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“I’m saying it as plainly as I can. The goal isspace,” he said flatly. “This isn’t a job developing rockets for the Nazis—certainly not a job developing weapons for Hitler. It’s just like taking a job as a town planner for the City of Berlin, or as secretary for the Department of Health—you’ll be working for the people of Germany, not whomever the current government happens to be.” I could see Jürgen was unconvinced—his lips remained pursed, his shoulders stiffly locked. We sat in silence for a long, tense moment—then Karl’s tone abruptly softened as he pleaded with us. “Jürgen—Sofie. Just promise me you’ll think it over, okay? This is the chance of a lifetime. As your friend, I can’t bear to watch you let it pass you by, especially now that I know how badly you two need the money.”
Jürgen caught my eye, and I gave a subtle shake of my head. That Karl was pushing this hard only reinforced my feeling that this job was not a smart move for Jürgen. I saw the relief in my husband’s eyes.
“I’m sorry, Karl,” Jürgen said. “This job is not for me.”
Karl seemed frustrated, but he stood and Jürgen and I followed him to the front door. There, he paused.
“I am your friend, and I understand your decision. I just hope you both realize there may be others who do not.”
Less than an hour after he left for work the next day, Jürgen returned home, calling out to me as he came through the front door. I found him in his study standing at his desk, staring down into a large box, a distant expression on his face.
“What on earth are you doing home so early?”
“Professor Koch said it came from above his head. Above the dean’s head, even. He said they had no choice but to let me go.”
“Who gave them no choice?” I said tightly. Jürgen reached into the box and withdrew a folder, placing it down into his drawer. “Jürgen,who? Was it Karl?”
He was silent as he reached into the box again and withdrew a book, silent as he walked across the room to place it on a shelf. When he turned back to me, I was startled by how pale he was.
“It doesn’t really matter who did this because we do know why they did it.”
That night, Jürgen and I sat around the dining room table with Adele and Mayim, trying to find an alternative to the Army Ordnance position.
“Cut your losses. Sell the house,” Adele announced. “Move in with me.”
“I’ll move home,” Mayim said quietly. “It won’t be so bad.”
“Aunt Adele, there simply isn’t enough room unless you evict a tenant, and we all know you could never bring yourself to do that,” Jürgen said gently. “Besides, even if we did move in with you, you can’t support us forever. I’d still need to find another job.”
“Maybe I could look for a job?” I said. Everyone stared at me. I scowled. “What?”
“You’re no more qualified for a job than I am,” Mayim pointed out. “And I’ve never even come close to finding work.”
“Even if I do find another job, who’s to say this won’t happen again?” Jürgen said, frustrated. “Whoever insisted I be fired today must have immense power, and they must desperately want me in that program.”
“We are still discussing this as if you have some choice here,” Adele sighed. “The men who had you fired are likely the same men who are running the country. Today they are playing with your career—what will they try next if thatfails?”
After a sleepless night, we woke to find a letter from the bank waiting for us on the floor of the front hall, having been pushed through the mail chute while we slept. I watched anxiously as Jürgen tore it open.
“What does it say?” I asked, although I already had an inkling.
He raised his gaze from the paper to mine, frustration and shame in his eyes.
“They’ve been alerted to a change in my employment circumstances, and if I can’t prove we have a source of income to cover the mortgage, they’ll have to call in the loan.”
“We’ll figure something out, my love,” I whispered through numb lips. He gave me a frustrated look and went into his study, closing the door firmly behind him.
Mayim and I took the children next door to visit Adele after that. I was trying very hard to remain calm, but as I sat down over my steaming cup of tea, all I could think about was Jürgen alone in his study.
“They say this program is all about space,” I blurted. Mayim and Adele just looked at me. “It was always Jürgen’s dream to work with rockets like this. If he must take this job, it might not be so awful for him.”
Adele sighed and shook her head, shooting me a frustrated look.
“Mark my words, child. If Hitler wants to develop a rocket program, you can bet your last Reichsmark that at some point in the future, it will be used to hurt someone.”
But in just two days, the Nazis had taken away our only source of income andthreatened our home. We knew the pressure would only increase if we continued to resist, but we had so little left...only the most important things in our world. Our family and our lives. Once we realized that, saying no was no longer an option. By the end of the following week, Jürgen had started his new, highly paid civilian position at the Army facility at Kummersdorf.
