Dale was a little surprised and was trying to work out the ages in his head.
'You met your great-grandmother?'
'
Ja
,' Paula nodded, 'when I was a little girl. She was dead in 1981, when I was eight years old, but as I was growing up I visited her many times with my mother and my grandmother, she is now also dead, in the year 2000, but, she was only seventy-one years old.'
'Your great-grandmother?'
Paula shook her head.
'No, I mean my grandmother, her name is Laila-Susanne but I always called her
Großmutter
Lala because I could not say her name correctly when I was very young. She was dead when she was seventy-one years old but Hanna was dead when she was eighty-six years old.'
'So Hanna herself told you all about the Vril Society Sisterhood?' Jolene queried.
'Yes, she told me of the girls that she took care of and the lessons she gave to them. She taught me all about the stars and about nature and some things about science, but I have forgotten many things, I was very young to understand such things. Later, when I was a little older, maybe twelve or thirteen years old, I asked my
Großmutter
Lala about the girls and what happened to them. She showed me papers and documents from the Vril Society Sisterhood, showing how Hanna gathered all her girls together and -
entleert
- evacuated them from Berlin. She was very brave, the Russians was coming and the girls - it would have been terrible for them. So many terrible things happened to the women trapped in Berlin, young and old.'
Paula had calmed down and was now smiling at the remembrance of her youth and the matriarchs in her family, but Jolene was intrigued by something else. The documents could translate to evidence.
'Do you know what happened to Hanna's papers?'
'
Natürlich
! I have Hanna's papers! They are all in my apartment,' Paula enthused.
Jolene's heart sank, having to travel to Paula Krom's other apartment would waste more time, but those papers could provide some real clues.
'Is it far, to your other apartment? Could we drive there and look at Hanna's papers?'
'Far?' Paula asked, somewhat confused. 'It is only up the stairs on the second floor - Ah!
Ich verstehe schon
! You believe this is my house and I am the rich housewife? Ha!'
Jolene and Dale looked at each other and turned back to Paula as she shook her head.
'I am not rich and I cannot pay to feed myself and my bills! I work for Herr Traum, this is his house and I look after it and sometimes his little boy who comes to stay. Herr Traum works in Frankfurt, he is a banker but he only lives here from Monday to Friday.'
Jolene looked down at Paula's footwear, aware of how much a pair of Jimmy Choo shoes could cost and Paula caught her glance.
'
Gebrauchtwaren
,' Paula smiled, 'second hand clothes, from the wife of Herr Traum, they are divorced. She left him for a much younger man and to repay her he gave away her clothes from the house. He gave some to me because she was the same size but I do not like to wear these clothes when he is here as it would be a little strange, people will have the wrong thought. Sunday is the only day I can relax and feel nice but even today I must prepare for when Herr Traum arrives later this evening.'
Jolene nodded and ruefully considered her misjudgement.
'I see, well, I am very sorry to have intruded on your day off.'
She paused before continuing, not wanting Paula Krom to misconstrue her haste as inconsideration.
'Would it be at all possible to see Hanna's papers?'
Paula pouted her lips as she nodded.
'Yes, I will get them.'
Jolene and Dale had sat in silence as they listened to Paula climbing a couple of flights of stairs to retrieve Hanna's papers from her room. Dale was not entirely convinced that they would get anything useful from a box of old documents, but it seemed to Jolene that any background material would be of interest.
It was a few minutes before Paula could be heard clumping back down the stairs and Dale jumped up and walked to the hall entrance to see if she needed any help in carry the material. Seeing him appear at the bottom of the stairs, Paula smiled.
'It is fine, I can manage.'
She walked into the room and placed what looked like a small pirate's treasure chest onto a low table, lifting the lid to reveal an assortment of folders, loose photographs and various ageing documents and paperwork. After a moment's thought, Paula selected and opened a folder and carefully flicked through a bunch of papers to extract one particular letter, sliding it out carefully and holding it on flattened palms. She gazed at it as if it were an ancient parchment as in spite of its comparative youth it had suffered greatly during the years, exhibiting water damage and heavy creases which obscured some of the print.
'This is the last letter sent on behalf of Maria, the head of the Vril Society Sisterhood, it was sent out to each of the Vril schools to be announced to all of the girls so they could make plans to escape from Berlin before it was too late, but even in March 1945 before the Russians came it could be difficult to get out safely. It is interesting because a German will see the writer speaks well but it is not so correct, like my English I think. Maria was better but Gudrun was not native German,
Ausländerinnen,
you know?'
Jolene was eager to analyse it and reached out, 'May I read it?'
She took the letter carefully, letting the paper lay across her palms just as Paula had supported it, examining the sixty-five year old document intently. The page was topped by two motifs; on the left hand side was a black and grey square with a logo composed of two connecting and stylised 'V' signs. On the right hand side there was a silhouette of a woman from the waist up, her long hair bunched into a voluminous pony tail that swathed across the body, the trailing end curling up into itself; the thought crossed Jolene's mind that the image resembled the logo of a well-known women's shampoo brand. She squinted at the typewritten page which had faded considerably over the years and along with the effects of staining and foxing she found that some of the text was slightly obscured although it was all readable.
Taking a deep breath, Jolene started to translate it aloud.
'Alright, it is entitled, "Vril Post, Special Announcement", sent by the Vril Campus and dated the 11th March 1945.'
She coughed slightly to clear her throat.
'"Dear Vrilerinnen, It has been decided that the Odin Departure will depart from here between the middle and end of April."'
Dale frowned.
'What is the Odin Departure?'
