The Sauchons regarded the Nazi rise to power with a mixture of curiosity and mild sympathy, believing that the situation in Germany could not fail to improve if law and order were imposed. After her husband’s death in 1935, Egon’s upbringing became Andrea’s sole responsibility. She kept in close contact with his unit when he was inducted into the navy in 1940 and received regular reports on his progress from the base commander. When she heard that sailors were being transferred to the infantry in advance of the planned invasion of Russia, she used her influence to arrange for Egon’s posting to a crack paratroop unit. As a result, however, Andrea, whose connections in the infantry were not as good as those in the navy, lost contact with her grandson for a long period. And yet as distressed as she was by this, she was thrilled to hear that Egon had taken part in the daring conquest of Crete in May 1941. His participation in this battle, she felt, in some way made up for the first Egon’s death at Verdun and she could hardly wait for her adopted hero to come home. But Egon did not return to Germany with the 7th Paratrooper Division and remained with the occupation force in Crete, from where his postcards, starting with the winter of 1942, were almost secretively brief. And yet although this made her long to see him even more, she was forced to conclude, after vainly waiting for him three times, that he looked forward to their meeting less than she did. Nevertheless, she wrote to him more than ever and sent him the Greek history and the Homer that he had asked for. It seemed most odd to her that he had stayed in Crete with a rear-line unit instead of moving on with his old brigade, which was now fighting in the East. In the summer of 1944, after numerous German setbacks and the Allied invasion of Normandy had stricken her with the fear that she might never see him again, she used all her connections in the high command to have him recalled to Germany for the coming last stand on its soil. However, although she succeeded in having a transfer request issued by a ranking commander in the Berlin theater, the order vanished in bureaucratic channels on its way to Crete. Now too, though, Andrea Sauchon refused to give up. Taking the initiative again, she organized a group of war widows and wives of high naval officers who had fought with her husband and petitioned the general staff to allow them to visit Athens and its historical sites before these were “returned to the enemy.” Her stubbornness, her resourcefulness, and above all, the renown of the name Sauchon, crowned her efforts with success and the elderly women set out across Europe for Greece, where they successfully toured Athens and its environs. A photograph of them standing among the columns of the Acropolis even appeared on the front page of the Frankfurter Zeitung Andrea’s real destination, however, was not Athens but Crete, where she intended to deliver Egon’s transfer order personally. And so, when her traveling companions returned to Germany, she remained in the Greek capital and persuaded its military governor to fly her to Heraklion in a light craft. Twenty-four hours before her take-off, a wireless message arrived on the island announcing the distinguished old lady’s arrival. Naturally, she was greatly excited by the prospect of seeing her “grandson” again after their three years’ separation. He, for his part, knew nothing about the signed order in her pocket.
Her half of the conversation is missing.
— And even though I know you’re tired, because how could you not be, dearest Grandmother, no, not even if you had steel in your veins, and I’m sure that you do — why, if anyone doubted it, this astounding journey of yours across Europe is proof enough! — yes, even though I know you’re tired, I’m afraid I have to insist. And so before answering all the details of all the questions you’ve brought with you from so far away, some of which you’ve asked already and some of which you haven’t yet, I must insist, dearest Grandmother, that you come with me right now, just as you are, in your marvelous traveling outfit and your boots. Don’t think I wasn’t thrilled to see them the minute you stepped off the plane, your hiking boots from the Schistan Forest! How clever of you it was to wear them. There’s the wife of a military man for you! O most wonderful Grandmother, what a big hug I’d give you if only everyone weren’t looking, because we don’t want to do anything improper. Please, then, let me insist, before we do anything else, on taking you just as you are, in the same high spirits with which we started off this fabulous, this most incredible, this absolutely fateful meeting between us, here in this place and at this time, yes, fateful is the word, to the top of that hill right above us…
— No, no, it’s not a mountain, Grandmother. You were born on the plains of Holstein, and so you think that every hill is a mountain. It’s really just a little hill, believe me. Mountains don’t look like that, and here, on this island, there are some real ones…
— Step by pleasurable step we’ll do our best to reach that round summit that you can see so clearly from here.
— Exactly.
— Exactly.
— Yes, the visibility is magnificent today, Grandmother. I don’t know if you can begin to appreciate the extent of the view that you’ll have. It’s as if the windows of the world have been especially scrubbed for you, and the island rinsed with clear wine, and even the clouds washed down with the finest suds! Because up in our moldy north you never see more than half of the visible world, and here you’ll see the other half, and maybe more. We couldn’t get over this glorious weather all morning. Just see how clear the sky is, everyone kept telling me, it’s in honor of your grandmother Sauchon…
— Everyone knows. Everyone is thrilled by your visit. Our commanding officer, Bruno Schmelling, is even thinking of giving a little banquet tonight in your honor… in honor of the good old, little old Germany…
— Of course he’s expecting you. But meanwhile, Grandmother, please, we mustn’t miss a minute of this most magnificent, this best time of day. Our leisurely climb will take us to five stations, five observation points from which I’ll tell you my story in the order and way it should be told, because nothing can be safe or sensible without order, isn’t that what you always used to say? Well, I subscribe to that wholeheartedly, which means we don’t have much time, only a few hours, of which we mustn’t waste a minute in small talk or childhood reminiscences. We’ve got to get straight to the point and to all of the difficult questions, because it’s perfectly true, Grandmother, that I’ve hardly been in touch for three years, hardly written to you, never taken a single leave, even though I knew how I was hurting you and Mother, because I was afraid that if I left this island I’d never come back. Who knows, perhaps deep down I did it just to lure you here, Grandmother, to this place that soon, yes, indeed, we will all have to leave without ever having bothered to understand it despite our great enthusiasm for it in the beginning. And you can see that I succeeded, because here you are! In fact, Grandmother, believe it or not, from the unforgettable moment that the most delicious news of your arrival first reached me over the wireless, I’ve done nothing but plan this visit! I’ve even written and learned all my lines by heart, ha ha… why, I couldn’t fall asleep all night long…