Finding Rebecca: A Novel of Love and the Holocaust (38 page)

Christopher’s hands were shaking as
he reached into the safe for the bottles of booze he had been hoarding. He took
out a bottle of whisky and poured himself a stiff glass. The telephone receiver
was cold in his hand as he picked it up and it rang several times before the
person on the other end picked it up. The appointment was set.

Lagerführer Fritz Ekhoff was second
only to the new Lagerkommandant of the entire camp complex,
Arthur Liebehenschel. And since Arthur Liebehenschel had
proven impossible to meet with since his arrival in November, Ekhoff was the
only man above Friedrich’s head that Christopher could meet. Ekhoff ushered him
into his office. They had only met on brief occasions before. Ekhoff was a tall
muscular man with dark stubble and a firm handshake. He did not return the
smile Christopher flashed at him.

“What is it,
Seeler, things not going well down in the Economic Agency?”

“No, Herr
Lagerführer, things are going wonderfully well. We seem to set new records
every month just so we can break them the month after.”

Ekhoff took
his eyes off the papers he was going through on his desk to glance at
Christopher and then stood up to stretch his back. “Glad to hear it. If
production slips you will certainly be hearing from me. Now what is it that you
want?”

Christopher
coughed and then continued. “I can see you’re a busy man so I’ll get to the
point. I want to change a Kapo in the Economic Agency.”

“How many
Kapos do you have down there?”

“Well we have
several but there is one with more power than the rest, far too much power if
you ask me. It would be an excellent lesson to the others if he were demoted.
He is abusing the power that we have given him and is now a threat to
production.”

“Who is this
man?”

“Ralf Frankl,
Herr Lagerführer.”

“Why did you
come to me and not Rapportführer Friedrich?”

“Rapportführer
Friedrich is an excellent leader and the figures in the Economic Agency speak
for themselves but he isn’t close enough on the ground to see what I see. He
has so much responsibility, so much pressure, almost as much as you do
yourself. I feel that he is too attached to this Kapo, and it’s up to me to cut
away the dead wood.”

Ekhoff
laughed and shook his head. “Uwe Friedrich attached to a Kapo, eh? Now I’ve
truly heard it all. What do you propose to do?”

“Just demote
him back to the general population, and have someone else installed in his
place.”

“Fine, do
what you need to.”

“Thank you,
Herr Lagerführer. This is something that is long overdue.” Christopher stood up
and shook Ekhoff’s hand again. Christopher turned to leave before the
Lagerführer interrupted him.

“You do know
what will happen to this Frankl when he is put back into the general population,
don’t you? He won’t last an hour.”

“Oh, is that right?” Christopher said
and walked out.

It was the
next day when the knock on the door came. Christopher was at his desk. The door
opened before he could answer. Friedrich glared at him and returned his salute
with a look of contempt. He sat down before Christopher could offer him a seat.

“What seems
to be the matter, Herr Rapportführer?”

“The orders
for the transfers came through this morning, Herr Seeler.”

“Oh, I was
looking to speak to you about that, but, with your extra responsibilities I
couldn’t find a time when you would be available.”

“Why did you
have Frankl removed? Is it from some misplaced affection for the prisoners?
Because if there is any of that in you, Seeler, I will have you shipped off to
a punishment division on the Eastern Front so quickly that you’ll be hauling
bodies by the end of the week.”

“It was a
simple case of him being here too long.”
Christopher paused and reached back into his mind for
the lines he had been practicing. “
Why do you care what
happens to Frankl?”

“He was good
for discipline.”

“We don’t
have discipline problems in Canada. Since the new system was put in place by
the Anti-Corruption Committee, we’ve had hardly any losses. There is no need to
execute workers here, and the more experienced they are, the better they do
their jobs and the better that we all look, especially you.”

“Why did you
go to Ekhoff? He has no interest in this section so long as the money keeps
flowing.”

“That’s
exactly why I went to him, to bring the interests of this section to his
attention.” Christopher leant forward and held up an empty glass. “Would you
like a drink, Herr Rapportführer?” Friedrich didn’t say no, so Christopher took
the bottle out of his desk drawer and poured out a glass of vodka. Friedrich
took the glass and swirled the clear liquid around a few times before knocking
it back in one.

“No matter
what the reason, these decisions are mine.”

“I agree, but
I wasn’t sure you could see how lazy Frankl had become.” Christopher looked
directly into Friedrich’s eyes as he spoke.

“I wasn’t
aware of any laziness on his part.”

“I saw it,
many times. Again, you can’t be everywhere at once. That’s why the lower ranks
exist, to help out the decision makers such as yourself.”

Friedrich
laughed. “Very convincing, Seeler.” He placed the glass down on the desk. “You
always have a story, don’t you? You’d make a wonderful actor I think. Let’s see
how your acting abilities help you out on the Eastern Front.”

Christopher
felt his blood run cold, and his back stiffen, and wondered if it was the look
on his own face that was causing Friedrich to smile. “Herr Rapportführer, what
use would an accountant be on the Eastern Front?”

“I’m sure
they’ll find some use for you, Herr Obersturmführer. Just like the two guards
you had transferred there this morning,
Schlesinger and Hauser I believe were their names? I’m
sure they’ll be just thrilled to see you again.”

