Kate left an important meeting to greet her son when he arrived at the Pan American terminal at the newly built La Guar-dia Airport in New York. His handsome face was filled with enthusiasm.
“Did you have a good time, darling?”
“South Africa’s a f-fantastic country, M-mother. Did you know they f-flew me to the Namib Desert where grandfather s-stole those diamonds from Great-grandfather v-van der Merwe?”
“He didn’t steal them, Tony,” Kate corrected him. “He merely took what was his.”
“Sure,” Tony scoffed. “Anyway, I was th-there. There was no sea mis, but they s-still have the guards and dogs and everything.” He grinned. “They wouldn’t give me any s-samples.”
Kate laughed happily. “They don’t have to give you any samples, darling. One day they will all be yours.”
“You t-tell them. They wouldn’t l-listen to me.”
She hugged him. “You did enjoy it, didn’t you?” She was enormously pleased that at last Tony was excited about his heritage.
“You know what I loved m-most?”
Kate smiled lovingly. “What?”
“The colors. I p-painted a lot of landscapes th-there. I hated to leave. I want to go back there and p-paint.”
“Paint?” Kate tried to sound enthusiastic. “That sounds like a wonderful hobby, Tony.”
“No. I don’t m-mean as a hobby, Mother. I want to be a p-painter. I’ve been thinking a lot about it. I’m going to P-paris to study. I really think I might have some talent.”
Kate felt herself tensing. “You don’t want to spend the rest of your life painting.”
“Yes, I do, M-mother. It’s the only thing I really c-care about.”
And Kate knew she had lost.
He has a right to live his own life, Kate thought. But how can I let him make such a terrible mistake?
In September, the decision was taken out of both their hands. Europe went to war.
“I want you to enroll in the Wharton School of Finance and Commerce,” Kate informed Tony. “In two years if you still want to be an artist, you’ll have my blessing.” Kate was certain that by then Tony would change his mind. It was inconceivable that her son would choose to spend his life slapping daubs of color on bits of canvas when he could head the most exciting conglomerate in the world. He was, after all, her son.
To Kate Blackwell, World War II was another great opportunity. There were worldwide shortages of military supplies and materials, and Kruger-Brent was able to furnish them. One division of the company provided equipment for the armed forces, while another division took care of civilian needs. The company factories were working twenty-four hours a day.
Kate was certain the United States was not going to be able to remain neutral. President Franklin D. Roosevelt called upon the country to be the great arsenal of democracy, and on March 11, 1941, the Lend-Lease Bill was pushed through Congress. Allied shipping across the Atlantic was menaced by the German blockade. U-boats, the German submarines, attacked and sank scores of Allied ships, fighting in wolf packs of eight.
Germany was a juggernaut that seemingly could not be stopped. In defiance of the Versailles Treaty, Adolf Hitler had built up one of the greatest war machines in history. In a new blitzkrieg technique, Germany attacked Poland, Belgium and the Netherlands, and in rapid succession, the German machine crushed Denmark, Norway, Luxembourg and France.
Kate went into action when she received word that Jews working in the Nazi-confiscated Kruger-Brent, Ltd., factories were being arrested and deported to concentration camps. She made two telephone calls, and the following week she was on her way to Switzerland. When she arrived at the Baur au Lac Hotel in Zurich, there was a message that Colonel Brinkmann wished to see her. Brinkmann had been a manager of the Berlin branch of Kruger-Brent, Ltd. When the factory had been taken over by the Nazi government, Brinkmann was given the rank of colonel and kept in charge.
He came to see Kate at the hotel. He was a thin, precise man with blond hair combed carefully over his balding skull. “I am delighted to see you, Frau Blackwell. I have a message for you from my government. I am authorized to assure you that as soon as we have won the war, your factories will be returned to you. Germany is going to be the greatest industrial power the world has ever known, and we welcome the collaboration of people such as yourself.”