Armageddon_ A Novel of Berlin - Leon Uris [41]
“I’m not a casual observer. The Germans have killed two of my brothers.”
“And I have lost a son. I do not wish to offend you, Major, but you must realize that the House of Von Romstein has borne the responsibility of this Landkreis since long before Columbus discovered America.”
Sean was impressed by the opening gambit.
“I am not going to question your intelligence by defending feudalism,” Von Romstein continued, “but it is a system that we inherited because of the limited opportunities of the land. Feudalism, the landowner and the overseer, breeds a type of tradition and family responsibility foreign to American life. As time passed we outgrew an agrarian economy and we were forced to industrialize or perish. You see, Germany was the last power in Europe to become industrial. When my grandfather made the great transition, it was a mere fifty years ago.
“Once the Machine Works was built, Rombaden tripled in size. Under an agrarian economy life was quite simple. The population was such that everyone had enough to eat. Products made in small factories where traditional arts had been practiced for generations, but ... with heavy industry the District of Romstein, as was the case in most of Germany, was simply unable to produce enough food. This set off a cycle of dependence upon manufactured products to trade in order to import food.
“Germany is a small country with an enormous population. We do not have room to explore or expand. We do not have the natural, God-given assets of America. Germany is poor in natural wealth. Its great asset is the energy and ingenuity of the people. Things here must be orderly. Ambitions must be limited. The factory here must produce in order to maintain enough jobs. If the factory closes, Rombaden does not eat. Unlike America, we have no magic food surplus to draw upon.
“I inherited the Romstein family responsibility at the end of the First World War. I shall not debate with you the good or the evil of the Versailles Treaty. The Allies say Germany did not get enough punishment. We Germans felt it was too severe. From a practical standpoint, the Versailles Treaty closed down the Machine Works and we were not permitted to produce. The people of this Landkreis and in all of Germany were hungry and frightened and there was no work.”
Graf Ludwig Von Romstein snuffed out his cigarette. He was immersed in his memories; the sea of his own words had caught him up. He drifted toward the window that looked down on the City Hall Square, that place of so much history.
“Nor will I argue either the good or the bad of the Weimar Republic. It was our first experiment with so-called democracy ... and it failed. It was too weak to achieve the needs of the day.
“So, now that this war is ending you say to me ... how could this have happened? I’ll tell you, Major O’Sullivan. If you were a German citizen of Rombaden in 1924 you would have known. There was starvation and no work. Inflation was so bad a wagonload of marks could not buy a loaf of bread.
“And the worst of it was that we Germans had been stripped of our pride and our dignity. Pride is a German strength and a German weakness. Other people can live without it ... the Chinese ... the Latin Americans ... the Slavs. But a German cannot.” He pointed to his dueling scar. “This is a nonsensical pride to show my courage as a young man. Well, Hitler came and spoke to us of jobs and returning German dignity. In that square below and in other squares he staged his pageantry and a hurt lower class devoured it.
“How did the rest of us feel about this ridiculous man? We were coming to a choice in Romstein Landkreis. We either went with Hitler or to the Communists. There was no strong middle ground in the Weimar Republic. So we tried to make a temporary