He had, of course, read the newspapers and heard on the wireless about the trials - even seen some newsreels shown in the local cinema. Rene had mainly taken an interest to see what had happened to the Colonel, Gruber, Helga and even the cold hearted General Von Klinkeroffen as, apart from the latter, they had been something like friends to him despite their occupation of his beloved France.
"Rene, they are here" Edith hurried over to the bar of the cafe and shoved a paper down. Rene rolled his eyes and then read the part of the front page that she tapped her finger on. According to the report, the senior staff of the local garrison were to be placed on trial for war crimes and Rene went pale. "They will be hung... Or shot like the dogs they are" Edith smiled. She had made it clear that her friendly relations with the Nazi army had only been so that they could be left alone somewhat peacefully and Rene had been ashamed of her to wish ill on such matters.
"What about Helga? Is she also a dog to be shot?"
"Of course! That bitch was trying to get you found out, Rene" and, not for the first time, the cafe owner wondered why he had ever married her. He knew that the long years of occupation had changed them all, but even he knew they had been no more guilty of war crimes than Crabtree having a terrible French language skill. Well, he thought to himself, the General had ordered executions and shot people out of hand, but that was something different. The others had all either tried to find non violent ways of carrying out their orders and even outright disobeyed them.
"You stupid woman! Do you not realise that she had to act that way to save herself?"
"What do you mean?"
"She was Jewish... I knew, the Colonel and the Lieutenant knew - can you imagine what would have happened if Flick had found out? She would have been sent to a camp and killed like we read about in the newspapers"
"She was a German soldier - all Germans should be shot" and Edith was cut off by a loud smacking noise. There was a pause as everything stopped in the cafe and all inside turned to see Rene putting his hand down after striking his wife. Despite a very unhappy marriage, he had never ever hit a woman in his life - something deep inside him had snapped and he had acted before thinking about it.
"Get out!" he thundered. "Pack your bags and get out of here, woman - I have had enough of you and your rudeness, bad manners and you as a whole"
"Really?" sneered Edith. "What about all of those times that I found you in the arms of some serving wrench or the communist resistance?"
"Did you ever see that happening? It was only fun between the majority of us and the others assaulted me"
"Bah! You can't abuse a man" Edith spat at Rene - saliva hitting him in the face. "But then you are no man but a coward" and Rene was about to strike his wife again when somebody quietly slipped behind her and grabbed her arms behind her back.
"Listen very carefully, for I shall say this only once... For all of his faults and failings, Rene is one of the most bravest men in all of France. He has put up with you for decades because he thought it was the right thing to do - or do you want your history of being barren to get out?" Michelle quietly and dangerously asked. She was often found in the cafe after the war, reading a book after a day's work at the post office and sipping a glass or two of wine quietly by herself - sometimes Rene would join her or one of her former fellow resistance members. She, like most others, had thought of Rene as a coward but did not know of his time in the trenches in the last war - it was no wonder that he tried everything to stay out of the war as much as possible and she admired any man who was not a nervous wreck after that...
"But they are Germans"
"Yes, but they are our enemies no more. Now, I think you had better put a few things together and go... Your marriage is over, Madam, and Rene will put up with it no longer" Michelle looked at Rene. "My apologies, sir... I had had enough and could not sit by any longer"
"I... I..." Rene was stunned because nobody had ever stood up for him in all his married life.
"Shall I call the police?"
"No - I think Edith got the message" he reached for a bottle that he kept under the table - covered in dust. "On the house" and he poured Michelle a double measure and then himself the same. The cafe went back to its normal chatter for a while before Edith came back downstairs and stared at Rene before giving off a cut off sob and rushing out. The patrons watched her leave and murmured before going back to their own discussions. "That felt good - I have wanted to do that for years now"
"Why did you not divorce her before?" Michelle frowned.
"Because I thought it was some kind of mania and then when the war came..." Rene gestured wildly with his hands "I could not leave her to fend for herself or her dearly departed mother"
"I thought you hated her"
"I did and still do... But when I was caught by Herr Flick, she told him exactly who I was and everything about what I was doing"
"What?"
