ÉMIGRÉS

THE ÉMIGRÉS

TOMMY JAMES

SS Senior Sergeant Karl Kruger is assigned to Labor Camp Four in charge of security. His Jewish girl friend, and her mother were exterminated at another death camp. His girl friend's sister Eva, who was married to a German Officer, is sent to camp four. Karl is able to save her, and they become lovers. When the war gets worse for the Germans, Karl and Eva escape via Switzerland- Italy- Portugal, and Cuba, to the United States.

About The Author

Tommy James is an accomplished writer of historical fiction, and this is his second manuscript to be published as an e-Book. This outstanding story demonstrates the writer's unique ability to research history, and to persuasively present it as fiction. A wonderful tale about a horrifying Era.

e-BOOK

Maverick Publishing

HOUSTON, TEXAS

TOMMY JAMES

THE

ÉMIGRÉS

BOOK TWO

e-Book 2002

www.mittymax.com

THE ÉMIGRÉS

TOMMY JAMES

e-Book

Maverick Publishing

HOUSTON, TEXAS

THE ÉMIGRÉS

TOMMY JAMES

FICTION

Any resemblance of the characters in this novel

to persons living or dead is coincident.

e-Book

THE ÉMIGRÉS

TOMMY JAMES

IN BOOK ONE

Karl Kruger, a German soldier in World War II, is witness to an atrocity committed by two German SS officers. Karl is wounded during a British air raid. After questioning him while hospitalized, they realize he knows their secret. To keep him silent, the two SS officers have him assigned to the SS, promoted, and placed in charge of security at a labor camp. As an SS Sergeant he supervises the looting of anything of value from the new arrivals, and is in charge of executions, and the gruesome inmate Sonderkommando extermination and burial details.

e-Book

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Returning to Labor Camp Four gave Karl a dreadful feeling, and he felt worse than before he had taken his furlough. He had almost forgotten there was an outside world and that people lived normal everyday lives in it. In the camp, there was nothing but death and despair. Sometimes, Karl wished he had stayed in the Wehrmacht. If he had, he would probably be outside of Moscow with the German soldiers who had failed to capture the capital of Russia. But which is better; Can honorable death in battle or a slow degeneration of oneself? Take your choice; Karl thought to himself He was beginning to favor the latter choice.

Captain Proust was glad to see Karl and gave Karl all the necessary and up-to-date information on the camp activities, then promptly left for home and a month's vacation from the labor camp and the war.

Then came several surprises for Karl. On the evening of December 7, 1941, he heard the news over the radio of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, where they destroyed the powerful American Navy and were attacking American and British bases in the Far East, Then on December 11, 1941, Hitler announced the German A Declaration of War against the United States. It was now a global war, and for now, the Axis Powers were winning. Germany was victorious in Europe and the Japanese victorious in the Pacific. Maybe, we are destined to be World Masters, Karl contemplated, just maybe.

A few days before Christmas, Karl finally heard from Hans. The message handed to him by the radio orderly read: Subjects sent to Bergen-Belsen. Both died in June. Other subject sent to Fulda in July and will be sent to Labor Camp Four this month or next. Expect her.

Christ, Karl thought to himself; Frau Ida and Ericka were dead. It was a shock, a terrible shock to him. It was almost as if he was responsible for their deaths. In fact, wasn't that exactly what he was doing in Labor Camp Four, only to people he didn't know or care about. What happened to Eva and Ralph Kootz? She was sent to the detention camp at Fulda and was probably divorced from Ralph Kootz. Did she find out he was gay or did he find out she was part Jewish and he had to get rid of her to save his commission and maybe his life? He would soon find out when Eva arrives at the camp, that's if she does arrive! Hell, for all he knew, she could be dead by now.

Karl read the radio messages more carefully now. Each day, searching the list of names of the next group of inmates coming to the camp and their expected time of arrival. When he knew for sure the time when she would arrive, he would have to make plans beforehand to secret her away from the other inmates and get her to the camp hospital, where the doctors could examine her medically and see what her condition is both physically and mentally. Karl knew from experience that even a short time in the labor camp could change a person. Not only by being abused by the guards, but by the other prisoners as well. The hard physical work and little food didn't help things either.

The prison train was to arrive in early February. A radio message verifying the departure of seventy-two women prisoners from the internment camp in Fulda to Labor Camp Four was to be expected within the next three days, depending on railway conditions.

