A Friendship Chapter 4: Two Nights Out

Rosa had been encouraging Herman and Lena to come to the cabaret club with her for some weeks. They had eventually agreed to it, even though it really wasn't their thing. After parking their car up, they met Rosa outside the entrance: her hair was tied into a bun, she was wearing two large and elaborate earrings and a striking low-cut green dress, and she was holding a man's hand. He was about a head taller than Rosa, with a square face and earnest brown eyes.

"Herman and Lena, meet Richard Baumann", announced Rosa, in the style of a club announcer.

"So you're Herman and Lena", said Richard: both of them nodded.

"Pleased to meet you", said Richard, and he shook hands with both. Rosa then beckoned them, with an excited and mischievous grin on her face.

Inside the club, Rosa immediately sprinted onto the dance floor, while Richard ordered four drinks. He found a table, then made his way to the floor to join Rosa. At first they danced together, with Richard repeatedly spinning Rosa round and lifting her up, to her evident enjoyment. After a while, Rosa began to drift away and dance on her own, while Richard returned to the table where Herman and Lena were sitting. Rosa's moves were not the most elegant but she was full of energy: she spun herself round too many times to count, she waggled her hips, lifted up her skirts to above knee height, and would softly press her face and body up against any man who agreed to dance with her.

"Don't you feel jealous when she does that?", Lena asked Richard.

He shrugged. "It's just her way of enjoying herself. I know that I'm the one that she loves."

"If she enjoys it, then it's fine", said Herman.

"I suppose so", said Lena, somewhat grudgingly.

Eventually even Rosa tired of dancing and she left the floor and sat down next to Richard, drenched in sweat.

"Do you come often to this place, then?", asked Herman.

"Yes", said Rosa breathlessly. "I absolutely love it here."

"I would never have guessed", smiled Herman.

"What about you, Richard?", asked Lena. "Is this your first time?"

"No", said Richard, "I go here a lot too." (Lena looked somewhat put out by this.)

"We met here", said Rosa. "Two months ago it was, we met on the dance floor and there was . . . something, a spark, between us."

"She's an amazing dancer", said Richard, looking at Rosa with pride and affection: she turned her head and smiled sweetly at him.

"But why do you do it", asked Lena, "all this dancing, all that . . ." She couldn't think of the right word.

"It's the spirit of the times", said Rosa, "these wonderful new times that we live in. All the old restrictions have gone, we're now free to do as we please, no more of the old 'women must behave modestly' nonsense."

"But aren't you worried?", Lena inquired.

"Worried?", echoed Rosa in a puzzled voice.

"About the example you're setting to your students", said Lena.

"Do you really think I walk into my classroom every morning and do all those sexy moves?", said Rosa scornfully. "My work and my leisure time are completely separate."

"Do your bosses know what you do of an evening?", Lena asked.

"Why am I supposed to tell them that?", demanded Rosa: her eyes were flaring up now. "My pupils like me, my bosses tell me I do a good job, that should be enough. And don't you dare talk to me like that." She was glaring at Lena now.

"Please, Rosa", said Richard, placing his hand on her arm, "don't get so angry with Lena, this is all new to her."

Rosa yanked her arm away from Richard, looking almost as angry with him as with Lena.

"It's not that, she's just a sad, stupid bore."

"Now just a minute", said Lena, her voice rising ominously.

"Calm down, Lena", urged Herman. "And Rosa, don't be so rude."

"Rude? She was the one who was rude to me", hit back Rosa, "accusing me of 'corrupting the youth', saying I'm unfit to be a teacher . . ."

"Yes but . . . can we . . . let's just talk about something else, can we?", suggested Herman: out of the corner of his eye he saw Lena getting ready to argue back.

A brittle silence descended. Eventually, Richard spoke, rather awkwardly:

"Did you see that rally last night?"

Herman sighed. Richard eyed him.

"You weren't there, were you?", Richard asked.

"No", said Herman, "but my best friend probably was."

"Your best friend?", repeated Richard.

"I have . . . or used to have, a friend called Theobald", said Herman. "We've known each other for years, fought in the Great War, but then he got really upset about the armistice, swallowed all that 'stab in the back' thing. He's since met a man called Franz who's a really ghastly anti-Semite, me and Lena met him once, and he insulted us."

"Did your friend introduce you to this man?", asked Richard.

