Children to a Degree - Growing Up Under the Third Reich (25 page)

“He is a Polish farm hand on the way home,” she explained to Karl.

“Ask him if he knows that sandals might get him arrested.” Karl knew that anyone of the boys could report him if he did not challenge the stranger.

“Yes, he knows. But this is the only footwear he owns and he apologizes if he offended you,” Wanda translated.

Karl studied the field worker and felt sorry for him. It was obvious that the man was frightened by Karl’s uniform. He glowered repeatedly at the lieutenant who had now also joined the ruckus.

“Ask him if he is hungry.” Karl decided to use this incident to possibly gain a friend in this otherwise hostile country.

“Yes,” confirmed Wanda, “they feed him only one meal per day.”

Karl conferred for a moment with Hardfeld and then turned to the boys. “This is a poor Polish worker who does not own a pair of shoes. He wears sandals because this is all he has. He is not to be confused with a German Jesus imitator. We will feed the stranger because he is hungry.”

“Peter, please take the boys inside. I want to talk to them after I am done.” He turned to Wanda. “You understand that I cannot invite him to join us. So please, give him something to eat and tell him that he has nothing to fear from us.” He walked up to the chap to shake his hand.

The guy did not know what to think of Karl and extended his hand very slowly but then grinned when he heard Wanda’s translation.

“Well done, Karl. We have uncertain times ahead of us. I like what you did.” The lieutenant followed Karl’s example and shook the stranger’s hand.

Karl did not look back or check in any way what kind of food Wanda was serving the field hand. He felt pretty sure that she would not overstep her position.

“Already covering your behind? We have hardly arrived.” Peter was grinning from ear to ear.

“No, Peter, I was not covering my behind. My behind was not on the line. I was merely trying to establish good will.” Karl conveyed the same message to the boys in the dining hall. “Whenever you meet a Polish resident, I expect you to be polite. Not more and surely not less.” He concluded his short speech.

A few weeks later he was in Berlin and reported to administrator Hartung about the incident. Hartung assured him that he had done the correct thing. “You are turning fourteen within a few weeks and you have to join the Hitler Youth. I had a request from the HJ headquarters to release you from your position. You are supposed to undergo regular infantry training.”

He expected Karl to say something. A minute passed and Karl waited patiently for the remainder of the bad news. But, it was far better than he had expected.

“I intervened on your behalf and also because I need you in Kosten. You will only have to undergo a crash course as a sniper.”

He fumbled with the papers on his desk. “I arranged for you to be trained by a special mentor. He is an officer with a parachute commando and supposed to be the very best instructor currently available.” He found what he was looking for and handed Karl an envelope with some instructions.

“Make me proud.”  Karl was dismissed. He spent the next twelve days at a training facility close to the Tempelhof Airport. At night he was permitted to sleep at home and enjoyed the evenings with his parents and his brother and sister. However the nights were almost always interrupted with air raid alarms and many times he found hardly any sleep at all.

He graduated from his training with the highest points possible. The shooting itself was only part of the training. The other part was spent learning the art of finding cover and how to always have an escape route planned.

On the day he had to return to Kosten his grandma was admitted to a hospital. She died five days later and Karl was granted a special leave to attend her funeral. He was shocked to see how much his Opa had aged. Karl was proud of him as the old cavalry officer stood next to his father for a long time at the grave. He hoped to have a few words with him after the ceremony but the old timer wanted to be left alone and the family respected his wishes.

A few weeks later Karl turned fourteen and was now formally a member of the HJ. Due to the fact that he was a sub leader of a KLV camp he was immediately promoted to Gefolgschaftfuehrer. To his surprise he was also permitted to wear a silver eagle on his cap. This was actually a much higher recognition of his abilities than the promotion. Regular HJ members could only display the HJ emblem on their cap.

“This is highly unusual,” remarked Harold when Karl visited him during one of his routine trips to Berlin. “You are barely fourteen years old and I have never seen an eagle on anyone’s cap below the age of twenty.”

