| |
“Hello, am I speaking to Talya Narkis?” asked Jeanie. Jeanie had initiated a video-conference with the Israeli branch of Martha’s family tree.
“Yes, I am Talya, and I am with my sister Leah Ganz. Who is this, please? Is this Martha?”
“My name is Jeanie Peridot. I am a genealogist working on behalf of Martha Eames. This is Agent Lili D’Amico with the Massachusetts State Police, Gil Novak, a police consultant, and Special Agent Mayet Elsayed with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. We are calling from Greenfield, Massachusetts.”
“Police? FBI? What is going on, please?” asked Talya.
Lili said, “There have been some attempts to kill Martha Eames, so she is in hiding. We are trying to find out who might be after her. One possibility is that it could be related to her DNA search, but we really don’t know.”
Talya and Leah had an animated discussion in Hebrew. “We don’t know who would try to kill Martha. We do know that our father did not want us to contact her. He said that her side of the family is considered dead to our side of the family. If Martha is who we think she is, she is the daughter of my grandfather’s sister and a Nazi soldier. Is this true?”
Lili has a brief side discussion with the others and they all nodded. “We found out that Martha was born during World War II. She is the daughter of a German officer and a Jewish woman who was named Frieda Meyer. Based on what we know, Frieda Meyer was seventeen years old when Martha was born. Martha was named Rebecca when she was born. Another thing you should know is that Martha was adopted in England as a baby and doesn’t know any of this, yet. She never knew her biological mother or anything about her family. Before she went into hiding, she had seen that her DNA report said she had a lot of Jewish ancestry, but she didn’t understand how that could be. She hired me to find out more information.”
Talya and Leah had another discussion in Hebrew. “Our grandfather’s name was Fishel Meyer and our grandmother’s name was Malka. Our grandfather was Frieda’s brother. Their parents, three siblings, and their siblings families were all killed in the concentration camps during the Holocaust. Our grandfather survived the camps. He later discovered that Frieda had a baby in Paris with a Nazi soldier, and that she had survived the war. He never tried to contact her, so she probably never knew he survived. Our Grandfather settled in Israel after the war and helped to establish our kibbutz, Kibbutz Nevo.”
Lili said, “We contacted the descendants of Martha’s biological father. His name was Horst Konig. Apparently, he was a German officer and Frieda was the nanny for his children in Germany, and later in Paris when he was stationed there. When an allied invasion of France was expected, he sent his wife and children back to Germany, but he couldn’t send Frieda back because she was Jewish. Apparently, Horst Konig and Frieda conceived a child soon after that. Horst’s son told us that Horst helped to smuggle Frieda to Portugal and bought her a ticket to Brazil. However, for some reason, she boarded a boat to England instead. It appears that she gave her child up for adoption soon after she got to England. Horst Konig deserted the German Army and escaped with his wife and children to Brazil. He changed their name to Weber. For years, Horst and his son searched for Frieda in Brazil. But again, Martha doesn’t know any of this, yet.”
Talya and Leah had another animated conversation in Hebrew. Talya said, “This is such an amazing story!”
“There’s more,” continued Lili. “Frieda ended up in Glasgow, Scotland and married a man named Stephen Gillies. We spoke to her granddaughter, Morag Wilson, who lives in England. She was aware that her grandmother was Jewish, but she was unaware that, according to Jewish law, she and her sister are also Jewish, by descent. She was very surprised, to say the least.” Talya and Leah laughed. “One more thing, Martha Eames has a daughter that she doesn’t know about.”
“How is this possible?” asked Talya.
“Martha had a baby with her husband, George Eames,” said Lili. “At the hospital, they were told that the baby was stillborn, that it had died before birth. But now it appears that the baby was stolen from them and given up, or sold, for adoption. We met with Martha’s daughter in London. Her name is Gemma Wells, and she knew she was adopted, but didn’t know anything about her biological parents. It seems that she is Jewish, as well.”
“I think that’s the whole story,” concluded Jeanie. “Talya, Leah, do you have any further information or questions for us?”
Talya and Leah had another discussion in Hebrew. “This is all very overwhelming,” said Talya. When will we be able to meet with Martha?”
Special Agent Elsayed said, “You will be able to meet with Martha when the threats to her life are resolved. Do you know of any reason her life would be threatened?”
Talya and Leah looked at each other and shrugged. “No, we don’t. We are very thankful to you for this discussion and we are anxious to meet Martha. Could we get a copy of her family tree? We will give you ours.”
“Yes, of course,” said Jeanie. “And you can call me with any further questions.”
They signed off from the video-conference. Mayet said, “I didn’t hear anything there that would possibly be a threat to Martha’s life. There was some family animosity between people who are no longer alive, and Talya’s father didn’t want her to contact Martha, but that’s far from being a motive for murder.”
