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Outside Karlsruhe, Allied Occupied Germany
May 10, 1945

 

Wolfgang Vogel stood at the end of the long driveway leading to the family farm, his arm around his wife, his two children in front of them, waving at the column of American troops passing by. Some waved back, others tossed supplies to them, and as he had suspected he would all along, he felt liberated, as opposed to conquered.

The war was over.

Germany had lost.

And he didn’t care.

These were the Americans he was expecting, not the evil army that would slaughter children and rape women, as the propaganda machines had warned. No, these were men who held no animosity toward the civilian population, and he was thankful he had been able to get his family out of Berlin where the Russians now held control.

He didn’t trust them at all, and the rumors were horrifying if true.

A GI walked up to his son, handing him a chocolate bar. “Share that with your sister, okay.”

Vogel smiled. “Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it, buddy.”

The kids were thrilled, and so was he. If these men represented their enemy, then they truly did have no reason to fear them. He stared down the road at the city, heavy damage evident from the bombing, much of Germany destroyed. It would take years to rebuild, and the struggle would be hard. He could never return to Berlin, not with the Russians in control.

He had nothing but the clothes on his back.

He closed his eyes and wondered about Frau Lang and Frau Maier. Had they survived the war? Were they now under Soviet control? Was Frau Maier holding out hope that it wasn’t her husband beaten to death like he had told her in his note to her? Was Frau Lang still waiting for her Hermann to come home?

He wished he had something more to tell them, to give them a reason as to why their husbands had paid such a high price, but unfortunately, he was as much in the dark as they were.

And with the mine now in Russian territory, he doubted the world would ever know what the SS had hidden there one cold night in January.

Though perhaps with time, and a little luck, the secret too many had died to protect would be revealed.

He turned to his wife and smiled at her, then the children, so thankful they had all made it through the war.

And a thought occurred to him.

“How would you feel about going to America?”

 

 

THE END

 

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