Fiction. Double Delight

It was a dismal morning in the small farming community of Staab, about 50 klms. From Pilzn in Czechoslovakia. The year was 1934 and Cecelia Bayer had just given birth to identical twin sons, Josef and Leo in the bedroom of the little cottage she shared with her husband Fritz. The Bayer’s already had five children and were finding it very hard to feed and keep them warm through the bitterly cold winters.
For many years there had been unrest around the borders of Bohemia and Germany, people living in this area had been attacked and their stock and crops confiscated. One particular winters night in 1938 a devastating attack took place in their village and many of the farmers and families were taken prisoners including the twin sons of Cecelia and Franz. They were taken to an old factory just through the Germany border near the Furth m Wald where they awaited transport to a camp. Somehow the twins got separated, one of the guards decided the little blond boy was a gift to him and his wife who couldn’t have children, on the way to the camp in Regensburg the guard smuggled Josef off the train where there were some friends waiting to take him to his village.
Leo was sent to a youth camp for his training to start for the elite Hitler’s army, his life was a very strict one, being moulded into a model student, no love and friendship was allowed, discipline ruled. Josef had a totally different upbringing, being loved and cared for, even during World War Two he seem to be sheltered from the all the ghastly hardships of life in a remote village in the black forest.
Years after the war ended, communist countries were freed, new borders made, Czechoslovakia was divided into two countries, Czech. Republic and Slovakia. Two middle-aged men had always wondered about their backgrounds and if there were any of their family still alive, also where they had come from. Josef had a comfortable lifestyle, a successful banker in Munich, a lovely wife and two children. Somehow there was always something missing, being only four years old when he was taken from his parents, he could just vaguely remember another boy just like him, also older children who used to look after them.
Leo, although having a very sad childhood with never a mention of where he came from but he did have the advantage of still having his Christian and surnames, thanks to the efficiency of records in Germany. He also felt there was somebody close to him somewhere. He now had a good job with the new Government in Berlin, plus a lovely wife and two children.
It was becoming a bit easier to trace relatives with very little information thanks to the International Red Cross. The name Bayer is a very common name in Europe and throughout his army training years as a youth he could still remember a few words of a dialect, plus remembered somebody that looked like him and older children looking after them, also animals and the feeling of hunger. His army life never included anything to do with other people apart from the camp he was in.
Quite surprising both twins were musical, Josef had been taught how to play the trumpet and for years had been a member of a Bavarian band in Munich. Leo had a desire to learn to play the piano accordion and took lessons from a friend who lived in Bonndorf in the Schwarzwald. He was a regular playing member of a band in Berlin.
Once a year there is a musical festival in Stuttgart, bands from all over Germany came to compete in the weeklong event. Josef was fortunate to be chosen for the Munich band entry to perform and was very excited to be able to show his skills of the trumpet.
Leo was also included in one of the bands from Berlin and was looking forward to perform on the second day of the festival. Josef had his chance to do a solo performance in the piece chosen for the competition, alas the band only got a third placing. Next day it was Leo’s chance to join his band in a very lovely piece of modern German collection of music and was very happy when they got a top prize.
One of the judges later called an urgent meeting to discuss one of the Berlin players whom he was sure had also competed in the Munich band. Leo was called to the meeting and accused of performing in both bands, he protested his innocence and demanded more proof. The judges decided to bring both bands in for questioning and it didn’t take long to discover the two identical looking players and apologised for the accusations.
The two men stared at each other in amazement, their dreams had been answered. After many hours of talking, the two realised they had to be twin brothers by their looks, likes and dislikes, also they had each chosen simular ladies for their wives and each had a son and daughter just about the same age group.
With the knowledge of those few strange words that Leo could still remember they soon discovered it was from an old Bohemian dialect spoken by the people near to the German border. The brothers took some leave from their jobs and travelled to the Pilzn area of the Czech Republic calling in on every small town and village asking questions about families who were taken away in those horrible pre-war years. Finally they arrived in Staab and managed to talk to an old music teacher called Josef who remembered the tragedy of lovely twin boys being taken by the soldiers along with three other members of the family. Josef was able to give them an address of one of the daughters who was still living there. On meeting Anna for the first time they soon realised they had found a sister and there was much rejoicing in the town that night. Sadly no one could give any answers as to what happened to the rest of the family.
A serries of forensic tests confirmed the three were defiantly related so now they could now feel they were a family.
Josef and Leo became very close brothers, Leo moved to Munich with his family to be closer to his new family members and hopefully they can have many years of companionship together.
The motto of this story is … forget about the lost years, enjoy the present and future helping to make up for the past tragedies