Posted by BDM Historian

Chapter 8
A Visitor from America

Irm lay behind a thick juniper bush in the clearing and watched the edge of the forest opposite her. That's where the "spies" had to pass if they wanted to smuggle their message to Kathrin. You had to pay careful attention during such games if you didn't want anyone to get the better of you. "Five disguised spies will be bringing an important notice from the train station to the youth hostel. They can use any path they'd like except through the village. You have to try and catch them." That's what Kathrin had told them.

If you only knew who the five were. If Inge was one of them? Irm hadn't seen her since lunch. Shorty was part of the "police". She lay behind the next corner of the forest. Irm adjusted the branches she'd tied to her skirt as "camouflage". They hid her white blouse quite well.

There was movement in the clearing. Irm searched the area, then laughed quietly. It was only a couple of rabbits that was hopping through the clearing, stopping here and there to nibble on the small birch trees.

But then -- an obvious red spot appeared at the edge of the forest. Of course, someone was walking there! It couldn't be a farmer's wife or a girl from the village. They didn't wear such bright things. Carefully, Irm crawled closer. The person on the other side didn't seem to be in a hurry. Step by step, the figure wandered along the railroad tracks. Irm could see now that the person was wearing a red blouse and a black and white plaid skirt. On her head, she was wearing a scarf with a visor like Irm had seen car drivers wear before, and across her shoulder hung a camera on a leather strap.

Aha, someone was disguised as a tourist. But Irm wasn't fooled. She saw straight through this disguise! She'd gotten as close as 20 meters. The other girl was facing the other way. Now she only had to catch her. Irm jumped up, ran the last bit across the clearing and grabbed the other girl by the shoulder. The girl turned with a scream and Irm stared into a completely unknown face.

"Oh," she said and let go. "Oh," said the other girl, too. They both laughed. "Who are you?" asked the stranger in English. Irm shrugged her shoulder helplessly. She knew the girl was speaking English, but she couldn't understand her. "Who are you?" the other tried in German. Oh, she knew German -- how wonderful! "Irmgard Wagner, Obergau 3, Berlin," Irm said quickly. "Maude Pitt, Chicago, United States," said the other girl. "What's "Ober-Gau"?"

Irm looked at her helplessly. How was she supposed to explain that? Meanwhile, an older gentleman carrying a large bouquet of wildflowers had stepped into the clearing. "Pa," the girl from America called, and then followed it with such an amount of chatter that Irm was amazed that anyone could speak so quickly and so much in such a difficult language. "You're a Hitler-Girl, aren't you?" The gentleman spoke excellent German with a slight foreign accent. Irm breathed easier. At least you could make conversation with this "Pa".

"Do you have a camp here?" asked Mr. Pitt and Irm told him about Heidersdorf, the youth hostel, and the hundred Jungmaedel. -- "So, so," the American seemed happy with the explanation. Then he said laughing: "And what are you doing here? Are you pretending to be a Christmas tree?"

Only now Irm realized her "camouflage" was still sticking from the waistband of her skirt. She pulled the twigs out and threw them into the clearing. "We're in the middle of a game. I'm actually supposed to catch a spy, but there's nobody here." All of a sudden, the game didn't seem that important anymore, especially since instead of the spy, she'd caught two real life Americans!

"Listen, girl," said the gentleman after a brief pause. "I'd love to see your camp. Do you think that's allowed?" -- "Of course!" Irm felt quite like a hostess. "We'd be happy to have you." That's what Elfi's mother had said once, when the shopkeeper's wife had asked to visit her garden plot. The foreigners should see that the Berlin Jungmaedel knew how to behave properly.

Mr. Pitt laughed a bit and said something to Maud, who ran cheering into the woods. Then you could hear the starting of a motor and a heavy black Mercedes with red upholstery pulled into the clearing. "Awesome!" Irm wanted to burst out, but then she realized that that wasn't good manners. So she stayed quiet.

"Also," Mr. Pitt said as he got in the front with the driver, "get in the back, girls, and we'll drive to the youth hostel." -- "My pleasure," Irm said and wondered why Mr. Pitt was laughing again. She felt quite elegant on the wide leather seat, but she was even more proud that the rich American was driving a German car.

The game was a tie. The spies and police both had forgotten their task when Irm pulled up with the two strangers in the black car. Mr. Pitt got out and shook hands with Kathrin. "Excuse our intrusion," he said. "I'm visiting for the first time since the war to see the new German. A lot has changed -- for the better, it seems. If you don't mind, I'd like to visit for a few hours. I'm very interested in the youth of today's Germany."

"Of course," Kathrin side. "I can give you a tour of the hostel, the sports field, and the other buildings together with the den mother. We'll be having dinner in half an hour. All the Jungmaedel will be here by then. We'd love to have you stay for that."

Irm was surprised. Kathrin didn't talk different from how she normally talked at all. She talked to the rich American in exactly the same way she talked to any other person. But suddenly that seemed quite right. She wouldn't say stuff like "my pleasure" or such nonsense anymore, just to seem well-mannered.

