Too Little, Too Late (2 page)

Karen could feel droplets of sweat forming along her spine as she closed the three-yard gap between them with a quick sprint. From the back somewhere, she heard a car gun its engine. Turning towards the sound, she saw an old black sedan leap out from behind a van parked a ways down the street. With a squeal of tires, it hurtled past her and headed straight for the unsuspecting woman.

“Watch out for the car behind you!”

Her warning came too late. The car bore right and hit the woman off its passenger side, the impact sending her body flying. Karen heard herself scream and then everything seemed to switch to slow motion as she watched the woman’s body sail through the air before it landed with a dull thud by the side of the road. Instead of stopping, the car kept right on going, careening around the bend with a squeal of tires.

“Oh fuck,
fuck
!” With her heart pounding in her chest, Karen could barely breathe. She ran towards the still figure as fast as she could. Dropping to her knees, she carefully turned the woman over. The woman’s forearms were covered in scratches and her face was a series of nasty bruises. There was a huge tear along the front of her shirt that hadn’t been there earlier, probably having been caught on the side of the car when it hit her.

“Say something – please!” Karen was near hysteria as she gingerly placed her head on the woman’s chest, oblivious to the awful smell or to the sting of hot gravel on her bare knees. She held her breath, listening for a heartbeat, but all she heard was her own. Putting a shaky hand in front of the woman’s open mouth, she waited for a shallow breath. There wasn’t one. It was then that Karen noticed the woman’s neck. It had flopped unsupported when she had turned the woman over and was now at an odd angle to the rest of her body.

Karen frantically searched her pockets for her cell phone. When she couldn’t find it, she scanned the street in both directions, this time desperately wishing one of her grandmother’s neighbors would magically appear and take charge of the situation. But there was no one around – even her so-called friends had disappeared. The woman’s backpack was lying exactly where Karen had thrown it only moments before; its contents haphazardly scattered across the foot of the driveway, bearing testament to the ugly scene that had transpired.

Karen looked away in shame. It was then she spied her cell phone, partially hidden among the flyers on the road. She got up and slowly made her way over to it on rubbery legs, forcing herself to remain calm. Her eyes involuntarily darted to the bend in the road where the black sedan had disappeared, then back to the woman’s crumpled body and the blood that had seeped out from somewhere underneath it. Her vision blurred as her eyes filled with tears.
That stupid car!!
It should’ve slowed down or stopped
or something
— This was like the aftermath of a gruesome hit in one of those stupid video games her friend’s brother liked to play all the time.
In fact, it was just like it…
 

In that split second of blinding clarity, it became painfully obvious to Karen that what she had just witnessed had been a hit, so to speak, because
whoever had been driving that car had meant to kill the woman.
 

PART ONE

1945

Chelmno nad Nerem, Poland

The females sat on one side of the bus, the males on the other side, two to a seat. The girls were blond-haired, blue-eyed and all wore neatly starched white shirts and black skirts with matching armbands, while the boys shared the same physical characteristics but wore white shirts and black trousers with matching armbands. To the casual observer, each of the pairs of seatmates could have passed for twins. However, their marked similarities extended beyond their identical attire and physical character traits. What made them so unique was that each was a perfect specimen of selective breeding, in most cases fathered by a high-ranking German soldier and a genetically-viable mother, the first of a master race procreated to carry out one man’s legacy.

Of the twenty-four children on the bus, the eldest was Hans Ubermann, who was fourteen, while the youngest was Katarina Holberg, a tender six-year-old. Technically, Katya (no one ever called her Katarina except for her teachers) was too young to be a part of this group. However, she had been given special dispensation because her eight-year-old sister, Lilly, had begged and pleaded for her to be able to come with them and because the Wehrmacht commander who ran the camp they would be visiting today happened to be Katya and Lilly’s father.

