A German Requiem

'Johannesgeorgenstadt, in the Erzebirge, on the Czech border.'

'Thank you,' the Baron said crisply, 'I know where it is.'

'I jumped the train as soon as I saw a chance, not long after we crossed the German-Polish border, and then I made my way back to Berlin.'

'Were you at one of the camps for returning POWs?'

'Yes. Staaken. I wasn't there for very long, thank God. The nurses there didn't think much of us plennys. All they were interested in was American soldiers.

Fortunately the Social Welfare Office of the Municipal Council found my wife at my old address almost immediately.'

'You've been very lucky, Herr Gunther,' said the Baron. 'In several respects.

Wouldn't you say so, Helmut?'

'As I told you Baron, Herr Gunther is a most resourceful man,' said K/nig, stroking his dog absently.

'Indeed he is. But tell me, Herr Gunther, did no one debrief you about your experiences in the Soviet Union?'

'Like who, for instance?'

It was K/nig who answered. 'Members of our Organization have interrogated a great many returning plennys,' he said. 'Our people present themselves as social workers, historical researchers, that kind of thing.'

I shook my head. 'Perhaps if I had been officially released, instead of escaping '

'Yes,' said the Baron. 'That must be the reason. In which case you must count yourself as doubly fortunate, Herr Gunther. Because if you had been officially released we should now almost certainly have been obliged to take the precaution of having you shot, in order to protect the security of our group. You see, what you said about the Germans who were persuaded to work for the Free Germany Committee was absolutely right. It is these traitors who were usually released first of all. Sent to a uranium mine in Erzebirge as you were, eight weeks is as long as you could have been expected to have lived. Being shot by the Russians would have been easier. So you see we can now be confident of you, knowing that the Russians were happy for you to die.'

The Baron stood up now, the interrogation evidently over. I saw that he was taller than I had supposed. K/nig slid off his window sill and stood beside him.

I pushed myself off my chair and silently shook the Baron's outstretched hand, and then K/nig's. Then K/nig smiled and handed me one of his cigars. 'My friend,' he said, 'welcome to the Org.'

Chapter 25

During the next couple of days K/nig met me at the hat shop next to the Oriental on several occasions in order to school me in the many elaborate and secret working methods of the Org. But first I had to sign a solemn declaration agreeing, on my honour as a German officer, not to disclose anything of the Org's covert activities. The declaration also stipulated that any breach of secrecy would be severely punished, and K/nig said that I would be well-advised to conceal my new employment not only from any friends and relatives but 'even' and these were his precise words 'even from our American colleagues'. This, and one or two other remarks he made, led me to believe that the Org was in fact fully funded by American Intelligence. So when my training considerably shortened in view of my experience with the Abwehr was complete I irately demanded of Belinsky that we should talk as quickly as possible.

'What's eating you, kraut?' he said when we met at a table I had reserved for us in a quiet corner at the сafé Schwarzenberg.

'If I'm not in my plate, it's only because you've been showing me the wrong map.'

'Oh? And how's that?' He set to work with one of his clove-scented toothpicks.

'You know damned well. K/nig's part of a German intelligence organization set up by your own people, Belinsky. I know because they've just finished recruiting me. So either you put me in the picture or I go to the Stiftskaserne and explain how I now believe that Linden was murdered by an American-sponsored organization of German spies.'

Belinsky looked around for a moment and then leaned purposefully across the table, his big arms framing it as if he was planning to pick it up and drop it on my head.

'I don't think that would be a very good idea,' he said quietly.

'No? Perhaps you think you can stop me. Like the way you stopped that Russian soldier. I might just mention that as well.'

'Perhaps I will kill you, kraut,' he said. 'It shouldn't be too difficult. I have a gun with a silencer. I could probably shoot you in here and nobody would notice. That's one of the nice things about the Viennese. With someone's brains spattered in their coffee cups, they'd still try and mind their own fucking business.' He chuckled at the idea and then shook his head, talking over me when I tried to reply.

'But what are we talking about?' he said. 'There's no need for us to fall out.

No need at all. You're right. Maybe I should have explained before now, but if you have been recruited by the Org then you've undoubtedly been obliged to sign a secrecy declaration. Am I right?'

I nodded.

'Maybe you don't take it very seriously, but at least you can understand when I tell you that my government required me to sign a similar declaration, and that I take it very seriously indeed. It's only now that I can take you into my complete confidence, which is ironic: I'm investigating the very same organization which your membership of now enables me to treat you as someone who no longer poses a security risk. How's that for a bit of cock-eyed logic?'

'All right,' I said. 'You've given me your excuse. Now how about telling me the whole story.'

'I mentioned Crowcass before now, right?'

'The War Crimes Commission? Yes.'

'Well, how shall I put it? The pursuit of Nazis and the employment of German intelligence personnel are not exactly separate considerations. For a long time the United States has been recruiting former members of the Abwehr to spy on the Soviets. An independent organization was set up at Pullach, headed by a senior German officer, to gather intelligence on behalf of CIC.'

'The South German Industrial Utilization Company?'

The same. When the Org was set up they had explicit instructions about exactly who they might recruit. This is supposed to be a clean operation, you understand. But for some time now we've had the suspicion that the Org is also recruiting SS, SD and Gestapo personnel in violation of its original mandate. We wanted intelligence people, for God's sake, not war-criminals. My job is to find out the level of penetration that these outlawed classes of personnel have achieved within the Org. You with me?'

I nodded. 'But where did Captain Linden fit into this?'

'As I explained before, Linden worked in records. It's possible that his position at the US Documents Centre enabled him to act as a consultant to members of the Org with regard to recruitment. Checking out people to see if their stories matched what could be discovered from their service records, that kind of thing. I am sure I don't have to tell you that the Org is keen to avoid any possible penetration by Germans who may have already been recruited by the Soviets in their prison camps.'

'Yes,' I said, 'I've already had that explained to me in no uncertain terms.'

'Maybe Linden even advised them on who might have been worth recruiting. But that's the bit we're not sure about. That and what this stuff your friend Becker was playing courier with.'

'Maybe he lent them some files when they were interrogating potential recruits who might have been under some suspicion,' I suggested.

'No, that simply couldn't have happened. Security at the Centre is tighter than a clam's ass. You see, after the war the army was scared your people might try to take the contents of the centre back. That or destroy them. You just don't walk out of that place with an armful of files. All documentary examinations are on-site and must be accounted for.'

'Then perhaps Linden altered some of the files.'

Belinsky shook his head. 'No, we've already thought of that and checked back from the original log to every single one of the files which Linden had sight of. There's no sign of anything having been removed or destroyed. It seems our best chance of finding out what the hell he was up to depends on your membership of the Org, kraut. Not to mention your best chance of finding something that will put your friend Becker in the clear.'