The Lady from Zagreb

Twenty-four

Goebbels listened carefully to what I was saying.

It was just the two of us, in his vast office at the ministry again. Given who he was, it was hard to imagine me talking and him just listening, but that’s how it was. The monkey instructing the organ-grinder. I wondered if anyone had ever told him of some of the terrible things that were being done in Germany’s name. While I seemed to be talking only about what was happening in the former Yugoslavia, I was also indirectly referring to what was happening on our Eastern Front. I certainly wouldn’t and couldn’t have mentioned this in any more of a direct way. And Goebbels was much too intelligent not to realize this. If anyone knew when words could mean more than they appeared to mean, it was him. With a PhD from Heidelberg, Goebbels was perhaps the most intelligent Nazi I’d ever met; certainly more intelligent than Heydrich, and that was saying something. I suppose he must have let me talk like this for ten or fifteen minutes without interruption. The head of the film studio had given me this supporting role, and now he was obliged to see and hear what I’d made of it. But finally he sat forward on the sofa and lifted one of his delicate, womanly hands to say something:

“There’s no doubt that some terrible things are being done in this war, on both sides. Let’s be clear about that. Last night there was an exceptionally heavy raid on Hamburg with most serious consequences for the civilian population. Five hundred British planes attacked and bombed the city indiscriminately. For the moment no one can estimate how many German women and children were killed. But I can tell you it’s hundreds, perhaps thousands. Not only that, but almost two hundred thousand people have just been made homeless, and I don’t know how we’re going to solve that problem. Altona was especially hard hit. That’s a real catastrophe, just as what’s happening in Croatia is a catastrophe, too. I’ll admit that. But this stupid historic enmity between Slavs is a complete sideshow to the real war. Germany’s war. So our first thoughts have to be about what’s happening here, at home. If our people ever lose their will to resist, I don’t have to tell you what will happen. The most serious crisis this country has ever faced. The Russians will do to this country and to our people what the Ustaše are doing now in Croatia. There can be no doubt about that. I know you don’t want that, Gunther. No one does.”

As Goebbels moved his head in an avian sort of way I realized that with his black hair and beaky nose he reminded me most of a carrion crow.

“I agree with you,” he continued. “This fellow Colonel Dragan sounds like an absolute monster. A murderous beast from the deepest pit in hell. I must confess I had no idea that something like this might happen. He used to be a priest, after all. You don’t expect priests to become murderers, do you? Although of course Stalin trained for the priesthood before becoming a bank robber. No, if I’d known that such a thing was even possible, I’d never have sent you down there. And I can see you’ve had an awful time of it, Gunther. I’m sorry about that. But you’re back home now and the present question is, what are we going to tell poor Dalia? After all, we — you, probably — will have to tell her something. But what? Like most actresses, she’s sensitive. Temperamental. Emotional. Well, you know that already. By the way, she spoke very highly of you. Very highly indeed. You seem to have made quite an impression on her. Considering yours was such a short acquaintance.”

I lit a cigarette and wondered how much Goebbels knew about what had happened between his star and me. I didn’t for a minute think that Dalia would have told him that we’d slept together; but he was smart, and even a suspicion on his part that there was something between us would have been disastrous for me. Just because there weren’t any thugs in the ministry didn’t mean Goebbels couldn’t pick up the phone to Prinz Albrechtstrasse and have me in a Gestapo cell in the time it took for him to unlace his surgical boot.

“I thought that you wanted me to impress her, sir. Someone with special skills, you said. A detective with a proven reputation, you said.”

“Did I say that?”

“You’re not someone who’s in the habit of being vague about what he says. Or not remembering it. I think we both know that the lady needs a lot of very careful handling. I had the idea that you wanted me to make her believe that I wasn’t just some ministry stooge sent by you to smooth things over so you could get her back to work on this picture. That I really was a proper detective and that I stood a genuine chance of tracing this fellow. Which I did. Against considerable odds, and no small danger to myself, I might add.”

“The garden was actually decorated with human heads?”

“Like it was landscaped by Salome and Bluebeard. Just to be there made my neck itch.”

“I don’t think there can be any possibility of inviting such a man here to Berlin. That’s the substance of his letter to her, apparently. He wants to come and visit her at the studio.”

“You’ve read it?”

“I had it translated from Croat. Yes, I’ve read it. Colonel Dragan says he wants to come and visit her as soon as possible. Well, you can hardly blame a man for wanting to see his estranged daughter, I suppose. Especially when she’s a famous movie actress.”

I pulled a face.

“What?” he asked.

“The man is a homicidal maniac. I don’t think that I would welcome the news that my father was the most unspeakable war criminal who takes pleasure in cutting hundreds of throats in one day. Let alone him turning up on my doorstep.”

“No,” said Goebbels. “Neither would I. There’s also the publicity value to consider. If it got out that her father was a mass murderer, it might easily affect her career as an actress, not to mention the current picture. Germans like their leading ladies to appear virtuous, spotless, pure. I know I do. They don’t want them to have an Igor figure in the top tower. All of which persuades me that perhaps we shouldn’t give her his letter, either.”

