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had recently returned from a short holiday in the Bernese Alps, while John Cally and controlled the last loads of goods arrive in his absence he heard shouting in a loud voice courtyard and on the stairs of the offices. Appeared at his window and saw two men in a uniform like the many who in those days you could see on the streets: well-polished boots, khaki shirt and a red armband with a swastika on his left arm.
Anette appeared at window and motioned for him to retire immediately. The screams continued a little more ', until he heard the martial tread of men in uniform and going away. John Cally Filiput heart pounding down the stairs to his run to Anette; found her standing in her office flushed. Ordered him to follow her. Got into the Benz and she immediately set in motion.
-Am I in trouble? He asked.
"We are all in trouble, he replied and pulled straight.
She took him back home for advising him not to leave anything in the world.
-E does not answer the phone.
John disappeared quickly and Cally was alone in torment the soul stirring and turning to the empty rooms.
Anette went back it was late at night with his father.
-Filiput I'm sorry mister, "said the old man, I'm so sorry, but she can no longer work for us.
-Because my parents are Jewish? But what have I to do? I have never attended synagogue in America, certainly not from you. I do not care at all the religion of my ancestors, my father got angry a lot with me, said I was a dog loose without a collar, a stray word, now I got to do something with the Jews?
-we told him chiaro e tondo a quella gente, gli rispose Anette; ma non hanno sentito ragioni, per loro sei solamente uno sporco ebreo. Domani mattina torneranno e se ti troveranno ancora al tuo posto di lavoro arresteranno te e mio padre. Per mio padre sarebbe qualche anno di prigione, ma per te probabilmente sarebbe la morte.
-Morirò comunque di fame: nessuno mi darà più un lavoro.
-Prepara la tua roba e fallo in fretta, ce ne andiamo di qua durante la notte.
-Dove andiamo?
-Dobbiamo essere ai confini con la Svizzera prima dell'alba. Ho un'amica a Basilea, potremo rimanere da lei finché non troviamo una casa e un'occupazione.
-You think the Nazis will not get there as well?
-Switzerland is always neutral. There we will be safe.
They left after a couple of hours. Anette's father had prepared a bag with all the money that was in cash, almost three thousand Mark Reich, enough to get by on three or four months, then had to make do.
passed by Heidelberg, Karlsruhe and then to five in the morning they reached the outskirts of Freiburg. They were now at about seventy kilometers from the Swiss border, another hour and were rescued. Anette had driven all the way fast, quiet, not era mai fermata e non aveva mai dato segni di nervosismo o di stanchezza. John Cally notò però che la ragazza cominciava a dimenarsi un po' sul suo sedile.
-Sei stanca? Vuoi che guidi io per quest'ultimo tratto?
-Io sto bene, gli rispose; sono preoccupata perché da qualche tempo ci viene dietro una macchina.
L'uomo si voltò a guardare: una grossa auto nera, una Auto Union gli sembrò. Procedeva a fari spenti alla loro stessa velocità. Data l'ora il guidatore poteva vedere la strada anche senza accendere i fari, ma era comunque un comportamento strano.
-Pensi che sia la Gestapo? Gli chiese lei con un small voice.
-We have already stopped, and then what does the Gestapo, following a car accident, just to keep in practice?
-Not really a car accident, she objected, I would say the right car.
-Who did the spy? I only knew your father.
-He's not sure, but a thousand eyes will stare in Germany today and a thousand ears will hear.
John Cally Filiput Anette knew was right and that they were in danger, but did not intend to terrorize the girl that laughed.
German-You say you are so strong and then cracked with fear for a trifle, but as he spoke gelarglisi felt the sweat on my back and legs that had hardened like pieces of wood. He turned once again.
-Try to go faster and then slows down suddenly. Let's see what he does.
Anette increased speed up to 120 kilometers per hour. The Black Auto Union immediately lost contact, and when she slowed to 90 remained at a distance twice that of the first.
-You see that there is nothing to fear? Is someone perhaps a bit drunk last night 'and this morning he forgot to turn on the headlights.
-I hope you're right, she concluded, but he felt relieved of a burden.
arrived at the border just after you are. There were seven or eight cars in front of them and the police controlled the documents very slowly. The Black Auto Union seemed to have disappeared. After they had reached a small blue van and another could not see coming.
See? He told her and stretched his arms and legs.
was up to them finally and two policemen came and asked for the documents in a polite, after greeting them with a touch of the visor Chep.
-Li to give me those documents, sergeant.
A peremptory order. The two policemen snapped to attention with tense faces when they saw that the other label had shown. A tall man with dark felt hat and a black leather coat. A uniform well known and feared throughout Germany. John Cally Filiput stretched his neck out the window and saw the muzzle of the Auto Union sticking out from behind the blue van.
-Where are you from? Asked the tall man with Anette.
-Da Heidelberg, lied Cally felt that she and John were lost.
-I thought it was a commonplace that women are more beautiful than they are liars, and now I think again, because I met her just now, looks a bit '.
- But we come from a part of Heidelberg, Anette insisted.
-What are careless! It is true, come just that way. I'll make the question more precisely: where you started?
-Frankfurt.
No, Fräulein Bischof, even a small lie. Heusenstamm you are starting out, where she lives with that man that now sits next to it. We have followed since then.
She made a gesture of rage and John Cally could not hold her back.
-Why did not you stop first? He cried.
-This will explain it to him our control, the man replied dryly.
separated them immediately. They took him up on the Auto Union, on her blue van. That was the last time I saw John Cally Filiput Anette Bischof.
