Dead To Rights

          Dead to Rights

Suzanne Marsh

Hanne Baas ran down the stairs from her attic perch, lurched into the dining room:

“The Gestapo are almost here, I heard the wail of the sirens, if you are caught Jan you and our

friends are dead. You must leave now, down through the cellar, there is a small alley, go into

the cellar on that side. Stay there until I come to give you the all clear. Now go!”

The four men did not hesitate, they jumped up, ran down the stairs, across the alley and into the other basement. Hannie, quickly removed all signs they had been there. Suddenly brakes screached, sirens stopped, cobbled boots began to come up the wooden stairs to the apartment. Hannie, took several deep breaths before she answered the loud banging on the door:

“Yes?” She said quietly.

“Frauline, we are looking for the men that were here not more than a few moments ago. Have

you any idea where they are?”

Hannie, knew if she hesitated, all would be lost:

“No sir, I have seen no one. I live here by myself, men? No, perhaps some other woman

close by.”

Before she could react, the Gestapo captain slapped her face so hard her blue eyes watered.

“Once again frauline, where are they?”

Hannie, looked the Captain directly in the eyes:

“Go to hell, I know nothing!”

She struggled as they took her down the stairs to the waiting black van. She vowed silently she would not give up the four men even if it meant giving up her own life.

Minutes, turned to hours, Jan Baas could stand no more, he began to open the cellar door, there were three of them there, the fourth man, Maartan Aakster had left the cellar, saying that he felt like a rat in a trap. Jan, Abraham Moscowitz and Willem Bakker hurried back through the alley and up the wooden stairs to Hannie’s apartment. Jan threw open the door, Hannie was gone, there was blood on the wooden floor. Jan knew then there was a traitor in their midst and he would find him and kill him. Jan began to feel the tears flooding his eyes, his sister Hannie, was brave and fearless, but she stood no chance against the Gestapo or the SS . Abraham stood in the room, then turned to face Jan:

“Jan, we must find out who betrayed us and Hannie, and very soon, we may not be as lucky

next time especially now that they have Hannie.”

Jan, with tears once again filling his blue eyes:

“I know Abraham, we can not risk trying to free Hannie, not unitl we find the person or persons

who betrayed us. Where did Maartan go? He is not with us. He must have left almost as

soon as the Gestapo did. I have no doubt she is at Euterpestraat, where the SS and Gestapo

take prisoners and interrogate them until they get the information they require or the person

is dead. No one comes out of there unharmed.”

Willem Bakker, had been listening to the dialog between Abraham and Jan:

“Hannie means a great deal to me Jan, we have to try and rescue her. Maartan crawled over me

almost as soon as he heard the Gestapo leave. Is it possible he is the one who betrayed us?

I don’t know the man well; but it seemed rather strange to me.”

Jan, spun on his heel to face Willem:

“Ja it is more than possible, well before we can do anything for Hannie, we need to set a

trap. Just the three of us, I know this could put our work in jeopardy but that is my sister

they have. We know she did not leave willingly, she is very much a key part of our

organization, if she talkes everything could come tumbling down on us. The question is

how do we set a trap?”

A plan began to take place in Jan’s mind:

The best way is to feed information that is useless to the Gestapo. Once we know who betrayed

us, we kill the bastard immediately. That will end the problem.”

Hans Schuellman, reported directly to Captain Werner Klemp, of the SS, Hans disliked the man to begin with but when he realized the danger Hannie was in, he decided to speak: Klemp sat quietly at his desk writing reports needing to be sent to SS Reichsfurhrer Heinrich Himmler, when there was a fierce pounding on the door to his inner office:

“Come, this had better be good I am in the middle of a report.”

The door squeeked open there stood Hans Schuellman aka Abraham Moscowitz:

“Come in Schuellman, what brings you here? Why did you allow those men to leave before

we arrived? “

Schuellman did not hesitate:

“Captain, why did you haul Hannie Baas here to Euterpestraat? She gave me valuable

information, you must release her now!” His voice shooting up several octvaes. You

will release her now or the information I have at the moment will not be yours.”

Klemp glared at Schuellman with both surprise and anger:

“You do not demand anything of me. Hannie Baas as we speak is being interrogated, you

can see he;r perhaps coerce her into telling you the plans the resistance has, if we don’t

catch them we will be on the Eastern Front very soon. Do I make myself clear Schuellman?

Hans Schulman stood his brown eyes glazing over with an anger he did not know he possessed:

“Jawol I understand Captain, I want to see Hannie first before I tell you anything more.”

Klemp, knew he had to backdown, the information Schuellman had was necessary to his survival, the Eastern Front was not where any German soldier wished to go.

“Very well Schuellman, she is in interrogation room number four, Klein is talking her.”

