Angel From Hell, page 3
part #1 of Anna Fehrbach Series Series
The woman walked round Annaliese, who stood very still, aware that her immediate future was about to be determined. Then she said, ‘Thank you, Frau Molder.’ The door closed, and the woman walked to one of the desks and sat behind it. ‘Sit.’
There was a straight chair before the desk, and Annaliese sat on it. The woman opened the folder on the desk in front of her. ‘Annaliese,’ she mused. ‘That is a pretty name. But it is too long. As of now you will be Anna.’
‘Yes . . .’ Annaliese hesitated.
‘My name is Commandant Frau Gehrig. But you will call me ma’am.’
‘Yes . . . ma’am.’
Commandant Gehrig tapped the papers. ‘These are remarkable notes. When I read them my immediate reaction was that they had to be exaggerated. But I can see that they have not exaggerated, at least as regards your appearance. If your mental and intellectual capabilities have also been correctly interpreted, you may do very well. The only thing that is lacking is any suggestion of control. Do you have control, Anna?’
‘I do not know what you mean, ma’am.’
Frau Gehrig tapped the notes. ‘It says here that you slashed open a policeman’s cheek. That was an irrational act.’
‘He touched me.’
‘And you do not like being touched? You may have a difficult path to follow. But you must learn to control your impulses.’
She looked for what she would consider the right answer. ‘I think I have control, ma’am. But to be molested by a strange man is an intolerable situation. I think my response was entirely natural.’
‘You do have a brain in there, Anna. But no doubt you have also been afraid. Perhaps you are afraid now?’
‘I do not know what I have to be afraid of, ma’am. I have committed no crime. I am afraid for my father and mother. And my sister.’
‘Because your father and mother have committed a crime, against the Fatherland. Such a crime invariably involves the children as well.’
‘Then should I not be locked up with them?’
‘You will serve a much more useful purpose by working for the Reich.’
Work for these thugs, who had conquered her country without firing a shot? ‘I do not think I can do that, ma’am.’
Commandant Gehrig raised her eyebrows. ‘I was given the impression that Captain Hallbrunn had made your position clear. Perhaps he did not. You have been given to me, to serve me, and therefore the Reich, in the position to which I consider you to be best suited. Having seen you, and talked with you, and read this report, I have already determined that you are suitable for the, shall I say, highest aspect of our work. Should you fail to impress me, through inadequacy, I will employ you at a lower, and, you will find, less rewarding level. However, should you fail to impress me, through contumacy or stubbornness, you will be employed at the lowest possible level. That is to say, you will become an SS prostitute, servicing any man, or any group of men – some of them have unusual tastes – who wish the use of your body.’
The calmly impersonal way in which such an unthinkable future had just been outlined to her had taken Annaliese’s breath away. Commandant Gehrig had studied her expression as she spoke. ‘And of course,’ she went on, ‘if you were to fail me, now or at any time in the future, your parents, and your sister, will be immediately executed.’
Annaliese swallowed. ‘And if I agree to co-operate? Will they be set free?’
The commandant smiled. ‘Well, no. We are not that innocent. They will remain in suitable confinement for the time being. The situation will be reviewed from time to time in the light of your progress.’
‘Will I be allowed to see them?’
‘In due course, perhaps. But for the immediate future, you will have too much to do.’
‘What do I have to do?’
‘Just learn. You are going to a finishing school. You will be taught how to wear expensive clothes and jewellery. How to behave at the best dinner parties. How to engage men in conversation. Can you ride a horse?’
‘I have received lessons. I do not own a horse.’
‘You will be taught how to be an expert horsewoman. All of these assets and accomplishments attract men.’
‘You mean I am to be a prostitute after all?’
‘Certainly not. At least, not without my permission.’
‘You mean, if a man propositions me, I must say to him, I cannot agree until I have telephoned Gestapo Headquarters and obtained permission?’
Commandant Gehrig regarded her for several seconds, then gave one of her wintry smiles. ‘One day, Anna, your sharp little brain will get you into trouble.’
*
‘No, no, ladies,’ said Sergeant Muller. ‘Bend! You must bend. Stretch the backs of your thighs, eh?’
The twelve girls – the eldest was just twenty – duly bent, while he walked round them. The embarrassment of wearing only a thin singlet, shorts and gym shoes in the presence of a man who then proceeded to inspect them at close quarters, had worn off over the past five weeks, but Annaliese – or Anna as she now had to consider herself – still felt uneasy when she was touching her toes and he was virtually touching her buttocks.
‘Do you think he’d ever actually do anything?’ Gerda asked as they showered afterwards.
‘They’d have his nuts,’ Martina said. ‘And if they thought the girl had co-operated . . .’
They all looked at Karen, who turned away from them to towel herself. They were all still getting to know each other, and their surroundings, but Karen, a voluptuous redhead, had already been caught having a kiss and cuddle with one of the canteen staff. He had promptly disappeared, and Karen had been strapped naked to the ping-pong table in the games room and given six strokes of the cane, wielded by Commandant Gehrig herself. It was not something any of the other girls, who had been assembled to watch the punishment being carried out, would ever forget; it gave Anna goose pimples to think of it.
