Pierre Frei - Berlin - A Novel

The diary entry was a year in the past, but Detta was re-reading it, as she had so often before…

'Thomas asks, don't I ever come to Berlin? I know why. He can't live without me. He flies off after tea. I take refuge in my room. I feel like a widow. Or worse.

Reich President Hindenburg died today. Vati says without him that man Hitler will go right off the rails. I don't care. I'm not interested in politics. All I want is to go to Berlin — and Tom! Aichborn is really nice, but nothing goes on here except country life.

Vati says Berlin is out of the question. Mother would like me to wait until I've come of age. A whole year. How am I going to bear it without Thomas…?'

Detta closed the diary and put it in her shoulder bag. Her cases were packed. Bensing was waiting downstairs with the Maybach to drive her to the railway station. Liselotte, the estate manager's daughter, was going to exercise the horses daily, which took a weight off Detta's mind.

She would stay with Miriam at first. Hans-Georg had fixed that. Berlin, here I come, she thought, meaning Tom Glaser. She could hardly wait to see him again. She had written to him quite often, but he hadn't answered. He probably wasn't much of a letter-writer. And then he was sitting his exam to be a commercial pilot. That would be taking all his time. Flight Captain Glaser didn't sound bad, she thought, imagining his delight and surprise when she turned up. She hadn't told him she was coming to Berlin.

Miriam Goldberg lived in the new Westend area of the city. The banking heiress owned the top floor of a modern building in Gumbinner Allee. Many streets here had East-Prussian names. Before Detta's astonished eyes, wide glass doors opened on to a big roof garden with a swimming pool, an extraordinary luxury even for this fashionable part of Berlin in the year 1935. 'You can swim naked up here, no one can see,' her hostess told her. Detta blushed; she would never have dared think of such a thing. 'Come on, I'll show you your quarters.' Her 'quarters' were a modern little sitting room with a bedroom next to it and a black-tiled bathroom. Detta couldn't help thinking of the zinc bathtub and roaring stove in the bathroom at Aichborn.

Miriam pointed to Detta's modest suitcases. 'You don't seem to have brought much to wear. Never mind, we'll have a glass of bubbly and then go to Horn's. Horn's have the most fashionable things.'

'Thanks, but I don't have that much money. Mother says I should go to Brenninkmeyer's if I need anything.'

'Oh, we won't need money at Horn's. They send the bills to Herr Schott. He's Grandfather's authorized signatory. He's always complaining I spend too much, but he has strict orders to settle it all, right up to the last minute.' Miriam disappeared. Detta was already picturing herself in an elegant dress. Tom would be so surprised to see how the girl of last year had blossomed. She could hardly wait.

'What do you mean, the last minute?' she called through the open kitchen door.

'Grandfather's finally moving the bank to Portugal. The family's left already. I'm following soon. A man from the Ministry of Economic Affairs is taking over this apartment. So it'll be goodbye Horn. Braun and all the other divine fashion houses. Heaven knows what kind of shops they have in Lisbon.' A loud pop. Miriam emerged from the kitchen with an opened bottle of Taittinger and two glasses.

Detta pointed to a silver-framed photograph. It showed Lieutenant HansGeorg von Aichborn on horseback. And he has to be away in Trakehnen just now,' she lamented.

'He'll be back next week,' Miriam consoled her.

'You and Hans-Georg — do you see each other often?'

Miriam poured the champagne. 'Cheers, little one. Not quite so often now he's insisting he wants to marry me.'

'Don't you want to marry him, then?'

The regimental adjutant came to see me the other day. Major Count von Stuckwitz. Your brother would have to resign his commission if we married. The major told me so straight out.'

'What nonsense,' said Detta, shaking her head. 'Little Prince Ratibor married a Fraulein Schulz. His friends formed a guard of honour with their drawn swords outside the church. Snobbery is a thing of the past.' She sipped her champagne. It tickled her nose.

Miriam gave her a thin smile. A Fraulein Schulz is more acceptable these days than a Fraulein Goldberg.'

'What do you mean? You're beautiful, rich, well educated, amazingly chic and you can outshine anyone, not just at the regimental ball either.'

'Thanks for the compliment. But Jews are undesirable as wives for officers in the new German army. Don't be shocked, my dear, Georgie and I have no end of fun in bed. He confuses that with love, so he thinks he has to make our affair legitimate at the altar. If he were there beside the Tejo he'd be longing for Potsdam and the 'von Neun' regiment, and in the end he'd blame me. Anyway, I've no intention of playing the mother and housewife. Cheers.' Miriam drained her glass in a single draught. 'Come on, let's go and plunder Horn's,' she cried, apparently without a care in the world. But Detta sensed the depth of her hurt.

They raced along Heerstrasse in the open BMW, in the direction of the city. A long convoy of trucks came towards them. 'Building materials for the Olympic stadium.' Miriam explained. 'Next year's games are to outshine any that have gone before. Georgie and his friend Stubbendorf are already training their horses like mad for the three-day eventing.'

The atmosphere at Horn's was muted. Elegant, cool ladies were having the latest models shown to them. Young salesgirls hurried silently to and fro. The directrice was with a stout customer, recommending a loosely draped ensemble. 'Paris is showing fluid lines this season.'

'It looks all baggy,' the customer objected.

'I'll be happy to show you something close-fitting. If you'd just excuse me for a moment, madam?' Smiling, the directrice walked towards the two young visitors. 'Fraulein Goldberg, how kind of you to honour us like this!'

'Frau Mohr, my friend Henriette von Aichborn urgently needs something to wear.'

'Of course, ladies. What did you have in mind, Fraulein von Aichborn?'

'Something really chic for the afternoon that could go on into the evening,' Detta said hastily. She wanted all her weapons ready to hand in case her airman asked her out to dinner.

'We can't always find the time we need to change. can we?' said Frau Mohr.

'Where, may I ask, is my dress?' The stout customer was shooting poisonous glances at Miriam. 'Fancy keeping a person waiting on account of a Jewish tramp!'

'Did you hear what she said, Miriam?' Detta was outraged.

The directrice shrugged, and said quietly. 'We're getting a new type of customer these days. Her husband is some kind of big noise in the Party.'

'I do understand your impatience, my dear People's Comrade,' Miriam said to the woman, sweet as sugar. 'But perhaps the trainee is having difficulty finding something in your amazing size.'

Frau Mohr discreetly separated the combatants. 'Perhaps you young ladies would like to go into the small salon? Giselle has a figure like Fraulein von Aichborn's. She'll show you a selection.'

'Why didn't you biff the woman?' asked Detta furiously. 'She deserved it.'

'On no account let anyone provoke you, that's what Grandfather has always told us. Oh, Giselle, there you are! No, not yellow polka dots for my friend. Could you show us something in a plain colour? When are you seeing your airman?'

'When we leave here. He doesn't know I'm coming. I want to surprise him. I do hope he'll be at home.'

'Wouldn't it be better to warn him first?'

'Why?'

Miriam did not answer, but called, 'Yes, the blue silk is perfect. Giselle, please help Fraulein von Aichborn into it.'

Hat, handbag and shoes completed the picture of an elegant young lady. Elated, the two of them left the fashion house after Miriam had tried on an ocelot fur. 'No, bad for Herr Schott's blood pressure and too warm for Lisbon,' she decided. 'Where does your airman live?'