The General’s Bride

...1952 the red cross notified Friedl that there was a prisoner of war train coming through Darmstadt. A few officers were on the train. Friedl had gone so many times to the train station she was getting frightened that it again would be, like all the other times, in vain. But Ilona (her sister) told her that she would ask her Colonel, for whom she worked, for a day off and after getting his OK would come with her. Both sisters, high hopes, went to the train station and waited. Ilona to break the silence and to make conversation, because both were so scared, asked Friedl,"do you think Father will recognize us?" Friedl replied, "he will recognize you because you are an exact image of Lizzi." The train slowly came into the station and halted. The first soldiers debarked and it was a shock to Friedl and Ilona. They were In rags, most of them did not even have shoes and they all looked like ghosts. They looked just like skin over skeletons. It was a very gruesome sight to behold. Most of them the girls assumed would have been in prison in Russia, Siberia long before the war ended, maybe 10 or more years ago. Then some officers debarked the train. They were dressed a little better, they still had part of their uniforms, no rags, but shoes. Friedl and Ilona looked at each other with a questioning look, hearts pounding, when a man in very poor physical condition walked toward Ilona with a frown on his face but not speaking, so Ilona uttered one word: "Papa?" The prisoner nodded. Friedl and Ilona put their arms around this frail man and held tight for a long while sobbing. They helped him to the elevator and once outside the station called a Taxi. During the taxi ride, it was mostly quiet, but August had some questions, Ilona was glad that Friedl answered. Ilona was quietly weeping inside and could not speak. The question, the two sisters were most afraid of, came during the taxi ride. "Where is your Mama? Where is my Lizzi? Why is she not here with you?" Ilona could not answer, her throat was dry, she could not breathe and did not want to cry out. Friedl answered, "my dearest Papa, your Lizzi our precious Mama was very sick, six years ago with cancer. She had surgery and did not make it through. She left us. We are both so very sorry, father. There was no way we could let you know. In fact we did not know if you made it through the end of the war." Silence in the car. Ilona and Friedl both looked at their father and tears were streaming down his face. He would not speak until they got to Friedl and George's apartment. All the news they had to convey to their poor father was bad. Friedl's husband, Horst, was killed going back to the western front after being called back from their wedding and she is now married to George, living in one room in a flat with two other families. Ilona still is living at Boglers since their father's house was taken by the American Army for American dependents. August's twin brother, Arthur, had committed suicide and poor Lillie, his wife, was back from a stay in a clinic living with her brother and sister. Christopher and Frieda along with their estate vanished during the siege of Berlin by the Russians. Katja's Philip had not returned from Stalingrad and her little baby was now a beautiful red curly headed young girl. This news could not get any worse for their so very precious father. Their hearts were aching yet they could not do anything for him, so they both got on their knees and hugged him. All three were sobbing. Later, when Ilona told her father that she now was working for American Armed Forces Headquarters in Frankfurt, he had a sheepish smile on his face and said,"how did you get this job?" Ilona told him the story and her father raised his eyebrows saying: "That, my young lady takes courage and in a language you did not care for! That makes me very proud."