"Yes, yes... He thought she was an insane old woman and left it at that" Rene swallowed his drink in one go.
"So, what are you going to do?" asked Michelle, placing her book on the bar top.
"What I must do" he replied with a sigh. "They do not deserve what awaits them - nobody like them do anyway. I shall travel to the trial and offer my testimony because they got me out of a lot of dangerous situations. It is only fair, therefore, that I do the same for them"
"Even though the enemy?"
"Because we were comrades in a way" Rene tried hard to remember something he had heard during his time in the trenches.
"Comrades? Them?" the woman raised a bemused eyebrow.
"In the war against death" Rene said from his memory, "We are all comrades in the end" he looked at Michelle with an expression of joy. "Listen very carefully, I shall say this only once. I want to do my bit for saving the Colonel, Helga and Lieutenant Gruber but there will be others in the town that will want them dead. When they hear of my testifying on their behalf, they might burn the cafe. Will you stay here and watch over things"
"It would be my pleasure, Captain Artois"
"You know?"
"It was not too hard to find out"
"Yes, well..." Rene made a dismissive gesture with his hands and then looked over at the piano. He knew the true feelings that Gruber had for him, but even now he would have given almost anything to have what he thought of as friends back around a table once again.
"Do you know where these trials are to be held?" asked Michelle, looking at the paper with interest.
"Nuremberg... I've heard of it, but not really sure where it is. I'll look it up in a map at the library and work out how to get there" and then Rene frowned before a pained looked crossed over his face. "My suit" he moaned. "I was going to get it cleaned and now I won't have the time"
"Leave it to me, Rene - I've got a few favours owed to me"
"Thank you" Rene was relieved. "I'll close up early and get to the library before it closes"
"I'll be there and back before you" Michelle shook her head. She found it funny when Rene would go into a panic but also heartwarming that he was worried about not looking right to appear in a courtroom - albeit a courtroom that had judges from all the major allied powers sitting in one room. The former leader of the local resistance cell shuddered at the thought of having to face judgement for everything that she had done - though she feared what would happen when she eventually died. She'd spoken to the local priest Father Patrice about it and he'd assured her that her sins of lying, stealing, cheating, hurting others and even killing people was all done in the service of a higher cause and aim. That said, however, she was in no great rush to find out from her maker and so she tried to do the best that she could. "Rene?" she turned at the doorway to look back into the bar.
"Yes?"
"I think the gold and silver could do with a polish" and she left leaving Rene with the feeling that she did not mean the utensils or the candle holders.
#
Rene was jumping at almost anything that made a shadow and a sudden noise. Although he knew about how the victorious allied powers were dismantling the machinery of the Nazi jackboot of oppression, he still thought that Flick would jump out from somewhere or perhaps some soldiers with too much wine and too many bullets in their guns. He'd walked around the damaged city and seen the scars the war had left, looked at the wrecks of vehicles that still littered places even a few years after the war had ended and then come upon a large square with the hated symbol of the group that had kept his people occupied for almost five entire years in some places.
"It will be gone soon" said a voice. Rene turned to see a soldier in uniform standing nearby - British from the look of it.
"You speak French?" he asked.
"Yes... It took me a few years, but I like to think I am fluent enough. I am an Intelligence Officer assigned as a translator for the trials. May I ask your name, sir?"
"I am Rene Artois. The trials you say?"
"Yes"
"Then it is good that fate has brought us together. I am to give testimony to the trials for several of the Germans that occupied my town" Rene twisted his hat in his hands as he did whenever he was nervous.
"Ah, you want to see the Nazis pay for what they did?" the officer asked.
"Yes... And no..." Rene stammered. "You see, they were sort of friends of mine and they did what they could to be kind to the local General was evil, but the other three were either just following orders where possible or else disobeyed them" Rene paused. "The woman who is of the opposite sex is Jewish and was hiding in the last place someone would think to look"
"I say, that is awfully clever of her. She will have to stay on trial - formalities of course"
"Of course. I have never been here before and never wish to be here again... Might I ask you to be so kind as to guide me to the destination which is the place I am going to?"