Inge, who took English in school, had taken Maud upstairs to the day room. With much laughter and use of sign language, she explained Christel's drawings, which had increased in the meantime. A particular impression to Maud made the giraffe, Nurmi, who was standing on a low closet in the corner. Maud picked the colorful, long-legged plush animal up and hugged it, and didn't let go until it was time for dinner. "Nurmi" had to sit next to her plate and watched the dinner guests.

The social evening would be under direction or Mr. Pitt, Kathrin said. The Jungmaedel waited excitedly. Now they'd hear about America, about the skyscrapers, right oil barons, and maybe even Indians. Or did they no longer exist?
But it turned out completely different. "I'd like to tell you what it was like when I was in Germany last time," Mr. Pitt began. "It was nearly 20 years ago. A horrible time for your country, but especially you, who are growing up in the new and happy Germany shouldn't forget it.

It was just after the Versailles Peace Accord. Germany had to agree to give away or destroy all remaining war materials. I belonged to a commission that watched over this in Germany.

They could use me well because I was an officer, but I was also an engineer, so I was an expert. It wasn't a good task. As an officer, I was embarrassed to humiliate a brave, but beaten enemy; and as an engineer, I was against the senseless destruction of valuable instruments, in which Germany was leading the field than and now.

The comrade who was ordered to help me took things easier than I did. He belonged to the kind of people who can't tell the difference between political and personal enemies. He hated everything Germany from the very bottom of his soul. So he never felt anything unusual about the unworthy task.

I clearly remember one evening in our quarters in a middle-German town. We had returned from a patrol through the barracks. The machines we were looking for, and whose numbers were unknown to use, hadn't turned up.

Then a man reported to us. Klepke was his name, I've not forgotten it in 20 years. With an oily voice and much to do, he told us that he was a pacifist, absolute pacifist. He wanted to truly help destroy any of the war materials that were around, and wanted to help us, the former enemy. We stayed cool and expecting. That's how they all started.

There was an engineer here in town who had five of the machines we were looking for hidden in his laboratory, Mr. Klepke went on. He knew that from a reliable source. He pulled a sticky notebook from his pocket and gave us the numbers of the machines. Indeed, they were the ones we were looking for. We noted down the name and address of the engineer, paid the reward, and let the guy go. Dealings with those kinds of people were the worst part of our task. But you couldn't get around that.

The next morning, we went to search the laboratory of the German engineer. He checked our papers coolly and let us in. There was something in his manner that suggested he used to be an officer. Upon entering, I had given him my short apologies for the intrusion, which I found to be proper even toward the enemy, but the German had said briefly, "No matter, you're just doing your duty. Go ahead and search."

We searched the rooms, instruments, storage closets. Nothing. My comrade was cursing and wanted to leave already. But I hesitated. The German was an engineer; he would be hiding the machines in a way that others might not think of; maybe he would -- and now I had a thought: he might've used them as part of his arrangement in his laboratory. "I'd like to see your experimental lab," I said. His eyes glistened briefly, but otherwise, nothing gave him away. "Please," he said calmly.

Within a half hour, I'd found three of the machines that I was looking for, but I couldn't find the others either. I gave the order to destroy them in the courtyard. The lab helper carried them downstairs.

I didn't feel right doing this. And it wasn't even so much the destruction of thousands of Marks worth of material. But each engineer has a love for the wonders of fine mechanics. It was a little as if I was killing something living. How senseless this was, this war during peacetime.

Downstairs in the courtyard, the lab helper turned the machines into a heap of rubble with a few bangs of a hammer. I could only be amazed by the calmness of the German who was watching. Then we went downstairs to check it out. "Well done," said my colleague and turned to leave. I wanted to follow him, but a slight detail on the first machine had me take a second look.

I saw something that seemed quite amazing at first look. Even though the machines were smashed, the hits had been chosen so carefully that only the unimportant parts had been damaged. The actual piece was still intact. It was a work for days, maybe just hours, to put them back into usable condition.

"But that's..." I protested. "Excuse me?" Cold and hard the gaze of the German hit me. I saw that he knew exactly I'd seen through his last try to rescue the instruments. But he took this blow, too, with a kind of arrogant pride that I could only admire.

"What's the matter?" my comrade called from the gate. "Something wrong?" I hesitated briefly. Then I turned quickly: "Everything's alright," I said, "we can go."

The tenseness in the face of the other man immediately loosened. He bowed his head. "Thanks, comrade," he said quietly. His eyes were no longer hard, they only looked tired and sad. I could understand him -- oh, how well could I understand! Dependent on the pity of an enemy officer ... Well, that was 20 years ago when Versailles hung over Germany."

The American fell silent. It was so quiet in the room that from outside, you could hear the quiet knocking of the moths that were flying against the lit-up windows. Then Kathrin stood up. "We'll take the flag down," she said.

Quieter than usual, the Jungmaedel went to bed. Nobody was in the mood to laugh or talk. Irm lay awake for a long time, looking up to the ceiling on which the cross of the window frame reflected as a dark shadow. "Germany," she said to herself. How often had she said the word, superficially, but it did give everything you did its real purpose. Even the life of a Jungmaedel. Germany.