The Luck of the Weissensteiners (The Three Nations Trilogy) (19 page)

Deprived of any opportunity to earn a livelihood and dispossessed of their property, many Jewish families were now in need of aid and relief. This came from some Christian charities and the Centre of Jews, which had been established by governmental order. The Centre was the exclusive authority representing and governing the Slovak Jewry and was charged with organizing the Jewish life in the country for the government.

By October the newspapers proudly reported that the number of e
xpelled Jews had risen to 15000 and with help from the Jewish administration the Hlinka Guard compiled further lists of Jews for deportation. The main targets were those with enemies or aggressive business competitors and those resisting confiscation of their properties. Apart from the occasional and sporadic violence against Jews in the street by excitable youngsters, the impression was that those who kept their head down managed to be left alone.

In the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia
, similar rules had been implemented a long time ago but people risked being shot on the spot for not adhering to them and rumours about the conditions in the Jewish Ghettos in and around Prague were so shocking that life in Bratislava seemed safe in comparison.

Alma was a godsend
for the family. She was competent in looking after the private and business interests for them and could get supplies as well as represent the company in town with clients; always excusing Jonah’s absence with his other work commitments and deadlines. The clients took no notice.

The first real challenge to the new routine
of voluntary house arrest of the Weissensteiner family was an invitation to a Santa Claus party at the house of the Countess in early December. She had always treated Jonah more as an artist rather than a manufacturer and wanted to present the genius behind her beloved wall carpets to her guests.

A liberal but devout Christian and
art collector, she had recently commissioned a few artefacts, such as a beautiful Crucifix and the picture of a Madonna. She was dying to exhibit these new additions to her collection and held the party on the name day of Saint Klaus. Initially Jonah refused the invitation and in an apologetic letter cited his many projects that needed completion before the end of the year, but the Countess would hear none of it and even came in person to the workshop to put more pressure on him, making it too hard for him to refuse.

Her
manor house was outside of Bratislava, the same side of town as Benedikt’s farm and Jonah hoped he might be able to stay at their farm, to avoid breaking the travel time restrictions imposed on Jews. It seemed unlikely to him that he would be discovered as a Jew on the street, but he had heard that if a Jew was found walking the streets without the Star of David on his clothes he was usually less severely punished if the offence took place during the hours he was allowed to be in public. That way one could always claim to merely having taken the wrong piece of clothing. Sticking to the allocated time demonstrated a compliance of sorts and made the missing star more believable as an unintended mistake.

Johanna was surprised when at the end of November Alma showed up on the farm unannounced and related Jonah
’s request. When she heard the detailed reasoning behind it she decided to allow him to stay. Benedikt was unlikely to approve, so it was best if she did not mention it to her husband and decided to put the secret visitor up in the barn. It would not be comfortable but it was the safest option. Johanna would make sure Benedikt and the girls would not go anywhere near the barn that night. The Jewish maid Sarah could look after him.

On the day of the Santa Claus party Jonah dressed in his finest clothes and nervously made his way to Benedikt
’s farm, hours before he was due at the manor house. He walked with outer confidence and a mind free of care, but inside he was very scared of being confronted by officials on the way. It was madness to take such a risk but his livelihood depended on the good relations he had with the aristocrats and he could not afford to offend the Countess after she had personally come to his house to repeat her invitation.

Surprisingly he got to the farm without any problems at all and when
he entered the barn he found a little table with food and wine next to an improvised bed in the hay. You could say what you wanted about Johanna, he thought, but she had an amazing ability to surprise with kindness. She had also left him a few books, which he guessed Greta had left behind when leaving the farm. He started to read one of them, “Life of a Good for Nothing” by Eichendorff, Greta's declared favourite with the happy ending. He was quite taken in by the book and had almost forgotten the time when the maid Sarah came in to the barn just at the right moment to remind him that he had to leave. He put the book into his pocket and thanked the kind servant girl.

“I hope Johanna and Benedikt are treating you kindly here. You must understand that underneath her rough exterior Johanna has a good heart,” he advised her.

“Thank you. I must not complain,” was the curt reply.

“I know your family has lost the farm. It must be hard,” Jonah tried to show his sympathy.

“Yes it is hard. Not that you would know. You still have your business and your house,” she replied.

“We all have our difficulties,
” he said, confused by this unexpected attacking remark.

“You have no idea how hard it is to work for someone else just like a slave, being told you are lucky not to be deported and allowed a living,” Sarah protested. “To be tolerated on your own farm and being bossed around by arrogant outsiders. I don't care whether she has a heart of gold or not. She stole our farm an
d she keeps me busy morning through to evening. The difference to a labour camp is not as great as you might think.”

“You're right,” J
onah said apologetically. “I know nothing of your problems, but neither do you know anything of mine. I live in constant fear that they take everything from me, come and take me, my children, my business, my life. If you think I am enjoying myself you are wrong. Every time someone we haven't seen before comes into our house we panic that they may be an informer, spy or officer. I hate looking at my mail. Whenever there is an
official looking letter my heart sinks and I break into a sweat. You live in constant anger, I live in constant fear. Who can say what is worse?”

“I would
choose fear,” Sarah declared. “We too live in fear that our luck has run out. We could be deported any day too but the difference is we are kept so busy that we can hardly think about it.”

“I am sorry I offended you young lady,” he said, realising that there was no reasoning with this angry young girl. “I meant no harm. I will take my leave now. Thank you for your help all the same.”