It couldn’t end like this. There was
too much still to do. Christopher grasped his wallet in his pocket and the
picture that Anka had drawn inside it. The orders still hadn’t come back from
Herz for the truckload of children. There was too much to do to have this man’s
ego stand in his way. “I’m sure there’s something we can do to work this out,
Herr Rapportführer. The Lagerkommandant thinks I’m doing a wonderful job here.”

“No, Seeler, the old Lagerkommandant
thought you did a great job here. I will admit I did too, at one time, but
you’ve gone over my head for the last time.” It was hard to tell if Friedrich
was doing this for personal pleasure or not. Either way, the smirk on his face
was fixed now.

“I can assure you, Herr Rapportführer
I have nothing but the utmost respect for you and for every decision that you
make….” Christopher felt the pistol in his holster. There was still so much to
do. There was nothing he could do on the Eastern Front, no reason for him to
even be alive there.

Friedrich shook his head. “I have a
ready-made replacement for you, someone who will obey my orders, someone who
has the inside knowledge of the organization of this section of the camp.”

“So, it seems the decision has
already been made.” Christopher heard his voice harden and poured himself a
shot of vodka. He thought of the money in the safe. How much would it take to
buy this man?

“Yes, I can assure you that it
already has. I will be lodging the order tomorrow morning. The transfer should
take a few days to process and then you’ll be on the front lines, serving the
Reich. You know, if I were a little younger, I’d be out there myself. I am
almost jealous of you, Seeler.”

“What can I say to make you change
your mind, Herr Friedrich? Let me assure you that I am best off serving the
Reich right here, right from this chair. There are two types of men in this war;
fighting men like you and pencil pushers like me. I can’t shoot a gun, but I
have organized this section better than anyone before me and certainly better
than Herr Breitner ever could.” Christopher tried to keep the desperation out
of his voice, but it was hard.

Friedrich was clearly enjoying this.
He rocked back in his seat, the anger from earlier now dispersed. He didn’t
speak, but did motion to Christopher to fill his glass once more. Christopher
felt the heat in his head. It felt as if it was going to implode. The thought
of actually fighting to propagate this was more than he could bear.

“Thank you, Herr Seeler. You will
certainly be missed around here.” Friedrich was smiling again.

“A day or two is simply not long
enough for the handover. I need longer, at least a week. I have a trip to
Berlin in two days. The contact there knows me. I will have to go through all
the systems with Breitner, introduce him to the Kommandoführers, the
Blockführers, and the new Kapo. There is just too much work to do. Don’t do
this. Don’t kick me out of here and have the whole section suffer because of
it.” Christopher stared back across at Friedrich, whose face changed. He looked
down at the floor.

“I suppose that might be
counterproductive. You were a good accountant after all, and I wouldn’t want to
fall behind.”

“The one thing that Lagerführer
Ekhoff said was that if production slowed here, for any reason, he would be
very displeased.”

“Don’t you think I know that?”
Friedrich snapped. He took a sip of vodka again and swirled it around in his
mouth. “Okay, Seeler, I’ll give you a week, but if you’re not organized by then
I’ll shoot you myself just to save the Russians from having to do it.”

Christopher nodded, disgusted that
Friedrich’s magnanimity had forced him to feel relieved. A week would give him
time to think though. “That’s the right decision for the camp, Herr
Rapportführer.”

Friedrich stood up and smiled,
holding his hand out to Christopher. “Thank you for the valuable work you’ve
done here, Herr Obersturmführer. You’ve got a glittering future ahead of you,
just not here.”

Christopher looked back at him,
hesitating for a few seconds before offering a limp hand. “Give me a few days
until you put that order in, until after I travel to Berlin on Thursday.”

“You’ve got until Friday morning,
that’s when the order goes in.”

Christopher waited until after the
door had closed behind Friedrich to pour another glass of vodka. He thought of
Uli, who had been on the Eastern Front for more than two years. Perhaps they
were to share the same fate and die in some nameless marshland in Belorussia.
There was no more time to waste. He picked up the phone.

“Herz? It’s me, Christopher Seeler.”

“Herr Seeler, it’s so good to hear
from you.” It was hard to tell if he’d been drinking yet today or not.

“Have you made a decision?”

Christopher heard him breathing on
the other end of the phone before the words came out. “Yes, I have. I don’t see
any reason we can’t do business together.”

The contents of the suitcase must
have helped, Christopher thought to himself. “Good, I’m glad you’ve seen sense.
There has been a change of circumstance however.”

“And what might that be?”

“It needs to happen this week.”

“This week? Why the rush all of a
sudden?”

“Circumstances beyond the control of
myself or the other party we are working with. Can you do it this week, perhaps
on Friday?” Herz coughed on the other end of the phone. And then silence.
“Herz, are you still there? Can you do it or not?”

“Yes, we should be able to do that.”

“I will see you in your office at 10
am tomorrow to go through the final details,” Christopher said, and hung up the
phone.

There was not time for a letter to
his father. The next phone call would be riskier, but what were they going to
do to him now? Execute him? A trip to the Eastern Front was tantamount to the
same thing. He picked up the receiver again and spoke to the camp operator,
explaining it was an emergency- that his father was dying. Lying had become so
easy. The operator patched him through and the phone rang. Cousin Harald picked
up. Christopher heard the echo in the background and he knew that the Political
Department was listening in. The surprise mingled with a genuine affection in
Harald’s voice. Christopher asked to speak to his father as politely as he
could.