The von Reichter - Schweitzer wedding was held in June 1940, at the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church.

Maria stood in front of a mirror in the small room as school friends, cousins and aunts fluttered over the final touches on her outfit. And it was nothing short of spectacular. The Schweitzers had spared no expense in financing an event they had been so anxious for. The white satin gown shone in the light, showing off how perfectly it fit its wearer. A diamond necklace dripped from Maria’s neck down to the low front of the gown. Diamond earrings dripped to match, and a tiara of white roses secured the veil cascading down over her hair. The effect was ethereal, and even Maria felt a little excited to see herself standing there, holding a white rose bouquet. A memory stirred...

She remembered playing "wedding" with her friends as a little girl. Her best friend was a boy named Josef, and he was always made to be the groom while the girls took turns as the bride. He had been a good friend, never a love interest, yet somehow Maria had always assumed they would marry one day.

But childhood and all its assumptions ended the year Maria turned thirteen. Hitler, the new chancellor, began to persecute his opponents and so-called "enemies of the Reich." Josef’s father was an artist and found himself under fire for his abstract, "degenerate" work. Fearing for his family’s safety and for his life, he left Germany with them and emigrated to Canada. Josef and Maria promised to write to each other, but eventually the Nazis halted international mail and the letters stopped.

If you hadn’t left, wondered Maria, would I be marrying you today, Josef?

The knock at the door woke her from her memories and she tried to calm the tightness that had suddenly grown in her throat.

Her father stood there, tall and proud in his formal suit. Strains of organ music floated in as friends and relations filed out to find their seats.

"Ready?" He asked, after his wife had kissed them both and they were alone in the hall.

Maria looked up into the green eyes she had inherited and smiled nervously.

"Ready."

For as long as he lived, Krumens, the best man, would never forget the expression on his mentor’s face as he watched his bride walk up the aisle. It was a look of such amazement, almost helplessness, as if his iron self-confidence was being challenged by the presence of some celestial being in a white dress. But it passed across his face for only a moment before vanishing, and Krumens did not see it again.

The ceremony proceeded rather well, despite some periodic sniffling from Maria’s mother. The reception was held that evening and went on late into the night with toasts, music, food and dancing. Everyone was having a good time, even hose who earlier, out of jealousy of Max, had made several cruel speculations amongst themselves about whether the children would resemble their mother or their father. But by the end of the night they too were joining in and congratulating the newlyweds.

It was about midnight when the party came to an end. Maria and Max thanked everyone for coming and eventually made their way to the car and headed home.

"Home" was now Max’s upscale flat. A day earlier, Herr Schweitzer had come by to help him move in Maria’s belongings. It certainly would not have been acceptable, after all, for the two of them to live together in an unmarried state.

Once inside the door, Max and Maria stood silently holding each other for a moment.

"Are you happy?" Max asked quietly after a moment.

His wife smiled up at him. "Yes," she replied and hugged him more tightly.

* * * * * *

At some time during the night, the solution came to him. He had been lying there going over the project for several hours, trying to determine where precisely the problem was coming from. Then an idea hit him. It had to be the answer. He was sure of it. Slowly and carefully, he eased himself out from under the head of soft red hair, which had been lying, on his chest. Good. She was still asleep. He put on his glasses and a housecoat and crept out of the room, closing the door softly behind him.

So it was that Maria von Reichter unknowingly spent her first night as a married woman alone, while her husband revised a series of chemical formulas at his desk until morning.

The first two years of the 1940’s were successful both in turning the world on its ear and in casting a sinister shadow over the entire decade which would remain well through the end of the century. Only a month prior to Maria’s wedding, German forces conquered France and marched audaciously through l’Arc du Triumphe in Paris. Country after country fell to the Nazi war machine. Even Britain, Britain who for so long had been the strongest and the most formidable of powers, was now facing the nightly terror of the Blitz from an equally strong and formidable opponent.

Then, just when it seemed that everything had changed, one more incident turned things around again. On December 7, 1941, the tiny island nation of Japan attacked Pearl Harbour, bringing the United States out of its isolationism and into the battle. War now completely encircled the globe.

Maria’s life at this time was, she concluded, bittersweet. The war frightened and worried her, but she was able to push it to the back of her mind when she was at school, especially on the days her classes took her to nursery schools to work directly with children. Max was very busy as well, as his talents and intelligence were in high demand by the government. He promised things would be less hectic once the war was over, however, and Maria looked forward to it.

But there was another problem the couple shared that could not be as easily dealt with by waiting for the end of the war. And increasingly it was becoming present in the thoughts of both.

They had been trying to have a baby. At first they were a little disappointed when nothing happened, but remained optimistic. It was probably just bad timing, they told each other confidently. So they continued trying. Still there was no baby, and they began to worry. Eventually the topic was no longer brought up out of discomfort.

When Maria discovered that she was pregnant that fall, she and Max breathed a sigh of relief. There was nothing wrong with them after all. But several weeks later Maria was rushed to hospital with sever abdominal pain, where it was determined that she had miscarried. The couple were heartbroken and nervous, for if a husband and wife could not perpetuate the Aryan race, they would certainly not find favour with the intrusive Nazi regime which controlled their lives. Max and Maria vowed, therefore, to tell no one about what had happened.

Life continued its bittersweet path into 1942, until Max came home one day late in January with an announcement, the true implications of which Maria would not realise until much later:

"We’re moving to Poland."

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