A Strong and Mighty Wind - Book 2: The Wind by Douglass Graem

A Strong and Mighty Wind! Book Two:! The Wind! !

! !

Douglass Graem

A STRONG AND MIGHTY WIND

BOOK TWO ,

THE WIND

And he said: 'Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord.' And behold, the Lord passed by, and a strong and great wind rent the mountains ••• but the Lord was not in the wind. I Kings 19: 11 ]

CHAPTER SEVEN CHAMPAGNE AND TREASON

[Oh! What a fall there was, my countrymen., Then I, or you, or all of us fell down, Whilst bloody treason flourished over us. Shakespeare, Julius Ceasar ]

37.

The two friends knew about the celebration planned in their honor, but not its extent and nature.

When it came to organizing

a party, Uncle Ede and Georgie were at their best.

Since a

graduation would not recur in the family for another generation, Tommy being the youngest of the Schwarz children, it was appropriate to make it a special occasion.

They invited as many of

Tommy's and Ian's friends as could be found.

No less than six

out of the thirty-one of the class of 1944 were at Komlo that weekend.

The festivities began that Friday night with a black

tie supper ~ l~ Komlo, a gargantuan feast of delicacies, good wines and witty conversation, followed by a mulatas, highlighted by an elaborate game of forfeit. be equally busy.

Saturday and Sunday promised to

Uncle Ede' s and Georgie's plans included a

tennis tournament, a skeet shoot and a series of high stake games at the cardtable.

was nine

clock by the time I an unpacked and threw

himself on the bed of a room adjoining Tommy's.

He glanced at

the ceiling for a few minutes and inhaled the invigorating air of the verdant countryside streaming through the open window. was filled with anticipation. before supper.

Ian

There were nearly two hours still

He jumped up and went in search of Liza.

Every-

one in the large mansion, to which the Schwarzes had added two wings to accommodate the many guests regularly invited as well as the servants needed to look after them, seemed asleep.

Ian found

Liza ensconsed in her room on the second floor, right under the north tower.

She wore a simple white summer frock which brought

out her dark coloring to advantage.

Liza looked up at him from

the book she was reading her beautiful eyes sparkling. seemed to say,

"Did you ever notice before,

Her eyes

Ian, that I am a

warm-hearted, red-blooded Magyar woman who will give herself soon to someone with a sizzling passion!

I won't belong to you be-

cause we are friends, but I shall belong to a man I'll love very soon. " Ian embraced her when he

entered the large room,

reflected Liza's simple elegance.

which

It had a few fine pieces of

furniture, an Aubousson carpet with pink and light green predominating.

Two enormous bunches of flowers, one full of roses, the

other full of wild flowers she had gathered herself earlier in the day during a walk in the neighboring fields brought the early spring inside.

-2-

and forests,

They were silent for a long moment.

Then suddenly, turning

to each other, they both started a sentence, Ian with enthusiastic self confidence, Liza with a shy, happy smile.

Immediately

both stopped, looking at each other quizzically. IILiza, what were you going to say?" asked Ian. IIPlease go on, Ian, mine was of no particular importance." She invited Ian to sit down next to her on a sofa covered with pale green silk.

Ian marvelled at the language of her eyes,

which at first had been rather frank,

but now tantalizingly

demure. III was going to say how delighted I am to see you,ll said Ian happily. III am too, II she said with a smile implying the impossibility of Ian's being indifferent to her.

IIMay I congratulate ... Tommy

said you have done well in your finals."

Her eyes said,

II I

didn't expect anything less from you, Ian, II to which he replied without words, "If I didn't love Maria, I could really love you. II Liza put her hand on a small box resting on the rosewood sidetable.

IIThis is for you, my beloved Ian," she said.

IIWhat is it? surprise presents.

What is i t?1I he asked excitedly.

He loved

His exuberance compelled Liza to exclaim,

1I0pen it! II There, upon the dark blue velvet attached to a thin gold chain nestled an English antique gold sovereign. George slaying the dragon.

It depicted st.

Liza hung it around Ian's neck.

held her chin and kissed her lightly on her sensuous, half-parted lips -3-

An hour passed.

Liza glanced at her small Piaget watch,

secured by a gold band:

" I an,

we both have to get ready for

supper!" At least forty people were seated at the long table set up in the mirrored ballroom.

On previous occasions, Ian had always

been seated somewhere half way down the table with Liza and Tommy, but tonight belonged to Tommy and Ian.