“That’s up to you. Fortunately I don’t have to make that decision. About his letter or what to tell her.”

“Nevertheless, since you’re going to see her again — that’s the professional thing to do, isn’t it? That’s what you would do if you were a private detective? You would go and speak to the client?”

“Yes. I suppose so.”

“Then in view of that, your input would be greatly appreciated. We have to put our heads together and figure out what to do, for her sake. How we’re going to tell her what we’re going to tell her without further jeopardizing this movie.”

“All right, then. Try this hat on for size. I went to the monastery in Banja Luka to look for Antun Djurkovic, also known as Father Ladislaus. Dalia had already sent some letters there before. But they hadn’t been answered. So how about we say they hadn’t been answered because he’s dead? The Father Abbot I spoke to said as much. I don’t know what kind of priest he was but Father Ladislaus is now Colonel Dragan. And it might be kinder if she never knew that.”

“So, Captain Gunther, your advice is that we lie to the woman, about her own father?” Goebbels laughed. “In case you had forgotten, this is the Ministry of Truth.”

I hadn’t forgotten, of course; in his white summer suit Goebbels almost looked like someone you could trust; but given the number of lies cooked up in that place I didn’t think one more — one meant kindly — could possibly make a difference in the scheme of things. All the same I wasn’t about to tell him that. On the whole it’s not wise to remind the devil that he’s the devil, especially when we were getting on so well.

“And you think you can say this to Dalia without her guessing that it is a lie? It’s not everyone who can lie and get away with it. Once you lie you have to stick with it. You have to keep up the lie, even at the risk of looking ridiculous. Just as often you have to lie again to protect the one you told the first time. Lies are like rabbits. One lie gives birth to another. Believe me, Gunther, I know what I’m talking about. And she’s a smart woman. Are you sure you can convince her? Are you inventive enough?”

“Can I be honest, sir?”

“You can try.”

“The fact is, I’ve been lying my head off for the last ten years.”

Goebbels laughed. “I see what you mean. Since the Nazis came to power. That’s what you mean, isn’t it?”

“It was easier to stay alive that way. At least it was for someone who used to be a social democrat. But then you must know that. It’s why you picked me for this job, after all. Because I’m not a Nazi. Like you said, it’s all in my file.”

He nodded. “You know, we still have too many philistines in the Party. I must say, I should prefer to have you on board as a colleague than some of the others I have to meet with. A little late in the day, perhaps, but I’m going to get you a membership in the National Socialist Party. Believe me, it will be to your advantage. And you can leave it all to me. I’m still the Berlin Gauleiter. You won’t have to do anything. Except sign the papers.”

“Thank you, sir.”

Goebbels laughed again. “Your gratitude overwhelms me. I like you, Gunther. I don’t know why, but I do.”

“And I like her, sir,” I said, quickly changing the subject. “I like her a lot. Enough to want to protect her from something like this. Because the alternative is that I tell her the truth and she has to live with that knowledge for the rest of her life. There’s no telling what that will do to a person.”

For a moment I wondered what Goebbels’s several children would think about their father’s crimes when, one day, the Nazis were history.

Goebbels nodded. “You’re right. No one should have to go through life bearing that kind of cross. The lie would certainly be kinder in this case. And it might be hard for her to play the leading role in this film knowing her father was a monster like this man you met.” He thought for a moment. “She’s in Zurich right now. With her useless fucking husband. You’ll have to go there and speak to her in person.”

“What’s he like?”

“Dr. Obrenovic? Rich. Very rich. Old. At least — much older than her. He’s everything you might expect of a Swiss lawyer, apart from the fact that he’s vaguely related to the former king of Serbia.” Goebbels snapped his fingers. “You know?”

“I know. Alexander the First. The one who got himself assassinated in Marseille.”

“No, actually that was another Alexander. Alexander of Yugoslavia. I’m talking about Alexander of Serbia. But as it happens, he also managed to get himself assassinated, by some army officers in 1903. What a people they are for assassinations, eh? Like something out of Italy under the Borgias.”

“You want me to go to Zurich?”

“Well, I can hardly go myself. I think the Swiss government might have something to say about that. Besides, it might be a nice break for you after Zagreb. Zurich has some fine hotels. That’s one thing the Swiss do very well. In all other respects they’re as much of a bloody nuisance as the Serbs and the Croats. But for the Swiss, we could have offered Mussolini and Kesselring our immediate support in the present crisis without a second thought. As it is, we’ll have to send troops the long way round through Austria and France.”

“I’ve never been to Switzerland,” I said. “But it’s got to be better than Croatia.”

“I’ll speak to the Foreign Ministry,” said Goebbels. “Have them fix it up for you to go there immediately. No, wait a minute. There’s none of them who strike me as particularly competent. I met the new undersecretary the other day — a man named Steengracht von Moyland. Another damned aristocrat. Utterly mediocre. No, I’ll speak to Walter Schellenberg, in SD Foreign Intelligence. After all, you’re SD, too. He’s smart. He’ll know the best way to get you into the country. And the best hotel, too, probably. I’ll say one thing for Schellenberg, he’s a well-traveled man, considering we’re at war.”

