The General's Niece by Paige Bowers

Author:Paige Bowers
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Chicago Review Press
Published: 2017-08-31T04:00:00+00:00

9

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Fritz Suhren threw open the door to Geneviève’s cell and announced that they would be joined by two men who would like to ask her some questions.

“You should answer accurately and candidly,” he told her, as a young soldier and an elegantly attired civilian with well-polished shoes appeared in the doorway. The men motioned for Geneviève to sit down on her bed and began asking her about her arrest, her interrogation by the Gestapo, and her treatment in Fresnes Prison. Suhren sat in the corner listening as Geneviève said that she was never tortured but was knocked to the ground, kicked, and beaten. The soldier taking notes paused and looked up at her, a look of shock written all over his face. Geneviève continued, telling them about the cattle cars, her arrival at the camp, and her distress at being stripped naked and inspected. She told them about the dogs, the beatings, the constant fear, the near destruction of her dignity, and the theft of her most basic rights.

“We [prisoners] are Stücke,” she told them. “Pieces. Even our fellow inmates—some of whom have positions as guards, policewomen, barracks chiefs—can with impunity insult and revile us, beat us, trample us, kill us. As far as anyone in the camp hierarchy is concerned, it’s good riddance: one less vermin to deal with. I have seen, I have experienced this willful oppression, this grinding down of a fellow human being who is in such a state of exhaustion she can barely move. Hunger, cold, forced labor—all are ordeals we have to endure, but they are far from the worst.”

The visitors listened intently, occasionally stopping her to ask follow-up questions about the beatings she suffered. Suhren remained quiet in the corner.

“Perhaps Suhren realizes that this inmate is still capable of testifying and even of passing judgment,” Geneviève later wrote. “If Nazi Germany is defeated, many among those in charge will doubtless be held accountable.”

That is, unless they killed everyone who might be able to testify.

When the men finished their questioning, they brought Geneviève to the infirmary. The soldier asked the camp’s doctor for Geneviève’s medical records so he could conduct his own medical examination. Leafing through her file, the soldier discovered untreated pleurisy and scurvy. Looking at her, he could see that her body had withered away from starvation and overwork. The air-raid siren sounded in the middle of the exam, and guards rushed Geneviève back to her cell until the soldier could finish his work after the all clear. Then she was taken to another interrogation by a high-ranking Gestapo member who began his questioning by telling Geneviève how much he had enjoyed his time in Paris. With this polite formality out of the way, he launched into a description of Geneviève’s resistance activities. She downplayed her involvement and refused to name any of her cohorts. A secretary efficiently typed Geneviève’s answers, then handed the typed page to her and asked her to verify it with her signature. The Gestapo officer walked out

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