Armageddon_ A Novel of Berlin - Leon Uris [44]
“It was disgusting ... unbearable,” Marla said, “forcing us to walk around in the middle of those corpses as though it were our doing.”
Ludwig set his pipe aside. “The fact is, the family is in a grave crisis. In all likelihood your Uncle Sigmund and I will have to serve prison terms.”
“But whatever on earth for, Father?”
“My pet, justice belongs to the winning side. The winners may judge the losers on any set of rules they wish. You can be assured that the Russians will never be brought to justice for their hideous crimes. Only we Germans must answer.”
“Dear God, what has Hitler brought us to.”
“Marla, I am completely prepared to accept a prison term. You know full well that Felix is incapable of heading the family. We do not know when your husband will be released from Russia, if ever. It is up to you, Marla.”
What a delicious moment! Up to me. Up to me and my sons. Me ... the woman!
“Insofar as politics is concerned,” her father continued, “as a woman you are above suspect. Americans are terribly fair about that sort of thing. You know of course that sufficient funds have been transferred to Switzerland.”
Marla nodded.
“Unless you are driven out you are to stay here and keep up the fight for the estate and the Machine Works.”
“Yes, Father.”
“Marla, the great strength of the Von Romstein family is the willingness of its members to sacrifice for our name. Your Uncle Kurt and your brother Johann have given their lives. Your Uncle Sigmund and I are ready to go to prison. Throughout our history Von Romstein women have cemented invaluable alliances for the sake of the family.”
She knew her marriage was no different. Wilhelm Frick was palatable but never desirable. From time to time she enjoyed him, but those times were seldom and only after long periods of lonely frustration.
In their public life Wilhelm Frick was always proper. The union was important to the family. It had produced the desired heirs. It protected the estates, the castle, and the Machine Works. She had known that this was to be the way of things since she was a little girl. Now was the moment of reward. Her sons alone would keep the name alive and her cunning alone would save the family.
Once she had loved someone. He was a student at the Medical College. It was the only time she remembered her father beating her. She was sixteen. Despite her rigid training, despite the fact she despised those people, she had fallen in love with a boy who was half Jew. The penance, discipline, and training that followed was cruel. There were times, of course, on a holiday away from the family when she was able to indulge in a lover. Secretly she looked for a Jew. Perhaps a Jew could help her recapture that one single moment when she was young and giving.
“Marla,” her father continued, “the Americans are building a case against the family. In a way we are fortunate that legality is an obsession with them. Had the Russians come here we would no doubt all be dead. Their concept of justice is as crude as the Slavic people. With the Americans we stand somewhat of a chance. Much of what finally comes to court will be based on the results of the interrogation by this young officer, Arosa.”
She nodded.
“Having been interrogated by him I am convinced that his thinking can be made flexible. I believe the case could be made much less severe.”
Marla spared only a fleeting thought for her husband somewhere in a Russian prison camp. Certainly, if and when he returned from Russia he would want the Machine Works restored and would endorse the urgency of the situation. Besides that, Marla had been without a man for many months. She was hungry for sex. The young American officer was not without appeal.
“They seem to be quite serious about this nonfraternization, Father.”
Ludwig smiled. “Just so much more of their impractical unworkable schoolboy nonsense. I am quite certain, Marla, that you could be quite convincing to Arosa. In fact, I’d bet a fortune on it.”
Chapter Twenty
IT WAS CURFEW. POLISH slave laborers, liberated from Schwabenwald, staggered