Weiss wasn't found. He's worth a lot, Weiss, said a German soldier who sat tied up in a wheelbarrow. Ebenezer gazed in wonder at the sight of hunger and thirst that split his lips. Did you ever see hungry Germans? he asked Samuel, who wanted to sell food to the German, but the German only had marks and pfennigs and that didn't satisfy him and the Englishman was starting to show signs of impatience and the Red Cross man thought that was disgusting. Then another German rummaged in his pockets and found money. Samuel helped him search, went and brought food and water. He took the watch from the German in the wheelbarrow, he told Ebenezer, who looked at him sadly: I piss on the Englishman, what do I care what he thinks of me! And they devoured the food. The Germans don't have diamonds in their rectums, said Samuel, and there's no point searching. He's got a watch, and that one has a camera, here it is. Everything's for you, Ebenezer. I'm taking care of you! The German's face was red, he was eating bullybeef and overcooked fruit and vegetables. The English officer averted his eyes. The Germans burying the dead in the pits looked mutely at the German chomping in the wheelbarrow and their mouths started chomping air.
Got to find Weiss, yelled the English Captain Wood. He yelled at Kramer: Your commander has gotten away from us! Kramer didn't answer. He was staring at Ebenezer. The wretched stance was an instance of offense to him, Ebenezer had to remember that moment, he even wanted to take pity on Kramer, not Kramer the commander but Kramer the prisoner, Kramer who even now was Weiss's deputy, but he couldn't. No feeling throbbed in him. He thought maybe they were members of the same band of grave robbers. Got to spray, yelled the Englishman, and find Weiss. Coarse eating, typhus, lice, more DDT, less eating. You've got to be free! Germans to work. The smell is awful, got to bury and burn as fast as possible, otherwise they'll die of plague. Destroy the blocks! And maybe Ebenezer said: Leave something for a memory, otherwise they won't believe us. Kramer should be given to a circus, let him be taken from place to place and tell. The Englishman looked at him with open animosity and Samuel laughed. He feels uncomfortable, that Captain Wood. He sees death and Kramer feels something, he doesn't know what. What world is there outside? asks Samuel and tries to sell food to the Germans in exchange for watches and rings. Memory is Jewish science, scoffs Kramer, and a young Australian who replaced one of the guards pushed Kramer and in the process hit him in the ribs. But he didn't show them the pain, not while Ebenezer was standing in front of him. The German in the wheelbarrow finished eating and started shaking. A jeep sped by and sprayed thick dust. The German who was covered with white material tried to wipe it off his face, but his hands were greasy from the food and Samuel said: It's bone dust, and the German shook even more and tried not to see the skeleton of a woman in pajamas who stopped not far from him and held an apple, her mouth was toothless, she spat at the German and in terror she wiped the dust off him with her hands. I wipe myself on all of you like paper, said Samuel. The German waited for his tears to flow and wash away the spit but they didn't flow. He doesn't like the taste of our spit, said Samuel, and a salvo of shots was heard in the distance, the microphone went on barking.
The improvised white flags were waving by ten. The tramping tanks stopped on the fences. Why didn't you think of a decent and splendid defeat? he asked Kramer, who blocked his ears. White panties instead of flags, that's a disgrace, isn't it? Fat Frieda, for whom the French chef would make fish heads, stuck a white ribbon to her sleeve and ran outside when she heard the tramping tanks. An enormous wolfhound burst out of the guardroom and chomped a hand that had previously been torn off, dripping thick material that may really have been blood, thought Ebenezer, the dog sat down on Frieda and she yelled: She's here! The dog loved her and lay on her to protect her and licked her, and she yelled: Get off of me, monster, but he didn't understand the orders and licked and Frieda was crushed, turned pale, turned blue. What love, said Samuel afterward, and the tanks split the fences and people in pajamas peeped as if they didn't believe. Skeletons who came to life walked on the ground padded with bone dust and the dog was called Brutus. Until they shot the dog, somebody said: Those were barks permeated with ideological awareness! And then Weiss was seen fleeing for his life with a bottle of wine in his hand and the picture of the Fuhrer he managed to throw at the dog who was shot. The dog licked the Fuhrer as he died. Not exactly a heartwarming picture when Frieda was crushed to death. The funniest thing of all, said somebody, was that Weiss looked shocked but was afraid to throw his cigarette on the ground so as not to litter the yard. And they didn't know where he was. Those bonfires, the food that came, the British officers, Captain Wood who took a position next to Ebenezer all day. Eat! Drink! You've got to be free! shrieked the microphone.
Then they die in DDT showers. Final solution of life, says a man who swallowed too much food and he turns pale and drops, his hand outstretched, still managing to trap a slice of sausage and chokes. And tranquility reigns, at long last tranquility reigns. Imaginary, not imaginary, one toilet for four hundred German workers. Stench mixed with an aroma of a distant meadow. Captain Wood a crumbled empire with medals on his chest. Historic spectacle, he says to himself, St. Bartholomew's night, and Kramer doesn't budge. It's to his credit, isn't it, thinks Ebenezer, he didn't ask for food. When he was given a glass of water, he held it in his tied hands. And then he poured out the water. Some time has to pass, time that will grant these moments their meaning, and the moment hasn't yet come. Kramer is trying to give his sitting that proud solidity he saw in the propaganda films that were wasted on him. He looks at his last battlefield. His soldiers are in wheelbarrows or graves, tied up, pleading for food and water. A momentary ritual nightmare, he said to Ebenezer, who couldn't hear him. In a little while we'll know what to do, the Fuhrer has surely left instructions, there's something to be done, but we don't yet know what, got to gain time, a retreat for some time and then we'll attack again. Kramer is seeking some sign, why didn't he devastate the land along with the traitors. It all has to be started over, says Kramer. And Ebenezer is amazed at how he can read Kramer's mind, even today. Kramer says to the Englishman: I beg your pardon for the water I spilled, I'm talking now as one officer to another, but without getting any orders what can I do? The Englishman didn't understand Kramer's splendid German, and went on drinking his beer, and spitting. The sight of the splendid death of another officer who was mistakenly shot by an English soldier cleaning his weapon pleased him quite a bit, even though it was incorrect in terms of military protocol. The gravediggers also saw in the death the nobility they were denied and didn't yet know how to be despised properly. Weiss the fool is hiding under the dead Jews, thought Kramer, I'm still secretly recording things about him, as long as I haven't received an explicit order to report what Weiss is doing. And the dead officer dropped masterfully. And in contrast to his splendid death, Weiss was now taken out of the corpses and, shaking in terror, was led to them. Some of the skeletons he lay under were still breathing, his mouth dripped the remains of wine he had drunk in hiding. They sit him down next to Kramer and somebody kicks him too, he bites his lips, wails until his hands are tied. Don't blindfold him, says Samuel, let him learn to see! And the English obey Samuel Lipker. Weiss asks for food and water and the soldiers bring it to him. He holds out his tied hands, chews hungrily and drinks water. He tries to wipe his face but he can't. Finally he manages to wipe his face with his forearms. Kramer points to the dead officer and says: There died a manly officer, you sell yourself for a slice of bread! Weiss doesn't answer and looks around. Something isn't clear to him. His eyes run from Kramer stuck to him to Captain Wood, he's trying to know where the power is. Maybe there's some mistake here. There was no mistake, says Kramer. Weiss doesn't get it yet. People are passing by him with wheelbarrows full of cadavers and he turns his face aside. Only when Kramer challenges Weiss and looks at him with restrained and tranquil contempt does Ebenezer understand that maybe the war is over.