I forgot one thing about my conversation 30 years ago with Mme Bertrand that should have been more memorable than you’d gather from my earlier report.
As I mentioned, the Second World War really defined much of her life. Certainly understandable—living under an arrogant and cruel occupation force that milked your country’s riches (from perfume to coal) for four or five years would make an impression on even the thickest dolt. And Mme Bertrand was not at all thick.
In talking about how German and English are similar languages, Mme Bertrand brought up the theory of some sort of German-English “understanding”. After all, why had Rudolf Hess flown to England? It wasn’t to take a walk!
Mind you, this was nearly 40 years after Hess made the trip, and he’d been rotting in Spandau for nearly 36 of them.
She was as vehement about that as my mother was about not wanting the two Germanies to reunite because we’d only end up having to go to war a third time.
But Hess—not even his Nazi buddies could figure out what that whole mission to Britain was. If there was a conspiracy, it was in his mind and his only.
(Posted at 1531 Thursday 26 November, Bordeaux)
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