Eli sadly shook his head. “I’m sorry to say, she was probably a gift to some Nazi officer. He’s done that before. Young girls are a commodity for him. He uses them to serve his ambition.”
“Don’t say that. Don’t you dare say that to me, Eli. She’s not a damn commodity. We have to rescue her. Please, Eli. You have to help me.”
Eli nodded and hugged his brother. “I’ll go to Maximilian. I’ll do what I can.”
* * *
Maximilian stood in the doorway in his usual pose—one hand on the doorknob, one hand on the doorjamb, blocking the entranceway. “I know why you’re here, Eli. It’s about Chava, isn’t it?”
“Where is she?”
He shook his head. “I had no choice in the matter.”
“You always have a choice, Maximilian. Sometimes it may profit you less, but it’s still a choice. Is she here?”
He shook his head. Eli looked over his shoulder.
“What teenage girl is living with you now?”
“Does it matter? You came to talk about Chava, and she is currently in a good home with a nice young man. I wouldn’t send her to an old man or an abusive person. She’s with a lieutenant in the Abwehr. He’s thirty-six. Never been married. He took a liking to her at one of my parties, and she took a shine to him as well. They get along nicely. If you remember, when you and I were sent to Lodz, Louis begged me to take Chava. He knew she would be left here all alone. She couldn’t go out of the house or the Jew Hunters would capture her. She couldn’t even leave the house to get food. I had to do something to take care of her. I felt it was the right thing to do. Besides, Horst wanted her, what could I do?”
“She’s barely sixteen.”
“She’s mature for her age. Look, she’s being well cared for. The alternative would be a slave labor camp in a distant location. Ask her what she wants. She’ll tell you. Ask your brother. He gave her to me.”
“My brother didn’t give her to you; he put her into your care for safekeeping. Now my brother is beside himself. You sold his daughter to a Nazi.”
“I didn’t get any money.”
“I thought it was against the law for a Nazi officer to have a relationship with a Jewish girl.”
Maximilian laughed. “Do you think Horst is the only Nazi with a Jewish girl? Who are we kidding? Besides, he’s not going to marry her. That would clearly be against the law. Tell Louis she’s safe and healthy. She’s with a man who treats her well and with whom she’s comfortable. And then tell him there’s not a damn thing he can do about it. She’s with Horst now. Get used to it.”
Eli took an aggressive step forward and put a heavy hand on Maximilian’s shoulder. “Louis is a religious man and a very protective father. He’s a peaceful man, not the least bit belligerent, and not at all given to confronting you. But I am different, and I will not hesitate to wring your neck. You swore to protect her, and you turned her over to some Nazi. Now get her back!”
“All right, all right. Take it easy, Eli. I’ll do my best. I’ll go talk to Horst. I’ll tell him her father wants to see her. Maybe he’ll consent to letting them meet.”
“I want an answer tomorrow morning, Maximilian. I will see you at the brickyard.”
CHAPTER FIFTY
LUBLIN, POLAND
OCTOBER 1941
MONTH 25 OF THE NAZI OCCUPATION
Louis and Eli watched as Maximilian’s polished sedan pulled into the brickyard. The back door opened, and Chava stepped out. She had a fur stole wrapped around her neck, covering the open collar of a black jersey dress. The dress was long and form-fitted. She walked slowly to her father in her black pumps and patterned nylons and sheepishly bowed her head. “Hi, Daddy.”
“Chavala…”
She put a finger to his lips and said, “Don’t be mad at Maximilian. I’m okay, really. No one has hurt me. Horst is very sweet.”
Louis swallowed hard. “You have makeup on your face, lipstick on your lips. He’s dressed you up in nightclub clothes: black nylons, high heels. Look at you, Chava.”
She nodded. “Yes, look at me. I’m standing here. Alive, safe, healthy. I’m not sewing in a dark, musty factory like my mother. I haven’t been sent off to a labor camp. I’m not scrambling for a meal on the streets of the ghetto. I’m well fed, well dressed and living in a nice home with a German officer. I’m treated with respect and not like a slave.”
Louis’s voice started to break. “God knows what that man has done with you, Chava.”
“Nothing I haven’t willingly permitted. In truth, encouraged.”
“Oh, my Lord. I don’t want you living with him. You’re much too young. I insist that you come home.”
“That day has passed, Daddy. If I did come home, if I even wanted to come home, what would happen to me? Where would I be sent the very next day?”
Louis, his lips pursed, his face flushed, spun around and pointed at Maximilian. “You did this to her. She’s just a child. You promised me you’d safeguard her, and I believed you. You sold her,” he screamed. “You turned her into some Nazi’s whore!”
Chava wound up and slapped Louis hard across his face. “Don’t you ever call me a whore. I am an officer’s lady.” She turned and walked back to the car. Maximilian shrugged his shoulders and followed her. Louis slumped down into a chair, his face in his hands.
* * *
“I feel so bad for Sylvia and Louis,” Esther said later that evening. “I’ve known Chava since she was a child, and I’ve never thought of her as anything other than a sweet young girl. I’ve never seen that side of her. I guess that’s what the war can do to people. It must have been devastating for Louis to see her dressed like that and declaring herself to be a German officer’s lady.”
“You wouldn’t have recognized her, Essie. She’s a casualty of the occupation, but Louis blames himself. He says the whole thing was his fault, he never should have placed Chava in Maximilian’s care.”
“He did what he thought was best, but I have to admit, I was surprised when he allowed her to move in with Maximilian.”
“Maximilian told him that she had been observed by Zörner’s office. They wanted to know why such a tall and healthy girl had not been put to work. They said she would be assigned to a work camp at a distant location.”
“If they wanted to put her to work, why didn’t they send her into Lipowa? Why didn’t Maximilian arrange that?”
“Because Lipowa was fully staffed.”
“Fully staffed? Who said that?”
“Maximilian.”
“Hmph. Well, that explains everything. It’s not true. There are always empty sewing stations. Maximilian was the one who noticed her, not some deputy.”
Eli hung his head. “I should have realized it was a lie. It was probably what he had in mind for Chava all along. I’m sure it wasn’t the first time that he supplied a young Jewish girl to a Nazi officer.”
“How can we force Maximilian to return Chava to Louis and Sylvia? If she has to be sent to a labor camp, she can work at Lipowa with her mother.”