"Yes", said Herman, "Theobald didn't hate us then, and he thought if we met him Franz would stop being anti-Semitic."

"He was really stupid like that", added Lena, "so we decided we wouldn't see Theobald again."

"And I've since learned", said Herman, "that he's joined the Nazis, I know he admires Hitler, he told us how he thinks Hitler has the right ideas."

Richard's and Rosa's mouths were wide open.

"So you're no longer friends with this Theobald?", asked Richard.

"We're well out of it", said Lena. "I wouldn't want to hang around with a Nazi. But this rally . . . in this city, you say?"

Richard nodded: Lena looked seriously worried. Herman smiled indulgently at her.

"There's no need to worry", he said, "Hitler's a really horrible man, but he's no threat, things are so much better now."

"He's just a raving madman", added Richard, "there's no way people will vote for that. I mean, even in the bad times, he had to try and seize power by force: he knows he can't win an election."

"You're always complaining about everything, Lena", said Rosa, seemingly delighted to score points over her sister-in-law. "You really need to cheer up."

Lena gazed at each of the other three in turn.

"Why are you so complacent?", she asked. "There's a very nasty streak in this country, there are people who are prepared to listen to Hitler. And if he did come to power, we", she indicated herself, Herman and Rosa, "would all be in danger."

"I wouldn't be", said Rosa. "I'm not a Jew, he wouldn't go after me."

It was the previous night. Theobald and Franz were standing in the packed crowd, waiting for the Führer to arrive in nervous and excited anticipation. Theobald had also persuaded a somewhat more reluctant Gertrud to come along too. When the main man finally made his appearance: a huge cheer erupted from the crowd: Franz bounced up and down with excitement, Theobald waved enthusiastically, Gertrud politely applauded. The noise continued until Hitler stepped up to the microphone: then it instantly fell silent.

"Good evening!", bellowed Hitler: the crowd acclaimed him raucously in response. "After four years, finally, I'm allowed to speak to you all: the Jew's grip on the government has weakened!"

More loud cheers.

"But only very slightly", Hitler continued. "He may have lost this battle, but behind the scenes the cunning Jew is continuing his plots, secretly worming his way into every single one of our institutions: the government, the media, our schools, the civil service . . . everywhere you look, is the hidden hand of the Jew. And slowly, very slowly, too slowly for most people to notice, the poison that the Jew injects does its work, corrupting and destroying this country, this Germany, the greatest country in the world! Should we tolerate this?"

"No!", the crowd shouted back in unison.

"If we look to Russia", Hitler went on, his voice rapidly rising, and his hand gestures becoming ever more dramatic, "and we see what the Jew does when he gets his way. All the Bolshevik filth, that is the work of the Jew. While here in Germany, the Jew is the creator of finance capital, squeezing money out of decent Germans like you and I to line his own dirty pockets, and has foisted this weak democratic system on us against our will, in order to keep Germany down. The Jew divides us, telling us that we all belong to different classes and should fight against each other, instead of uniting to fight our common enemy: himself. All of this is part of the Jew's eternal desire to destroy Germany, so the Elders of Zion will control the world! And he has come very close to achieving this aim, when almost nine years ago, when we were fighting the enemy hard and were close to winning, he stabbed us in the back and signed the armistice. Given the chance, the Jew will always betray us!"

Theobald nodded vigorously: after all, had Herman and Lena not betrayed him?

"And so", Hitler concluded, now virtually screaming, "I will fight and fight against these black-haired, hook nosed traitors. I will not let them destroy Germany: instead I will remove every last Jew from this country, so that never more can that accursed race harm us again!"

Hitler stepped back from the podium. The crowd raised their arms in salute, and chanted "Heil Hitler!" over and over again. Gertrud was hesitant at first, but after some encouragement from Theobald, eventually she joined in. The over the loudspeakers the national anthem blared:

Deutschland, Deutschland, über alles

Über alles in der Welt!

A Friendship Chapter 3: The New Friend

It was the happiest of times. Three children were chasing each other round the living room, watched by two sets of parents.

"Careful!", called out Herman, with a smile on his face, as Wilhelm nearly upset the fire guard.

Wilhelm pulled a face: "You're not my daddy", he said.

"But he's right", said Theobald, though he too could not help smiling.

