Page 23 of The Little Liar
The men argued a while longer, then dispersed without agreement. But the Lie of Resettlement went home with them and spread through the ghetto like a wind blowing through a wheat field.
Udo Needed a Ruse
He dragged on his cigarette and stared at his desk. The paperwork was endless. Lists. Manifests. And train schedules to the death camps. So many of them! Every stop detailed to the minute. The Wolf’s instructions were clear. Nothing could interfere with rail efficiency.
Udo privately wondered about his leader’s obsession with trains. Was it their imposing size? Their intimidating roar? Whatever the reason, he knew the consequences if any hiccups occurred. He’d heard of an incident in France where Jews on the platforms had revolted and fled. In the confusion, two German soldiers were killed. The Wolf had been furious.
Udo wanted no part of that. He needed to ensure the Jews under his control would board those trains without protest. He already had the Lie of Resettlement. But having his officers bark that out in German hardly seemed reassuring. Udo needed someone to sell the Jews on the idea. In their own language.
Which was where Nico Krispis came in.
The boy had been staying with Udo in the house on Kleisouras Street. He truly was, as Pinto had said, honest to a fault,answering every one of Udo’s questions without hesitation. A shame that he didn’t have more useful information, like where the Jews who had fled to the mountains were hiding, or where gold and jewelry might be hidden in the neighbors’ houses.
Still, Udo had grown convinced that the boy could serve a purpose. He seemed to know many people in the Jewish community, where his family was apparently quite active. If he could help ensure things moved smoothly on the railway platform, it would be worth the trouble of keeping him alive.
Nico had never been inside a train station.
Two weeks after his family had been taken away, he got his first look. The exterior resembled a large house, with slanted rooflines and large first-floor windows. The entrance was rimmed with five glass panes, two long ones and three short ones. On the pale front walls, the Nazis had hung giant Vs, symbols for Victory.
Nico entered the building and gazed up to the ceiling. Udo was on one side. Pinto was on the other.
“Are you certain we can trust this boy?” Udo asked in German.
“Look at him,” Pinto answered. “He thinks he’s on an adventure.”
Nico may have seemed distracted, but he was actually listening intently, absorbing the German language the two men spoke. His ear for different tongues, and his ability to already speak Greek, Ladino, French, Hebrew, and some English, accelerated the process.
“Today I am going to show you your job, Nico,” Udo said, nodding at Pinto for translation. “Did you ever have a job before?”
“Not a real one,” Nico answered.
“Well, this will be your first. And if you do it well, do you know what you get?”
“A yellow star?”
Udo stifled a laugh. “Yes. I’ll give you a yellow star.”
“And my family gets to come home?”
“If you do your job well.”
“My papa says I am a good worker. But my brother works harder than me. He always sweeps the store. I’m a bad sweeper.”
Udo shook his head. The boy never stopped offering information.
They paused in the middle of the hall. By Udo’s order, the station had been emptied of personnel, so it was just the three of them inside.
“All right, Nico. Listen to me.” He pointed through the doors to the platform. “Tomorrow when you come, there will be many people out there. And there will be a train. The people will not be sure where the train is going. Some of them might be confused. Maybe even scared.”
“Why would they be scared?”
“Well, aren’t you scared if you don’t know where you are going?”
“Sometimes.”
“Your job is to help them. You will tell them where the train is going so they won’t be so scared. Can you do that?”
“I think so.”