––––––––
A WEEK LATER, LILI was back at Gil’s house in Saratoga. Jeanie called a video-conference with Mayet and Lili. Jeanie said, “A few days ago, I sent you the third family tree chart I have for Martha which includes the additional information we received from her relatives in Israel.”
“Pretty soon I’ll put them together as one all-inclusive chart, but it will be too big to show like that in a video presentation. In addition to the family tree information, I’ve been researching the people themselves, and I think I found some things that might interest you.”
Jeanie posted a photograph of Horst Konig’s family. “This is Horst Weber, aka Horst Konig, and these are his children. His wife Helga probably took this picture. This girl is Liesl, the mother of Jonas Mauk, with whom we spoke. What I discovered is that Horst Konig was a German officer and a member of the Nazi party. He was a logistics officer which means he was responsible for shipping people and materials. Specifically, he was responsible for making sure the German army had all the food and weapons they needed in France. Horst Konig was reported to be missing in action in August 1943.”
“According to the manifest from the ship Serpa Pinto, Horst Weber arrived in Rio de Janeiro in August 1943. Weber was his mother’s maiden name. In Brazil, he bought two small cargo ships and started a shipping company that became very successful. His children, and now some of his grandchildren, run the company. They are very wealthy. I didn’t find anything that would be a reason for them to harm Martha.”
Mayet said, “I also researched some of the people on the chart. I found that Wolfe Weber, Jonas’s uncle, had many run-ins with the law. He was a playboy and a drunk. He died in a car wreck when he was thirty-nine years old. I also haven’t found any specific motive to threaten Martha, unless there is some inheritance concern within the family. But, that will require more digging.”
Jeanie displayed the Israeli side of Martha’s family tree. Then she posted some photographs.
“This is a picture of Fishel Meyer, Frieda’s brother and, therefore, Martha’s uncle,” said Jeanie. “Fishel Meyer was one of the pioneers who helped establish Kibbutz Nevo in Israel’s southern desert, as we were told. This picture shows Talya Narkis with her sister Leah Ganz and their brother Zelig Meyer, who is called Ziggy. They’re with their mother Miriam. Talya and Leah work on the kibbutz. Both of them served for two years in the Israeli Defense Forces. Ziggy is currently a highly ranked officer in the Israeli Air Force.”
“The strange thing is, Talya’s father is listed as Abba Meyer in her family tree, but I couldn’t find anything at all about an Abba Meyer,” said Jeanie. “When I did some more digging, I found out that Abba just means father in Hebrew, so the chart is showing ‘Father’ Meyer. I’m guessing that he’s probably not a priest.”
“Possibly Talya’s father’s name is unstated because he was in the Mossad, Israel’s equivalent of the CIA,” said Mayet. “I found out that his name is actually Shmuel Meyer and he’s seventy-five years old, so probably no longer active in Mossad activities. But you never know.”
“Okay, that makes sense,” said Jeanie. “I found something else about their family that should interest you.” Jeanie posted a news article on the video screen. “This article is from a newspaper in Berlin from last year that mentions Avram and Talya Meyer, who were Martha’s grandparents. Apparently, they were quite wealthy and lived in a big house in Berlin. Avram and his ancestors were very successful merchants. They bought and sold all kinds of goods. A large collection of art was recently discovered in a Swiss bank that was stolen by the Nazis from the Meyers. The bank is in negotiations to return the art to the Meyer heirs.”
“Mayet perked up excitedly and said, “Please send me that article right away. Does it say how much the collection is worth?”
“It says at least twenty-eight million euros, and possibly more. Valuation was in progress.”
“So, what if Shmuel Meyer doesn’t want to split his massive inheritance with his cousin, the despicable daughter of a Nazi?” asked Lili. “That could be motive for murder.”
“Yes, that definitely could be a motive for murder,” said Mayet. “Through his experience and connections, someone like Shmuel Meyer would be more than capable of deploying assassins to go after Martha. But let’s not jump to conclusions.”
“Think of it, though. All of the assassins so far have bungled the hit,” said Lili. “Not up to Mossad’s standards, I would think.”
“One correction though,” said Jeanie. “Martha isn’t Shmuel’s only living cousin. According to the family tree, Martha has two half-siblings, who are also Frieda’s children. Sarah Duncan and Laith Gillies. They aren’t tainted by Nazi blood, but they do have non-Jewish blood. They also have families.”
“So, if the art collection is the motive, then Gemma Wells, Sarah Duncan, and Laith Gillies, and their families could also be in danger,” said Lili.
“Leave this with me,” said Mayet. “I’ll make sure that MI-5 is notified that Frieda’s other children and their families could be in danger. Also, I’ll get an investigation going regarding Shmuel Meyer.”
“How do you spell Shmuel?” asked Jeanie.