Jonah was rather surprised at her strong reaction to his remarks. Maybe she was right and he had spoken a little out of turn. He had not considered her situation as much as he probably should have done before speaking to her but there was no reason for her to be so nasty to him either. After all it was hardly his fault that her family had lost their farm and he had not yet lost his business. He had just been a lucky guy, but the future was uncertain for any of them. What was more disconcerting was that Sarah knew he was a Jew. He had assumed Johanna had been discreet about it and not blurted it out to her servants, but then again why wouldn't she mention it to another Jew. She was no longer related to them and had nothing to lose.

One thing was clear though,
Johanna had gone out of her way to keep Benedikt in the dark about his visit and he wondered why. Was it just that Benedikt did not want to be bothered with them? Had he joined the Hlinka party? Was he involved with the politics to further his status? Jonah had to admit that it was all too likely.

The manor h
ouse was like a completely different world to the one he was accustomed to. Despite the on-going food shortages there was a huge buffet and free flowing champagne. Nobody in their right mind could have guessed that this was a party during war times. The Countess greeted him with enthusiasm and introduced him to several fellow Hungarian noble men as well as the Dutch painter of the Madonna. In his honour the party had been held on this day because it was the day when the Germans and the Dutch celebrated the Saint Day of Saint Nikolaus. In their tradition, every guest would receive stockings filled with sweets and other food.

Another tradition was to have a man dress up as the lovely Saint Nikolaus and
another one as his grumpy and nasty assistant who was called Krampus. They together would read out the good and bad deeds of everyone at the party and decide who would be rewarded with a stocking and who would receive a 'beating'.  The assistant was wearing a dark costume, had wild dark hair and his face was covered in dirt. He was shaking his whip and a broom made of wood and would look at the guests with an intense stare. Occasionally he would make threatening noises and run after some guest or the other. While this was amusing to most people, some of the female guests were seriously scared and one woman in particular almost fainted in shock.

“He looks like a Jewish devil!” she screamed. “He is going to kill me. Please keep him away!”

“Oh darling!” intervened the hostess. “He is harmless. I personally have employed him. Believe me he is not Jewish. He works in my stables and he is a good lad. Andres!” she said addressing Saint Nikolaus's assistant. “Don't get carried away please. Don't scare the guests. Keep it light!”

“Of course my l
ady.” came the reply and the assistant disappeared from the area.

The C
ountess made all her guests stand in a circle in her big drawing room, where Saint Nikolaus and his helper Krampus had taken up position. Saint Nikolaus was holding a huge golden scroll, from which he started to call out the names of some of the guests present and he told a few tales or anecdotes about them, giving them either good or bad character references. Whenever something was mentioned that the Countess had considered a bad thing Krampus would make his noise and shake the broom but all speeches ended with a good deed and Krampus would take a stocking and bring it to the guest.

“Jonah Weissensteiner, are you here or are you hiding som
ewhere?” said Saint Nikolaus.

Jonah was frozen in shock. He had not expected to b
e put in the spotlight and was worried that this would draw unnecessary attention to him.

Before he could say anything the Countess called out: “There he is. Looks like he is hiding!” and pointed at him.

“I hear you have been a bad weaver. You have tried to neglect your biggest beneficiary and tonight’s hostess because you claim you have other clients to satisfy. You have turned down many of her generous invitations including this audience with my holy self so that you could work some more. You have forced the Countess to come to your workshop in person to persuade you!”

At that point Krampus was running up to Jonah and cracked his whip in the air. Jonah knew he should laugh but he was all tensed up and could not move.

“Is that so, my Jonah?” Saint Nikolaus called out.

“I am afraid it is,” he managed to say. “I am sorry, Saint Nikolaus. Please have mercy!”

The people in the audience took his fearful tone for good acting and laughed heartily. The Countess walked up to him and hugged him gently.

“Oh you are such a wit, Jonah,” she said.

“You have redeemed yourself, my humble servant Jonah,” Saint Nikolaus continued. “I have heard from a reliable source that you have brought the Countess huge pleasure with your craft and have created beauty of the highest order with the most pious of biblical themes.”

A huge round of applause went through the room.

“For this we forgive you your minor transgressions and order you in the next year to make many more artefacts for the benefit of our Christian children on earth,” Saint Nikolaus decreed and ordered Krampus to bring another stocking.

Jonah was shaking. If anyone in this room here knew that he was a Jew they would also know that he had broken the law by manufacturing a carpet with Christian themes. In the eyes of the Christian
anti-Semites this would be a bigger sin than just going to the cinema.

“Nice going!” said someone next to him. It was the Dutch painter.

“Thank you. Your painting is phenomenal,” he complemented his fellow artist. It was an amazing feeling to regard himself as an artist for once. His day to day running of the business made him feel much more like part of a production line, even though the truth was probably somewhere in the middle.

“How kind of you to say.
Now tell me Weissensteiner, how are you getting away with it?” the Dutch man asked him.

Jonah's jaw dropped. “Get
ting away with what?” he asked.

“Where I come from Weissensteiner
is not a gentile name, is it, and yet here you are mingling with society as if it was the most natural thing in the fascist Slovak society. I admire your guts,” the painter said.

“I don't know what you are talking about,” Jonah said, eager to get away from the conversation before he might say something unwise.

“It's fine, Weissensteiner. Don't be such a putz. If I wanted to denounce you I would not have come to you directly. Don't you recognize one of your own people?” the painter added.