“STEFAN WAS RIGHT. In the late spring and summer of 1943 Werner Best began to tighten Germany’s grip on Denmark.”
Britta is all business today, as if she knows her time is limited, and she must finish her narrative while her health abides. Still, Catherine thinks she looks unhealthy. She is thinner, and her visage is gaunt. Britta begins the day with an apology for her harsh words and her abrupt departure the day before. Catherine waves it off, insists on shouldering the blame, and the two end up in a warm embrace. All is well.
Britta continues. “The first thing Best did was to implement tight censorship of the press and the radio. The newspapers, fearful of Best’s reprisals, became tolerant, and at times even supportive of Germany. Articles appeared harshly critical of the Danish resistance movement. Editorial opinions condemned ‘foolish youth whose senseless acts of violence were an insult to the strong political bonds between the two countries.’ Citizens were urged to turn in members of the resistance. It was no secret that the German administration was responsible for the shift in editorial comment. Danes had always prided themselves on our freedom of the press and independent editorial content, so the overall effect of the censorship was to strengthen Danish resistance, not only among the saboteurs, but in the attitude of the general public as well.
“Confrontations in public places became frequent. Insults, arguments, even fistfights, erupted between young Danes and German sympathizers. Many of our restaurants and night spots discouraged or even turned away German soldiers. Though the soldiers were a constant source of income, the owners realized that their loyal customers were uncomfortable in the presence of Germans. Many refused to come in if a crowd of German soldiers was present.
“While all this was happening, Danes began to hear of German failures on the battlefield. For the first time, Germany appeared vulnerable. Maybe Hitler had spread his army too thin. Maybe Germany had underestimated its opponents. We found reasons to feel encouraged. In February the Wehrmacht suffered an embarrassing defeat in Russia and surrendered their troops in Stalingrad.
“Then we learned of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising. There had been a quarter of a million Jews locked in that ghetto. Starting in January the Germans began systematically transporting them from the ghetto to the Treblinka concentration camp, where they were murdered. On April 19, Passover eve, the Germans stormed the ghetto attempting to clear it out and send the remaining Jews to Treblinka. But the inmates refused to go and staged an armed revolt. Though greatly overmatched and outnumbered, the revolt lasted an entire month. The world was rooting for Warsaw and we cheered during that month. If those brave people could resist under those conditions, so could we.
“Then we got word that Belgian partisans derailed a train filled with Jews bound for the Auschwitz concentration camp. The Belgians killed the German guards and freed the captives. In May, German and Italian troops surrendered in Tunisia, and the Axis’ hold on North Africa disappeared. In June, the German advance along the Russian front in Kursk failed. To the Danes, this all meant that Germany was no longer invincible. It encouraged further acts of sabotage and resistance. Partisan attacks became more frequent and more damaging. Factories that supplied war matériel to the Reich were set on fire. Workers in key industries went out on wildcat strikes.
“Germany was losing its grip on Denmark, and Werner Best requested an increase in Gestapo personnel. They fanned out through the country seeking saboteurs. Suspects were snatched off the street and sent without trial to a prison camp in northern Germany. Gestapo agents, assisted by Danish police, arrested strike leaders. But the harder Best countered, the more resistance he generated. If anything, acts of sabotage increased in number and intensity.
“It was early in the summer when Lukas received a visitor. Larson Starck, the leader of an Odense resistance group, came to the house to ask for Lukas’s help. A major operation was being planned in late June. It was ambitious. The objective was to derail a shipment of iron ore bound for Hamburg. The train would have multiple cars filled with ore and oil and would be well-guarded. The operation would be dangerous, but the reward could be great. Starck said that Lukas’s leadership would be invaluable. In order to pull off this mission, he needed enough members to establish a manned perimeter, and he needed Lukas’s experience in explosive devices.
“When he left, Lukas returned to the living room. Grethe said, ‘What was that all about?’ Lukas hung his head; he knew this wouldn’t go over well. ‘Larson is planning a major operation. He has twenty members in his group, but he can’t do it alone. This is big, Grethe. Real big. Not only would we destroy the shipment and deprive Hitler of the oil and the ore, but we would effectively cripple the rail route for weeks. I told Larson he could count on us. I would reestablish the Holger Club and give him our support.’
