The Forbidden Dance - Andante

      Corporal Karl Liebermann was in charge of overseeing the privileged prisoners, the F kommando, who served in the Herrenhaus in Buchenwald. It hosted gatherings for high officials. It was a monstrous mansion with 26 rooms, a ballroom, 10 meeting rooms, a three-acre back lawn, and four offices. Corporal Liebermann was two years fresh out of training, but because his father was a Gestapo detective, he was given many exemptions as he quickly rose through the ranks. And he had taken advantage of his father’s pull as far as he could. He was allowed to turn down training to become a combatant SS soldier. Since he had studied arts and culture in the university, he was placed in charge of the Herrenhaus’s parties held for the Gestapo and other high officials on holiday. His expertise would assure the finest music, décor, and foods were served at the galas, especially when the Führer was to attend.

Karl was a tall, 20-year-old young man. His hair was thick and dark. His eyes animated and always smiling. He had thin lips, but the smile of an angel. He was beautiful man, to the point that his allure would have him mistaken for an officer. And he treated his prisoners with manners, short of full respect. That is, he would be humane to them as discreetly as possible.

He was given new prisoners at least once a month, twice if those he had were to underperform, became insubordinate and tried to escape, or became too ill to serve or perform. Yet, Karl’s prisoners were more than servants and cooks to him. He had more than 60 Jewish musicians, painters, sculptors, and other entertainers under his watch. It wasn’t so much their dignity he respected, rather their crafts. Some of their works were popular all over Poland, France, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and The Netherlands. He knew that an artist’s morale was important to transcend the best possible harmony and art. It was important for their lives.

An SS soldier brought her in on August of 1941. “Here’s another rat for your house. We call her, whore number 9. Make sure she is bathed before you let her roam these corridors,” scoffed the soldier.

“Danke. You may go now, Private… Hansier,” Karl replied as he sneered at the young soldier.

She was blonde with glossy blue eyes, but eyes lacking life. She was tall and had started to thin out from the malnourishment she endured for the last two months. But she had elegance, different than the other Jew women Karl had seen.

Her beauty mesmerized Karl. He was perplexed that such a fragile creature had survived what she must have gone through. She could not be Jewish, maybe she was a French POW. He asked her in French, “Mademoiselle, Are you a dancer or musician?”  She did not respond. “Do you speak French?” This she understood. She picked up small phrases from her time detained with French women POWs. Women used to pleasure camp guards. She shook her head but kept her gaze through him. 

“Sprechen Sie deutsch,” he asked in his native tongue. 

She looked down and nodded. 

“Good! Are you a musician or a dancer?” 

Keeping her eyes to the floor, she shook her head. 

“That is fine. We will find you a talent here.” 

Anzeka’s eyes closed in surrender. 

Karl assured her, “No, no, a real talent.” 

She remained silent. 

He continued, “But first, we must wash you. I am sure you are covered in filth from being with the whores… I mean, the French and Poles they had you with before sending you here, meine Liebe.”

She raised her head again upon hearing his last words, but did not look at him. My love? It had been so long since she felt the meaning of the word; love. Even longer since she had heard it. She was again looking through him, but could not help furrowing her brow. Was this his way of making a mockery of her? Two months of imprisonment, two months against her will to live, two months of escaping her body and surrendering it to the enemy. She was now a bruised soul without a body, without a mind, without a heart to love.

Karl ordered two house servants to take Anzeka to be washed. As he watched her walk away and a warmth overcame his body...

To be continued...