After the war tracked her friend in Basel remembered the name and address. Marianne Viehglocke told him that after a year of hard prison Anette was transferred to a rehabilitation center and near Cottbus, a few kilometers from the Polish border. He had received a letter from her and a few postcards to mid 1942, then nothing. Anette's parents had died in a bombing, machine-gunned in a street in Frankfurt. Maybe she was dead, Marianne thought, otherwise he would become felt.
That morning, started from the Swiss border in the Auto Union no one breathed. Contrary to John Cally was not afraid to hit Command, or tortured or even questioned. He was treated decently, and he marveled greatly, even came to offer him a cigarette and a good brand of coffee.
-Sugar and milk? Asked the policeman in uniform who had brought him coffee. Stuff you would not believe.
After a couple of hours he was taken into a courtyard. Waiting for him there was a dark van where he was brought in without anyone saying a word. He sat on uncomfortably fund, and as soon as the van moved he lay crouching in a corner in the dark. He closed his eyes and after a while 'asleep. The last hours were very agitated and had won the fatigue. He woke up when the van stopped with screeching brakes. He sat up and waited. The rear hatch was opened, and John Cally Filiput was dazzled by the sudden intense light. While vigorously rubbed his eyes half closed he seemed to see a massive form that made him ample signs of exit. He was not able to move a bit 'because he could not see well enough, a bit' because his limbs numb and sore. Someone then entered the van and took him by the arm, a strong grip but not violent like someone who wants to help and do not drag the other person like a sack of rags.
jumped together. The other continued to support him by the arm.
-'Can you run?
immediately recognized the voice of Kurt Marx. She looked into her face and saw a kind of grimace, as if in pain.
"We must all go through the woods across the street.
-Kurt arrives just in time, he managed to stammer John Cally.
-Just in time. Look to your right there, "he said showing a freshly dug grave. They had prepared for you this morning. I struggled a lot this time, and I'm glad to have done.
Throughout the race through the woods Kurt Marx did not say a word, but he kept his friend's arm, almost lifted off the ground, so that he even had shortness of breath or breaking a sweat.
They reached a plateau without trees, they faced another even more dense forest and tangled undergrowth of low plants with a rough, but Kurt was like a mower, fast and secure. At the end of the trees encountered a barbed wire fence.
-From 'On the other hand is Switzerland. Go straight for two miles, then find a dirt road. Go down and you will enter on the side of a quiet village. There is a bus stop, you sit and wait. Get on that first pass and get off at Central Station in Zürich. Eat a hot meal and take the first train to Milan.
-One moment, a moment, "interrupted John Cally, I do everything myself as a hospital? You mean you go back?
-I did what I had, the more am I not allowed. Now you have to do everything myself, but it was no danger.
-are still under your personal protection?
-Always. As you can see you are alive and free. Do what I told you and you do not happen any inconvenience.
He drew from his pocket a canvas bag bulging.
-In here there is enough money in Swiss francs to survive a bit 'of time. Then there is an Italian passport from now on you are called John Filippi, who was born in Rome in 1910. Your parents died when you were nine years victims of the "English".
John opened the envelope and pulled out a green passport with the Savoy coat of arms in the center, two fasces on either side and the inscription in gold "Kingdom of Italy." John Cally turned the first page and looked at the photo of John Filippi.
-But I più la faccia di uno di venticinque anni, provò a protestare; guarda qui che musetto da ragazzino.
-È una foto di tre anni fa, quando ti hanno rilasciato il passaporto. Allora avevi ventidue anni e quella faccia da bambino, adesso hai solamente un po' di barba sulle guance e i capelli non più a spazzola ma con la riga a sinistra. Però la faccia è quella, stai tranquillo.
Rise e gli mostrò il vuoto al centro degli incisivi superiori.
-Su questo foglietto c'è un numero telefonico di Milano. A chi ti risponderà dirai solamente il tuo nome. Adesso vattene prima che arrivi la Gestapo.
Lo spinse verso il recinto e gli tenne aperto un varco nel filo spinato.
Appena John Cally fu dall'altra parte Kurt Marx si volse per andarsene.
-Ti rivedrò ancora? Gli gridò dietro John.
-Sì, mi rivedrai ancora, gli rispose Kurt senza fermarsi; ma non so quando.
Un attimo dopo era scomparso nella boscaglia.
John Cally Filiput, alias Giovanni Filippi, si fece di corsa il tratto di bosco che lo separava dalla strada sterrata; affrontò la discesa con passo spedito e dopo alcune centinaia di metri scorse le prime case di un paesetto venirgli incontro; erano come quelle che stanno su certe cartoline post, the typical rural picture. Not be seen or heard about, but he was a good smell of fresh cut corn. He saw a shed with a table and a bench for hours and immediately went there. He paused for a moment beside the window of a baker. He would not buy anything, but look in the glass to see each other face. Kurt had assured him it was like that of the photo, a boy with a little 'beard and was curious to check. He saw reflected the image of a young man. It was again rejuvenated than fifteen years, the miracle was repeated.
is no longer being posed more questions about who he was and where he came from Kurt Marx, he had only known that she would come again, at least ancora una volta.
L'autobus che arrivò era vuoto e nessuno vi entrò fino a Zürich. Scese alla Stazione Centrale; comprò giornali in lingua tedesca, francese e italiana, una rivista inglese e si avviò all'interno della stazione per fare il biglietto per Milano. C'erano da aspettare quattro ore, aveva il tempo di rifocillarsi e di fare due passi nei dintorni.
Sul treno nessuno gli rivolse la parola e questo gli andava benone, perché per la maggior parte si trattava di viaggiatori italiani e lui parlava quella lingua molto stentatamente. Si domandava cosa sarebbe successo alla frontiera quando la polizia italiana gli avrebbe fatto domande, ma nessuno gliene fece. Un graduato dei carabinieri diede appena una guardata al suo regio passaporto e glielo ridiede senza proferire una parola.
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