"Of course... Right this way" and the British soldier led Rene from the square. As they passed to the road leading away, there was a dull thud as the eagle and swastika was blown apart - smoke and debris flying in all directions. Rene turned to look back at it before making a very rude gesture with one hand.
"Vive la France!" he said defiantly as if the ghosts of Hitler, Himmler and all the other Nazis could see him. He had battled cruelty and oppression twice in his life and he was damned if there would be a third time as he made the gesture again and then walked away. As the pair of them walked through the shattered streets of Nuremberg, he could not help but wonder how and why the Germans had not done something about Hitler when they had the chance. From his talks with the Colonel, the Lieutenant, Helga and even the early years with Hans Geering, they had seemed like reasonable people trying to survive an impossible situation - exceptionally reasonable people that he could have been friends with in a different life. Looking around, he could see damaged buildings and even whole streets now a pile of rubble - Nouvion had thankfully escaped the vast majority of bombing apart from understandable targets such as the railway station and its goods yard, electricity and water supplies and so on. The cafe owner imagined what could have happened if the Germans had levelled the entire town and how hundreds of lives could have been lost in the attack and more from disease and starvation - something Edith had never fully grasped that Rene feared from his time in the trenches and was the reason he had put on weight over the years. After half an hour, the officer pointed out a large stone and brick building that stood amongst the devastation of the surrounding city.
"There we go. There is the object that is your destination which you are going to" the officer said. "I assume that you have your papers?"
"I do not speak or read German and I could not find one" Rene with slight alarm.
"Pardon? Oh, no..." the other man laughed. "Your identity documents and those documents to let you in"
"Ah, yes..." Rene fumbled around in his pocket and dug them out.
"Right-o. Stick with me and I'll get you through" the officer looked kindly on Rene who seemed overwhelmed by his visit into his enemy's homeland.
"Oh, that is very kind" Rene whimpered. He was not being a coward, but he realised that he would have to sit in a room containing people that had happily ordered the deaths of his countrymen as easily as someone ordering a bottle of wine from his cafe.
"Not a problem, sir" the officer turned to look back at Rene who dithered slightly. "You alright?"
"Yes... No..." Rene shrugged awkwardly.
"These bastards can not hurt you - at the end of the day, you can walk out of here with the sun on your face and they will spend a long time in prison"
"Or be hung by the neck by rope. Or shot by bullets"
"Yes... Better them then us, what?"
"Oh yes" Rene nodded as he handed his paperwork over for inspection and was very quickly cleared to go inside. He did not want the three he thought of as friends to be shot as they had sometimes gone out of their way to hurt or even get rid of Flick though the latter schemes had never succeeded to a full and permanent end. About the only good thing that he could say about the General was that he had gathered all of his troops together and then surrendered to the British so that lives on both sides, as well as that of the town, could be saved from having to fight to the finish. "Tell me, officer, will I have to wait for long?"
"Not very long - a week at most" the british man replied. "I have to leave you now, but it was jolly nice to meet you, what?"
"Oh yes... Yes, indeed" Rene nodded and shook the man's hand before he walked away and followed signs in a number of languages that were for the defence witnesses. When he went into the very large room that had been repurposed from a dining hall to a waiting room, most people looked as he handed his papers to the official sat at a desk. As he waited for things to be checked, he noticed that he seemed to be German which was both alarming and also made sense to Rene - the allies, he guessed, were using those in the government who could be trusted to keep things going as they knew everything about their city and so on. The Germans had done the same after taking over most of France and even the resistance had agreed that it was not collaborating with the enemy if you were simply doing your job in keeping law and order and other essential things like the water, lighting and gas supplies running and in order. He was quickly handed his papers back by the official with disdain and he walked over to a chair and sat down and allowed himself to sink into its deeply filled cushions - undoing his coat and taking it off as he did so. After a moment, he looked around and saw groups of frowning people plus the occasional frowning singleton who seemed to the cafe owner to mostly be Germans in black suits which sent a shiver down his spine out of habit. There was one man in the furthest corner who seemed to be wearing full naval uniform complete with insignia and medals - he had taken over a table for himself and was making notes and looking between files. Rene could not help but wonder who this was because he had the air of a lawyer about him. Still, he thought, he might have to appear in his old uniform to testify for some obscure legal point. He did not give it much thought and allowed himself to doze off in the slightly warm room with his cat over his lap and his hat sat on top of it.
