She doesn’t turn around but I can tell she’s crying because her voice has started to sound as if something is squeezing her throat.

Vati gets up from the table and goes across to Mutti. ‘Darling, stop,’ he says. ‘Come here.’ He pulls her to him and wraps his arms around her. She buries her face in his chest.

Vati looks across at me and Otto and indicates for us to join them. We run over to them and Vati stretches his arms to go around us all.

‘I will be back,’ he says. ‘I promise. I will be back, don’t you ever doubt that, not even for one moment. We will get rid of this nasty Hitler man. Then we will get on with our lives. We will all be happy and we will be together. That’s what is going to happen.’

We cling to each other as if our lives depend on it. I tell myself, the harder I hold on, the more chance there will be of Vati’s promise coming true.

‘Now, then. Come on,’ he says, eventually pulling away. ‘Let’s stop all this moping and get to work. You heard your mother. I’m not going anywhere without shiny shoes and the finest cookies. Tonight we are together and we will have a happy evening. I insist!’

And so, despite everything, we play music, we sing, we laugh, we talk and we even dance, all through the night.

No one says as much, but we all know why we do it.

We need to fill our home with as many happy memories as we can, so they will last till Vati comes back to us.

MAX

The headmaster had called a special assembly. He hardly ever did that.

Max could only remember it happening twice in his whole time at school. The first time was when Mrs Ehrlich, the head of geography, died. Mr Schmidt called all the pupils and teachers to the hall and everyone had to stand in silence and think about her for two minutes. All Max could think of was the time the hem of her dress had been stuck in her stocking for an entire lesson. He spent the whole two minutes trying so hard not to laugh that he almost did a pee in his pants.

The other time was when it had snowed so heavily that no one could see out of the windows and everyone was brought into the hall and told school was closing for a few days. That had been one of Max’s favourite days ever. Everyone had played games in the hall while they waited for their parents to pick them up and Max had loved feeling like he was part of a big team. That they were all in it together. He’d happily have spent every day of winter shivering in a cold hall if it meant feeling like that again.