Gerda, the Girl Who Became a Spy

Following Romania's surrender on August 23, 1944 and the liberation of the country by the Red Army there was a brief period during which reunification of families was the primary objective of the surviving members. Those who had fled to Russia and survived by being relocated to Siberia began arriving during 1945 and 1946. My wife's family had relatives who lived in Bessarabia, a province that was forcibly returned to Russia during 1940 and who found refuge in Siberia after the Germans and their allies invaded Russia in June of 1941. During the summer of 1946, a submarine commander in the Soviet navy and his wife Lea came to visit my wife's family at Bucharest. At that time I was seventeen years old and had just been admitted at the University of Bucharest. Regarded as one of the family, I was also present at the visit. After an emotional meeting between Lea and her hosts, the discussion turned to what happened to Lea, her sister Gerda and their parents. They were saved by the availability of cargo trains, in place soon after Russia took over in 1940. The Russian rails were traditionally wider than the Western European rails to which the Romanian rail system adhered. Lea and Gerda's family left days before it became apparent that the Germans were preparing to invade by massing troops at the border. They were underway in the Ukraine when the German attack began and trains headed for the front had priority over those with evacuated civilians. At one of the stations where their train stopped to allow military trains priority, Gerda got off to look for water for the family. She was seen reaching up to a stopped military train and being whisked aboard by reaching hands before the petrified stare of Lea and relatives. She was never seen again as that train left the station.My future mother-in-law asked Lea if they learned what happened to Gerda: "She was such a lovely young woman and she loved life. You and Gerda came to visit us at Ismail a few times and we loved the joy and laughter that you left with us every time."Lea opened her handbag and rummaged among its contents, taking out an aged photo. She glanced at it and handed it to my future mother-in-law with a small smile.The recipient looked at the photo and looked again. Disbelief was written on her face. She had a questioning look for Lea and handed the photo to my future wife. Again, there was scrutiny, but this time my wife asked: "Is this Gerda seated at the table?"Lea replied with a nod and looked at my future mother in law."Who is that at the table just beyond Gerda?!" Disbelief was loud in her voice: "Is that me and mom?"Lea nodded with a small smile."But this is taken on Calea Victoriei right here in Bucharest. You mean Gerda was here during the war with Russia, so close that we could hug each other?!""It would appear that it is so.", replied Lea."But, but, we were at war. She couldn't....""Yeah, but she did and she had the street photographer take the photo with you and your mother in the background, because she wanted to show you later on that she was so close to you and loved you both...." There was a tremor in her intonation as if she muffled a cry."You mean she was a spy?" the naïve question made the submarine commander and his wife exchange amused glances. There was no comment."My God! I could have touched her and hugged her..." It was my wife's mother and she did cry.This is the story of a teenage Jewish girl from Romania, Gerda B., a refugee from the Nazi invasion of her home town of Ismail in the Danube delta, who meets her destiny at a railroad station when she is pulled unwillingly aboard a military train headed for Stalingrad. She is called to play a historic role in the encirclement of the Nazi invaders by Nikita Khrushchev, a Political appointee by Stalin to exercise control of the over a million man Red army at Stalingrad and future Leader of the Soviet Union.