The Soul of a Woman

This is my interpretation of the character of Frau Gertrude nee' Burkhalter Linkmeyer. The story is based on her appearances in "Cupid Comes to Stalag 13", "Cassonova Klink", Watch the Trains Go By", "Unfair Exchange", "Kommandant Gertrude" and her mention in "Gowns by Yvette".

She looked into the mirror and noticed a few more lines in her face, a little more grey in her once blonde hair. She carefully applied the precious powder to her face. Looking down at the items on her dressing table, she sighed at the diminishing amount of cosmetics that lay there. A young woman could get by bare faced but once you reach a certain age, liquids and powders were a prerequisite. The war had cost her so much and now this final indignity. The factories and materials that went into making lipstick and other essentials had been co-opted for the war effort, so she had to make what she had last as long as possible for there would be none to replace them.

She could hear her brother bellowing in the other room for her to hurry. Let him wait. Since he didn't seem to care about her feelings, he could stand there and stew in his impatience. Dawdling was the only weapon she had against his pig-headedness. He had decided on his own she would remarry. Her protests; ignored. Gertrude knew her brother loved her dearly. In his mind he was doing what he felt was best for her. The one thing he failed to consider was she was not a little girl any longer and had a mind of her own. Sometimes she felt like giving him such a kick, he would still feel it two weeks later.

Albert had always been this way, ever since they were small children. This caused her to smile when she remembered those years growing up in Münster. Back then, it was Mama, Papa and Eduard, who was the oldest, then Emma, Käthe and Albert. The babies of the family were the twins Gertrude and Gregor. She could still smell the fragrance of the grass and flowers from one of their many family picnics. It seemed to Gertrude, they laughed all the time back then. Of course she knew that couldn't be true. It was just a trick of her memory. Still she could not remember a happier time.

Then the Great War came along and her father being a military man did his duty and left them to fight for Germany, taking Eduard and Albert with him. He perished at Sommeschlacht. His body hastily buried among the thousands who died there. His death was a terrible blow to the family. A once prosperous family saw its fortunes take a marked turn. Life after that seemed like a constant struggle to just to have enough to survive on. Her mother had refused to remarry, citing her love for her deceased husband. Trying to hold the family together and provide for them on the meager pension she received, aged her prematurely. It was something that had a great impact on Albert and part of the reason he had assumed this crazy task.

Gertrude had met Oberleutnant Otto Jorg Linkmeyer on a summer afternoon in 1916. He was fresh from the front and was so young and handsome. He was tall, slightly built with midnight black hair and the bluest eyes she had ever seen. All the girls had set their caps for him but he had paid her the greatest portion of his attention. Of course back then her hair was as blonde as the sun, not the washed out dull brown it was now. Her figure had been a lot trimmer back then too. At sixteen she had been beautiful, happy and in love for the first time. When Otto left for the Preußische Kriegsakademie training the next day, she cried. Since the training was for three years, a lifetime for a young girl, she thought she would never see him again.

The war ended and luckily, both Albert and Eduard had survived and returned home. Eduard promptly married his long standing sweetheart Anna Gottschalk . On June 29, 1919, Eduard fell sick and before nightfall had died from Influenza. The epidemic had touched almost every family in Germany, leaving behind nothing but bereavement and loss. A month later, Anna gave birth to Eduard's daughter, Fredia. She promptly became Albert's favorite niece and he has since watched over her, making sure both she and her mother had everything they needed, even after Anna remarried.

Gertrude had been out doing some shopping for Mama on a cool fall morning of that year. She had been daydreaming while window-shopping, when she bumped into a young man in a Hauptmann's uniform. Looking up she saw Otto's handsome face smiling down at her. She murmured her apologies and he gallantly requested to walk her home. She blushed prettily and agreed. On February 18, 1920, to her utter amazement, she became Frau Gertrude Linkmeyer. Fourteen months later, Gertrude gave birth to their first child, Lotte Luise. Otto could not have been more proud and for weeks afterwards, strutted around town like a peacock.

One of her fondest memories of Otto was lying in bed with him on a cold winter's night. Thick quilts covering their bodies, as he spooned her. His arm draped across her and his warm breath on the back of her neck. She felt so warm and safe. At least until he rolled over onto his back. His snoring was so loud it would keep her awake the entire night. They had numerous fights about it. Gertrude's lip quivered remembering them. What she would give be able to hear him snoring next to her again.

Quickly her mind traveled to her remembering their mock fights causing her to smile. He was losing his hair and her waistline was expanding. They would tease each other endlessly. By the end of the night, they would then fall into each other's arms, laughing at the silliness of it all.

Their life together was not all roses and love songs. They had their difficulties as all married couples did. Otto continued to advance in the ranks, passing Albert. He received orders posting him to the Great General Staff and soon afterwards, joined the Railway Directive. Gertrude enjoyed living in Berlin. She was a good and dutiful wife, doing everything in her power to help advance her husband's career. Truthfully, she would not care if he were a street peddler but because he took so much pride in being a solider, she did everything in her power to ensure his superiors never saw him but in anything but the most positive light. She worked hard at making the right social connections and working those connections to give him every conceivable advantage.

In 1921, Albert met and married a girl from Berlin named Bertha Roehm and seven months later, she gave birth to a healthy son named Eduard Albert Burkhalter. Albert claimed the child was early, but how many premature babies weight eight and a half pounds? Gertrude was always polite to Betha but never really connected with her. For one thing, Berta's instance in calling Albert "Hansi" drove Gertrude crazy. Her brother appeared to be happy, so Gertrude kept her own counsel when it came to Frau Burkhalter.

A year and a half after Lotte's birth, Petra Margret was born. Shortly after Petra's birth, Emma met and married Joseph Cronin, an executive from an oil company in Houston Texas. When his business in Germany was completed, she moved with him to the States. The sisters wrote to each other regularly, until war broke out between the two counties and then all communication ceased.

Unlike his brothers, Gregor shied away from military life. Instead, he became a writer, spending much of his time in Paris with other artists. Gertrude disapproved of what she considered a hedonistic lifestyle and urged him to settle down and marry. Gregor would just smile at his twin and say marriage was not in the cards for him. Gertrude did not remember exactly when she started to suspect that Gregor might enjoy the company of a man over that of a woman but as the years progressed, the impression grew stronger. She disapproved but she loved him fiercely. Because of her strong connection she had with Gregor, she kept her suspicions to herself and openly supported her brother's career.

In 1929, on a cold blistery January morning, Käthe died trying to bring her son into the world. Later that same year Gertrude gave birth to Erik Josef. His small weak lungs struggled to breathe. After several hours, he gave up the fight and died in his mother's arms. Gertrude, beside herself with grief, refused to leave her bed. Otto tried to comfort his wife without much success. It was only the tiny voices of her bewildered and frightened daughters, which finally roused her from her grief and helped her to re-enter the world of the living.

Two years later Petra Margret, after a bout of strep throat, came down with Rheumatic fever. The illness compromised her tiny heart. Two weeks later, she was buried next to her brother in the Thomaskirche cemetery. Gertrude somehow found the strength to go on.

TBC

Next: Nacht und Nebel

a/n:

The Preußische Kriegsakademie (Prussian War Academy) is a military training course required of all officers seeking to be a staff officer. It was a very elite military school. Only the best officers could apply and they were required to have a recommendation from their commanding officer. Of those who applied, only about twenty percent were accepted. Popular thinking at the time, even outside of Germany, was it was the best military school in the world.

A Staff officer is a commissioned officer who serves on the staff of a commander, service, or central headquarters. General Burkhalter is a staff officer.

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