#
"Have you heard anything yet?" asked Michelle as she stepped into the cafe.
"Nothing, but the lines between here and where Rene went are often damaged by renegade Nazis" Yvette replied.
"You would think that would have stopped given the war is over"
"Maybe it is the act of a resistance cell?" the waitress suggested. Michelle was about to reply but then could only shake her head with a wry smile - it did sound like something her old group had done often enough.
"Perhaps... Have you heard the news about Madam Edith?"
"No"
"She is living with the undertaker, Alphonse. They say that she is planning to take Rene to court and sue for a divorce on the grounds of being abusive and an adulterer"
"Oh, that woman..." Yvette poured Michelle a glass of wine and then herself a small cognac before moving round to sit at a table - business was slow enough that she could take a small break. "I often wondered why he stayed with her all these years"
"I think it was something to do with a scandal she started about him and he was forced into a loveless relationship to make her shut up. Madam Edith is barren and unable to bear children, but Rene apparently decided that it was due to war wounds and nobody wanted to press further on that subject. You know, for all of his cowardly behaviour during the war, he was exceptional at honour" Michelle spoke.
"Yes..." Yvette replied dreamily, "He is exceptional at a lot of things"
"So you do have something for him" Michelle grinned.
"Not in that department"
"Edith would say otherwise"
"Madam Edith can go to hell" Yvette replied hotly before looking around and then leaning in. "Listen very carefully, I shall say this only once... My attentions do not lie with a man of the opposite gender"
"I am sure you find a man-"
"I see you worked it out quick enough. Rene knew and helped me by being my cover - my beard as the English would say"
"Then who is the lucky lady?" Michelle frowned.
"There has been nobody since Maria" Yvette replied.
"Maria? The waitress girl that got herself sent to Switzerland in a parcel? I did not think she had it in her"
"She did three times a week" Yvette smirked. "However, she fancied that Captain Geering so our little meetings were a case of getting her cake and eating it" and then she suddenly looked alarmed. "You will not say anything to anyone, will you?"
"Its not my place to say anything about what happens in private" Michelle shrugged. "If you wish to fancy a man of the opposite gender or a woman of the same gender... Makes no difference to me"
"You are taking it very well"
"We had a few like that in the resistance. Your secret is safe with me and I shall take it to the grave with me"
"There is no need for that"
"It is alright - I am visiting the tomb of my mother" Michelle's eyes sparkled with merriment.
"What about you? To whom does your heart belong to?"
"There is none for me. I was married to the local station master before the war, but he was called up to fight and was killed when part of a rear guard to allow the British, French and Belgian soldiers to escape and fight another day. That is one reason our attacks on the railway was always so good - I knew everything about it. Now that the war is over, I am happy enough to be the post mistress and come here to relax and enjoy good company"
"Do you wish to see the Germans dead?" Yvette asked simply - finishing the last of her drink as she spoke.
"Those that did the harm, yes... But the Colonel, Private and Lieutenant? No, no I do not - we could never be friends, but we can be the best of enemies"
"You know that Helga is Jewish?" and Michelle nodded.
"I had noticed the few times I was in the cafe that she never ordered the pork and that she would mutter a few yiddish phrases"
"Yiddish?"
"Their language"
"Ah"
"I was a school mistress before the war. Now that the war is over, I don't wish to go back so I have taken the position of the work that I am now in for real"
"The war has changed us all" and Yvette stood to stand back behind the bar to serve some new customers that had come in. Michelle watched her with a new respect for being able to keep so close a secret - she would have given anything for people like her in the resistance cell she had so bravely led.
"Yes, it has..." Michelle looked into the remains of her drink sadly.
