See you soon Caroline! Chapter 6. A Breakthrough

Chapter Six:

 A breakthrough

John Bond had walked slowly home from the awkward encounter with Caroline’s mother. He had felt embarrassed about the incident, and realised that Caroline was embarrassed too. If they had both been boys (or girls, for that matter), it would all have been perfectly straightforward. Why did people have to be so silly about boy/girl relationships? Couldn’t he be friendly and helpful towards Caroline without feeling guilty if he was caught talking to her? To be honest, he thought, he didn’t really know whether it was the buzz he got from successful research which was pulling him towards Caroline, or whether it was the fact that she was a girl, and a rather attractive one at that! He decided that he would push on with the challenge of finding out about her Grandad on his own, and avoid any further incidents such as that which had left him blushing furiously!

So that same evening he sat down at his computer and began his search. First of all, he tried Googling “Rivesaltes”. This brought up loads of information which he had already seen, but didn’t give any clues as to how he would look up the name of a particular prisoner in the camp. Then, after several more unsuccessful tries, he typed in ‘people who rescued Jewish children from Rivesaltes’. Within a few minutes he had discovered that there was a French organisation called OSE which had been responsible for doing just that, that they still existed, and that they had a page on Facebook!

Now John was not a fan of Facebook. He couldn’t understand why his classmates would want to spend time writing to each other every few minutes about which shop they had just been in, or what they thought of something they had just seen on television. Fortunately he discovered that he didn’t need to join Facebook in order to contact them. There was a button which said “Contacter Nous”, and John’s French was more than sufficient for him to know that this was the way to go. He thought about trying to put his request in French, but decided against it. He wrote:

‘Dear OSE,

I am trying to find the person who was responsible for saving someone called Erick Rauch or Eric Krauch from the Rivesaltes concentration camp during the war. Can you help me please?

Yours sincerely,

John Bond’

That night he did not sleep well. He worried whether he had done right in interfering in Caroline’s research, and whether the French organisation he had emailed would be able to help them. He also wished fervently that he had not had that encounter with Caroline’s mother!

The next morning, John was waiting for Caroline at the school gates. She saw him there, and tried to avoid him, but it was no use – he was alongside her and smiling broadly. All thoughts of yesterday’s embarrassment were gone as he thrust a piece of paper at her and said “Read that!”

Caroline took the paper reluctantly and started to read.  It was an email message, and it read:

Dear M. Bond,

Thank you for your enquiry.

We have searched our records and are sorry to inform you that we have found no references to children with the exact names you mention. However, there are several children with the surname ‘Rauch’ but with different first names.

 There is also a Franz Krauch, born February 13th 1942, removed from the camp at Rivesaltes on September 13th 1942. He was rescued by Miss Marion Oakes, the representative of the American Friends Service Committee and taken to their colony at Vernet-les-Bains.

We hope that this information will be useful to you.

Yours sincerely,

Helen Dubois (Oeuvre Secours des Enfants)

“Is that any help?” asked John?

Caroline read the message a second time. “That’s Grandad’s birthday” she said. “February 13th.  He was seventy one this year. So, yes – it would be 1942.”

“So do you think that’s him?”

“I don’t know what to think! I suppose it could be! But it’s still not proof is it! I mean, it could be a coincidence. And if his name was Franz, who was Eric – that was the name on Grandad’s piece of paper?”

John shrugged, “His brother perhaps, or his father?”

Caroline had been a bit dazed by all of this. Suddenly she snapped out of it. “Where did you get all this from? What have you been up to? And what’s this – this foreign thing, these people who’ve sent this email?”

John could see that things were going to get difficult. “Let’s ask Mr Shaw, let’s see what he thinks.  After school then?”

Caroline reluctantly agreed. “OK, after school!”

Simon Weaver had arrived back from his trip during the day, and so it was the three of them who made their way to the history room at 3.30 that afternoon. Caroline had sent a text to Simon asking him to meet her there, but he was surprised to see John Bond turn up as well.

“What are you doing here?” he asked – rather rudely Caroline thought, though she had been rude herself earlier.

“I’ve been able to find out a bit more about your Grandad” John explained, handing him the email.

“I don’t understand” complained  Simon. “What’s all this about?”

“There’s been an awful lot happening since you went way” said Caroline. And she proceeded to bring her brother up to date with events. “John’s been doing some research himself, and may have come up with Grandad’s real name, and the name of his rescuer.”

At this moment Mr Shaw arrived, and Caroline had to fill him in with the latest developments too.

Mr Shaw was impressed. “I think that’s pretty smart of John to get this far” he said. “This could be a useful lead. But it’s got to be backed up. What we need is some documentary evidence that links the name of Franz Krauch to that of Eric Krauch. Any ideas?”

The three students looked at each other helplessly. One by one they shook their heads.

“OK! I think this is a job for me. We’ve obviously got to contact this society in America. I think this is a Quaker organisation. I can look up its details and send an email asking for help. I think it’ll come better from a teacher. Leave it to me. It’s only morning time there at the moment!  If I email them when I get home I could get an answer tonight.”