Free Magda's Daughter by Catrin Collier

looking for horror stories to fuel the Cold War. When they can’t find any they make them up.’
    â€˜It’s not just the papers. You were only a toddler when Alma’s husband, Charlie, was deported back to Russia. We never found out what happened to him but it’s a fair bet that he was either sent to Siberia or shot.’
    Loath to cause his mother or Auntie Alma pain, Ned had never asked questions about ‘Uncle Charlie’, whom he could barely remember. ‘Mam told me that you and Uncle Charlie were close.’
    â€˜We were. Feodor Raschenko, or Charlie as everyone in Pontypridd called him, was your grandfather’s closest friend and became one of mine after I married your mother. I was privileged to know him,’ Andrew said. ‘He rarely spoke of his early life in Russia during and just after the revolution, but what little he said terrified me. I couldn’t imagine anyone living through half of the privations and horrors he had, and remaining sane. Like his father, Peter has seldom mentioned what he went through in Russia, especially during his childhood in the camps and never mentions the time he spent in Auschwitz during the war. It’s understandable. He makes a good living from the garages, dotes on Liza and their girls, and lives very much in the present.’ Liza had married Peter within months of his arrival in Pontypridd just after the war. ‘But he did open up to me once about his early life in Russia shortly after Charlie was forced to return there. And it sent shivers down my spine. So forgive me for trying to prevent you and Helena from travelling to the region. If anything happened to either of you, I would never forgive myself.’
    â€˜Nothing will happen to either of us, Dad,’ Ned said forcefully. ‘We’re both over age and sensible enough to make and take responsibility for our own decisions. Besides, Poland isn’t Russia.’
    â€˜Hard-line Soviet Communists rule both countries. Peter and his father said people are so frightened by the regime that, guilty or innocent, they would report their own family members, friends or neighbours for any crime or misdemeanour if they thought it would keep them out of danger, prison or a camp. They have also been taught to be suspicious and envious of Westerners. The propaganda isn’t one-sided, or only in the Western press. Many communists believe what they are told in their newspapers – that we all live like degenerate millionaires. If Helena takes Magda’s ashes back to Poland, I suspect she’s going to have a great deal of trouble persuading the authorities to open her father’s grave. And, if she succeeds, she may well find herself facing even more problems with her relatives.’ Andrew finally lit his cigar.
    â€˜In what way?’ Ned asked.
    â€˜Either they will want nothing to do with her, or …’
    â€˜Or?’ Ned pressed when his father fell silent.
    â€˜Or they will see her and you, if you accompany her, as wealthy benefactors. Given Helena’s precarious mental state, that could prove disastrous. Emotionally for her, and financially for you both.’
    â€˜Surely you can see why I have to go with her if she insists on this trip?’
    Andrew left his chair and laid his hand on his son’s shoulder. ‘I can. But in the meantime, as your mother and Alma keep saying, we must take life one day at a time. First the formal identification of Magda, then the post-mortem, then the funeral.’
    â€˜Followed by Poland,’ Ned said.
    â€˜Yes,’ Andrew muttered, grim-faced. ‘If Helena is intent on going there.’
    Apart from the raised bed in the centre, the room was bare. Painted a bland cream and white, it was no better and no worse than the room set aside for the same purpose in the Bristol hospital where Ned had worked. But Ned had only ever accompanied strangers to visit their recently deceased loved