Penalties of Love

Paul Kelly

Description

Hans Knust was a German citizen and had a dream to become a doctor and a surgeon when he was a young man, but that was in 1914 and Germany had declared war on Britain which halted his dreams when he was conscripted into the Germany Army, but Germany lost the war and Hans was taken prisoner by the British troops.This seemed to be the end of his dreams, but in effect, this period in his life gave him dreams that he never thought possible and a life that gave him a love that would have completely escaped him if the Kaiser had won the war. His life thereafter was a reality of love, through both the first war and the second.

Sujets

• Romance

Informations

• Publié par: Andrews UK
• Date de parution: 05 août 2013
• Nombre de lectures: 1
• EAN13: 9781783331864
• Langue: English

Extrait

Title Page
THE PENALTIES OF LOVE
By
Paul Kelly



Publisher Information
Published in 2013 by
Andrews UK Limited
www.andrewsuk.com
This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior written consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published, and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
The characters and situations in this book are entirely imaginary and bear no relation to any real person or actual happening.
Copyright © Paul Kelly 2013
The right of Paul Kelly to be identified as author of this book has been asserted in accordance with section 77 and 78 of the Copyrights Designs and Patents Act 1988.



Chapter One
Prisoners of War
It was in February of 1919 just a few months after the war had finished and I was squatting on the beach at the north of France together with several hundred other German prisoners of war captured by the British and awaiting transport to a prisoner of war cap. The Kaiser had lost his ambitious dreams and Germany was once more regarded as an ordinary country. There was no more glory... “No more Deutschland fur imer”... and none of us were anticipating much of a life if any... when we were recruited into a war prisoner’s camp. It would well have been the end of everything for each of us and we expected something like that. There was a lot of muttering and swearing amongst the prisoners, but like most of them, their thoughts were on other serious things. Some of us prayed, if we were Christian and several rosaries could be seen by those of us who were Catholics, but I was a Jew and sat quietly just watching what went on around me.
It was a well known fact that we Germans took little or no prisoners from a war and the firing squad was uppermost in all the minds of the men who squatted on the sands with me. We waited, half hearing the ‘ schnell... schnell’ command, but we were in British command now and ‘ Get up off yer arse’ was the unexpected and ‘respectful’ call, which made us all move in that instant.
I had just turned 23 when I was dragged into the German army and had my university degree postponed where I hoped that I might return to university to complete my ambitions to become a doctor and if possible, a surgeon, but in my mind at that moment I was in deep despair and abandoned myself to whatever fate was to come. I know it may sound ridiculous to give up on life at my age, but when you are faced with what seemed inevitable... it is shivering and frightening to imagine that it was more than possible that your end had come. The waiting seemed endless until finally we could see a large ship coming towards us and then within a few seconds another ship followed. This wasn’t surprising when we realized that it would need at least two ships and maybe even three or four to cope with the number of us who stood trembling on that shore wondering where we would be deposited, but after some little time, I was pushed and shoved into a ship’s hold with not a thought as to where we might land and with several of my fellow prisoners even thinking that the ships would be sunk at sea and we would all be embraced in a watery grave .The day became darker as we sailed away and some of the men started to sing the German national anthem before someone shouted out for us to keep quiet, but then the men started talking amongst themselves about either the wives they had left behind or the sweethearts that they hoped would still be waiting for them when and IF they returned, but as expected when men are gathered together for whatever reason, there is always someone who rules the roost and hopes when he returns home to Germany that his wife of fifteen years had either gone off with some other fellow or that she had committed suicide... When the suicide was mentioned there were quite a few men who shouted ‘encore’ and laughter broke out in the stinking room.
We never knew how long we had been squatted together; standing there in the lower deck of that ship, as there was no place to sit down and all shouting their different grievences... but after about what we imagined to be about two or three hours, where the stench of stale urine and other pungent smells made us hold our noses, a strong voice with a foreign accent screamed down at us.. “YOO there noo... yoo bastards... up these bleedin’ stairs an’ dinna make any trouble or you’ll have yer airses well kicked.” I was lost for words, even as I had studied English to some degree at university where many of my fellow students were strangers to Germany, but I could understand the gist of what was required of us and one of the men who stood beside me, translated the verbal command as Scottish and we gathered we must have settled in Scotland.
