The Women in His Life. Barbara Taylor Bradford

Theodora was her charge, whom she had taken into her home three years ago, after the death of Frau Rosa Stein, Teddy’s mother and widow of Doctor Johann Stein. Until his death in 1933, the doctor had been the Westheim family’s physician for many years, and devoted to them. When Teddy had come to live with them at the age of sixteen, Ursula had been fulfilling a death-bed promise to Teddy’s mother to look after her until she came of age, or got married. Ursula took this promise seriously, and although Teddy was Maxim’s nanny, the girl was treated with great kindness and consideration, and was almost like a member of the family. Her welfare was of importance to Ursula and Sigmund.

      Now Ursula said gently, ‘Teddy dear, please tell us what has happened to you.’

      Theodora nodded, and words began to tumble out of her, a little breathlessly and in a great rush. ‘Out there. In the streets. The Nazis have gone crazy. They’re doing terrible things. Demolishing Jewish property. Smashing store windows, café fronts. Battering their way into apartment buildings. And they’ve burned the Central Synagogue. Burned it to the ground. I saw them doing it with my own eyes!’

      ‘Oh dear God! Dear God!’ Ursula cried. Her face lost all of its colour. She turned ashen, and an internal shaking seized her. Reaching out, she got hold of the back of a chair to steady herself, and that sense of dread, which she had pressed back for weeks, rose up in her and lodged like a stone weight in her chest.

      Anxiously she looked at Sigmund. They stared at each other disbelievingly. They were appalled and aghast at what they had just heard, and considerably alarmed.

      Turning back to Teddy, Ursula said, ‘Thank God you weren’t hurt. You’re not, are you?’

      ‘No, I’m not, Frau Westheim.’

      ‘You weren’t out alone tonight, were you, Teddy?’ Sigmund interjected.

      ‘I was with Willy, Herr Westheim.’

      ‘Willy?’ he repeated, his gaze quizzical.

      ‘Professor Herzog’s son,’ Ursula cut in swiftly. ‘He’s studying at the university, and he’s been taking Teddy out on her days off for about a year.’

      ‘Yes, of course, now I remember.’ Sigmund focused his bright blue eyes on Teddy again. ‘How did you get home? How did you manage to get through the demonstrations unscathed?’

      ‘On Willy’s motorcycle. He drove like a maniac. But he had to. It was awful, frightening, especially on the Ku’damm and the Fasanenstrasse.’

      ‘Oh Teddy, Teddy,’ Ursula said, her voice low and strained, ‘I’ve warned you not to stay out late at night. These are terribly dangerous times we’re living in.’

      ‘I know. And I’m sorry, Frau Westheim. I know you worry about me. But Henrietta’s birthday party went on much longer than we expected. We kept trying to leave. Finally we got away around midnight. The havoc was just starting to break loose.’

      Ursula frowned, thinking that their unimpeded journey across the rioting city was something akin to miraculous, and she probed, ‘No one bothered you? Stopped you? Shot at you?’

      ‘No, not when we were riding the motorbike. But … well … there was a little incident as we left the apartment. Willy accidentally barrelled into a stormtrooper outside the Mandelbaums’ building, and he grabbed hold of Willy, started to question –’

      ‘Stormtrooper!’ Ursula’s eyes opened wider. She brought a hand up to her mouth. Civilian mobs were one thing; the involvement of stormtroopers meant something entirely different – and much more threatening.

      ‘Yes, a stormtrooper,’ Theodora said, and speaking swiftly and graphically, she recounted exactly what had transpired between herself and the Nazi when she had rushed out to confront him on the street. And she did not leave out one single detail.

      Ursula was aghast throughout this recital, and when Teddy had finished, she exclaimed, ‘What you did was terribly, terribly dangerous! The consequences for you and Willy could have been disastrous. Horrendous. The stormtrooper could have beaten you up, or killed you. What’s perhaps even worse to contemplate, he could have dragged you both to Gestapo Headquarters for questioning. People who have been made to take forced trips to the Prinz Albrechtstrasse haven’t always come out of there alive. And if they have, they’ve often been mindless wrecks because of the torture inflicted on them.’

      Teddy went cold, realising that everything Ursula Westheim said was true. She bit her lip, responded quietly, in a chagrined voice, ‘I just reacted … without thinking. I was certain my insolence and superior manner would convince him I was not Jewish. I was right about that, Frau Westheim, and he really did believe my father was in the SS, and that he was a friend of Himmler’s.’

      ‘Teddy did what she thought was the best thing, I’m absolutely sure of that, and certainly she used her wits,’ Sigmund said to Ursula. Then he glanced across at Theodora and shook his head. His kindly eyes were grave when he murmured, after a slight pause, ‘I don’t think you should tempt providence again. It might not work a second time.’

      ‘Yes, now I realise that,’ Teddy admitted. ‘Willy was scared when I was shouting at the stormtrooper. Scared for both of us, he told me later.’

      ‘And where is Willy?’ Sigmund asked. ‘Is he downstairs?’

      ‘No, he went home. His father’s away and he was worried about his sister Clara being alone in their flat.’

      ‘But it’s dangerous out on the streets,’ Sigmund responded with a show of concern. ‘You should have insisted that he stay here tonight.’

      Ursula said, ‘I’m certain Willy is all right, Sigi. He lives not far from here, just behind us, near the Landwehrkanal.’

      ‘Willy must be safely home by now,’ Teddy asserted, and explained, ‘It would only take him a few minutes on the motorbike, and everything was quiet in the neighbourhood when he dropped me off.’

      Sigmund went across to one of the windows, parted the silk draperies and anxiously looked down into the Tiergartenstrasse. He saw that the street below was indeed empty, and this reassured him that the boy had undoubtedly made it home easily and without running into trouble. Nevertheless, he swung around, and gesturing to the phone on Ursula’s writing desk, he said, ‘I think we will all feel much better, Teddy, if you ring Willy.’

      ‘Yes, Herr Westheim,’ Teddy replied and did as he asked, walking over to the small desk and dialling. The phone in the Herzogs’ apartment was picked up after only two rings, and Willy was on the line. ‘Yes?’ he said warily.

      ‘It’s Teddy here,’ she answered. ‘Herr Westheim asked me to ring you up, Willy, to check that you’d arrived home all right.’ He told her that he had done so without any sort of incident and without seeing one single person, then they said goodbye.

      Teddy replaced the receiver, turned to Sigmund. ‘He’s fine, he said he got home in a few minutes. The streets around here are quiet, Herr Westheim.’

      Sigmund nodded. His immense relief showed on his face.

      ‘Stormtroopers,’ Ursula said and looked at Sigmund, then addressed Teddy. ‘So apparently the Government is no longer simply turning a blind eye to these anti-semitic demonstrations. Now, seemingly, it is actively involved in them.’

      ‘That’s the way it looks,’ Teddy responded. ‘I saw a lot of stormtroopers on our way home. They were leading the mobs –’ Theodora broke off as a wave of nausea unexpectedly swept over her and she brought her hand up to her eyes. She swayed slightly on her feet, and wondered if she was going to faint.

      Ursula ran to her immediately, put an arm around her to give her support. ‘Come, Mein Kind,’ she murmured, ‘come, my child, take off your things and let’s sit down until you feel better.’ She helped Teddy remove her coat and tam o’shanter, mothering her as she would Maxim. Taking hold of her hand, Ursula led her over to the fireplace where a few embers still glowed in the grate. Glancing over her shoulder at Sigmund,