Chapter 26
Lili placed the flowers on her mother’s grave. A part of her wished the news article had got it wrong, and that it was another couple who had perished. She stared at the little inscription on the gravestone of a young woman, her mother, who had died when she was younger than Lili was now. The question she kept asking herself was why her mother hadn’t been repatriated to England to be buried there – why had she been buried in Corfu?
Lili returned to the path where her guide and the old caretaker were standing waiting for her. The caretaker appeared older than Joseph. Spiros told her that his family had looked after the Corfu British Cemetery for generations.
She noticed the caretaker still shied away as though he was afraid of her. ‘I’m not a ghost,’ Lili said again. She had so many questions. Before she asked a single one, he started talking in Greek. Spiros translated. ‘He says he is sorry that he thought you were a ghost. He believes they come back.’
Lili shook her head. ‘I don’t understand. Does he think he sees the ghosts of people here?’ Lili cast her gaze towards her mother’s grave. She didn’t believe in that sort of thing. although she wasn’t surprised that he thought he saw things, given that he lived in a cemetery.
‘No, he’s not talking about the souls resting here.’ They walked together through the graveyard as Spiros told Lili about what happened on Corfu during the war.
Lili came to an abrupt halt. ‘Did you just saydeath boats?’
He nodded solemnly. ‘Very few people know about what took place when the Nazis occupied the Ionian Islands during World War Two. Most people have heard of the trains taking Jews to Auschwitz, but very few are aware of the death boats transporting them from the islands to meet their fate.’
Lili fell silent. She glanced at the caretaker. ‘I remind him of somebody he knew from the past, don’t I?’ Lili looked at Spiros as he repeated in Greek what she’d just said.
The caretaker nodded. ‘Alena.’
‘Who was she?’ Lili asked, wondering if it was the same woman that Joseph had confused her with. It seemed too much of a coincidence not to be.If I bear such a striking resemblance to her, was it possible that I am related to Alena?thought Lili. ‘Was she taken on a death boat?’
She waited for Spiros to repeat the question, holding her breath to see what he said. Lili listened as he recounted the old man’s story. ‘He was just a small child, but he remembered the young woman and her parents being taken away. The wealthiest family on the island, they owned a vineyard. Alena’s parents often had artists and writers staying with them, and hosted parties for their foreign friends.’
He continued translating, ‘Everyone assumed the family would get away, leave Corfu to find a safe haven abroad, but it was not to be.’
Lili looked at Spiros. ‘Was Alena married? Did she have children who might have survived?’
‘You’re wondering if you are related to her.’
Lili did a quick mental calculation; if Alena had been a young woman when she was sent on the death boats to Auschwitz, then she might be …
‘Your great-grandmother.’ Spiros read her mind.
Lili confessed. ‘I don’t know anything about my parents’ backgrounds. I’ve only just found out about them.’ Lili gave an abridged version of what had happened. ‘A friend discovered they had an accident around the time I was found, but it sounds as though my mother was estranged from her family. I haven’t met my father’s relatives either. I think my grandparents didn’t know I existed.’
‘That explains a lot, and why no one came forward for you.’
She turned to the caretaker and asked again, ‘Did Alena have children?’ She looked to Spiros to translate for her once again.
The caretaker who until that point had had no shortage of things to say, fell silent.
Lili stared at him. ‘Did they take children on the death boats too?’
‘They rounded up everyone they could find – including children. Non-Jewish families on the island tried to hide their neighbours, especially the children, by taking them in and pretending they were their own. Some were smuggled by boat to neighbouring islands.’
‘Neighbouring islands?’ repeated Lili. ‘Like Zakynthos, by any chance?’
‘Possibly.’
Lili turned to the caretaker, repeating her question yet again regarding whether Alena had had children, feeling irritated that he seemed to evade the question. She caught the caretaker looking at Spiros. She saw something pass between them. ‘What is it?’
‘There were rumours, stories passed down about the family – a scandal some believe they tried to cover up.’
‘Do you know what it was?’
‘Alena wasn’t married, but it was rumoured that she fell in love and had a secret liaison with a young artist from abroad who used to stay at her parents’ house when he was visiting the island.’
‘So, she might have had a child out of wedlock? Is that what you’re saying?’