Teresa's War

It was 1942. A small peasant farm, in the mountainous region of Nazi occupied Austria. On it lived a man, his wife and two daughters seven and five years old. Their life was relatively unaffected by the war, even if a Nazi garrison was close to the tiny village in the Tyrol. The father was unable to work because of a bad chest and recurring bouts of severe seizures so mother took in sewing and mending from the women of the village to subsidize their meager existence.The mayor, who was also the chief of police of the village and a collaborator, was the family's landlord and used his position to continually harass and make sexual overtures at the mother when the father was away. She was ableto refuse his unwanted advances.One night a terrified family of Hungarian Jews, desperate to escape to Switzerland, hid in a barn on the property and suddenly the family was in great danger. It was mid-winter and bringing the four inside the farm house to shelter in the roof space, only her mother and Teresa knew the dangerous secret. They stayed in the roof space for weeks until the mother decided it was safe to move them, but that was also the night, knowing father was drinking with his friends in the local wine lodge, that the mayor came calling. It was the mother who let him rape her while her daughter took the refugees to safety and across the border.Months later, first discovering she was now pregnant and knowing the child couldn't be her husband's she miscarried on the very day she'd agreed to take another group of refugees. Once again it was Teresa who led them to safety only just escaping discovery by soldiers, who were ready to shoot everything that moved in the dense pine forest bordering the farm.The Germans, finding out about the escapes and the family's possible involvement arrested her father and after days of interrogation and torture, finding out nothing from the innocent, sick man, released him. He never recovered from the ordeal and died shortly after. Teresa's mother, a devout Catholic, weak with grief and worry died on her knees in the small church soon after the war ended. The two sisters eventually moved abroad to start a new life. 'Teresa' is alone and lives in the north west of England.