'Hang on,' said Jolene curtly, scanning ahead to read the text before translating it.
'"All young Vrilerinnen will take part in it", meaning the Odin Departure, or Trip, "and from the elders those that have been assigned special tasks. This also means that almost everybody will be participating. The only ones to stay here are Maria and two that she needs", two people I guess. "Furthermore, one very young Vrilerin below the age of twenty should volunteer to stay with Maria, that is important. Maria will do another, smaller trip with her group later. No-one is staying here." It is signed "With cheerful courage, to new shores. Gudrun."'
Jolene looked up at Paula.
'The signature, do you know who Gudrun was?'
'Oh yes,' nodded Paula, 'she was a secretary to Maria, or maybe what you would call a personal assistant.'
Dale shook his head, looking somewhat confused at Jolene.
'Alright, so Gudrun sends this letter on behalf of Maria, but what does it all mean?
It was Paula who spoke, clearly very proud of her great-grandmother's role in the so-called 'Odin Departure' and eager to explain.
'Berlin was very badly bombed and most buildings was completely destroyed. The city was surrounded by many defence walls and it was not an easy task to walk out of the city, roads was blocked and strong fences was in place. Hanna and Lala has told me The Vril Society Sisterhood had mapped safe paths out of the city and wanted to get the girls together in a group at the Vril buildings in Berlin, the campus as you say. They wanted the girls to be ready to evacuate before the Russians surrounded the city, their plan was called
Odin-Ausflug
.
'Maria stayed behind to complete some tasks, I think with Sigrun and Heike, I know that Heike was a very good shot, a markswoman, she was maybe their protection, but Maria would make her trip later with them. The main group was to be taken away to a safe place and so Hanna organised her girls to go to Maria and she went with them to walk out of Berlin. It was very difficult to gather food and prepare for the journey and to make sure all the girls was kept safe.'
'So they had to make their own way out of Berlin?' Dale asked.
'Ahh,' Paula nodded, 'you would not know but before there was an organisation called
Kinderlandverschickung
and it evacuated children to rural areas, away from the bombed cities. The journeys was even called as holidays to make them sound nice, but March of 1945 was very late and the organisation was not good. All the people had to make their own plans; it was a confusing time for everybody.'
'I understand,' said Jolene, 'but who were the Elders? Maria was an Elder I presume, she was the head of the Vril Society Sisterhood?'
'
Ja, genau
!' Paula nodded.
'The Elders was the twelve original Vrilerinnen, oh, let me think, first there was Maria, then Sigrun, Traute and Heike - then Astrid - Valeria, oh it is so long since I spoke of these names, I know them all as a child, ah yes, Kara and Ulrike, she was my favourite, they called her Uli and I always liked her name - let me think - Phoebe - Ah, I forget, it does not matter. So, the Elders had made the Sisterhood and the
junge Vrilerinnen
was the name given to all the other girls.'
Dale was frowning again.
'What were the special tasks that the letter says they had to complete?'
Paula pursed her lips in thought.
'I do not know so much, I would think they make special arrangements during the journey. Of course, Maria could want to stay behind to make sure everything was right for the trip, they could send a message if things turned badly very quickly. It was not an easy thing to evacuate so many girls and look after them. Some terrible things happened, even to very young girls; many children were left in the city to the very end.'
Paula paused and scanned their faces, shaking her head sadly.
'You must know that even children was encouraged to shoot guns during the defence of Berlin? Little boys and girls from twelve years old and even younger many times. The Sisterhood looked after girls from very young and as they grew up they became senior and helped in running the schools, so there was little children and young women even over thirty years of age who had been with the Sisterhood from the beginning.'
Jolene piped up.
'Alright, but why did Maria need a volunteer to stay behind? The letter specifically asks for a young girl under twenty years of age and it says that it is very important. Do you know what could that relate to?'
Paula shrugged.
'I think perhaps I know, but I am not sure - maybe -'
Dale interjected.
'Do you know where the other girls went?'
Paula thought for a moment.
'I believe I know where they were going but I do not know if they arrived. Hanna and a few girls was separated from the main group and so they did not arrive at Lübeck where they were told to go. Hanna did not know for certain what the final destination was but from Lübeck it was possible to go to Sweden so I think the
Odin-Ausflug
was the trip to Sweden.'
Jolene smiled to herself and nodded.
'Odin, as in the Norse God associated with Wotan.'
She turned to Dale.
'Remember how Jackson described him as the leader of souls? The Odin Departure was quite a fitting name really, especially if they were headed to Sweden.'
'Yes, just so,' continued Paula, 'but Hanna was not able to finish the journey, one of her girls was ill and could not walk and they hid in the forests near Rothenhusen before they were met by the Americans.'
'So did she know what happened to the other girls, or to Maria in Berlin?'
'No. She never saw the main group ever again and Maria, no, she did not know what happened to her. She was very sad about everything at the end; she believed that Maria was killed in Berlin, maybe with Sigrun, Heike and poor little Adrianna.'
'Adrianna?' asked Jolene, quizzically frowning.
'The little girl who volunteered to stay with Maria, her name was Adrianna. A beautiful girl so Hanna and Lala told to me, very intelligent and brave, she was only twelve years old.'
Dale looked slightly aghast.
'She volunteered to stay and they let her?'
Paula had a conspiratorial look in her eye.
'Well, you did not let me finish when I said before. The letter says that a volunteer was needed, but you do not know that a few girls who were very important within the group because they were so clever had already been chosen. They were not all the senior girls but they were the special girls the Elders gave extra lessons to. From the special girls a volunteer was selected and she was Adrianna.'