatched him away and pressed him to her chest.

Derek wasted no time in ushering them out the door. That was not the place where he wanted to meet his son for the first time. He saluted Wehmeyer and nodded curtly to the guard. He and Helene walked briskly through the courtyard with their sights set on the gate. As soon as they were beyond it and by the car, they turned to one another and embraced.

“Oh, my darling, how I have longed for this moment,” Derek said, kissing her face destroyed by hunger and suffering.

Helene began to cry, and the salty tears mixed with the sweet taste of freedom.

“This is your son,” she said, holding Alexander out proudly.

In stark contrast to his mother, the baby’s skin was rosy, and, though not plump, he was healthily filled out.

“Oh, little one, I’m so, so happy to meet you. I’m your papa,” Derek said, stroking the tiny head. Then he held Alexander for the first time.

Helene looked around. The guard at the gate had not yet returned. “Wait here,” she asked Derek. Then she went to a nearby clump of bushes and made a signal.

“What are you doing?” Derek asked.

“Hand Alexander to me, and start the car.”

Confused, Derek did as she asked. Helene got in, laid Alexander down on the seat, then leaned and opened the back door. A young woman ducked inside.

“Who . . . what . . . we can’t . . . ?”

“She’s coming with us.”

Alice had slipped out through a hole in the fence she had spied long ago. Her six-month sentence had stretched more than a year. Helene knew that Alice would not likely come out alive, even if a release date were ever set. As soon as Helene learned she would be released, they had started making a plan. And that morning she had given Alice the signal. The girl would not be missed until late afternoon, and by then the car would be long gone.

Chapter 26

The Return

Berlin

September 22, 1935

Derek did not drive directly back to Berlin, fearing the Gestapo would go straight to their house looking for Alice. Helene thought it best for them to head to Saarland, a region the German army had recently repossessed. Alice had an aunt who lived near Saarbrücken, the small capital.

They spent that afternoon and evening driving, only stopping to feed Alexander or change his diaper. Helene and Alice were astonished at the foods Derek had brought. They took slow, small bites but were insatiable. It had been eight months since Helene—and even longer for Alice—had tasted most of those flavors. It both pleased Derek and broke his heart to witness the pleasure on their faces as they ate what to him was mundane fare.

Derek parked at the front door of the farmhouse where Alice’s relatives lived. It was late at night, but Alice was impatient to see them, and Helene and Derek were eager to head back to their house. The risk they had taken was heavy on them all. If they had been stopped at any of the checkpoints along the way, they could have all ended up in concentration camps. Helene and Alice had changed out of their prisoner uniforms, but their nearly shaved heads and emaciated frames were a billboard announcing where they had just left.

Alice knocked for a long time before they heard anyone stirring in the house. Surely the couple had been asleep. Eventually the door opened, and a man and a woman in their forties stepped out beneath the silent, starry sky and stared at the group before them.

Finally, the woman said, “A-Alice? Is that you? What in the world . . . ?” She pulled her robe tighter. It was still summer, but the nights were cool.

“They released me,” she lied.

Her aunt Gemma looked at her dubiously.

“It’s not safe here,” her uncle Josef said. “There are soldiers and SS guards all over. The Nazis are afraid the French will try to reclaim the region.” His gruff tone explained exactly how he felt about the sudden appearance of his niece.

Alice dropped her head. “I don’t have anywhere else to go.” She had not expected this reaction from her favorite relatives.

Gemma was struggling to fully wake up and make sense of the situation. “The border is closed, or else Josef would take you to France or Belgium.”

The five of them stood in silence at the door, unsure what to do next.