The Amber Room_ The Fate of the World's Greatest Lost Treasure - Cathy Scott-Clark [142]
Is the Baron referring to the death threats, the assault and Elisabeth Stein's death, we ask?
He sits back down. 'So, you know. George's problems began when his wife died in terrible circumstances in 1983 and then, the following year, his mentor in the East, Berlin art historian Gerhard Strauss, dropped dead too. Without Gerhard Strauss, Stein had to deal with Enke directly and those two never got on, dears. So protective of their respective versions of the story, they fought like torn cats. Everyone had a version in those days. Anyway, I must take your leave,' he says, standing up again.
Why did the Soviets close down the Amber Room inquiry and fail to tell anyone else, we ask? We are trying to keep the conversation alive.
The Baron's mood darkens. 'It all collapsed in the summer of 1987. Stein phoned me and said, "I don't know where to go. Can I come over to see you, as I have sold everything." He stayed one, two, three weeks, I can't remember, writing, writing, writing. Then one day I said, "Tomorrow I must go away." It was the start of the Tour de France. I had been invited, personally. Stein said he had a friend in Munich. I drove him to the station. Gave him money. I felt terrible packing him off. Miserable. I told him, "Please be careful." Imagine if it had happened here in Vaduz. What a horror.'
What happened, we ask?
The Baron forces a bundle of documents into our hands and urges us out into the hall. 'Here, this is everything you need to know. So nice to meet you,' he beams and opens the door. As it shuts behind us we notice on the papers the insignia of the Bavarian police force, Criminal Investigations, Ingolstadt. Case: George Stein: 20 August 1987.2
'Villa Askania Nova, Schloss Strasse, Vaduz.' A letter from the Baron to Julian Semyonov. The first document in the bundle he has given us:
8 April 1985, Dear Julian, yesterday I spoke to your daughter and found out that you are in the Argentine. Please call me in ten days on your return. The visit I desired is now coming about and I shall arrive [in Russia] on 27 May, 17.05, with the Swissair from Zurich. I took a visum for three weeks and therefore I will have time to fly with you also to Yalta. Please organize my stay as well as the planned detour to Leningrad for the rededication of the tombs of the Admiral Epanschin. I greet you in order to renew our old friendship and I am very pleased to see you again. Eduard.
The Baron and Julian Semyonov, once close friends, were planning his Grand Tour of the Soviet Union.
'Ashhausener Strasse, Stelle, Hamburg.' A letter from George Stein to Julian Semyonov:
10 November 1985, My dear Julian! I have been very surprised that you have surfaced so suddenly but anyhow have a good time in Geneva. I am enclosing an article from The Sunday Times on the subject the 'Theft of the Amber Room'. The contract for the filming of "The Amber Room" I also enclose. It has been decided by the Bavarian Broadcasting Corporation that shooting should begin in early 1987. The plan is to produce an evening-long documentary and later a feature film. The basis of the film will be my archive with circa 2,300 documents. On the basis of my negotiations with the central archive of the GDR in Potsdam, we pursue clues that lead to the FRG... We must talk about these matters several times... the first chance for such a contact would be Friday a.m. at 7.45, with kindest regards, your friend George!!!
Having learned from the Baron that Semyonov was back in touch, Stein immediately began bombarding the Soviet crime writer who had made him famous in 1973 With wild Amber Room theories, fed by documents from the Stasi.
'Ashhausener Strasse, Stelle, Hamburg.' Another letter from George Stein, the same day:
10 November 1985, Dear Baron von Falz-Fein, please show Julian... a copy of the article written by Anthony Terry [The Sunday Times]... Please send back the original contract from the Aktive Film Company... I am not sure if Julian wishes to help. He was