"I'm going to hide!", shouted Isaac, and he darted out of the room, with Rebecca and Wilhelm running after him.

Lena got up from her seat to keep an eye on the three wayward children: she had barely got to the living room door when Rebecca could he heard screaming:

"Found you!": it seemed that her brother had been hiding in the kitchen cupboard.

"Stay where we can see you", said Lena, and the three children wandered back to the living room, where they began to play a game of "Guess Who?"

Herman eyed the children affectionately.

"The wonders of youth", he sighed. "No worries, no cares, just fun and games."

"They should enjoy it while they can", said Lena.

"Don't say that", said Herman, "things are looking up now. The inflation's over, the French are out of the Ruhr, that lunatic who tried to seize power in Munich is in prison."

"You think Hitler's a lunatic?", said Theobald. "I thought he talked a lot of sense."

Herman and Lena stared at him. Was this really Theobald talking, Herman thought. An uncomfortably still atmosphere had descended on the room.

"Are you joking, Theobald?", asked Herman.

"I'm not, I mean it", replied Theobald. "He said it like it was, about how we were betrayed, none of that tip-toeing around that's in fashion these days."

"But he wanted to be a dictator", Lena pointed out.

"Maybe that's what we need", said Theobald. "Get rid of the weakness we've had since 1918".

"But what about us?", asked Lena, indicating herself, her husband and their two children. "As Jews, where would we be if Hitler had got his way?"

"Read the trial transcript", insisted Theobald. "He didn't attack the Jews at all."

Herman's and Lena's mouths were wide open.

"But he has said that before", said Herman, speaking very slowly. "It was all over the papers, remember, saying that we're vermin, that we should lose our citizenship, that we're to blame for everything that goes wrong, that we should all be hanged."

"Maybe he's changed his mind", suggested Theobald.

Herman and Lena staged at each other in disbelief. The children suddenly stopped playing.

"Why are you saying these things?", asked Lena. "I always thought you were a sensible man."

Theobald looked at the floor, swallowing hard.

"I've met a man called Franz", he said. "He's helped me see the light about the betrayal of this country, he's showed me a lot of nationalist groups, he's been very helpful."

"Is he anti-Semitic?", asked Herman, though he half-guessed the answer.

"Well, yes", said Theobald sheepishly. "He does think that you are to blame for everything, but I don't think that. Please believe me." He looked plaintively at his friends. Isaac and Rebecca made their way over to their parents, seeking some reassurance, but Herman and Lena were too distracted to give it. Wilhelm sat down next to his father.

"Have you told him about us?", inquired Lena, a hard edge to her voice.

"I haven't", said Theobald. Then suddenly a thought seemed to cross his mind. "Maybe if you could meet him, he'll realise that not all Jews are bad."

"Really?", asked Rebecca in a puzzled voice. Isaac gave his father a troubled look.

Lena stared up at her ceiling. It was hard for her to take in what she had just heard. After a few awkward moments, she turned to Gertrud.

"Please, Gertrud", she said. "Talk to him, make him see sense."

"Why should I?", asked Gertrud. "A lot of what he says is true, the Republic has let us down at every turn, something needs to be done about it, I think these groups he's involved with have something going for them."

"Have an open mind, come and meet Franz", said Theobald.

"Absolutely not", said Lena. "I will never meet such a horrible man."

"You haven't met him", said Theobald, with a hint of anger. "You need to see him, maybe you'll like him."

"If Daddy likes him, he must be good", piped in Wilhelm.

"I'm not sure about this . . ." began Herman.

"Do it for me", said Theobald. "I really want you to meet him, he's really friendly."

"Surely, Herman", said Lena, "you're not going along with all this rubbish."

"Well if Theobald really wants me to . . .", said Herman.

"Oh, Herman", sighed Lena, "do you really think this Franz is going to be all lovely to us, once Theobald tells him that we're Jews. Do you really think a man like that can have his mind changed?"

"He sounds really horrible, Daddy", said Rebecca.

"You must meet him, I insist on it", said Theobald.

"All right then", said Herman. "We'll go through with it."

Rebecca was open mouthed. Isaac's head darted from left to right, trying to make sense of it all. Wilhelm looked proudly at Theobald.

"You can't", said Lena. "It's madness."

"It's what Theobald wants", said Herman.

Lena opened her mouth to argue, but then realised it would be useless.

