The Note Through the Wire: The Incredible True Story of a Prisoner of War and a Resistance Heroine.
This is a true story about a soldier from New Zealand and a young girl from Slovenia. Both were victims in their own unique way, as is true with every survivor of the Holocaust. It was only through luck, cunning or sheer will that some survived the brutality of the National Socialist regime. Hitler’s Thousand Year Reich was thankfully brought to an end in far less time. Their story is told in alternating chapters featuring the experiences of each, Josefine and Bruce, and sometimes featuring both of them. Hitler’s war created many heroes and heroines in spite of the evil he wrought upon the world. Hitler and his followers were examples of the worst behavior mankind could exhibit, but Bruce and Josefine were examples of the opposite, the best and most courageous of us who were willing to sacrifice their own lives to save the lives of others.
Bruce enlisted with two buddies after a night of drinking. His marriage was floundering and he was escaping it into another world, perhaps without thinking carefully enough about what was to come. Josefine lived in Slovenia which was invaded by the German Army and brutalized at the soldier’s pleasure.
Bruce is captured after a brutal battle in Greece, a battle in which he witnesses the dreadful toll of war. Ultimately, he is sent to Stalag XVIIID, in Maribor. Josefine lives in Limbus, not far from Maribor, and although she is barely 18, she works with the partisans and is a freedom fighter. She is a part of the Polish Underground, as are her other siblings. Her family does not support the Nazis and is doing its part to thwart them. They all suffer for it.
Josefine’s brother Polde is captured and released after being brutally tortured. He reveals nothing to the Nazis. He goes into hiding, but he is reckless and returns once more to visit his family. He is soon recaptured. No one knows where he has been sent, and the family fears he is dead. Still, Josefine, refuses to give up hope. She goes to the nearby prison camp in Maribor, disguised as an old crone. What she is doing is very dangerous. She is hoping to attract the attention of a prisoner and to pass him a note asking if her brother, Polde Lobnik, is incarcerated there. If she is spotted, she will be captured or shot, as will the prisoner who aids her. The only soldier who faces the danger and will approach the fence is an unkempt, disheveled man. That soldier is Bruce Murray. She passes him the note and runs away as a guard spots her, and she injures her ankle as she escapes. She hears him shout Halt over and over again and waits for a bullet or the sound of pursuing dog. Bruce places his body between the guard and Josefine so he cannot get a clear shot. Her injury prevents her from returning to the camp as promised in the note. Bruce has the note translated and endangering himself further, attempts to find out if anyone knows of her brother. When she doesn’t return, he bribes someone to bring her a note explaining that her brother is not there. Josefine is touched by his effort to help her. Bruce is truly smitten by Josefine.
This true story is told in alternating chapters that reveal the experiences that both Bruce and Josefine endured, until they met again, by chance. He is sent to a farm on a work detail. The farm happens to belong to her aunt and uncle. In the midst of the horror of this war, with the danger of death at their doorstep every day, these two unusual strangers, fall in love.
Even their love is dangerous. Bruce often sneaks out of the prison to meet Josefine. There are spies everywhere hoping to catch someone in order to curry favor with the Germans, so they must be ultra-careful. Josefine has been ferrying escaped prisoner and Allied Soldiers to safety. Bruce begins to help her. When their trysts are discovered, her aunt and uncle’s farm is searched. They are safely hidden in a special niche for that purpose. When the war intrudes further, and Josefine is in great danger, they are driven apart. Will their love endure?
As their story is told, the atrocities committed by the Nazis are palpable. Wholesale murder of innocent people in retaliation for resistance is not uncommon. Torture is standard for anyone imprisoned, especially if they are suspected of being traitors to Hitler’s cause. Humiliation and abuse are the stock and trade of the Nazis.
There is great attention paid to detail in an attempt to write the story of Bruce and Josefine, their love and their resistance efforts, as accurately as possible. Since both Bruce and Josefine are no longer alive, it sometimes had to be pieced together using a bit of poetic license. The constant is that no matter how many books one reads, there is always something new to learn, and be shocked about, with regard to the Nazis, their hate and their behavior. The book is particularly interesting because it is not about Jewish prisoners or Jewish victims, but rather about the POW’s and those people trapped in towns invaded by Hitler. It is also about the brutality of Russia, as conqueror, which was as bad as Germany, as invader.
Fear, jealousy and greed motivated most of those who supported Hitler. What motivated Hitler, his supporters, and the soldiers who fought to further The Third Reich will never be known. It is impossible to determine what would cause such evil and blind obedience. They committed unspeakable atrocities and thought they could get away with it. Can that behavior ever be justified or forgiven? What inspires a hero or a heroine? From where does their courage spring?
The author of this book is the son-in-law of Bruce and Josefine. He tells their story. It is a worthwhile story that should be widely read. Perhaps if we learn from the past, we won’t make the same mistakes in the future.