Luxembourg believed that its international pact of neutrality would protect it from a German invasion, though it was suspicious. Radio Luxembourg, an English-speaking station, stopped broadcasting and the country began work installing concrete roadblocks along the eastern border with Germany. Luxembourgers heard the news about the invasion of Poland and Finland and worried about the rumours of an impending invasion.
I did attend the opera with Hava that night, and a few mornings later, suitcase in hand, my aunt said her goodbyes.
‘There’s enough money in the bank,’ she said. ‘Your father will return soon.’
Aunt Margaret offered again to take me with her to her home, but I refused. I had my school, Hava . . . ‘And besides,’ I said to my aunt, ‘Papa said that I was to stay in the house, no matter what. I’m safe here. And when he returns from the Foreign Ministry, I want everything to be in order, just as he left it, so that he and I can continue living as we were.’ There was no explaining my optimism; that of a young woman pretending that there was no danger lurking in the alley.
‘Don’t open the door to anyone, and remember to keep away from that Jewish girl and her family.’ She handed me the house key. ‘I must run. The train leaves in an hour.’ She didn’t smile.
I kissed Aunt Margaret goodbye, and as I watched her walk down the road with her suitcase, I wanted to call out, ‘Vive la Belgique!’ But instead I just sat on the doorstep and cried. Goodbyes under any circumstance are never good.
‘Mademoiselle Lyon?’
I wiped my eyes and looked up. There was little Nicole.
‘Is the corporal coming back with his horse?’
‘Non, ma petite.’
The girl sighed, then skipped down the street in the city of Brussels, in the country of Belgium – a place that would soon be changed forever.