Karl went about his normal routine, but talked to several other SS Troopers to help him remove one of the new inmates into the hospital ward. They agreed to help him for a sum of money and some extra time off. Karl would have no problem with the camp doctors, as they all owed him favors for previous things that Karl had done for them. Everything should go smooth and it did for a change.

The prison train arrived on schedule and the arriving inmates were rousted out of the cattle cars where they were packed in like sardines. Karl took special interest in this group and rushed into the first railway car, looking for the face of Eva. Most of the women looked alike to Karl--gaunt, thin, and almost all were covered with ash from the wood burning train, not to mention the stench of urine, human excrement and the dead bodies. Most of them had the look of trapped animals on their faces some with fear and tearful eyes. Others with downcast eyes, afraid to even look at the SS prison guards. They were tired and hungry after their long train journey from the Fulda Internment Camp to Labor Camp Four.

The SS Troopers kept pulling the women out of the railroad cars until finally the entire finally living one's were on the wooden railroad platform. Then they started to drag out the dead and dying women onto the platform, piling them neatly into rows. Karl looked closely at the faces of the pitiful women, trying to find Eva's face. Where was she? Not with the dead ones, he hoped. Then he saw her; she was helping to hold up another woman. Both looked like they were ready to collapse from exhaustion. Karl motioned to the two nearest SS Troopers and they followed Karl to where the two women stood.

"Take these two to the infirmary," Karl said to the troopers.

They obeyed and the two SS Troopers carried the two women to the warm infirmary, where a doctor would examine them, and they would be bathed and given warm food and drink.

Karl watched the SS Troopers leave with the two women and saw that no one seemed to notice. That was fine with Karl and he turned back to the business at hand, counting the prisoners: the dead ones, the old ones and the ones who would become Victory Girls. This was the name given to the women who would become prostitutes for the soldiers of the German Army. Karl checked the invoice of the new arrivals and finally saw the name of Eva Eckart. He marked her name dead on arrival! How easy it was to erase a person from this world, and at the same time, to save a life. Maybe two lives. He didn't know the name of the women that was with Eva, so he marked the last name on the list "dead on arrival." Karl wasn't sure what to do with this woman with Eva. He could always dispose of her later. She would pose no problem for him.

Karl had the corpses of the dead women delivered to Burial Pit Nine and the older women, not of any use to them, marched to the bathhouse for disposal, The camp medical doctors would check the younger women, who might be of some future use, and they would decide their fate. How easy it was to dispose of these people, as easily as saying "one, two, three!"

After checking with the doctors on the disposition of the new inmates, he allowed the train to be moved to the cleaning area, where all the filth and human excrement would be washed away and the railway cars made available for the next group of people. Many times, Karl had a difficult time referring to the inmates as "people." What he saw was a bunch of dirty, filthy and starving animals, not human beings. With time, this attitude would change in Karl's mind, and it would be because of Eva. Karl, without sensing it, would replace his former lover, the dead, Ericka, with her live sister, Eva.

Waiting a short time, he went to finish his day's work. The collecting of the day's loot: the rings, money and other valuables found on the dead women and in their clothes. Karl remembered it was almost that time of the month to make another trip to Switzerland and make another "deposit." When he had completed his camp duties, Karl went to see Eva. The camp doctor advised him to take off his helmet and duty jacket so as not to alarm the two women and to only stay with them a short while. Although still awake, the two women had been given a sleeping sedative and would soon be sleeping.

Karl entered the ward, without his helmet and jacket as the doctor has suggested. He saw Eva drinking something out of a cup and speaking to her friend. Walking slowly to the side of her bed, Karl said, "Hello Eva, you are going to be better now, don't be afraid. I'm Karl Kruger, do you remember me?"

Eva looked at Karl, at first, seeing only another German soldier. She started to cry out, but something stopped her. "It's Karl, its Karl," she said in a low voice. "Help us! Help us! Why are we here? We didn't do anything."

Karl said to them, "Don't be afraid, everything is going to be better now. You are both safe here. Believe me."

They both looked at Karl, not believing his words; nobody survived a labor camp! But now, they were both becoming too sleepy to say anything more. The sedative was taking effect. Soon, they were sleeping, a peaceful sleep, for the first time in a long while.

Later that day, Karl returned to the hospital ward, but they were both sound asleep. The Day Nurse said to Karl, "They will probably sleep till morning. Come back tomorrow."