She had, in any event, been living in a continual state of mixed embarrassment and apprehension ever since coming here. Having to shower virtually in public had been bad enough, but whereas at home she had always had her own room, she now shared a dormitory with the other girls, her every move – almost, it seemed, her every thought – overseen by the others. She was entirely the outsider. Quite apart from being, she was sure, better bred than any of them – they had been forbidden to discuss their backgrounds – she was the only Austrian, as the other girls had quickly discerned from her accent. She was also the only girl wearing a crucifix; there was no religious instruction or even a church service included in their curriculum. Religion was indeed as taboo a subject as family background, and although she did pray every night, whether God was listening or not, it was not on her knees but in the privacy of her bed, and silently.
The others all appeared to be making friends, but no one had made any overtures to her as yet. She was not sure she wanted them to. Although there was a woman named Hilda who slept in the dormitory and was supposed to keep them under control, she never interfered in anything that went on, particularly after lights out, when the room was filled with rustling and suppressed giggles. Again, no one had yet approached her for a midnight cuddle, but she could not help but feel the operative word was ‘yet’. The thought terrified her.
‘All right,’ Gerda said, drying her hair. ‘So we can’t have men. But what are we being trained for, if it’s not to have sex? They tart us up with lovely clothes, they teach us to dance and walk and sit and stand and eat and ride elegantly, we have elocution lessons every day . . . I mean, what is it all for, if not to attract men?’
‘The right men,’ Luisa said, knowingly.
‘You mean, the Party?’ Alexandra was aghast. They were given lessons in Nazi theory every day.
‘Well, it has to be somebody,’ Luisa pointed out. ‘What do you think, Anna?’
In addition to being the outsider, Anna was by some months the youngest of them, but they had quickly recognized her superiority, not only intellectually, but in almost every other field. She had proved the most adept at the physical training, which, for some reason none of them had understood, included the art of self-defence, using both hands and feet. ‘Gives you self-confidence,’ the instructor had said in response to their questions, although clearly he enjoyed rolling around on the mat with the girls. But she could only offer them her own resolution. ‘I think it is better not to think,’ she said. ‘We’ll find out some time.’
‘That could take years,’ Gerda sneered.
‘Well . . .’
Gerda licked her lips. For all the daily, and quite severe, physical training they underwent, she remained a trifle overweight, and she looked older than her eighteen years. ‘So we just sit here and turn into old maids.’
‘Beautiful old maids,’ Martina suggested.
Which was true enough, Anna reflected. There was not one of them who was not at the very least good-looking, the more so when they were all in the nude.
‘The point is,’ Gerda said, ‘we’re forbidden to have sex with men. But . . .’ She looked from face to face. ‘There’s no way they could tell if . . . well, I mean, we simply can’t go on forever without any sex at all.’ Now she was flushing. But so was everyone else. Gerda giggled. ‘It would be fun. Anna, will you come to my bed tonight?’
Every head turned, and Anna felt her cheeks burning. It could be fun! But she didn’t know what ‘it’ was, or might involve. Besides, if she was desperately lonely, longed for the comfort of another pair of arms – she had never considered a sexual embrace – her instincts warned her that there was no love, or even affection, here, simply unfulfilled sexual desires. She felt that as much as anyone, but she also knew that she was surviving simply by surrounding herself with that suit of mental armour she had assumed on the very first day, that complete withdrawal of emotion, that determination just to take every day as it came, and survive it.
Besides, the thought of being discovered and stretched on that ping-pong table . . .
She left the showers and put on her clothes. ‘I really don’t think that would be a good idea.’
‘You are a miserable little prude,’ Gerda shouted, running at her. ‘I am going to rub your pussy raw.’
Anna stared at her. Her entire body seemed to be aflame, and she was aware of two contrasting emotions, one a feeling of utter outrage that she should be placed in this position, the other a sudden ice-cold fury, a certainty of what had to be done. She stepped forward, and Gerda, staring into her eyes, checked in consternation at what she saw. Anna reached for her, grasping her right arm at wrist and just above the elbow, and threw her to one side. There was a terrible crack and a shriek of the most utter agony from the injured girl as she collapsed on the floor.
*
‘Come in, Anna.’ Commandant Gehrig was using her ‘I am your friend and confidante’ voice, which was not always entirely reassuring. Anna entered the office and stood to attention before the desk. She was wearing the school uniform of white shirt with black tie, black skirt, and black stockings with low-heeled shoes. She was in any event apprehensive, as she had known this moment had to come. ‘I am sure you will be pleased to know,’ the commandant said, ‘that Gerda is not going to lose the use of her arm. But she is going to be in hospital for at least a week, and then she will not be able to train for some time. Are you relieved?’
‘Yes, ma’am. I . . .’ Anna bit her lip.
‘You were going to say, perhaps, that you did not mean to hurt her so badly as to break her arm in two places and dislocate her shoulder?’
Anna drew a deep breath.
‘How did you do that? Who taught you? I have never accepted that it was an accidental fall in the showers,’ the commandant pointed out. ‘Now I would like the truth.’