“Sitting in that room, I could see the blood rise in my sister’s face. ‘And just who is going to lead your Holger Club with you being in a wheelchair?’ she asked, though she knew the answer.
“‘I don’t intend to sit this one out,’ he said firmly. ‘I may be stuck in this chair, but with a little help I can still get around, and I can organize, and I can make a difference. Grethe, I need you to deliver a message to the remaining members of the club. Tell them I’m setting a meeting at the Viking Bookstore on Wednesday night at seven o’clock.’
“Grethe set her jaw. ‘And I need you to stay at home with me and your daughter,’ she snapped. ‘You’re in no shape to lead any sabotage. This crazy operation sounds like a disaster waiting to happen. You think that train won’t be well-guarded? The Germans have seen far too much sabotage to let this shipment go unprotected. Troops will be there every step of the way. And they’ll be armed. You and thirty country boys aren’t going to derail that train. They’ll catch you and they’ll kill you. And I’m not going to lose my husband. Again!’
“Lukas was trying hard to calm her down. ‘We’re not going to attack the train. We’re going to set explosives and blow up a bridge. There won’t be any troops guarding the railroad tracks in a field in the middle of the night.’
“‘You don’t remember the last time where the Gestapo came out of nowhere with rifles and machine guns in a field in the middle of the night? No one expected that either.’
“‘We were betrayed. Someone informed on us. That won’t happen again.’
“‘And you can assure me of that because you know every single person in Larson Starck’s club and you can vouch for each one of them, right?’
“‘No, but I can vouch for Larson and he’s a strong leader. Look, I pledged my support. I have to do this. I need you to get the message out to the Holger Club. Will you do that please, Grethe? Otherwise, I’ll have to go myself.’
“‘You see how foolish you are. If you go rolling around Copenhagen in that wheelchair, the Gestapo will see you, and they’ll pull you in for questioning and you won’t come home for twenty days. Or ever. Can’t you see what’s happening on the streets?’
“Grethe soon realized that her protestations were falling on deaf ears. The Odense group needed help and Lukas didn’t want to let them down. His argument finally beat her down and Grethe agreed to spread the word, but as she left, she said, ‘You can manage the meeting, organize the operation, pass out the assignments, and plan with Larson, but your involvement stops right there. You’re not leaving Copenhagen!’
“On the night of the meeting, Isabel chose to be fussy. Lukas was anxious; he didn’t want to be late, but Grethe couldn’t leave and Lukas couldn’t go without her help. Isabel was taking her time with her feeding—first she would, then she wouldn’t, then she wanted to gurgle and coo.” Britta smiles. “She was pretty damn cute.”
Emma returns the smile. “That’s my mom.”
Britta continues. “Lukas was losing patience. He had learned how to pace in his wheelchair, back and forth like a tiger on the kitchen floor, and he was driving Grethe crazy. “‘Let me go,’ I said to Grethe. ‘I’ll take Lukas and you catch up with us when you can.’ The bookstore was a dozen blocks away and I could push Lukas there pretty easily. Grethe agreed and said she would come as soon as she put Isabel to bed.
“The Viking Bookstore was dark when we arrived, but the back door was open. Members of the club were gathering in the back storeroom. I recognized four of the eight from previous meetings. Knud Gunnison was not there, but given his mother’s attitude and how nervous he was when he met me on the street, I didn’t expect to see him. You couldn’t blame him. He was almost killed by the Gestapo in the raid.
“Lukas began the meeting by unrolling a map of Denmark given to him by Larson Starck. He stretched it out on a table and pointed to an area in lower Jutland. ‘There is a monthly shipment of Swedish iron ore bound for armament factories in Hamburg. It always travels this route. When it leaves Vejle and proceeds south, it passes a nature park. There are very few towns or railroad crossings in the area and the train picks up speed. There are also several streams and bogs in this region. At this point, right here, there is an iron trestle bridge fifty meters long. The plan is to set explosive charges on the sloping beams under the bridge, blow up the bridge at the precise moment the train is on it, derail the shipment and destroy the southern railroad route, at least temporarily.’ As Lukas was finishing his sentence, Grethe walked into the room, stopped dead short and put her hands on her hips.
