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MUNICH
February 1933
The four days before the hearing stretched away interminably. Leila had initially put all her hopes in the lawyer. But Adler had not sounded overly optimistic, and she was becoming increasingly anxious that Monday might come and go with no resolution.
As for Minki, Leila was troubled by their phone call. She had hoped for an unequivocal declaration of support. But Minki had sounded tentative and nervous. Leila just had to hope that her friend would decide to help her, and that her guile and beauty would work its usual magic. She had always been able to wrap Goebbels round her little finger. If anyone could persuade him to show mercy and get Viktor out of jail, it was Minki.
The children, believing their father was away on business, went happily enough to school on Friday, accompanied by their grandmother. Left alone in the apartment, Leila would normally have relished the chance to sit and write, but she had no work. Following the arrest of Julius Zerfass, and the disappearance of the senior editorial team, theMunich Posthad been forced to close. Any hopes of it reopening had been dashed when Hitler suddenly enacted a law making it illegal for Jews to work as journalists. Without work, Leila had no income, and Viktor’s legal fees would need to be paid. She and Viktor had some savings, but they would soon be whittled away. Reluctantly, Leila came to the conclusion that she might not even be able to keep up the rent on their own apartment.
That afternoon, her mother returned with the children and a basket of shopping. While Axel and Sofia relaxed in the sitting room, Leila helped her mother unpack the groceries. ‘Mutti, I’ve been thinking… I may have to give up the apartment. I’ll go and collect a few more of the children’s things.’
‘But I thought the lawyer had said you should stay out of sight. Let me go instead.’
‘No, it’s all right. I’ll take a taxi, and I won’t be long. It’s easier for me – I know what they’ll need.’
‘But do you need to go at all? Viktor might be out on Monday.’
‘We can hope he’ll be out, but we have to be prepared for the possibility that he might not.’
‘Oh, darling…’ Hannah reached across the kitchen table, and squeezed Leila’s hand.
‘I think I’ll have to be honest with the children too. I know you meant well telling them that white lie about a business trip. But if he doesn’t get out, they’ll have to know, and it would be better if they got used to the idea over the weekend.’
‘If you think so, dear…I was just trying to protect them.’
‘I know, and I’m grateful, but I think we need to be realistic.’
Carrying a pair of her mother’s empty suitcases, Leila took a taxi to the apartment and hurried inside. It felt eerily quiet, and she tearfully went from room to room railing at the injustice of her situation. But slowly she pulled herself together. She cleaned and tidied the kitchen, taking a couple of the children’s favourite mugs and placing them in one of the suitcases. In her own room, she packed up the few items of jewellery Viktor had bought her over the years, along with more clothes, a pair of comfortable boots and a spare coat. In the children’s room, she packed the second suitcase with more clothes, one or two of their favourite toys and some books. Finally, she folded up the children’s bedcovers – patchwork quilts her mother had made when they were babies – and lay them in the suitcase. It would make them feel more at home. Locking the front door, she began to weep again, but she had recovered by the time she arrived back at her parents’ apartment.
When the children came home from school, Leila sat them down at the kitchen table. ‘I’ve got some bad news, I’m afraid…about Daddy. He’s been arrested and is in jail, but it’s only temporary,’ she added quickly. ‘There’s been a mistake. Daddy has done nothing wrong and the lawyer says he’ll be out by Monday. So I don’t want you to worry. In the meantime we’ll stay here with Granny and Grandpa…just till Daddy comes home.’
Axel, who had been playing with a toy car on the table, frowned and looked up at his mother with his dark-brown eyes. ‘Why did they make a mistake?’
Leila shrugged. ‘They just did. They thought Daddy had done something wrong, but he hadn’t. Like at school – if a teacher blames someone for doing something when they’re actually innocent. Grown-ups do make mistakes sometimes.’
Sofia, Leila noticed, said nothing. She was doodling in a little notebook, drawing a series of concentric circles with a pencil.
‘Sofia…is there anything you want to ask?’
But the girl simply shook her head.
After tea, Leila began to busy herself rearranging the bedroom she was sharing with the children. It had been her old childhood bedroom, and still had its original single bed. Her father had managed to get hold of two extra mattresses for the children. Now, she covered each with a quilt.
Sofia came in and flopped down on one of the mattresses, watching her mother squeezing some of her clothes into the wardrobe. ‘Why did you bring over so many of our things? I thought we were only staying for the weekend.’
‘Well, we might need to stay a little longer.’ Leila tried to keep her voice light and carefree.
‘But you said Daddy will be out on Monday.’
Leila kept her back to her daughter, aware that her eyes were filling with tears. She was determined not to show Sofia any fear. ‘Wehopehe’ll be out on Monday,’ she said quietly, ‘but we don’t know for certain.’
‘Is Daddy going to die in prison?’ asked Sofia suddenly.
‘No, darling, of course not!’ Leila swung round and faced her. ‘You mustn’t think that. It’s just that the legal system works slowly – we have to be prepared. And I thought it would be better if we were here, with Granny and Grandpa, so that I can really concentrate on helping Daddy. Do you see?’ She tried to smile encouragingly.
Sofia nodded. ‘I see,’ she mumbled.
‘You like living here, don’t you?’ asked Leila.
