"if walls could talk"

"If walls could talk", all secrets would be known and granny would not survive the day, her life would have changed.

It was a rainy and windy day on April 4th, 1941. Granny was living with her brothers and sisters and her parents in a small basement apartment in London / Soho . Their beautiful house in Broomfield was destroyed during a bomb attack 6 months ago. She remembered that day as if it was yesterday.

It was her sister's birthday. Molly, the youngest of the 5 siblings turned 4.

Her mother had baked a huge cake for her birthday with a big five on it. The whole cake was sprinkled with sparkling little chocolate dots. It looked delicious. All siblings had made a birthday present for their little sister.

Granny liked to crochet best and that's why she crocheted her own coaster for her cup. They all were very excited to see her face when she opened her birthday presents. Molly was dressed in her best dress that day and her mother had given her a new hair loop. When she walked into the living room she looked very important. All the other siblings stood up and started to sing for her. After they finished their song, one after the other gave her a hug and a self-made present. When it was granny's turn a loud crash from the outside stopped her. Her mother turned around and rushed to the window.

No one could see what had happened, but her mother put her finger on her lips and pushed her aside. She pointed to the floor. Everyone should lie flat and say nothing. Then she scurried to a spot on the wall that made absolutely no sense. She pressed her hand to the wall and a door opened. She turned to the children and motioned to them to quickly disappear behind this wall. All the children quickly scurried in there. Granny remembered her mother telling them not to say a word no matter what happened.

Then she closed the door. Granny and her siblings sat close together on the floor behind the wall. They heard how their mother quickly brought away everything they had set up for the birthday party. They didn't understand why she did that. a short time later they heard footsteps again. This time there were very loud steps. Someone hit his heels with full force on the beautiful wooden floor. It sounded like a thunderstorm. That scared everyone. Granny and her siblings covered their mouths with their small hands. They were scared. Afraid for her mother and afraid of not being able to get out from behind the wall anymore.

Then they heard a voice.

"Who does this house belong to?".

It was a male voice.

"The house belongs to my family", her mother replied.

"Where is your family now?" asked the voice.

"Not at home. The children are at school and my husband is working". "When are the children coming back? And when is your husband coming back?"

"I do not know exactly". Her mother's voice became a little more definite. "We need help. Now".

"What help? We don't help the enemy."

Granny and her siblings could hear the man pacing back and forth.

"Please leave our house immediately", there was her mother's voice again. "We can't just leave", said the voice, "We need 2 hours for a conference". "Two hours! That's not possible, no way".

They could hear their mother moving towards the door.

"Do you actually know who I am?"

"No, and I don't care either" granny's mother replied.

"I'm an English soldier and I belong to MI5," said the voice.

"Hahaha, a good joke, and I'm the queen of England," she replied. My great-grandmother had a great sense of humor, said my granny. To allow yourself such an answer in such a situation - that was something. My granny and her siblings had to hold back their laughter because otherwise, he would have heard them.

"As far as I can see you are wearing a German uniform, or how do you see that?", asked my great-grandmother.

"That's right, but I'm English and I have a conference to prepare for here. So? Where is the reading room or the dining room?"

"You are standing in both right now," was the reply.

Before she could speak any further, they heard more loud footsteps coming into the house. They could almost feel their mother freeze.

And then everything happened very, very quickly. Granny's mother was taken to another part of the house; her eyes were blindfolded, her mouth was sealed with a gag and her ears were covered with headphones playing loud music.

Only the children behind the wall could listen.

The children heard other men and a woman enter the dining room. Everyone just said hello. Everyone only addressed each other by their first names. Papers were spread out. You could clearly hear the rustling of the individual pages. Drinks were unpacked and everyone sat down at the large round table that was supposed to be set up for the birthday. My granny kept saying that if walls could talk, the courtrooms of the world would be full of lawsuits. That day was about a planned assassination attempt on Hitler. Everything should happen quickly and without much effort. Final details were worked out and discussed. Who does what, when, and where. Which contacts are still needed and which material would work the fastest?

The whole conference lasts about 2 hours as announced. It seemed like an eternity to the children. It was stuffy and dusty there behind the wall and the dust tickled our noses all the time. The two little siblings were fast asleep which was a relief. Only my granny and her other siblings sat there and listened. She remembered a saying that her grandmother used to tell her all the time when she tried to listen at a door. 'The eavesdropper on the wall hears his own shame'.

But she didn't feel embarrassed. Her mother had hidden her to protect her and whether she wanted to or not, she had to listen to what was being said.

She tried to understand what was being said and she was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't even notice how everyone left the room.

The wall opened up so suddenly that the sunlight hurt her eyes. Her mother stood there, unharmed and overjoyed that it was all over. She hugged each one and kissed each of her children.

Then she ran back into the kitchen and got the birthday cake for molly. My granny kept saying that she was looking for notes, pens, and clues as to who was actually there. She asked her mother, but her mother never said a word about it again either.

Many years after the war was over and rebuilding had begun, granny and her family drove back to their old house to see the damage. The whole house had been razed to the ground in a bomb attack, and only the wall with the hiding place was there. All alone as a memorial for this conference. If this wall could speak...world history might have taken a different turn.