Page 26 of The Little Liar
The day arrived for the final train, a hot, sticky morning with rain in the air. There had been over fifty thousand Jews in Salonika when the war started; by the time this train left the station, forty-six thousand would have been deported. The Nazis intended to vacuum the city of every Jewish crumb.
Shortly after 10:00A.M., Lev, Tanna, Eva, Lazarre, Sebastian, the twin girls, Bibi and Tedros, Fannie, and the baker’s wife stepped into the street and joined a slow march to the train station. For some reason that no one could explain, they had been left in the Baron Hirsch ghetto for months, even as other families came and left.
The twins held hands. The adults held one bag apiece. Lev put his arm around Tanna, who wept at the idea of leaving the city with no knowledge of her youngest son’s whereabouts. Sebastian dragged behind, but kept a step ahead of Rivka and her family, who would also be taking the train with him. Rivka smiled. Sebastian looked away.
At the train station, Pinto inspected the luggage car.
This final transport had him excited. Udo Graf had mentioned plans to return to Germany after “the Jew problem” inSalonika had been addressed. Pinto secretly hoped he could then sneak away to Athens, to wait out the war in relative safety.
He showed no remorse for the tens of thousands he’d helped deport. He needed to survive; that’s what he told himself. But I knew the deeper truth. Pinto couldn’t wait for this final transport because he couldn’t stand to see any more hopeless faces staring back at him as the cattle cars bolted shut. Those sunken eyes. Those down-turned mouths. Such a small distance between the living and the dead, he thought. A few inches, really. The width of a door.
Fifty yards away, Nico stretched his legs.
He knew nothing of the schedule, Udo’s and Pinto’s plans, or the fact that this was the last train to Auschwitz. He only knew he had missed another Friday. Before the war, on a morning like this, his mother would be in the kitchen preparing for the Sabbath, taking out the good plates and the candlesticks, stirring the food, preparing thepan azeite y asucar, bread sprinkled with oil and sugar, Nico’s favorite.
He missed his family most of all on Friday nights, the noise, the singing, the sounds of his grandfather clearing his throat before praying, or the way his brother would kick him under the table when they were laughing during a blessing. Sometimes, when Udo Graf was out, Nico walked through his old kitchen, opened the cabinets, and said the Sabbath prayers over the bread, wine, and candles, just so he wouldn’t forget the words.
At 10:30A.M., Nico saw the crowd entering the station. As in previous days, they swarmed quickly, filling the platform, German officers herding them along, forcing them up the ramps and into the boxcars. Nico waded into the pandemonium. He took a deep breath. He didn’t like squeezing among people, seeing their sad faces, watching them surrender their suitcases or gaze toward the mountains as if saying goodbye to something forever. He didn’t understand why they looked so worried, since they were going to new jobs and houses, maybe even nicer ones than here.
But he did his job, as Herr Graf had instructed. He did it to bring his family home. He pictured the day they would all be reunited, and how his mother would thank him for being a good boy and how his grandfather would rub his head and nod his approval. Nico couldn’t wait for that moment. Every night, when he saw Udo Graf sleeping in his parents’ bedroom, he felt that he had been plucked from one life and dropped into a new one. He wanted the old one back.
Udo watched from inside the station door.
Less than an hour now, and he would be done. He could file his final papers and escape this city with its dirty harbor and smelly fish market. He wanted to go home to Germany. Cooler, cleaner Germany. Meet with the Wolf. Discuss a new assignment with more strategic responsibilities.
Less than an hour now, he told himself,as long as everything goes as planned.
And then, something didn’t go as planned. Udo lookedup to see two German couriers hurrying his way, their boots clacking on the station floor. They saluted and handed him an envelope.
Udo recognized the insignia when he removed the contents. It was from theOberführer, his senior officer. The instructions were terse and direct.
You will travel with the transport to Auschwitz.
Your new orders will await you there.
Udo was stunned. He flipped the paper to see if there was anything more. Just like that? They were sending him to a camp? On the train? This was not right. This was not what he deserved. More time spent around these loathsome Jews? Why?
Suspicion took over his body. His breathing accelerated. A heat radiated at the back of his neck.
Somebody has it out for me.
The first betrayal.
***
Udo’s anger propelled him out the door and onto the platform, bumping through the gaunt and exhausted Jewish passengers, a bent old woman with gray hair, a fat, bearded man wheezing breath, two young mustached men, obviously brothers, holding up a weeping woman in a kerchief.
“Get away from me!” Udo barked, disgusted. He grabbed two of his soldiers and told them to hurry to No. 3 KleisourasStreet and fetch all his belongings. They raced off. As he passed through the crowd, Udo barked out orders in frustration. “Faster! You are taking too long! Move it, you filthy pigs!”The passengers huddled closer together, avoiding his gaze.
From a distance, Pinto saw Udo approaching. He pushed up a smile and walked forward. Not knowing what had just transpired, he thought he would ask about the German’s plans after this train departed.
His timing could not have been worse.
“My plans?” Udo snapped. “My plans have changed! And so have yours!”
Udo spotted one of his officers. He pointed at Pinto and yelled, “This one goes, too!”
Pinto froze.What did he just hear?He was bumped by a tall passenger and almost fell over. A man in a hat slammed against his arm. By the time Pinto regained his balance, Udo had turned his back and was moving down the platform.