Karl shrugged his shoulders as he always did when he had no answer. “You have to talk to Herr Hartung about this. I think that it was his doing.”

“Why would he want to do that?” wondered Harold. “Do I have to salute you now too, or what?”

“Yeah, good idea. But make it snappy. I strongly dislike sloppy salutes.”

Harold knew that his friend was only jesting, but never-the-less he was deeply impressed with Karl’s uniform and position.

“I almost forgot to tell you, I will be back in a few weeks to attend a driving course for motorcycles,” Karl informed his friend.

“Hmm,” said Harold, “I am almost afraid to ask, but whose idea is that?”

“Herr Hartung,” Karl replied with a smile.

“And may I ask why?”

“He wants me to know how to drive in case the Russians break our lines.”

“Well, that takes care of your ability but not of the motor cycle itself. Where do you get that?”

“I was hoping that you could help me with the answer.” Karl said with a smile.

“Well, at the very least it will be a challenge,” Harold seemed to be optimistic and then added “I wanted to tell you this before; I went last week to our mystery foot path in the subway. It is gone”

“It is gone? It cannot walk, what do you mean it is gone?” Karl wanted to understand.

“No, off course it did not get up and walk away. But, it disappeared. The entrance is totally filled in and it looks like it never existed.” Harold was sure of what he had seen.

Two months later Karl attended the driving course and shortly thereafter his little world began to crumble.

He was in the camp when two messages reached him within a short interval of each other.

The first one was from his father informing him that his Opa had been arrested by the SS. No reason was given. One day he was in his apartment and the next day he was gone.

The second message was from his mother. His father had been drafted into the Volkssturm, the final German call to arms. She intended to leave Berlin with his brother and sister to live with a relative in Westphalia. (A western state of Germany.)

It was a week before Christmas 1944 when he learned that Herr Hartung had committed suicide. Again, just a short message without any explanation.

Karl realized that he had to rely on himself.

Acknowledgments

I would especially like to thank my friends Jerry, Greg and Jon, for encouraging me to write about the mindset of nearly forgotten times.

I also would like to thank my editor, Nicole Etolen, for her excellent work and for allowing me to keep to my timeline.

Christina Haas of
ZenthBusinessSolutions.com
performed again like a charm. As a matter of fact, she did something like quadruple duty. Starting with formatting the book for Kindle and for the paperback edition, she also designed the book covers and wrote the “blurb,” which every author needs. Furthermore, she is now engaged in the publication schedule and the overall promotion strategy of the books in the series.

Chris, I really can’t find the words to praise your dedication and guidance sufficiently. Please accept my sincere ‘Thank You.’

And then there is Jennifer, my supportive wife, for cheering me on and encouraging me to keep writing and giving me hope that someone might possibly benefit from lessons shared.  Thank you, Jenny.

Author’s Note

Thank you for reading
Children To A Degree
. As mentioned in the Foreword, the book serves as a prequel to the remaining books in the series; Loyal To A Degree, Trust To A Degree and Partners To A Degree.  Karl’s incredible story begins with the days leading up to the fall of Berlin in Loyal To A Degree. 

I enjoy keeping in touch with my readers and welcome any questions you may have about me or the books in the series.  Please feel free to stop by my website anytime at
www.horstchristian.com

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Above all else, I place great value on your opinion and if you enjoyed reading the book, please consider leaving a review.  Without question, it would be very much appreciated.

Best regards,

Horst Christian

Additional Books In The Series

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Copyright

This book is a work of fiction based on a true story.

CHILDREN TO A DEGREE

Copyright © 2013 Horst Christian

All rights reserved.  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted by any means including electronic, mechanical photocopying, recording, or otherwise, except brief extracts for the purpose of review, without the permission of the copyright owner.

Cover Image Attribution:

Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-2007-0329-501 / CC-BY-SA

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