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Part of her knew that was foolishness. The only poison gas in the room came from Oppenhoff's cigar. Two steam radiators kept the place comfortable, even toasty, despite the chill outside. Sweet rolls and coffee waited on a table next to the window; she didn't have to try to survive on camp swill. No SS guards prowled with guns and dogs. But she was stuck here when she didn't want to be, which gave the meeting the feel of imprisonment.
She listened with half an ear to a report congratulating the department for its impressive publication record. Three of the articles Professor Te
The report finally ended. The spatter of applause the faculty gave seemed to signal relief that it was over. But Te
Susa
She also yawned-open-mouthed this time-through a report on financial pla
Again, though, Professor Oppenhoff seemed pleased. "I would like to thank Herr Doktor Professor Dahrendorf for that interesting and enlightening presentation. "He puffed on his Havana. Then he said, "And now Fraulein Doktor Professor Weiss will enlighten us on the current political situation and the changes we have seen in recent times."
Why, you miserable son of a bitch!Susa
I'd better not make an ass of myself, then. "Thank you, Professor Oppenhoff," she said. She would sooner have substituted another verb forthank, but she gained a few seconds to gather herself even so. Some of these people couldn't get through a lecture even with the text on the lectern in front of them. She'd always prided herself on being able to think on her feet.Well, here we go.
First, the obvious. "Reform will continue. I believe it will intensify. the Fuhrer has seen that we ca
"Also, the possibility of error in the past has been admitted," she said. "This appears to be a healthy development. If we know we have made mistakes, and we know which mistakes we have made, we are less likely to make similar ones in the future."We won't murder millions of Jews again, because there aren't that many left. We might have a hard time murdering thousands of them.
"Not everyone inside the Party is pleased with the direction reform is taking. I think the Jahnke letter in the Beobachter proves that. No one I know believes Jahnke could have published that letter without official, ah, encouragement. It's fairly obvious which officials encouraged him, too." She looked around at the language and literature professors. By their expressions, it wasn't obvious to a lot of them. They were safe. They were comfortable. Why should they get excited about politics?
"On the other hand, we've also seen that some reform has spurred a call for more reform," Susa
She looked Franz Oppenhoff in the eye. "And that,Herr Doktor Professor, about sums it up."
He'd wanted her to make a hash of it. She knew that. She'd had to suffer through a string of indignities no professor who pissed standing up would have had to endure. This was only the latest, and far from the worst. Now she wanted to see whether Oppenhoff would have the gall to claim she hadn't made a proper presentation. If he did, she intended to scorch him.
He scratched at the edge of his side-whiskers, coughed once or twice, and looked down at the papers in front of him. Still looking down at them, he mumbled, "I must thank you for your clear, concise report." People more than half a dozen seats from him undoubtedly didn't hear a word.
"Danke schon,Professor Oppenhoff. I'm glad you liked it," Susa
The meeting ground on. Oppenhoff didn't call on her any more. He did keep glancing over to her every so often. She smiled back sweetly, wishing she could display a shark's teeth instead of her own.
Heinrich Gimpel was finishing up a bowl of rather nasty cabbage stew in the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht canteen when a uniformed guard coming off his shift walked in and said, "Something juicy's going on out in the Adolf Hitler Platz."
"What now?" somebody asked him. "More damned Dutchmen yelling, 'Freedom!'? They probably won't even bother arresting them these days."
But the guard shook his head. "No, it's bigger than any of that piddling crap. They've got a podium and televisor cameras and all kinds of stuff."
That sounded interesting. Heinrich got up, threw out his trash, and put his tray on a moving belt that took it back to the dishwashers. By the clock, he should have gone straight to his desk. He decided to ignore the clock for once. Willi and Ilse had taken plenty of long lunches without ending the world. He figured he could get away with one, especially since he was only going out onto the square in front of headquarters.
As soon as he walked out of the building, he saw the guard was right. In fact, Adolf Hitler Platz held not one commotion but two. Proud ba
It was a bright spring day. It wasn't very warm-it couldn't have been above ten Celsius-but the sun shone down brightly. It gleamed off the speaker's head, which wasn't just bald but shaven. As soon as Heinrich recognized Rolf Stolle, he knew exactly why that band was blaring away.
He hurried down the steps and across the paving toward the podium from which the Gauleiter of Berlin was addressing a good-sized crowd. Stolle had a microphone. Even so, he was barely a match for the booming band.
He not only knew it, he took advantage of it, saying, "You see how it is,Volk of the Reich? Some of the powers that be don't want you to hear me. They don't want me reminding you that we need to go forward, not sit around with our thumbs up our…" He stopped and gri