“Might be nice, at that,” I said.

“There’s just one problem, as I see it.” Goebbels grinned. “You’re going to have to get married.”

I heard myself swallow. “Married? I don’t think I understand.”

“Oh, it’s quite simple. The only way our government can make absolutely sure that any citizen will come back here from somewhere like Switzerland is if they have family in Germany. Which you don’t. At least not yet.”

“I don’t think that’s about to change very soon,” I said.

“Don’t say that, Gunther. Take it from me, the love of a sweet woman is one of the great pleasures of life.”

“Perhaps that’s true but there’s no woman who’s sweet enough to take me on right now.”

Goebbels stood up and almost disappeared as he limped behind his desk, where he began to turn the pages of a file. “What about this woman you’ve been seeing?” He pulled a page out of the folder and came around his desk again. “The schoolteacher at the Fichte Gymnasium on Emser Strasse. Kirsten Handlöser.”

“What about her?”

“Couldn’t you marry her? She’s single.”

“There’s the small matter of her not being in love with me. And my not being in love with her. Frankly, sir, I don’t want to be married.”

“Perhaps. But there’s this to consider. More importantly. For her, anyway. Which is that you’d be doing her a favor.”

“How’s that?”

“Quite apart from the fact that as a woman it’s her patriotic duty to be married and to have children — like my own wife, Magda — you’d also be keeping her out of trouble.”

I stiffened. Whatever was coming around the mountain clearly was going to be something I didn’t like. I was beginning to understand that in real life Goebbels operated in the same schizophrenic way he did in his public speaking: seductive and persuasive one minute, intimidating and coercive the next.

“What kind of trouble?” I asked.

Goebbels uttered a harsh sort of laugh.

“There is only one kind of trouble in Germany, Gunther. The serious kind. It seems that a week or two ago some SD men turned up at her school, to conduct a sort of survey. They were asking questions about why none of the girls in her school have chosen to be evacuated from Berlin to a KLV camp. To escape the bombing. The KLVs haven’t been as popular as might reasonably have been supposed. Anyway, it seems Fräulein Handlöser was less than complimentary about the sort of boys that are to be found in these camps. She even suggested that any decent parent would avoid sending their girls to a KLV at all costs. I’m afraid that she’s going to be questioned again about her whole general attitude. There are some who might regard what she had to say about the Hitler Youth as antisocial behavior, under the 1939 Decree Against National Pests. Under the War Offenders Decree, what she said might even count as undermining the war effort. She could easily find herself doing six months at Brandenburg Prison, to say nothing of losing her job at the school. Of course, it would certainly count in her favor if an SD man and a Party member — albeit a new Party member — were to marry her. Yes, even if the SD man were you, Gunther. It would demonstrate your good faith in her. Especially as I myself would certainly send a letter to the SD to tell them of my confidence in you, as well as to bless your union. Which would count as a reference for you both. And thereby remove any possibility of a prison sentence.”

“Suppose she doesn’t want to get married? Suppose she sees six months in prison as the lesser of two evils?”

“Did I say six months? It could even be worse than that. The war isn’t going so well right now. It might just be that some judge like Roland Freisler decides to make an example of her. He’s become rather severe of late. You heard what happened to those idiotic students in Munich. And to Max Sievers.”

I nodded.

“So, it’s up to you to convince her, isn’t it?”

I chose my next words carefully. “It’s kind of you to take an interest in my personal affairs. But there’s just one problem as far as I can see it. And it’s perhaps one reason why I haven’t married before. At the risk of a prosecution for antisocial remarks myself, there’s this stupid thing called the Bride School, which all SS and SD brides are obliged to attend, to prevent the men from marrying unsuitable women. Quite apart from the fact that unsuitable women are the only ones I’m ever really interested in, there’s the fact that the women attending the school have to study childcare, sewing, obedience in marriage, and, at the end of it, there’s a certificate issued without which the marriage is deemed invalid. Something like that, anyway. Apparently all that takes several months. I can’t see how I can get married in sufficient time to go to Switzerland as quickly as you want.”

Goebbels folded his arms and looked thoughtful, the way I’d seen him do when making a speech on the newsreels.

“Yes, I remember now. More of Himmler’s mad ideas about blood and matrimony. As always, he makes the master race sound like a matter of getting the right badges in the Boy Scouts. Look, I’ll speak to Schellenberg about this, too. I’m sure there’s a way around this nonsense.” He grinned. “Besides, Dalia’s husband — Dr. Obrenovic — will feel a lot more comfortable about a handsome fellow like you meeting with his wife knowing that you’re a happily married man. And so will I. Yes. I’ll make a respectable fellow of you yet, Captain Gunther. Nothing is impossible when you put your mind to it.” He laughed. “Nothing is impossible. Try to remember that when you’re in Zurich. Just make sure you bring Dalia back. Even if you have to kidnap her.”