Her mother, Sonja, was a Norwegian national. After her birth in Norway, Katya had been anointed one of the Fuhrer’s blond-haired, blue-eyed elect with her father pledging her fealty to the Nazi regime in a special indoctrination ceremony. Shortly afterwards, Karel Bauer had received his transfer orders and their little family had moved from Norway to Chelmno nad Nerem, in occupied Poland. Katya and Lilly were tutored by the Nazi elite, their mother worked as a translator for the Third Reich and their father ran the facility in nearby Chelmno.

Katya’s first years of life were a kaleidoscope of hazy memories filled with elegant surroundings, important-looking men in handsome uniforms and enviable privilege. Although Katya and her peers were constantly reminded that there was a war waging all around them, it had little impact on their relatively sheltered existence within the compound they called home. Today was their first field trip outside of their compound and the children were excited at this unexpected treat.

As their bus finally cleared the endless hectares of forest and paused in front of a high wooden fence, their teacher, Herr Gunter, stood up and impatiently clapped his hands in order to get their attention.

“As we exit the bus, you will find your partner and form a straight line. Do not deviate from this line unless you are told to and remember to stay with your partner at all times. This is a working camp and we are only here to observe, not to get in the way.” He regarded each of them with his steely gaze. “Do I make myself clear?”

A uniform chorus of “Yes, Herr Gunter.” was heard as the gate in front of them slid open to let their bus through. A minute later, they pulled up to a large elegant building.

Herr Gunter got off the bus and the children quickly followed suit, falling into a perfect straight line formation. Katya’s heart swelled with pride as she caught sight of her father striding toward them. He looked so handsome in his soldier’s uniform! She tugged on her sister’s skirt but Lilly just swatted her hand away. After a brief word with their teacher, Katya’s father offered them a hearty greeting.

“Heil Hitler!”

“Heil Hitler!” the children chorused back, as they raised their arm in salute.

“I’m Commander Bauer. This,” he motioned all around him, “is Chelmno and it is here that we carry out the Fuhrer’s work.” He regarded them solemnly before gesturing to the impressive building behind him. “The building we’re about to enter is called Manor House which is part of the Schlosslager. The SS, police staff and guards are housed in other buildings in town. This courtyard is where the prisoners are brought by truck. Each prisoner’s valuables are collected, each prisoner is processed and then each is disposed of.” He regarded them with a clinical detachment. “We happen to be in the midst of processing a new shipment of prisoners right now. All of you will be able to see firsthand how efficiently the system works.”

As he led the group inside Manor House, Katya instinctively slipped her hand inside her sister’s. This time, Lilly gave it a quick squeeze.

Commander Bauer stopped inside a reception room and waited until everyone was inside before continuing. “In order to make the entire operation as efficient as possible, the prisoners are told they will be going to Germany as laborers but must first bathe and have their clothes disinfected.” He gave them a cool smile. “Of course, this is not what happens but it makes matters simpler to let the prisoners think so.” He opened a door to his left. “This room contains some of the prisoners’ valuables that have been processed but have not yet been transferred to one of the other larger storage facilities on site.”

The room was filled to the rafters with everything from fur coats and jewelry to large sculptures and paintings. The children stared wide-eyed at the treasures before them.

Hans Ubermann eyed some large white buckets neatly stacked against a corner. “What’s in the buckets, Sir?”

Commander Bauer gave the youngster a delighted slap on the back. “That, my boy, will become evident later on in our tour. Come! Let us continue.” He led his charges to another door further down the hallway being guarded by two soldiers with rifles in hand. “Inside this room, the prisoners are made to strip off their clothes for their “bath”. From here, they are led down a corridor that supposedly leads to the baths.” Commander Bauer shepherded them towards a long corridor where more soldiers were strategically positioned on either side at evenly spaced intervals. “If you stand behind the guards, you’ll have a clear view of the prisoners as they head towards the next phase in processing which is in the cellar.”

