فصل 88

florian

Hours passed. The sailor didn’t come to the movie house. My mind coursed through the possibilities: He was busy, assigned more tasks. He forgot. Maybe he wasn’t as gullible as I thought.

And what about Joana? Would she look for me?

I debated whether to leave the movie house. With every minute that passed, more refugees poured into Gotenhafen. Fewer ships would be available. The Reich would grow more desperate. Joseph Goebbels, the composer of blustery Nazi propaganda, had been issuing nonsense statements for years. He tried to boost morale with lies. “Total victory will be ours. Hold strong!” But victory had slipped through their fingers. Their hands were sticky with blame. And now the Russians drew closer. I looked at the newly issued propaganda leaflet I had found outside the movie house. It was titled Victory or Death.

WE ARE GERMANS!

THERE ARE TWO POSSIBILITIES:

EITHER WE ARE GOOD GERMANS OR WE ARE BAD ONES.

IF WE ARE GOOD GERMANS, ALL IS WELL. IF WE ARE BAD GERMANS,

THEN THERE ARE TWO POSSIBILITIES:

Ridiculous. I couldn’t read the rest. I folded the leaflet and put it in my pocket. Goebbels was right about one thing. There were good Germans and bad Germans. But in truth, the labels were currently applied in reverse.

Those perceived as deserters would be executed. The longer I waited, the greater the odds that Lange would discover my betrayal. Had he broken into my apartment or the secret room below the castle? Had he already searched the crates?

Or worse—perhaps Nazi leader Erich Koch was standing on the dock right now, waiting for me.