Chapter 6 – The Letter

Seven months earlier…

October 25, 1945

Berlin, Germany

Wilhelm sat on the hard wooden bench outside of Herr Thomas’s office. He knew he was in trouble, but he didn’t care. He sat perfectly still, his back straight, staring fiercely at a crack in the opposite wall.

The boy next to him fidgeted. Wilhelm smiled to himself. He liked when he made people uncomfortable. It made him feel as if he had some power over them. He figured that if he turned to look he would see the boy’s eye swelling up from where Wilhelm had punched him. That is the reason they were both sitting here. They had been caught fighting.

Fighting was strictly forbidden in the boys’ home. But Wilhelm didn’t care. He had only been here three and a half months and already he had been caught fighting more than twenty times. Herr Thomas, the headmaster of the boys’ home, had warned Wilhelm that if he continued to get into fights with the other boys he might be kicked out of the home. That was fine with him. He didn’t really like the home. Anyway, he knew the kind hearted Scotsman would never follow through with his threat.

The door next to them opened. A gray bearded man stepped out and looked at the two boys: Herr Thomas. With a sigh, he said in heavily accented German,

“Jürgen, you can go.”

Jürgen quickly hopped up from the bench and darted away. Wilhelm resisted the temptation to trip the boy as he brushed past. Why was it that he was the only one to ever get in trouble? He hadn’t started it anyway. If Jürgen hadn’t insulted his father, there would never have been a fight at all. Herr Thomas watched the boy leave, then turned to Wilhelm and said, “Come inside, Wilhelm. I want to talk with you.”

Herr Thomas held the door open as he walked in. The interior of the room was the same as it always was. A small window overlooking the street and a small desk and chair pushed into a corner over which hung a painting of green hills. The only other thing in the room was a poorly built chair by the door. It was on this that Wilhelm sat.

The man shut the door and walked across the room. He leaned against his desk and looked at him. Wilhelm prepared himself for a lecture. He was sure it would be the same one he always got.

“How is your English coming?”

Wilhelm was confused. This was not how the lecture was supposed to start.

“Fine.”

“Excellent, you will need it soon.”

Wilhelm was getting very confused now. He was supposed to get a lecture, not just have a friendly chat with the headmaster.

“I received a letter today.”

Herr Thomas picked up a small envelope from the desk. It was crinkled and dirty. Wilhelm couldn’t see who it was from.

“It pertains to you. You see, I was able to track down and contact your grandfather.”

Wilhelm felt no emotion. He had never really known his grandfather. He only knew that the man lived somewhere in Austria. Wilhelm had never even seen him before, nor had he even received a letter from the man, if he was even still alive, which, judging from the letter in Herr Thomas’s hand, he was.

“I contacted him to…”

Herr Thomas drifted off.

“To ask him to come and get me?”

Wilhelm finished the man’s sentence for him. Apparently, Herr Thomas’ threat was real.

“Well I wasn’t going to word it like that, but yes, that is generally what I asked him.”

Wilhelm had figured as much. He knew Herr Thomas wanted to get rid of him, but didn’t want to throw him out on the streets.

“And…” Wilhelm was getting impatient.

“And he said he wasn’t interested.”

Wilhelm nodded. He could have guessed.

“But he gave me the address for your uncle.”

As Herr Thomas said this, Wilhelm went cold.

His uncle. The traitor whom his father had always told him about and the last person on earth that he wanted to see.

“I had no idea you even had an uncle, who lives in the United States, no less.”

Wilhelm clenched his hands. He had a horrible feeling he knew where this was going.

“So I wrote him a letter, explaining your situation.”

Herr Thomas smiled, making Wilhelm’s stomach turn. “And he sent this letter in response. He says that he would love to have you come and live with him.”

As the man said this, Wilhelm desperately wished that this was all just a joke, but deep down he know it wasn’t. Herr Thomas set the letter from his uncle back on the desk.

“So how do you feel about this?”

Wilhelm felt an overwhelming feeling of dread. He was going to be sent away to live in an enemy country with a traitor.