It took us only ten minutes to get out of that ship’s hold as the stench was unbearable and what seemed to be an army sergeant marched us off in pairs to what was to become our new home for the foreseeable future. The joy we all shared was that the firing squad was nowhere to be seen.
The nearest town was Inverness and as it was nearly six o’clock in the evening it was quieter than I imagined it would have been if we had arrived earlier on that day, however, I think we were all rather tired and grateful for the busty Sergeant to guide us into the Home. There was considerable peace as we settled down for the night in the sparse little beds that were allocated to each, with a ‘potty’ underneath, to save us walking several yards to find the toilets. I started to think in that time about my own life before I was conscripted into the army. I had been studying medicine for years after I left school and with the hopes that I would get into university to make a career of my thoughts and with this anxiety in my mind, I hadn’t thought much about girlfriends. Together with this, my younger brother Eric was the handsome one of the family.
I never had anything that one could call ‘ good looks’ and even my own mother admitted that, saying I was as ugly as my father had been... What a thought to go to bed with, but my dreams of becoming a doctor one day gave me a good night’s sleep.
In the morning, we were called very early by a rough Scottish voice who referred to us all as ‘sleepy head wankers’ and it was fortunate that I could understand the reference... as several of my university mates who were mostly English had referred to this ‘wanker’ word regularly and I felt quite adequate in my understanding of the English language and hoped the Scottish language wasn’t too very different.
After a quick shower in very cold water and a breakfast that could well be described as ‘feeble’
We were marched off to an assembly hall and made to stand to attention whilst we were each pulled by the arms and pushed towards a door where we knew we would have to wait for the next command before we could even move... but it came... and one by one we were ordered to strip for a medical examination. We had to cough, breathe in and breathe out and stand on our toes for five minutes and I guessed that was to check our balance. After that another door opened and one by one we were asked to sit down whilst a British Army Officer, wearing a monocle, looked us up and down as if we had fleas before he barked his order asking each one to state his rank and name and other details that seemed appropriate to him. As my turn came, I gave him the information he requested after he had verified that I could speak English, even if my knowledge of the language was minimal. I told him my name and where I had lived in Germany and he seemed pleased with what I had said and then suddenly, he leant forward in his chair and addressed me by using my Christian name, which surprised me...
“Hans, it seems that you can understand English and I would ask you please to tell your other friends what is required of them and that is that they should be able to integrate with the people of Inverness in so far as they might help as gardeners, farmers or even electricians or that sort. Do you understand me?”
“Yes Sir, I understand but my English is very poor, however, I will do what I can.”
I did what I could and even found a few others prisoners who could speak English as well and even better than I could and they helped enormously, so that many of the men were sent to farms and other places where they would be able to assist in some way, but as was to be expected, one or two of my fellow prisoners were more interested in the ‘LADIES’ of Inverness and whether they might need some ‘MALE’ help in any form or fashion... I had no knowledge of farming or any other craft, but when I returned to the officer in charge and told him that I had been at university as a medical student and he seemed pleased as he lifted the phone on his desk and I could hear him say that he had a ‘nursing orderly’ and he would send him round to the hospital that same afternoon. Needless to say there was nothing I could do but obey and at five o’clock that same afternoon, I was taken by an army police car to St. Bernard’s Hospital and marched into the Matron’s office.
I sat in a chair before her but she didn’t look up until she spoke to ask if I could speak English and still kept her head down. I coughed and put my hand to my mouth before I replied that I had a little knowledge of the English language and she pushed a piece of paper in front of me.
“Put your name on that paper and state how you can help in any way in this hospital.
I need cleaners, janitors, gardeners and anything else you might be able to do.” she snapped and kept her eyes down on her desk as I stared at the paper in front of me, not knowing what I could write, so I looked up for a moment and coughed hoping sh