They were at the

head of the table, Tommy seated between his parents, Ian between Liza and her mother, Countess Vicky. Many of the other guests were friends of the graduates. Claude cartier was there with an Italian designer's daughter, Mikasz sat next to lIse,

the Chilean beauty, Lotti with Johnny

Eszterhazy,

the

Wesselenyis,

Hansie Hoyos,

another of their

classmates.

Further down sat some people Ian knew by sight only,

having seen them at the Tennis Club on Margaret Island and at the Schwarz's palace in Budapest.

They included the director of the

National Bank, surrounded by a flock of first cousins and cousins once removed of the Schwarz clan, in addition to Georgie and his own group of friends who were in the company of some remarkable beauties entirely unknown to everyone else. Presiding over the large gathering was Uncle Ede, a circular man whose looks were more than redeemed by kindliness, heartiness and a deep concern for all those around him.

It struck Ian more

forcefully than before that here was a man ln his prime, a man of the world to whom success had become second nature.

-4-

IIHave

the

champagne brought in,1I

Uncle Ede said to his

personal butler, who stood behind his chair . .I an noticed another change in Liza.

In the presence of

others, she became shy, almost self-effacing. of conversation and banter increased,

As the noise level

she withdrew more of her-

self inside. After the toasts, numerous courses and a mountainous sculptured ice cream cake, the footmen began to bustle about.

There

was a general commotion as the chairs scraped against the polished hardwood floor and a cacophony of jarring noises as the guests left the table. animated,

they returned to the drawing room in the same order

they entered. tion,

With voices a little louder and generally more

Card tables were brought out for the older genera-

bridge partners

selected and cigars

lit.

Tommy,

Ian,

Georgie and their friends positioned themselves around Lotti and Liza. A loud whisper which floated from one of Countess Vicky's current favorites was overhead by all: Tommy's the spi tting image

I sn' t

that friend of

f our archduke sixteen years ago? 11

IIDon't speak nonsense ...

His majesty wasn't even seventeen

then,1I replied an equally loud diamond-studded dowager. Ian shivered for a moment and slid his arm into Liza's. round of champagne followed another.

One

While Georgie proposed more

and more toasts, Ian noticed Liza barely touched her glass. When the gypsy music started up, the young and the young-inspirit started to stream back into the ballroom.

-5-

The long dining

table was split in two,

serving as bars at both ends of the

ballroom, and the dining chairs were set along the walls. Georgie assumed the role of master of ceremony. taller,

more attractive version of his

father,

curled blond hair inherited from his mother.

He was a

with tightly

He made certain the

footmen kept the champagne and a variety of other refreshments flowing.

He informed the bewi ldered I an that for tonight he

would be known as Bela and urged his brother to get all the guests into the ballroom -- that is,

all those not at the card

tables. Uncle Ede came in and delighted everyone by moving his portly frame with light-footed agility to the strains of the gypsy violin, and as he was getting more and more into hi s stride wi th his wal tz:

surprising

capers,

the gypsies played his favorite

[Tales of the Vienna Woods. ]

Ian continued drinking champagne in quantities he was entirely unaccustomed to.

He began to reel around the dance floor

in a slightly swaying fashion. After several sets of Viennese waltzes, fox trots and csardas, Georgie announced the start of the game of forfeit.

Ian's name

for the night, Bela, was the password of the first game. "Bela!" shouted Georgie to Ian.

According to the rules of

the game, he had to reply, and reply quickly, whatever first carne to his mind. comrni ttee

Any hesitation was

consi sting

of Georgie,

immediately penalized by

Johnny Eszterhazy and I lse.

Looking about uncertainly in search of Liza, Ian realized she was

-6-

no longer in the room; he hesitated long enough to hear cries of "Forfeit!

Forfeit!"

wristwatch,

all

around him.

Georgie

demanded

Ian's

a graduation present from his mother, be forfeited.

To redeem it, the committee decreed Ian had to carry a bottle of champagne on his head from one end of the ballroom to the other. He managed to perform the feat almost all the way when he lost his balance.

Ian nearly fell into the lap of a beautiful woman,

who caught the bottle smartly l.n mid air and with a dazzling smile, handed it back to I an. In the next round, it was Tommy who was declared "forfeit." He had to redeem his gold cigarette case by having to make a headstand and walk three paces on his hands. his

balance even though Claude

and

He also nearly lost

Ian tightly gripped his

ankles. Ian

was

extraordinarily proud of his

near

success

strutted like a peacock around the chandelier-lit room. images of nymphs,

fairies dressed as ballerinas,

and Happy

and pliant and

nubile forms floating in diaphonous wraps began to befuddle his brain.