"Jews? You're friends with Jews?", exclaimed Franz. He was so shocked that he dropped the receiver.

"Yes", said Theobald, part embarrassed, part defiant.

"Why didn't you tell me?", Franz demanded: he was in the process of bending down to pick up the receiver again as he said this.

"Because . . . well . . . because . . .", mumbled Theobald.

"Because you thought I would have stopped being friends with you?"

Theobald's silence told Franz all he needed to know.

"Well let me tell you", he said, "you were absolutely damned right. There I was, thinking you were a good German, and now you tell me your best friend is a dirty Jew."

"We've known each other for years and he's a really decent man". Theobald sounded almost pleading.

"A decent Jew? That's like saying a clever Negro, or a vegetarian tiger."

"He fought for us in the Great War", said Theobald, who had now recovered his courage. "He loves this country."

"How do you know?", asked Franz. "He might have joined the army just to stab us in the back."

"He wouldn't do that", insisted Theobald.

"Of course he wouldn't tell you that", scoffed Franz, "but he's sly, all Jews are, they're very good at hiding what they're up to, that's why people like you are taken in by them."

"But would you please agree to meet them? For me." Theobald was desperate.

"Of course I will", said Franz, "and I'll tell them exactly what they are."

He abruptly put the phone down. Well, Theobald thought, at least he agreed to meet them, that's a start.

A week later, one evening, Herman and Lena knocked on Theobald's door, without much enthusiasm or expectation. Theobald welcomed them in enthusiastically and led them into the sitting room, where they saw, sitting on the sofa, Gertrud and a strange man whom they knew instantly must be Franz.

"Franz, this is Herman and Lena", announced Theobald.

"So these are your Jewish friends", said Franz sneeringly.

"I will not be spoken to like that", said Lena.

"I'll say what I want, don't we all believe in free speech these days?", taunted Franz.

Herman sighed. Franz now turned to him.

"So how did you stab us in the back?", he demanded, getting up from the sofa and thrusting his face into Herman's. "Go on, answer me."

"I don't understand what you mean", said Herman, in as dignified a manner as possible.

"According to Theobald, you fought in the Great War", said Franz. "So tell me how you betrayed us."

"I did not betray us, I was awarded the Iron Cross, and when Theobald was gassed at Cambrai, I helped get him to hospital."

"Liar", snarled Franz. "You're a Jew, you're a liar and a traitor."

"Let's go, Herman", said Lena. "I knew it all along, this thing was a complete waste of time."

"Please stay", urged Theobald, "and show him that he's wrong, show him that you're good people."

Lena made no attempt to conceal the scorn in either her face or her voice.

"How stupid are you, thinking he can change. Men like that never can. You now have a choice, Theobald: you must stop seeing him, or I never want to see you again."

"I'm not stupid", spluttered Theobald. "You need to know your place, you can't tell me who I can and can't see."

"But you've chosen to be friends with a man who hates us for being Jews", said Lena. "How can I ignore that? You are utterly ignorant of who this man is."

Theobald was quivering with rage now: he made an angry step towards Lena. Herman stepped in between them.

"I'm afraid she's right, Theobald", he said, with a heavy heart. "We simply can't be friends with this man."

"So you're deserting me", shouted Theobald, "just because you don't like my new friend?"

"It's he who hates us, we've done nothing to him", Herman pointed out.

"Let's go, Herman", said Lena again.

For the second time, Herman sighed, and he and Lena walked out through the front door, though not before Herman had thrown a backward glance at Theobald. As Herman closed the door, he and Lena could hear Franz shouting, "Dirty stinking Jews!"

Outside in the calm night air, Herman and Lena breathed heavily.

"Perhaps you were a bit harsh", suggested Herman.

"How do you mean?", asked Lena.

"I'm just thinking", said Herman, "maybe if we were a bit more careful with Theobald, we might be able to turn him."

"Turn him?", echoed Lena.

"You know, make him see that Franz is a bad man", said Herman.

"He won't do that, he's too far gone", said Lena. "And I don't for one moment regret what I said to him. We need to forget about him now."

"But he's my best friend . . ."

"He was, but that's over now", said Lena. "But anyway, it's cold out here, let's go back."

And before Herman could argue, Lena strode ahead of him in the direction of their house: Herman could only follow her helplessly.