My Name is Eva An absolutely gripping and emotional historical novel - Suzanne Goldring Page 0,28

questioning continued, Eva noticed blond hairs glinting on Sergeant Miller’s khaki uniform, a scattering of hairs torn from Kurt’s scalp.

She never saw Colonel Robinson ill-treat the prisoners himself; she never saw anything happen directly in front of her, she never saw the crushing blows to the head or the tightening of the leg-irons that broke the skin and left ulcerating sores; nor had she seen the damp cells chilled by icy winds blowing through unglazed windows. No, they were too clever for that. But she could guess why the prisoners who began their weeks of interrogation in a relatively healthy condition soon became bruised, emaciated, shivering shadows of their former selves.

22

Eva, October 1945

Slammed Up

Jimmy confirmed her fears when they took a stroll around the grounds of the spa one afternoon, a couple of days later. It was good to take deep breaths of the clean cold air after another gruelling morning under the harsh lights of the interrogation room. They walked for a while in silence, Jimmy smoking, Eva’s polished shoes crunching the crisp fallen leaves. Behind some trees she saw one of the resort’s old sign boards: Gesund und Geheilung. ‘Healthy and healing,’ she translated, pointing to the fading words. ‘Not any more, it isn’t. It’s a slammer, not a Schlammbad.’

‘They had to take another one of the Germans down to the hospital last night. He was in a really bad way. And it sounds like he’s not going to make it,’ Jimmy told her. ‘I reckon if this happens too often, we could be in a spot of bother here. I’ve heard that the fellow last night told the doctor he didn’t want to come back here because of his treatment. I kept telling them they were pushing their luck.’

‘Who was it? Do you know?’

‘Kurt something or other. Youngish chap.’

‘I know the one.’ She hung her head and took a deep breath before speaking. ‘I’m sure I remember seeing him when he first arrived. He wasn’t in bad shape at the start. Now all the prisoners are in terrible condition after only a short stay at this so-called health resort. They practically had to carry one poor chap in this morning. I saw him when he arrived as well, so I know he was fit and healthy only a few weeks ago. And now they’re all weak and filthy. What on earth are they doing to them down there?’

Jimmy took a long drag on his cigarette, then said, ‘Well, I’ve not actually seen it with my own eyes, but I reckon they’re not exactly tucking them up in bed in their pyjamas with hot cocoa every night, are they?’

Eva’s face was white and she bit her lip. ‘I think I know what you mean. It’s brutal. They shouldn’t be doing this. They’re deliberately mistreating them. They must be stripping them when they go back to those freezing cells, as well as starving and beating them.’

‘Reckon so. Doesn’t look too good, does it?’

‘I’ve tried saying this can’t be right, but I just get told to keep quiet, as they’re getting results.’

‘End justifies the means,’ he murmured.

Eva shuddered at hearing those words again. ‘It goes against all the rules, Jimmy. You know it does. We’ve got to stop it.’

‘Try telling old Ruthie and the others that. While they’re getting the results they want, or so they say, then I guess they’ll keep on doing it.’

‘But they’re going to end up killing them.’

‘Between you and me, I don’t think they care if they do.’ Jimmy finished his cigarette and threw it down, grinding the glowing stub with the toe of his boot into the gravel path. ‘Anyway, I heard Ruthie Robinson stirred all the guards up good and proper before the prisoners first started arriving. His way of giving them all an induction course before he really got cracking here.’

‘Why, what did he do exactly?’

‘He gave all the boys a nice little day out. A special outing, just for them. Arranged a personal tour of Bergen-Belsen and then told them they’d be guarding the men responsible. I reckon that got them all fired up.’

Eva gasped. ‘He did that deliberately? But he knows full well that’s not true. None of the prisoners here were concentration camp guards.’

‘Exactly. He pretty much lit the blue touch paper, didn’t he? And now the trials have started at Lünenburg, everyone knows what horrors went on in the camps, so our boys certainly aren’t going to hold back.’

Eva stared into the distance, taking more deep breaths of