#
"Rene Artois!" a voice called out. Rene woke from his sleep with a start and then looked around to see a man in a suit gesturing for him to follow. He had been coming to court for the trial the last week, but his time had been pushed more and more back because of questions and counter questions. He was led into a vast courtroom filled with spectators, lawyers, judges, reporters and many others. In what he decided was the holding area for the accused was a number of people and he spotted Colonel von Strohm,Gruber and Helga sitting in the front row which he was led past before he took a seat behind a desk and some folders placed in front of him. A few watched as he glanced at the titles trying to identify the medals he proudly wore on his suit.
"You are Rene Artois?" a man stood and spoke to him.
"I am"
"And you are a cafe owner located in Nouvion?"
"Yes"
"And a member of the French Resistance?"
"I was"
"Good, then we have established you are who you say you are. Mr Artois, can you explain in your own words the occupation and how you dealt with it"
"Of course" Rene nodded. He felt nervous under the glare from dozens of people and he would often stammer but he gave the information to the best of his ability with references to the documents laid before him. His detailed questioning from both sides took three days and Rene's mind was spinning from various thoughts about what the Germans had really done over their years of being in control and he was about to be released from evidence giving when he asked to make a statement on behalf of the Germans. The press had speculated on if he would, given that he was appearing for the defence of the trio, and there was a pause before the request was granted.
"You may speak in your own time and words" he was assured.
"It is true that the Colonel, Lieutenant and Private took over the town and ran it for their government, I must tell you now that they did no real harm and went to great lengths to avoid what happened in other places. The only time the people of my home were attacked or hurt was when the Colonel was away on leave and could not do anything to stop it. They went to great trouble to either find ways around their orders or outright disobey them. On several occasions, they attempted to leave their posts because they had learnt about what was happening elsewhere. Whilst it is true that I helped to hide British airmen and others from them, they also knew about this and turned a blind eye because all they wanted to do was to survive the war for which I am glad they have. The three of them also helped the people get treatment at their own military hospital if something was serious and we did not have the time to get them to somewhere else. They also used army supplies to fix vital parts of the town and made sure that we never starved or went short of heating or water" Rene paused and looked around the room before finishing. "Those three have done nothing but be part of something not of their making or that they wanted to be part of. If you convict them then it would be a great crime to do so. I hope she will forgive me for saying this, but Private Geerhart, the woman who is of the opposite sex, only joined the military to hide the fact she is Jewish and would pass on information from Flick of the Gestapo to me to pass to the Resistance so any hiding persons could hide elsewhere. They were very brave people and I honour them as such" and, after a moment, Rene was led away towards the door but stopped as he passed by the collection of Germans waiting to hear their fates. He could see the worried look of the Colonel, Gruber's pale complexion and Helga's look of wonderment as if not believing that somebody had spoken up for her. "I hope to see you soon at the cafe" and then stepped back, straightened his posture and saluted in the fashion he had learned so long ago before turning on his heel and walking proudly away.
#
"Did you hear the reports of Rene's questioning?" asked Michelle as she walked into the cafe and went straight for the bar.
"No" Yyvette replied. "What has happened?"
"He was questioned for several days and then at the end said the three of them had done no wrong and that he would be happy to see them back in his place any time"
"He always did have a kind heart"
"Yes, but as he was being led out of the courtroom, he stopped and saluted them as one soldier to another. He has sent a telegram to say he will be back in two days because he wants to see the sentence being read tomorrow" Michelle glanced at the bottles behind the bar. "Make mine a double" she said and then sat on one of the stools.
"Of course" Yvette poured her a double sized brandy and gave it to her. "Do you think people will turn on him for supporting the Germans?"
"If he had supported the entire jackboot of the Nazis, yes... But he only did what he did to save lives and even we in the resistance respected that he was trying to keep the town safe as much as possible. There will be a few that disagree with what he said, but time will smooth things as they say"
"But what about Madam Edith?"
"Oh, you do not need to worry about her"
"Michelle, did you kill her?" Yvette asked quietly.
"Of course not! Mind you, I was sorely tempted to do so"
"Do you have a crush on Rene?"
"Oh no... Just a little admiration"
A/N:
For those that are wondering, the man in naval uniform that Rene sees is Otto Kranzbühler - the man who defended Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz at his trial.