Johann and Daniel
by Charles Lacey
Chapter 13
Daniel.
We felt embarrassed, Johann and I, that we had been rescued by these good English people, and had done nothing in return but answer some questions about life in Austria under the Nazis. Was it possible, I asked Mrs Freeman, that we could do something more to help them?
She said she would ask. In the meantime, I sometimes helped Johann in the garden, or we went for long walks together in the countryside. It was beautiful, though very different from Austria. It was much flatter, for one thing – it seemed strange not to see mountains in the distance - and there were far more deciduous trees: oaks, and chestnut, ash and elm. The cattle were strange to us, too, especially the little Jersey cows who gave the richest milk. But we were happy just to be together and not afraid. Often we walked hand in hand, when no-one else could see us. We practised our English on each other, as well.
After a few days, Mr Ryder asked us to go to his office. Dr Eulenberg, who had been teaching German to the people being trained there, had fallen ill with influenza, and Mr Ryder asked if we would help until Dr Eulenberg was better. Of course we agreed straight away. It was sometimes difficult, having people much older than ourselves to teach, and to correct them when they went wrong. But we told ourselves that every time we corrected a mistake, it was a tiny bit more that we were doing to help the Allies win the war.
We were both desperately worried about our families in Linz. Johann wanted to find some way of letting his parents know that he was safe. And I had no idea if my parents, my brothers and my sister had escaped the Nazis, or if they had been taken to one of the concentration camps.
But a new agent, Peter Newman, who had just finished his training and was going to be dropped near Vienna agreed to post a letter there. We took a lot of trouble over that letter, as if the Nazis thought we were nearby, Johann's parents might be arrested and questioned about our whereabouts.
With that we had to be content. Though we did discover after the war that Peter had posted the letter, and it had been received by the Stresemanns, though Frau Stresemann had not been able to bring herself to burn it as it was the last communication she had had from her son.
And so we settled into a routine. We had become unofficial "consultants" about anything to do with Austria, and although Dr Eulenberg had made a good recovery, he was an old man and tired quickly, so we continued to help with German language lessons.
We continued to sleep in the little room under the roof, and they even paid us a small salary, though we had said we didn't need it. But it was nice to go shopping one day to the nearby town (we are still not allowed to say where it was!) and buy some new clothes for ourselves.
For our teaching we generally used the Library, a big room lined with bookshelves. Mr Ryder's office was a smaller room that led from it. One day Mrs Freeman went in there, and the door did not shut properly. We overheard some fragments of conversation.
"... do you think Johann might agree?" said Mrs Freeman.
Mr Ryder replied, "if you can prise him apart from his little friend."
"True. But if..." and we missed the next few words.
Mr Ryder picked it up: "...really don't know what to do. It can't be allowed to continue indefinitely."
Mrs Freeman's voice came in again. "Well, I think they are a pair of absolute poppets. And I'll tell you what else I think. In this world, which is filled with war, and killing, and black, bitter hatred, any kind of love is to be welcomed. And if you don't agree with that, Bill Ryder, you can put it in your pipe, and smoke it."
At this point someone else came through the library into Mr Ryder's office, and this time the door closed properly. Johann and I looked at each other. And then Johann looked at me again, but in a different way and said, "I don't care if the whole world disapproves of us. I love you, Daniel Kohn, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you."
I was too overcome to speak, so I just put my arms around Johann's neck and held him tightly for a few moments. But Mr Ryder had a point. When the war ended, this establishment would be broken up, and we would need to find somewhere to live together, and work to do to earn a living. We had already decided that although we would visit Austria as soon as we could in order to see our families, we would make our permanent home somewhere where we could live openly as a couple. The likeliest place was Denmark, though there were other places further afield that we could try if necessary.
The situation in England at that time was rather curious. The law made no mention of female couples. I later heard, though I don't know whether it was true, that this was because Queen Victoria had thought that sex between women was not possible.
But it was illegal for men to couple with men. From time to time, male couples were arrested and sent for trial. Usually, they were fined, though in serious cases, or if they had been fined before, they could be put in prison. Of course, this was still far better than in Germany, where male couples could be put to death just for loving each other.
And yet in England many male couples lived together openly. Mr Noel Coward and his friend, for example, or Mr Terence Rattigan and his. Everybody knew, nobody minded. It was all very puzzling.
But the months flew by. We began to feel that we were part of The Hotel (or, as some of the residents began to call it, the Red Lion, after a very popular name for an inn in England). We turned eighteen, and we were each given a special birthday cake and a glass of wine to celebrate the occasion. By now it was 1943.
Mr Ryder called us into his office and said, "I need to talk to Johann, but I know there's no point in talking to just one of you. I'm going to ask you to do something, Johann, but if you don't feel that you can, I will understand.
"To put it bluntly, there is something that needs to be done in Linz, and I am going to ask you to do it. It will be difficult and dangerous, and if it goes wrong, could cost you your life.
"I am going to trust you not to tell any living soul about this. The utmost secrecy is essential. The Nazi Commandant in Linz is Oberleutnant Kremer. He is in very high favour with the Reichstag in Berlin, and is trusted with many secrets. We have reason to believe that he will shortly be moved to Nuremberg to take up a new post. However, we think he has some very secret papers, probably kept in his office in the Rathaus , and we want you to break into there, photograph them and bring the photographs home.
"I know it will be particularly difficult for you to be in Linz, and not to visit your parents, but to do so could endanger both yourself and them, so however much you would very much wish to see them, it will not be possible. I have to trust you in this.
Now, I am going to give you twenty-four hours to think it over..."
"I don't need them," said Johann, breaking in calmly. "If it will help the Allies, I will do it."
"Nevertheless, I will give you until this time tomorrow to change your mind. If you go, you will have to learn very quickly how to pick locks and break into buildings and possibly even safes."
I looked at Mr Ryder in dismay and confusion. Of course Johann would agree to go; he was as brave as a lion and hated the Nazis for his own sake and even more for mine. But if anything happened to him, what would I do? I could not try to prevent his going; it would be foolish and selfish to put my own happiness above his sense of patriotism and duty. I would have to resign myself to his going and do the only thing I could do: to pray for him constantly and ask the good Lord to bring him back safely to me.
The course of instruction in lock-picking began the next day. One of the staff at the Red Lion was a man who had been in prison at the beginning of the war, for burglary. He had originally trained as a locksmith, but had fallen into bad ways. He had been offered his freedom in return for helping to train secret agents. I don't think there was a lock in the world that Ernie Sheldon couldn't open with a few tools. I believe after the war he went back to being an honest locksmith and did very well.
The day came. My dearest Johann had been trained in dropping with a parachute, and equipped with a tiny camera loaded with a spool of miniature film, such as was used for home movies. He also carried some lock-picking tools and instructions as to how to contact an agent in place in Linz who would arrange for him to be picked up.
Mr Ryder, rather reluctantly, gave permission for me to go in the car with Daniel to the aerodrome. We were driven back to Manston, where an aeroplane was waiting. Johann climbed into the aircraft and it took off. As soon as I was back at home I ran to our room and knelt by the bed, imploring the Lord to bring him back safely. I had no idea how long the work would take, But Mr Ryder had said he would let me know as soon as Johann was on his way back.
The first night I did not sleep at all. Without Johann's constant comforting presence next to me even our friendly bedroom seemed strange. I wondered how my parents were, and whether, if Johann didn't return, if I might be able to find them. But it was not to be thought of that Johann might not return. He was resourceful and intelligent as well as brave. He would find a way to carry out his task and come back safely. He must do it, he must. All night long I lay tossing and turning.
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