Anna stared straight in front of her. ‘Nobody taught me, ma’am.’
‘Would you like to be caned?’
‘No, ma’am.’
‘But you will risk it not to betray your . . . well, she can hardly be your friend, if she attempted to assault you.’
Anna gave her a quick glance.
‘Oh, yes,’ the commandant said. ‘I do know what happened. You silly little girls do not realize that I know everything that happens, either in your dormitory or out of it. So, she wanted to make love to you, and you resisted her. Why did you do that?’
Anna licked her lips. ‘I did not wish to.’
‘Because you found Gerda personally distasteful? Or because you are not a lesbian?’
Anna stared at her.
The commandant smiled. ‘You don’t even know the meaning of the word, do you? Of course, I remember, you do not like to be touched. I warned you that you were choosing a difficult path. And I also warned you that you simply had to control these violent impulses of yours. You say that no one taught you, yet on an impulse you can virtually take someone apart.’
Anna continued to stare straight in front of her. ‘I did not lose control, ma’am. I did not wish to be assaulted, and I defended myself. I did not mean to break Gerda’s arm, only to resist her. I did what came naturally to me.’
Gehrig again regarded her for several seconds. ‘Do you know, I believe you. You really are a most remarkable girl. But it is a difficult situation to avoid when you have a group of healthy adolescents locked up together with no outlet for their emotional and physical needs. You do not seem to have any needs, either emotional or physical. That makes you either very strong, or potentially very weak. You do realize that I can no longer risk locking you up with the other girls. I have no idea what may happen, and I wish no more broken bones; they may be some of yours. However, your progress has been so rapid above any of the others that I think you are ready to move on, and in fact our superiors are anxious for you to do so.’ She got up, went to an inner door, and opened it. ‘I hope you agree with me, Herr Colonel.’
‘Entirely, Frau Gehrig,’ Colonel Glauber said, entering the office; he had clearly been listening in the other room. ‘She is a treasure. I spotted this the moment I first saw her.’
Anna blinked at him. As far as she could recollect, she had never seen him before.
‘A potential treasure, Herr Colonel,’ Frau Gehrig suggested. ‘She needs to be treated with care, and restraint. I believe she is capable of breaking even your arm, if you push her hard enough.’
‘Ha, ha,’ Glauber said. ‘Come along, young lady.’
Anna looked at Frau Gehrig.
‘You belong to the Colonel now, Anna.’
Anna swallowed. ‘My things . . .’
‘You will be given new things. Goodbye, Fraulein. I hope you prosper.’
She sounded almost sorry for her, Anna realized.
Chapter Two – The Trainee
Anna sat beside the colonel in the back of the Mercedes saloon as they were driven to the north-east. Her head was still in a spin, as it had been since the afternoon of the assault, although she had done her best to appear unaffected by what had happened. But she had had to be aware that not one of the other girls had been on her side, least of all, perhaps, Hilda. That there had been a fight in her dormitory reflected badly upon her. She had had to prevent any more fighting, even if it had been obvious that the other girls were simply waiting for the opportunity to avenge their friend, who had merely been giving the lead to what they all wanted to do anyway. But they had all had to wait to see what Frau Gehrig would do, whether she herself would punish the stuck-up little bitch, as they considered Anna, or whether she would give Hilda permission to throw her to the wolves.
How they must be seething! Unless they supposed, or were told, that she had been expelled to suffer some far greater punishment than could be inflicted at the school. But where was she going to? She glanced at the man beside her, who was studying her. He did not look vicious, and he was in plain clothes. On the other hand, he had been addressed as colonel, and he seemed to have considerable authority. And she now belonged to him!
He smiled at her. ‘Are you glad to be away from that place?’
‘I would be, sir, if I knew where I was going. To what I was going.’
‘One day,’ he remarked, ‘that pert tongue of yours will get you into trouble.’
Anna swallowed.
‘However,’ he went on, ‘I can appreciate your interest. The immediate answer to your question is that you have completed your preliminary training, and that you are on your way to Berlin, where you will commence your new life.’
‘As a whore?’ She caught her breath. The question, which had dominated her thinking for the past several weeks, had just slipped out.
‘You young women appear to be obsessed by sex,’ the colonel remarked. ‘I suppose that is an essential part of growing up. Frau Gehrig holds the opinion that you are not interested in sex. But as she cannot tell me what you are interested in, I am forced to form my own opinion. It is not humanly possible for a girl as lovely and as physically well endowed as you not to be interested in sex.’
Anna’s cheeks were burning. She looked straight in front of her. ‘I might be interested in sex, Herr Colonel. With the right person.’
‘Who, for the time being, is yourself?’ he suggested.
She turned her head, sharply, and he actually flushed as well.
‘Point taken. That is no bad thing, until, as you say, something better comes along. But we would prefer to have your affections remain where they are, for the moment. Your future role is sexual, yes. But not in the coarse way you have just conveyed. You are going to work for the Reich. Not as a whore – at least, not in the sense you have been assuming – but as an observer, a listener, a conveyer of information. Let me introduce myself. My name is Hans Glauber, and I am a colonel in the SD. Do you know what that is?’