He had enough presence left to collapse into a chair.

asked a footman with a slurred but imperious tongue to bring him a cup of coffee and a large glass of iced soda water. head began to clear, dance which meant,

As his

Ian noticed Claude performing a Russian

according to the rules of that night, squat-

ting down and flinging first one, then the other foot forward all around the room, a difficult feat under any circumstances.

-7-

Later when Ian rejoined the game, it dawned upon him that it was heavily biased against the Piarist students who graduated earlier that day or rather yesterday since it was already past three in the morning. of the participants.

They were penalized far more than the rest When Georgie managed to declare Ian "for-

fei t" again, he realized that for any of the new graduates, the parlor game was

no-win situation.

The

odds were

further

stacked against Ian after the committee's decision that to redeem his

forfeited underpants

he had to drink a

full

bottle of

champagne. Ian suddenly wished he were somewhere else.

38.

Admiral Miklos Horthy, Regent of Magyarland, shared the same sentiments as he paced up and down in his suite at Hi tIer's Klesheim Castle a few hours later.

He had arrived by train from

Budapest and was getting ready to meet the Nazi dictator in his study.

He was not yet aware that Hi tIer and his henchmen--Gobbels,

the club-footed Nazi propaganda chief; Himmler, the evil genius lording over the

dreaded security forces;

and Field Marshal

Wilhelm Keitel, the top German general who was the butt of cruel jokes

for

his

abject subservience to

the Nazis--had already

hatched a clever plot to blitzkrieg Magyarland.

-8-

There were numerous enough frictions between the Magyars and the Nazis.

The former naval person knew the meeting was not

going to be an easy one.

Each of Hitler's cabinet members had

their own pet grievance.

Gobbels didn't like the independence of

the press, especially the Magyar Nation; and he considered the atmosphere of Magyarland treacherous.

six months ago, on septem-

ber 23, he had noted in his diary that the Magyars would like to desert the Nazi war effort, as the Italians had two weeks earlier. Himmler was

galled by the fact that Magyarland provided

refuge for over two thousand Allied prisoners, mostly Americans, British and French.

His agents reported that two hundred British

subjects, including Ian Campbell, were allowed to roam freely all over that accursed country. More importantly, both Hitler and Keitel were irritated by constant Magyar pressure to have their troops released from the Russian front for the defense of their homeland and their infuriating passivity in the ever-increasing crisis there.

The Buda-

pest government had already refused to send meaningful logistical support for their light division. ment,

in turn,

This lack of up-to-date equip-

gave the local commanders a splendid excuse to

avoid any serious warfare against the Red Army. To make matters worse for the Nazi field marshal, in recent months,

Atilla and his father had heightened their campaign to

ensure their return home.

The old admiral joined in the chorus

on February 12th in a letter to Hitler: are a hard obstacle for the Russians,

-9-

[The Carpathian Rockies ] he wrote.

[The Magyar

Army will have an easier job holding that line than a push by greatly superior arms and equipment in the flat country ] of the Ukraine and Poland. Only a few days earlier, another messenger of this strategy, General Lakatos, commander of the Magyar troops on the Eastern front, was honored by a typical outburst from Hitler on March 12, 1944.

"And you want to defend the Carpathians with your own

troops!

The Russians are always able

detect the weakest

sections of the front and they never fail to attack with their main forces! " Keitel found the whole argument rather stupid,

as it was

unthinkable that the Nazi lines should have to retreat so far. To add to the woes of Gobbels and Keitel, their partner in crime, the security chief Himmler had another reason for being furious with the Magyars. communique

to his

The cause was that same General Lakatos. troops,

humanity and chivalry.

In a

General Lakatos had dared mention

He had written,

[ The Magyar spirit of

chivalry and commitment to honorable warfare inherited from our forefathers does not tolerate cruelties and inhumanities against our vanquished enemies.

Therefore, we must pay particular atten-

tion that in the process of fighting and defeating the enemy, we do not commit unnecessary murders.

We must especially avoid the

destruction of entire villages as a means of reprisal ... The communique sensibly pointed out that Magyar soldiers should distinguish between partisans and civilians, lest civilians be encouraged to enlist with the partisans.

-10-

It concluded

wi th a suggestion which sounded quite outrageous to Himmler; namely, that reprisals should be left to "special German units." Plainly the Magyars refused to get involved in atrocities against the Russian population. Himmler was already unsettled by reports from his spies. One mentioned "direct sabotage" by the Magyars.

Another sug-

gested their role in the war against the Allies was entirely nominal.

"In practice,

American," it read. government

they were

neutral,

even pro Anglo-

Yet another relayed the observation that the

"didn't believe"

Gobbels noted in his diary:

in German victory.