Try as she might, Katya didn’t understand much of what her father said nor could she read any of the signs posted on the wall that gave directions to the pretend baths. When Katya turned to Lilly to ask her what it all meant, her sister just gave her one of her looks that meant Katya had to keep quiet. Katya nevertheless sidled closer to Lilly and watched wide-eyed as a trickle of naked prisoners walked past them. For the most part, the men remained stoic but many of the women were crying as they modestly tried to cover their nudity with their arms. Some carried smaller children in their arms while the older ones walked beside their parents, tightly gripping their hands. Katya had never seen anyone naked before, except for her sister, and was shocked to see they had hair
down there
. Most of the women also had big, floppy breasts and Katya looked away in embarrassment. She was relieved when her father finally motioned for them to move on.

They followed Commander Bauer down a series of steps into the cellar. He stopped in front of a closed door, before seeking out Hans Ubermann. “You are about to see the second-last phase in processing before the prisoner extermination and this phase involves the white buckets.” He raised his voice so he could be heard over the agonized screams coming from behind the closed door. “After this phase, the prisoners are loaded into a truck, between 50 to 70 prisoners at a time. When the truck is full, the doors will be closed and sealed. The driver attaches one end of a tube to the van’s exhaust pipe and the other end into the truck before starting the engine. Can any of you guess what happens next?” Karel Bauer scanned the earnest young faces staring up at him before his eyes came to rest on his eldest daughter. “Lilly, do you know?”

Lilly cleared her throat nervously. “The prisoners choke to death on the fumes?”

“Yes!” He gave her a pleased smile. “That’s exactly what happens. Once all the prisoners are dead, the tube is detached from the exhaust pipe and the van full of dead prisoners is driven to the forest camp where the bodies are disposed of.” He gave them all a stern look before opening the cellar door. “Remember to stay behind the guards at all times.”

The scene that greeted them when her father opened the door would forever be etched in Katya’s memory and she bit her lower lip to keep from crying out in fear. The naked prisoners were now in two lines. Separating them and the ramp leading to a truck were two men in lab coats splattered with blood. Each was holding a pair of pliers and beside each man was a white pail. Katya watched as the next prisoner in line, a woman, was forced to open her mouth as the man in the lab coat looked inside. Finding what he was looking for, he motioned for two soldiers to grab her arms while he quickly reached inside the woman’s mouth with his pliers and wrenched out what appeared to be a gold tooth which he then dropped into the bucket beside him. The children instinctively moved closer together as the woman let out a blood-curdling cry of agony that continued as the process was repeated until she had no more gold teeth left. Only then was she allowed down the ramp into the truck.

One of the male prisoners, probably the woman’s husband, suddenly lunged at Katya’s father, grabbing him around the neck. Her father’s body was slammed against the wall and as the guards scrambled to pull the man off of him, Katya noticed that a small black notebook had fallen from her father’s pocket. She managed to snatch it up before a guard quickly led them from the cellar. They were halfway up the stairs before a single gunshot reverberated around them, followed by a woman’s primal scream. Seconds later, there was a second gunshot followed by eerie silence.

But the silence didn’t last long. By the time their group made it up the stairs to the main floor reception area, a different kind of noise could be heard in the distance – the sounds of combat. Katya’s father soon followed them up the stairs and after a hurried conference with their teacher, he ordered them to board the bus. The sound of approaching tanks was becoming louder and the children instinctively ducked under the seats as a loud explosion went off close to the road in front of the camp.

“What’s happening, Papa?” Katya clutched her father’s hand.

“The enemy is getting closer,” he told her grimly. “But it’s nothing for you to worry about.”

“I want you to come with us,” Katya told him tearfully. “Lilly and I don’t want to be alone.”

“You won’t be alone,” he told her, tucking her hair behind her ear in a comforting gesture. “Herr Gunter will look after you. Papa needs to take care of things here at the camp.” Karel Bauer looked at his eldest daughter. “Look after your sister, hear?”

Her father had just left the bus when Katya realized she still had his notebook. She wanted to call out and tell him but he was already running towards Manor House, shouting orders to his soldiers, and the opportunity passed. She would just have to hold on to the notebook until she saw him again.

Their bus took off through the back gate of the camp. Rather than take the main road, it headed for the dirt road leading to the forest. They were ordered to crouch down in front of their seats, away from the windows, as their bus lurched back and forth, painstakingly navigating the rain-rutted roadway.