Mutti is in the sitting room, drinking coffee and listening to the wireless over the din.

‘I’m off to school,’ I announce from the doorway as I button up my coat.

‘What a day,’ she says, watching the trees sway in the wind. ‘And I don’t just mean the weather – that terrible trouble in Paris.’

‘What trouble? What’s happened?’

‘Didn’t you listen to the news this morning? Franz told me it may not be safe to go out. At least for a little while.’

‘Why?’ I ask, coming into the room, putting my bag down. ‘Don’t I have to go to school?’

‘He had to attend an emergency SS meeting,’ Mutti continues, ignoring my question. ‘No good will come of it.’

‘No good will come of what? You’re speaking in riddles, Mutti!’

She nods her head at the papers lying on the coffee table. ‘Read it yourself,’ she says, turning her back to the window and the wrath of nature outside.

I sink onto the sofa and spread the paper across the table, turning to the front page.

8 November 1938

From our correspondent in Paris.

HEROIC GERMAN DIPLOMAT IN PARIS FIGHTS FOR HIS LIFE!

Ernst vom Rath desperately clings to life, following the assassination attempt yesterday by a Polish Jew. He lies in hospital, awaiting the arrival of the Führer’s best doctors, already on their way to Paris, who will try to save him. The talented young diplomat was shot five times at close range by Herschel Grynszpan, who lied his way into the German Embassy. Grynszpan was arrested at the scene and immediately confessed his crime. It is thought that the scoundrel intended to kill the ambassador, Count Johannes von Welczeck.

Vom Rath is a promising young lawyer. An Embassy spokesman has described him as hard-working and honest, a talented advocate with a bright future ahead of him. A young man of whom his family, and his country, is rightfully proud. It is said that Grynszpan harboured evil intentions and acted out of spite and vindictiveness. This terrible crime reminds us of the chilling realisation that no German, wherever he or she is in the world, is truly safe. Safe from the ever-present threat of the Jew, waiting for the opportunity to do him harm.

*

The story sounds sensationalised. I remember Vati’s words about news and stories and the truth.

‘Do you think it’s true?’

‘Of course it is. Why wouldn’t it be?’

‘A friend of mine says you shouldn’t always believe everything you read in the papers.’

‘Well, you had better tell that friend to get a hold of their senses. How dare someone make that suggestion.’ She has the look of a woman who has been personally insulted. ‘Why would you question Vati’s good judgement as to what to print because of the ignorant remarks of a so-called friend?’

Mutti would defend Vati to the ends of the earth. Oh, he doesn’t deserve her devotion. A knot of anger forms in my belly.

I change the subject. ‘Do I have to go to school?’