Just Ordinary Men

Chapter 26

They nodded, and turned away to return to the mess.

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'Greta.. it is so good to meet you.. Franz always told me how much..'  Elke paused embarrassed.  She had just been about to tell a widow how much her husband admired the deceased.

Greta saw her discomfort and smiled.  'It is alright Elke.. I miss my Karl it is true, but with every mention of his name.. especially when I hear the high regard his comrades held him in.. the pain becomes a little less each day.. so please.. continue..'

Elke smiled.  'I know they were friends since the last war, our three men, and Franz always had a high regard for Karl.. and Johann too of course..'

'I know Karl was always jealous of Johann..'  Greta laughed at the look on Marta's face.  'Not in that way Liebe.. he was jealous that Johann had Franz working on his Messerschmitt while he had Konrad..'

'Wasn't it Konrad who pulled one of the wheel chocks a bit hard once..'

'Hit the propeller and nearly decapitated Johann?'  Marta rolled her eyes.  'Yes that's the one.  Johann was not impressed.. he said the first thing he had to do was go and change his trousers!'

Greta bit her lip, stifling a giggle, but her eyes met with Marta's and it was all over for them both.  Soon all three women were collapsed in Greta's front room holding their stomachs giggling like schoolgirls.

After some time, gasping for breath Greta spoke.  'Oh poor Johann.. I bet his face was a picture.. you must tell him I said hello when you speak next!'  At the expressions on the other two faces she stopped.  'Was.. was ist?'

Marta spoke slowly.  'Oh Greta I am sorry.. in all the excitement of introductions I forgot you didn't know.'  She paused.  'Johann was shot down over England yesterday.'  At the look of horror on Greta's face she hurried on.  'It is alright.. he is alive.. one of the pilots saw his parachute!'

The colour returned to Greta's cheeks who had gone pale at the thought of another death in their close-knit circle.

'Why do we do it?'

Raising an eyebrow Marta glanced at Greta.  'Do what?'

'Make war on each other.  We both know that between the wars Johann and Karl spent many happy holidays in England.  Germany and England need not be enemies.. it has not always been so in the past.. so why is it now?'

'Das Österreicher Korporal!'  Elke could not keep the bitterness and hatred from her voice.  'Mannfred.. my neighbour's little boy.. such a lovely child.. dead from an accidental bomb.  I do not blame the British.. I doubt they were aiming for us, just dropping their bombs so they could return home.  It was our bad luck to be underneath at the time.  No I blame Hitler and his cronies, without them there would be no war!'

'Calm yourself Elke..  you are lucky.. you are in like-minded company here.'  Greta nodded at Marta's words.  'It is unwise to speak so among others though.'

'He only gained power when the Weimar Republic collapsed.. people were desperate..'

'And that only happened because the French insisted on such high reparations after the war..'

Greta and Marta looked at Elke in surprise.

'I'm sorry.. I worked as personal secretary to an assistant director of Deutsche Bank for ten years.. you pick things up.

When the economy collapsed in America, all the banks called in their loans.  Deutsche Bank among others had borrowed heavily to repay the reparations dictated by the Treaty of Versailles.  Defaulting caused the collapse of the Weimar Republic.. which gave Hitler his opportunity.'  She held up a hand.  'I'm not saying I entirely agree with that viewpoint, but I know many of my colleagues did.'