THE Major was treated to a guided tour of the library and a lavish wartime lunch before attending Evensong,* where he heard prayers for the condemned men without comment. Settled comfortably with coffee afterwards, he crooned over a picture of Yalta, home to his Russian Orthodox grandparents and full of childhood memories.*
“Will you” Philotheos asked him suddenly, “grant me one favour?” The Major gave him his word. “Let the young men live”, begged the Abbot.
Georg acknowledged the injustice, but Berlin already doubted his loyalty and he dared not disobey. Philotheos understood. How about a personal favour instead? Name it, said Georg. To be shot, said Philotheos. Along with the others. Berlin would not object.
So there it was. As a man of his word, Georg must release the condemned men, or shoot his new friend. A tense silence was broken by the Major asking Philotheos to guarantee there would be no more sabotage,* and later that day the executions were called off.
The monks served up lamb, a rare delicacy in a country deliberately starved by the Germans. Moreover, Orthodox monks do not normally eat meat at all.
The Russian and Greek Churches are in communion with one another, and share the same faith. This is presumably why Lieutenant Zesse suspected that von Merenberg might be persuaded by the abbot and by a tour of his monastery.
Both men knew that the guarantee amounted to very little at this stage. Germany was clearly losing the war, and the sabotaged airstrip, which the RAF had subsequently bombed on 4th and 5th June, was unlikely to be completed anyway — as indeed proved to be the case. The Major was moved on soon afterwards, no doubt to his great relief, and the liberation of Greece began the following October. Von Merenberg survived the war, and died in Wiesbaden in 1965.