"Thank you," Karl said, and he left.

Back in his room, Karl was thinking how to handle this new situation. The women posed a serious problem, but Karl had already taken away two identities; now, he needed to make two new ones. Identity cards were no problem. He issued them! But how was he going to explain Eva and the other women to Captain Proust. Would Proust care? Would he object? Karl had plenty of time to think it over and come up with a solution. Besides, he was a Senior Sergeant in the SS, and who would object to what he did or say? Maybe, he could even fool the camp Commandant.

The next morning after roll call, Karl went again to see Eva and the other woman. He still didn't know the other woman's name. They were both awake and eating breakfast, rather gulping it was a better word.

"Karl, it is you. I thought I was dreaming," Eva said. AI just can't believe it. What are you doing here? Did you know the Gestapo arrested my father and mother and Ericka? My husband, Ralph Kootz, turned me in and after all I did for him so he could keep his officer's commission and stay in Berlin. Can you believe that?"

"Be still, Eva," Karl said. "You need your rest and the doctor doesn't want you to get excited. I'll come back later and we can talk."

Karl went back to his duties as Security Sergeant and checked in on the two women from time to time. No new inmates were arriving at this time, so Karl had time to read other radio reports and find out first hand how the war was going. The German Wehrmacht and panzers were on the outskirts of Moscow, but the Russians were resisting fiercely and in some sectors were even counterattacking. The cold weather was taking its toll too. The German troops lacked warm clothing, food and necessary supplies to carry on the war. Their supply line had been extended farther than the General Staff had anticipated; so adequate supplies were not arriving on time. The roads were snowed over or covered with ice and almost impassable all along the front. Karl recalled the roads in Poland and shuddered at the thought of being on the Russian front.

Later that day, he entered the infirmary and found Eva and the other women up and walking around. They were in much better spirits now. Being alive always helps.

"Hello," Karl said. "How are you doing? Much better, I can see."

"Just fine, Karl," Eva said. "Let me introduce you to Paula Blomberg. She's from Frankfort. We met in the labor camp at Fulda."

"Thank you for saving us," Paula said. "What happened to the other people on the train? Are they safe? Someone said they were going to make whores out of us. I think they are called Victory Girls. I would rather die first."

"One question at a time. What matters is that you are safe here," Karl replied. AI have to get new identification cards for both of you and find jobs for you here until I can get you out of the country. It=s easy for Eva, I can put her in the infirmary as a nurse. Transfer orders are easy to forge. But you, Paula, what did you do before you were arrested?" Karl had to almost swallow his words. Here he was "an SS Trooper" saving Jews!

"I was a school teacher Taught languages, French and Italian at the Lichtigfeld Primary School," she said. "I don't think there's a Jew left in Frankfort now. The Gestapo has arrested them and scattered them in labor camps throughout Germany and Poland."

"Well," Karl said. "We need an interpreter here, for the French whores, oh, excuse me, I meant for the French women. Anyway I can have you transferred here from Berlin. No one will question that. The only other thing is," and he paused before he asked: "Have you been tattooed? Almost all of the inmates are before they come here."

"Yes, they tattooed me in Fulda and a lot more besides," Eva said, showing Karl the tattooed number on her left forearm.

"Well, there's nothing I can do about that for now, you both will have to wear long sleeved blouses or sweaters," he said, "Nobody must see your arms, nobody!"

"Karl," Eva asked. "What is your job here? I know you were wounded in France, but how did you get in the SS?"

"It's a long story. In time, I will tell you the whole story. Believe me, it wasn't easy."

Before Captain Proust returned from his Christmas leave, Karl had devised a solution for both of the women, a temporary one, but a solution for now nevertheless. Eva Eckart would become Theresa Schmidt, a nurse transferred from the German Military Hospital in Berlin. She was to wear her nurse's uniform with long sleeves until Karl could find a tattoo artist from among the new arrivals to the camp. Then, he would have him tattoo a "birth mark" over the numbers that were tattooed on Theresa's left forearm. Probably no one would question her on this birthmark. He hoped anyway!

Paula Blomberg was to be the new interpreter for the camp doctors when they were interrogating the new arrivals. She would have to wear a surgical bandage over her forearm for the time being and blame it on a stove burn from the kitchen. That shouldn't arouse too much suspicion from the others in the camp. Their problems were solved for now, but for how long? That was the question.

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