Klein, was a butcher, those whom he interrogated did not survive more than two days. Hans moved quickly to the room. He stopped short of opening the door, he heard screams like that before, he knocked twice, signifiying he was SS. A harsh voice yelled:

“Enter, I am busy you fool, whatever it is it can wait.” Hans swung open the door, he rushed in to find Hannie bleeding from nose and eyes. Hans grabbed Klein by his tunic:

“You get her cleaned up you bastard NOW!” Hannie’s one eye began to focus, she laid there naked on the table, crying in pain. Hans wiated as Klein attempted to wipe Hannie’s face. Hans noted she had no fingernails left, her face swollen, black and blue. He suddenly felt a hate for the SS he never realized he harbored. He carefully picked up Hannie, carried her out of the room, up the stairs and out the door. He knew that he was a dead man when the SS discovered he had betrayed them. Hannie cried into his shoulder as he carried her toward the forest, the one place he could think of where they would be safe. He would send word to Jan.

Two hours later, Jan arrived with Maartan and Willem, armed. Jan hoped that Abraham had told the truth, that he had Hannie and she was safe. Willem spotted the small home that Abraham had described. The three men moved slowly, cautiously toward the home. Willem saw a curtain move. They quickly moved toward the back door of the house. Jan, knocked once, then twice, the once again, three quick raps replied it was safe. Hans had found blankets to cover Hannie before her brother could see her. Jan entered first, he saw his sister lying on an old horsehair sofa, wrapped in several blankets. He moved slowly toward her:

“Hannie, Hannie oh mein Gott, what have they done to you?”

Hannie moaned, attempting to sit up:

“Jan, Abraham, he saved me. He walked in and took me out of there.”

Jan, his blue eyes glistening with tears turn to Abraham:

“Abraham, I don’t know how you freed her but I am very grateful.”

Schuellman knew he had to tell Jan the truth:

“Jan, my name is not Abraham Moscowitz, my name is Hans Schuellman, I am SS, I am the one

who was betraying your resistance group. I can still be of use to you, I want to help. I love

your sister Jan, and I think she loves me. That means her cause is my cause. I am going to

have to hide out for a while, the SS are ruthless, Captain Klemp has already stated that

it is imperative that we capture your unit, otherwise we will both end up on the Eastern Front.”

Hans allowed for time for that statement to sink in and give himself some time before he finished:

“Jan, I was wrong to betray you, I wish to help you now. The German SS is going to begin

house to house searches again. They catch you, you are a dead man, just like me. We have

to work together.”

Jan, thought about that:

“What about Hannie? What about what she endured before you rescued her?”

Hannie, stirred once again:

“Jan, I love Abraham or Hans whatever his name is. He risked his life to save me.”

Hans felt compelled to reply:

“Jan, I am a Hauptsturmfuhrer, I outrank Klemp. I can give him a great deal of misinformation.

The more confused he is the better.”

Jan, decided then that he could trust Hans, the man had honor. Jan asked Hans one simple question:

“Why? Why decided to help the resistance?”

Hans answer:

“The Fuhrer is insane, he has ruined Germany, he has killed defenseless people for nothing

other than being Jewish, Gypies, Poles, Russians the list is endless. I have had enough killing,

I have enough war and hate to last a life time.

Gobel’s Propaganda machine. The German people do not back Hitler as he thinks they do.

I can prove that, I am one. Jan, the unit should find a better hiding place soon. Whoever

they catch, I can not rescue them as I did Hannie.”

Jan wanted to believe what Hans was saying but he had betrayed them before, would he do it again?

Only time would tell.

Two weeks later Hans once again made his way to Euterpestraat, Jan needed to see several files that Klemp had. One was the report that he had taken Hannie, he knew he was a dead man before he started this mission. He also found in those files, his name, and the names of the men in the resistance. The question reamained in his mind: ‘why had Klemp not arrested any of them? It mad no sense o him, but then again neither did the war. Schuellman was ready to leave Klemp’s office, he did not hear the door open, only the cold steel of the Luger in his back:

“Schuellman, you have made things much easier than I thought they would be. Place your

pistol on the floor, shove it toward the door. Very good, now put your hands in the air.

“Klein, get in here NOW!” Schuellman, your are under arrest, for stealing SS documents.

Place him under arrest, you know what to do.”

Schuellman, knew he was a dead man, Klein, would beat him until he had no fight left, then he would be dragged outside and shot by a firing squard. He had taken the risk, he had no way to get word to the resistance. Schuellman had been caught dead to right. Two days later his sentence was read, he stood tall before the execution squad. His last thoughts were of Hannie, but also Germany, would she ever recover from the hell that was here on this earth now.