Page 2 of The Berlin Sisters
Their conversation ended prematurely when Goebbels walked out of his office, going directly to Lina’s desk. Ava kept her head down and returned to her typing, but it was impossible not to hear the conversation, given her proximity. Within minutes, everyoneseated in the room could hear what was being said to poor Lina. They’d only met when Ava had begun work at the ministry, but she’d fast become a close friend, and Ava hated hearing her being questioned for something she hadn’t done.
‘You cannot simply lose a piece of paper that I gave to you only this morning! Where is it?’
Ava kept her gaze averted, but her stomach was beginning to do cartwheels as Lina made noises beside her that sounded very much as if she were crying. She’d always been very softly spoken and kind, certainly not someone who could handle being interrogated.
‘I am going to ask you one final time,’ Goebbels said, in a rare show of anger. Usually he was most affable to his secretaries, and he certainly never raised his voice to them. In fact, most of them were very fond of him, including Ava. ‘Where is it!’ His hand slammed against the desk and made Ava jump, at the same time as Lina sobbed loudly. Ava’s heart wrenched for her.
‘It was here when your family arrived,’ she cried. ‘I haven’t left your office, I haven’t, I can’t—’
‘Enough,’ he snapped, turning on his heel. ‘Find it before the end of the day, or I shall have you questioned for treason.’
Ava felt as if she might be sick, listening to her friend crying beside her. She shook her head when Lina asked if she’d seen the piece of paper, not about to mention what she’d seen her father do, even as she watched Lina drop to her knees and search the floor, asking the other women around them as she looked for it. Ava knew full well that her duty was to her country, that she was obliged to report what she’d seen; she’d been trained to do so since she was a girl. But if she said something, what would happen to her father? What if he’d taken something that he shouldn’t have? It didn’t matter what she was supposed to do, she kept her mouth shut, even though it meant putting poor Lina in a terrible position.
‘Fräulein Müller,’ Goebbels called, his voice still sharp.
Ava immediately stood, brushing her hands down her skirt to banish any creases, before walking quickly to the office door. She smiled at Goebbels, hoping he couldn’t see how nervous she was or detect that she was keeping something important from him.
‘Please take these,’ he said, not bothering to look up as he extended paperwork to her.
Ava hurried forward and took the papers, but as her fingers closed around them, his didn’t let go.
‘You are to seal these court documents, and I’m relying on you to place them in the safe without looking at them,’ he said, his eyes meetings hers. ‘Do you understand? It is of great importance that they’re secured without anyone seeing the contents.’
‘Yes, Dr Goebbels,’ she said, as he slowly released the papers. ‘I understand.’
‘And then you are to type this, and return it directly to me,’ he said, turning his attention away from her. ‘No one else is to see the contents of this letter.’
‘Of course.’
‘Fräulein Müller, I want you to think very carefully about how you answer this next question,’ he said, sitting back slightly in his chair, his eyes narrowing. ‘You have sat beside Fräulein Becker since you began work in my office. Have you found her to set a good example for you when it comes to her typing and commitment to her job? Is she a dedicated party supporter?’
Ava’s uniform immediately seemed to cling to her as she began to sweat. She could even feel perspiration across her upper lip, and she had to hold the papers tightly to stop her hands from trembling.
‘Yes. Lina, I mean Fräulein Becker, has always been most conscientious and dedicated to her work,’ Ava said, keeping her voice even. ‘I haven’t seen anything that would lead me to believe she’s anything other than a committed party supporter, as we all are. All of your secretaries are dedicated to our country and to our Führer.’
‘Thank you, Ava,’ he said with a small smile, taking her by surprise when he used her first name, as if he were trying to reinforce that they were family friends, not just colleagues. ‘If you notice anything to the contrary though, you will come to me, yes? I know I can trust you.’
Ava nodded again, dropping her gaze before turning to leave with the papers clasped to her chest. She had no intention of looking at them, had always followed orders without a second thought, but when she placed them down on her desk, she couldn’t help but notice the name on the front.Sophie Scholl.They were the court documents for the Scholl case, and Ava remembered her well from what she’d read in the papers – the university student who’d been found guilty of high treason for producing propaganda, encouraging others to revolt against Hitler and the party.
She stared at them, knowing that she’d been trusted not to look, and having never disobeyed instructions at work before. But something about seeing her father take something earlier, a feeling beginning to bubble up in her stomach, made her want to look, made her want to disobey an order for the very first time in her life. Lina was still on her hands and knees, going through a pile of discarded papers from earlier in the day, and when Ava glanced around the office, she could see that the other secretaries were all busy with their heads down.
She battled with her curiosity for a few more moments before quickly brushing the front page aside, intending only to glance at the contents. It was when she saw the photo pinned to the pages inside that she realised what type of file she was in possession of, what a court file on such a matter would contain. And why she had been ordered not to look inside.
Her eyes skimmed the first few lines and her stomach lurched for the second time that day.
Guillotine.
Beheaded.
Traitor.
Murder.
The words seemed to leap off the page at her.
Ava knew she shouldn’t sympathise, not with a young woman with such radical ideology, but she’d have been lying if she said it didn’t affect her, that she didn’t question why such an intelligent young woman would risk her life to distribute a leaflet about resistance. And had such brutality been truly necessary? Ava swallowed. Perhaps she simply didn’t have a strong enough stomach.
Her heart suddenly began to pound.Is this what Father was looking for?Maybe she would never know why her father had taken the paper she’d seen him steal, but as she bundled the documents into a file and took them to the safe, she knew that she would never breathe a word of what she’d seen to anyone. She couldn’t.
