“THANK YOU FOR agreeing to see me again,” Liam says as he takes a seat on the uncomfortable wooden chair next to Professor Lundhill’s carved oak desk. Though the weather is pleasant, the windows are shut, and the professor is wearing a cardigan sweater.
“I’m afraid I don’t have much time for you today, Mr. Taggart,” he says, shuffling the papers on his desk in a seemingly random manner. “You asked to see me on rather short notice.”
“I’m sorry, Dr. Lundhill, but our clock is ticking as well. I’m working hard to establish some connections, but I’ve run into some brick walls in my research and I don’t think I can go much farther here in Chicago. I’ve exhausted what sources I can access online. I’d like to make plans to go to Copenhagen. Do you think there are sources that would help me there? Basically, I would like your advice on places for research or people that I might consult.”
The professor nods. “Indeed. There are multiple sources for research in Copenhagen. I can make a list for you. I’ll even suggest a few contacts. When are you planning to travel?”
“Next week.”
The professor scoffs. “Next week? Do you always act so precipitately, Mr. Taggart?”
Liam smiles. “Only when Judge Wilson puts us in a vise.”
“All right, I’ll work on it over the weekend.”
“Thank you very much. Do you have time for a quick question or two?”
Professor Lundhill grimaces and raises his eyes, but spreads his hands in acquiescence. “If you really are quick.”
“When we interviewed Britta Stein this week, she told us that groups of teenagers were forming clubs and taking it upon themselves to resist the Nazi occupation. They cut phone wires, vandalized jeeps, started little fires and even threw a skunk into the German soldiers’ barracks.”
The professor agrees. “That is well-known.”
“She said the resistance movement grew in intensity as the war progressed and became quite effective in disrupting the German occupation. Is she right?”
“Also true. Are you doubting her credibility?”
Liam tips his head from side to side. “She’s ninety-two. Everything happened a long time ago. Maybe I’m prone to discount her version of the events as they occurred because she was a teenager during the occupation. Her perception was filtered through the lens of her teenage eyes and I am concerned that some of her recall is factual and some might be fanciful.”
“Thus far she has been fairly accurate.”
“She’s very focused on the activities of her sister and her boyfriend. She says they formed a club called the Holger Club.”
“I’m not familiar with that group, but there were many such clubs.”
“Britta mentioned one group that blew up rail cars filled with Nazi munitions.”
The professor firmly nods his head. “The Churchill Club. They caused appreciable damage. Perhaps their boldest act was when they blew up several rail cars filled with machine parts, airplane wings and iron ore, all headed for Germany. Again, Mrs. Stein is correct. Is that all, Mr. Taggart? I really must be on my way.”
“Did British intelligence drop crates of materials by parachute to those clubs? Were the drops announced through broadcasts on the BBC?”
Lundhill sighs. “SOE. British Special Operations Executive, also known colloquially as the Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare. It was an organization set up at a Baker Street address to conduct espionage, sabotage and reconnaissance in occupied Europe. It would have arranged to drop weapons and explosive devices to resistance groups on Danish soil. The coded messages were indeed broadcast on the BBC. She is correct again. Now, Mr. Taggart…”
“One last question, sir. We’ve been shown a photograph of a little Danish fishing boat with numbers painted on the bow.”
Lundhill nods. “Those were probably Copenhagen Harbor registration numbers. They had to pay a yearly tax.”
“So, would there be records of who owned those boats, or who paid the taxes?”
“I’m sure there were at the time, but it was seventy years ago.”
“We’ve been told that the boat in the Henryks photograph was used to save Jewish lives during the occupation, and—”
Lundhill waves his hand from side to side and interrupts. “That is a subject that requires much more time than we have today.”
“I understand that, sir. My question is only whether or not these boats would have shuttled Jewish refugees from Denmark to Stockholm.”
Professor Lundhill stiffens. “Stockholm? Hardly. That would have been hundreds of miles through dangerous waters. They shuttled them fifteen to twenty miles across the Øresund to western Sweden. Still, it took courage to make that ninety-minute journey in 1943. Now I must be off.”