Armageddon_ A Novel of Berlin - Leon Uris [153]
Neal Hazzard read the report pulled by the unit recommending Hans Kronbach for the position as deputy police president. His record seemed immaculate. Kronbach had been chief of detectives for the city of Berlin. He resigned in protest after Hitler came into power and went into private business, buying out a small-parts factory. He had no known involvement with the Nazis. At the end of the war three former slave laborers in his plant came forward to volunteer testimony to the treatment they received. Further, Kronbach had saved a number of lives and hidden a number of Jews. The war bombed his factory out in the last days.
Currently he worked as a plainclothesman on a black-market squad in Prenzlauer Berg Borough.
Hazzard set the report down, looked at Sean and Blessing. “What kind of a cop did you make him out to be in your interview, Bless?”
“Nothing he doesn’t know about police work. Knows how to supervise men, do administrative work, the whole business. I’d take him on my force in Hook County in two minutes.”
“How did he impress you, Sean?”
“He’s pro-West, no doubt about that. A Democrat by affiliation. I don’t think we can own him. He’s got a mind of his own. German first.”
“A good one,” Blessing said.
“We’re not looking for a stooge like Schatz,” Hazzard said. “One thing bothers me about Kronbach. Until the last two months, he hasn’t done any police work for a decade. The Russkies will lean on him, hard.”
Blessing smiled. “Took a hell of a lot more guts to stay out of the Nazi police than it did to collaborate.”
“Good enough,” Hazzard said. “I’ll get ahold of Blatty to put his nomination on the agenda tomorrow. Bless, find him, tell him what we’re up to.”
“Yes, sir. You going to be able to push his nomination through?”
“May take ten hours. I’ll just have to wear Trepovitch down.”
“Damned if I see how you can stand them meetings, Colonel.”
“I can’t,” Hazzard answered.
Chapter Nine
BLESSING LEFT THE MEETING with full instructions to find Hans Kronbach and get him moved into the American Sector that night.
He called for his patrol jeep, stood on the steps of the Headquarters building, and paused for a moment as the sun set. The flag hung limply; greenery had been renewed about the building; it was a nice time of day.
Across the boulevard two young German girls walked in slow, dull unison, their heels sounding on the pavement. He took off his hat, wiped the inside of the band, and squinted at them.
Eveningtime brought the girls out on the streets. They prowled the American Headquarters, the woods behind and the barrack area was a good place for a quick trick. Blessing thought most of them had little choice but to hustle. They had real hunger in their stomachs and many had kids and old people to keep alive. Bad business to whore to stay alive.
Nonfraternization was still on paper, but it had never really worked. It was dragged out once in a while to pacify a visiting congressman or clergyman. Sometimes, women’s clubs in the States put up a stink. Colonel Hazzard was ordered to make an “example” awhile back. The first two he got his hands on were a pair of respected judges working in his legal section. Hazzard made them go off hard liquor for a month as punishment. They got so stoned on bad wine he relented at the end of the week.
Bless remembered how he handled it in Hook County. He warned the roadhouses to keep their noses clean and police themselves. Whoring was all right as long as the girls didn’t cadge drinks, clip, and kept being examined for VD. Hell, a miner on payday has to have a woman ... so does a soldier. So does a cop, for that matter, be thought. Bless had been without a woman for a long time. No one thought a fat jolly cop needed a woman like everyone else.
Police work had