The Amber Room (41 page)

Much of the information that went into developing the Solidarity photographer came from my wife and her family. Isabella was traveling from Warsaw to Cracow the morning that Martial Law was declared in December of 1981, and became caught up in the heart of the army-imposed darkness. Members of her family, as all Poles, each had his own story to tell. For their patient sharing I am truly grateful.

The story of the vision within a prison cell, however, came from a businessman with whom I worked several years ago.
As managing director of a major Italian confectionery company, he was kidnapped by Red Brigade terrorists eighteen years ago and held for ransom. His prison was an extremely cramped tent, erected in a dark closet, from which he was not permitted to move for almost three weeks. Three days before his release, as he was battling a despair similar to the photographer's, he had a vision of a place he had never seen before, and a gift of God's peace. The remainder of his story mirrors that of the photographer, except the vision he had was of the Island of Capri seen from the window of a friend's house on the Bay of Naples—a place he had never before visited.

Dr. Wlodzimierz M. Borkowski is the Director of the Pediatric Division of the Narutowicza Hospital in Cracow. Dr. Grazyna Gabor is a pediatrician in this department. They provided a detailed overview of both their own hospital and the general state of children's care in Poland. The conversation held during Jeffrey and Katya's visit to the children's hospital was the same one I had with the doctors during my own visit. I was most impressed with their kindness and their dedication.

Dr. Borkowski was also one of the leading authorities filmed in the BBC's “State of Europe” program on the dangers of pollution in Eastern Europe. He shared with me a copy of this program; it provided a wealth of background information that went into forming this story.

The situation within the children's hospitals in the region of Poland known as the Triangle of Death is just as it is described in this book. Premature births and pollution-related illnesses place severe pressures on their already limited financial resources. The equipment described in this book is urgently required. If any reader knows of a hospital that is upgrading their children's ward and has surplus used equipment available,
please
be so kind as to let us know. Assistance with the cost of air freight would also be greatly appreciated, but we can help arrange the required transport documentation.
Anyone who feels a call to assist financially with these desperate needs is welcome to send any size donation. Every cent will go to the purchase and shipment of medical equipment, supplies and medicines—nothing will be used for hospital salaries or administrative costs. Tax deductible donations may be sent to:

Full Gospel Businessmen's Fellowship, Int.

P.O. Box 7046

Naples, FL 33941

The grisly stories about the former secret police in East Germany and its current status are based on true accounts and recently released German exposes. Gary Johnson, the publisher at Bethany House, suggested blending some “missing Stasi spy files” into what was then just an idea for the sequel to
Florian's Gate
. As ever, I am indebted to our many friends and colleagues at BHP.

Lupold Von Wedel, former Director for Eastern Europe of the Matuschka Investment Group in Munich, has in recent months been appointed managing director of a multi-billion dollar heavy industries conglomerate in former East Germany. Lupold was born in the area of Poland known as Upper Silesia. He is a good friend, and has been most kind in relating both the circumstances of his early childhood and the trauma of leaving behind a war-torn Poland. I am also most grateful for his current assessment of the economic and political situation in Poland and the former East Germany.

Barbara Beck, Press Attaché with the German Embassy in London, was most helpful with background information on the search for the Amber Room. She also supplied contacts in both Erfurt and Weimar.

H. Reichmann is the new Director of Art Union Gmbh, the antique store on the Erfurter Bridge which was used as the antiques store in this novel. I am indeed grateful for his
detailed chronicle of his own shop, the other nearby buildings, and the bridge itself.

Dr. Schleiff is Director of the
Erfurter Landesamt für Denkmalpflege
, which translates literally as the “Erfurt city authority for the care of memories,” and means essentially the preservation of monuments and buildings. He offered very valuable insight into the current search for the Amber Room.

Joachim Vogel is Press Attaché to the Lord Mayor of Weimar, and while maintaining a professionally detached view to the whole affair is passionately interested in the Amber Room and all the interconnected mysteries. He was most kind in assisting with general information and valuable contacts.

There is only one color photograph of the Amber Room in existence today. A copy of this was loaned to me by Weimar resident Hans Stadelmann, who is involved in the current probe into the Nazi bunkers beneath Weimar's Karl Marx Platz (the former plaza for Nazi Party gatherings, soon to receive its third name change in four decades). I am indeed grateful that he offered me this picture, from which this book's front cover was painted. Poring over stacks of yellowed documents and blueprints, he provided an extraordinary account of the Amber Room's passage from the Catherine Palace in Russia, to Königsberg in Germany, and from there into the mists of unsolved mystery.

Joachim Gommlich is currently Managing Director of Wilhelm Glaudert Gmbh in Düsseldorf. He was born in Berlin and escaped two days before the Wall was finally sealed; by this time the Russian soldiers were no longer permitting people casual passage to the West, so Joachim kissed his mother and father goodbye, and with their blessings took his camera and some pocket money and walked over the border, telling the guards he was on a school photography project. It was the last time he ever saw his parents. The war-end recollections of the Erfurt antique dealer are based on those of Herr Gommlich. I am indeed grateful for his recounting these early memories.

Reverend Seyfarth, the head of the evangelical seminary in Schwerin, granted insight into the faith of the East German people, which proved most valuable in the structuring of both this book and
Florian's Gate
.

To the numerous antiques dealers who have assisted me with both of these books, I extend my heartfelt thanks. All of you have shown remarkable patience with my never-ending stream of questions. I have been truly fortunate to meet so many people who not only know their business but love it as well.

Just as Jeffrey goes through personal and spiritual struggles in this book, so do many others who feel that their own problems are too difficult to share or their questions too unworthy of being asked. This simply is not the case. We are, every one of us, both unique and uniquely important in God's eyes. Anyone who feels he or she needs a listening ear or advice from a man of God is most welcome to write:

Reverend Paul McCommon

c/o Bethany House Publishers

11400 Hampshire Avenue South

Bloomington, Minnesota 55438

DAVIS BUNN, a professional novelist for over twenty years, is the author of numerous national bestsellers with sales totaling more than six million copies. His work has been published in sixteen languages, and his critical acclaim includes three Christy Awards for excellence in fiction. Formerly an international business executive working in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, Bunn is now a lecturer in creative writing and Writer in Residence at Regent's Park College, Oxford University. He and his wife, Isabella, divide their time between the English countryside and the coast of Florida.

     Books by Davis Bunn     

The Book of Hours
The Great Divide
Winner Take All
The Lazarus Trap
Elixir
Imposter

Lion of Babylon
Rare Earth
All Through the Night
My Soul to Keep

A
CTS OF
F
AITH
*
The Centurion's Wife  •  The Hidden Flame
The Damascus Way

S
ONG OF
A
CADIA
*
The Meeting Place  •  The Sacred Shore
The Birthright • The Distant Beacon
The Beloved Land

H
EIRS OF
A
CADIA
†
The Solitary Envoy  •  The Innocent Libertine
The Noble Fugitive    The Night Angel
Falconer's Quest

*with Janette Oke    †with Isabella Bunn