visiting Belle's brother, part I

On November 18, 1996 I visited with my Uncle Sam and Aunt Mollie about an hour north of Miami, Florida. I wanted to get at information about Sam’s older sister, Belle. Instead, as I should have expected, I was treated to a parade of family disagreements and a tattler’s tale of Belle and her beau. First the tale.

According to Belle’s brother Sam, Belle and Gabriel Welter had an 8-10 year relationship. He was a scandalous individual, Belle and Sam’s father would have been ashamed. But, said Sam, Belle didn’t know about all his terrible deeds. Only some. He was a quisling and Belle didn’t know about it. Although Sam supplied only vague details of Welter’s quisling-ness, he was certain of it. Belle and Welter had entertained all of Hitler’s henchmen in their house. (I can see it now, Goebbels, Göring, and Hess marching up the dusty road to Belle and Welter’s home on the tiny island of Aegina, taking tea – teacups balanced smartly on their knees. It seems unlikely.) Sam felt certain that Welter had promised to deed to Belle the land upon which she’d built her Greek home, but that he’d never actually turned over the land. Welter had been a close friend of the Kaiser’s.

The strength of his opinions about Welter were belied by his lack of specific knowledge about the fellow. I needed to find out more…much more.