The Berlin Wife's Choice: Completely unmissable WW2 historical fiction based on a true story (German Wives Book 2) by Marion Kummerow

Author:Marion Kummerow [Kummerow, Marion]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781837902811
Publisher: Bookouture
Published: 2023-08-08T16:00:00+00:00

Despite the secluded table, she automatically looked over her shoulder. “I’m wondering why you patronize this business if they don’t want your husband here.”

Edith shrugged, guilt written all over her face. “Believe me, I struggle with this. On the one hand I want to shout at them for their awful behavior, but on the other hand, I’m so tired that I need a respite once in a while, especially since I moved to the city center. I miss our gardens so much.”

“You moved away from the island?” Helga had never been to the Falkenstein mansion, but she had seen pictures and couldn’t imagine someone living on the Schwanenwerder Island voluntarily giving up the glorious surroundings.

“I didn’t want to, but…” Edith stopped talking, because the sound of steps announced the waiter bringing their drinks. As soon as he disappeared, she continued. “Our neighbors instigated that the Gestapo kick us out.”

“They did?” Helga had never considered that rich, assimilated Jews like the Falkensteins suffered from the same harassment her family did.

“Yes. The mansion and the park have belonged to Julius’ family for more than a century, until some up-and-coming Gestapo officer’s wife decided she didn’t want Jews in her neighborhood.” Edith scrunched up her nose. “You know what’s ironic? Julius moved out months ago, because they took his car and there’s no adequate public transport from the island to his office.”

“I’m sorry. The situation gets more depressing by the day.” Helga took a sip from the, admittedly delicious, ice-cold lemonade. “Where do you live now?”

“A few blocks from the Falkenstein bank’s headquarters. We own an apartment there.”

Helga took a moment to process what Edith had just said. “At least the bank seems to do well.”

Again, Edith shrugged. “It does. Although my husband’s not the owner anymore. The Gestapo forced him to aryanize it, so he sold it to his deputy. Herr Dreyer is a loyal man, who agreed to keep Julius on as manager.” As if to apologize she added, “Herr Dreyer actually had to get a special permission to hire a Jew, and it was only allowed because of the many years Julius had been leading the bank.”

“These days nobody employs a Jew.” Helga’s husband had been fired by the Falkenstein bank less than a year ago.

“You must believe me, Julius didn’t want to do it, but he had no choice.” Suddenly Edith looked very old. “He keeps saying that he needed to protect all his employees, so with a heavy heart he took the decision to sacrifice a few for the benefit of the many.”

“Heinrich received a very generous severance package, which we hadn’t expected.” Helga tried to cheer up her friend, since it wasn’t Edith’s, or even her husband’s fault that the Nazis had come to power and issued all these oppressive rules. She didn’t mention that the money had long since been used up and they barely scraped by with her salary as a cleaning lady, David’s half-salary at the workshop and the odd job Heinrich was contracted for.

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