Prussian Blue

"Oh, what a shame. I suppose we should wait then."

"Yes, I do think I should probably wed my husband as a virgin. And I expect him to be one too!"

Her laughter is delightful and I pull her into me. Lightning flashes again, the crack of thunder instantaneous, the rumble reverberating around the hills, and I whisper, "I expect God is trying to tell us something. Do you think it's punishment for fornicating out of wedlock?"

"Perhaps he's giving his approval because there's obvious sparks between us."

"Actually, I think you're right, he's saying we should bang together."

"Oh, you're terrible," Gisela laughs, "And you must be punished."

We smile right up to the point our lips are otherwise occupied by kissing.

~0~

© 2021 Thefireflies, for Literotica

Author's note:

Firstly, as with most of my stories, I've spent a great deal of time self-editing, however if there were any mistakes, I do apologise. No matter how careful I read and re-read, some errors inevitably make it past me.

I thought up the events in Prussian Blue before I wrote Alfred's preceding story, Armistice Day, and think a little context is in order on what influenced the story's concept. The First World War was a significant traumatic event, and for Australians the war and its impacts have shaped many traditions we continue more than 100 years on. The most obvious is Anzac Day on the 25 April, remembering the casualties among Australian and New Zealanders in the Gallipoli campaign of 1915, and more broadly to honour the sacrifices made by all military personnel in conflict and peace.

People back home were directly and indirectly impacted by the war. One group of the Australian community suffered additional trauma, stigma and ostracism on account of being born German or descended from Germans or their allies.

At the time of the First World War, German speaking people formed the third largest cohort of immigrants across Australia after British and Irish. They had settled all over, with notably strong communities established in rural areas, the most familiar of these occurring in South Australia's Barossa Valley and Adelaide Hills regions. However, significant numbers of Germans also settled in South East Queensland, where I've set Prussian Blue. Prior to the war, these communities maintained strong German heritage and cultural ties and Germans were, in general, respected members of the broader Australian public.

The outbreak of war in Europe in July 1914 drastically changed how German settlers were perceived by other Australians. Two early events in the war; the defeat of German cruiser SMS Emden by Australian Cruiser HMAS Sydney off the Cocos (Keeling) Islands in the Indian Ocean, and the Australian occupation of German New Guinea, brought the close reality of war to the Australian public. Anti-German sentiment grew and in typical fashion was encouraged by politicians, where Germans and Austrian citizens were deemed 'enemy aliens'. Thousands were forced into internment camps, mostly men, and many others were required to report to the authorities on a regular basis. They were actively discriminated against, verbally abused in the streets and likely physically assaulted too.

The war ground on and Australian casualties increased, where by the end of the war 60,000 Australians were killed and 150,000 wounded. Families across the nation grieved the loss of husbands, sons, fathers and brothers, where it has been said most families were affected by the war in some way or another. Some who'd volunteered (Australian military service was entirely voluntarily with no conscription) to fight were the descendants of German settlers, including sons born to German immigrants. These men were Australian and by-and-large never considered themselves as anything else, and they joined up for the same reasons other Australian's did; out of patriotic duty or adventure or to follow their mates into a particular unit so they'd deploy together.

Inevitably German immigrant families lost sons and grandsons in the war, and yet there are records of families suffering continued harassment despite their Australian sons paying the ultimate price. Many families Anglicised their German surnames and towns with German names were renamed. Lutheran schools, German clubs, newspapers and other cultural activities were terminated during the war. Some families denied their heritage, keeping their German ancestry secret from their children, telling people they were from other European nations such as Russia or Poland. Of course ties were further strained in the lead up to and commencement of the Second World War, where remaining cultural links were further discarded. Consequently community links with a once rich and vibrant cultural identity were lost.

History moves on, but not all is lost. Children of people like Gisela and Alfred are told their grandparents spoke differently because they are Germans. Stories are told, like how before the war their German grandparents were deemed upstanding members of the community by most, but a small number of people were abusive and spat upon them and threw bricks and rocks through windows during the time of the war. Maybe they are told these stories as a lesson not to treat others as some treated their grandparents, where these stories are sometimes handed on to future generations.

~0~

Postscript

One-hundred years later a descendent with an interest in family history has heard such stories, tidbits of information to be pieced together. Searching through a box of black-and-white photographs reveals old family portraits; people wearing inappropriately heavy European clothing on the sprawling veranda of a colonial-era house, unmistakable eucalypt trees in the yard. Two girls with not-quite straight faces are perhaps trying not to laugh. Another photograph is of young men, some only teenagers, wearing whites and others in stripes, cricket bats and balls in several of the men's hands. A photograph shows several young soldiers together in Australian Army uniforms, dated late 1915, the men looking much too young to be going to war.

And a photograph, dated December 1918, shows a young couple; a beautiful young woman with hair pinned attractively, a few loose strands escaping and a plait falling over her right shoulder, wearing a dark dress, sitting next to the handsome man who's standing tall and wearing a suit. What the photo can't show are the man's lungs which are damaged by gas in the war, yet stories handed down tell of how the man will suffer complications for the rest of his life. But looking further at the date of the photograph will cause our amateur family historian to smile, discovering the photograph in question was taken several months before the couple married, where there is only seven months between the date of their marriage registration and the birth date of their first child.