“‘Exactly who is going to plant those explosives?’ she asked.
“‘We are,’ Lukas answered. ‘The Holger Club is, along with Larson’s Odense group. All of us together.’
“Lukas’s words seemed to imply his participation far beyond Grethe’s geographic boundary, but she wasn’t going to challenge him in front of the club members. At such time as she could get him alone, she’d get assurances that he wasn’t planning on leaving Copenhagen, or all hell would break loose.
“‘Where are we going to get the explosives?’ one member asked.
“‘From the SOE, just like before. Larson said his group will be at the drop zone next Monday to meet the SOE flight.’ Lukas noticed that one of his members was shaking his head. ‘What’s the matter, Tommy?’
“‘Just like before? That’s when we lost two of our members and it put you in a wheelchair. We walked into an ambush. Why will this time be different?’
“‘Jesus, Tommy, there was an ambush because we were betrayed. We had a traitor. One of the groups, maybe even ours, had an informer. Look around; you know every one of these guys. We’re good here. There’s no informers in this room.’
“‘Yeah, but I don’t know the Odense guys.’
“Lukas nodded. ‘I get it, and you don’t have to go if you don’t want to. Larson Starck has been running his club for a long time and they’ve done some great work. There are no guarantees, but I trust Larson and his club. It’s a dangerous mission, to be sure, but if we’re ambushed again, I don’t think it will be because we were betrayed by one of our own.’
“The more Lukas talked, the more evident it became that he intended to lead the group on the mission. I could see the tears forming in Grethe’s eyes.
“‘When are we going?’ a member asked.
“‘Tuesday,’ Lukas said. ‘Six days from now. You will have to arrange your own transportation to Vejle, and we will meet up with the Odense group Tuesday at midnight. We’ll have to work quickly; the train will be crossing the bridge on Wednesday afternoon.’ He looked around the room. ‘Who’s in?’ The members grimaced, shook their heads, let out a groan, but in the end, each of them raised his hand. ‘Great!’ Lukas said. ‘See you all on Tuesday. Remember, not a word!’
“The moment we left the meeting and were on our walk home, Grethe said, ‘And how will you run away this time, Lukas? You couldn’t get away when you had two good legs.’ He looked up at her and said ‘Grethe…’
“‘Don’t Grethe me,’ she snapped. ‘You have a daughter and a wife. You’ve given enough. You’ve already given them your legs. Let them do this mission without you. You did your part; you organized it and you’ve coordinated with Larson. Let him finish it.’ Lukas didn’t answer. ‘Promise me that you’ll let the Holger Club go without you,’ Grethe said. ‘Promise me.’
“‘I can’t,’ he said softly. ‘If I don’t show, it’ll destroy our club’s morale and who knows how many others won’t go either. I can’t pull the rug out from under them, and I can’t back out when I told Larson we were in. I’m the leader, I have to go. I know you understand.’
“After we had gone a block or two in silence, Grethe finally said, ‘How do you intend to get around? You can’t drive.’
“‘Tommy will take me. He has a truck.’
“Grethe walked around to the front of his chair, knelt on the sidewalk and put her head on his lap. ‘You know I don’t want you to go,’ she said, and he answered, ‘I know.’ And she said, ‘But if you have to…’”
Britta abruptly stops her narration. She struggles for a deep breath. It seems as though she is searching for a word. Emma’s eyes are locked on her grandmother, who appears to be in some distress. There is a touch of panic in Emma’s voice. “Bubbe? Bubbe, are you all right? Bubbe, can you breathe?”
Britta struggles to respond. “May … may I have some water, please,” she says with a cough.
Emma reaches for the pitcher and Catherine calls out, “Gladys, call 911; get an ambulance here!”