As a result

"influential circles in Magyarland

are at work for a direct break wi th us. " All these military,

security and propaganda considerations

by that fearsome trio were overshadowed by Hitler's hatred of the Jews.

In 1939, at the beginning of the war, Magyarland's Jewish

population

already exceeded half a million by a wide margin.

During the next four years of Nazi triumphs, Magyarland was the only 'neutral' Europe.

country,

outside Switzerland,

in the heart of

When Poland was blitzkrieged along with a flock of other

countries, Magyarland's Jewish population began to approach one million.

That was the largest concentration of Jews outside of

Hitler's direct grasp.

It was too tempting a target for him to

overlook. In the twenties when he had published Mein Kampf, he had expressed his designs on the Jews as clearly as the communists had their designs on world domination.

-11-

The gist of Hitler's

argument was deceptively simple and easy for the masses to understand: sents

the will of nature is racial purity; the German reprethat purity.

By contrast,

the

Jews

are inferior,

the

opposite of the German super race; the Jews are predestined to act out their inferior, that is, evil nature.

Hitler connected

the thread of these two themes by advocating for the Germans a holy mission:

to rid the world of the Jews.

would carry out the will of the Creator. action had to be taken immediately. logical and scientific final solution:

By doing so, they

Time was running out,

That brought Hitler to his the sacred mission of the

German people was to exterminate the Jews. Prince Chabaffy,

Imre's father, was first exposed to this

evil during an interview he had with Hitler in 1929.

He was

subjected to a typical tirade on the final solution, which converted the prince to a fervent anti-Nazi well before the Jews themselves became convinced of his murderous designs.

In those

days Hi tIer was considered by many a patriot at best and an eccentric at worst. In 1944 the one million Jews in Magyarland were like a red flag before a bull for Hitler.

As the war on the Russian front

became more desperate, he became even more desperate to fulfill his sacred mission of racial purification by gassing all the Jews to death. Survival

instinct,

if not military prudence,

would have

dictated that Hi tIer avoid any action that would weaken defenses against the Red armies.

-12-

his

Yet his hatred was heated to

such a fever-pitch, that he considered the purification of Magyarland more important than the successful defense of his eastern frontiers against the rapidly advancing Russian troops. To find a pretext and confirmation of his plans, Hitler sent special emissary Edmund Veesenmayer to Budapest.

He found the

Magyars were opposed to being used as instruments of HitIer's final solution,

and concluded his lengthy findings with the

statement that only "outside intervention" would ensure Nazi objectives in Magyarland.

It is not surprising then that Hitler

concluded that nothing short of a Blitzkrieg would bring about the success of his murderous designs in Magyarland. On March 18, 1944, only a frail old man stood between Hitler's plan and its criminal execution: aged seventy-six, Regent of Magyarland.

Admiral Miklos Horthy, The admiral was a man

molded in the old school.

For many years he had been aide to

Emperor-King Franz Josef.

During World War I he had fought the

Allied navies to a standstill in the Adriatic Sea. ideals were composed of decency,

chivalry,

Because his

fair dealing and

honesty, he would not stoop to the cunning, brutality, aggression and treachery of the Nazis. In his invitation to the regent, Hitler suggested that the oft-brought-up question of the withdrawal of Magyar soldiers from the Russian front would be a main topic of discussion and so his guest should have his top generals accompany him to Klesheim.

never occurred, even in his nightmares, to a man brought up in the old school, that the apparently helpful suggestion if accepted

-13-

would deliver the Magyar decision-making leadership right into the

jaws of that

ferocious

beast.

wi thout the benefit of Imre' s

The prime minister,

latest intelligence,

even

counselled

against accepting the invitation. But the old admiral, like the countless Magyar Jews later that year,

just couldn't quite believe in the possibility of

treachery and treason on such a grandiose scale, so he accepted the invitation.

It was better to face up to responsibility than

run away from it, but to do so Admiral Horthy had to stand up to the mightiest adventurer in Europe,

a contemporary Caligula and

his cabal to save not only Magyar independence, but the lives of a million Jews.

39.

She had light brown hair and grey eyes that had a calculating eager look,

the calculation obscured by a dazzling smile.

She was a compact beauty perfectly proportioned in all the right places, except for her sturdy legs which didn't show under her long gown.

Her red undergarments were covered by white muslin.

This gave Ian the impression of an aura of pink softness. lier in the day,

Ear-

Georgie had given her terse instructions to

introduce his young friend to the rites of love, which he was certain was long overdue and for which he knew she was eminently qualified, having performed the same duty for Tommy.

-14-

Her oppor-

tunity came when Ian lost his balance at the beginning of the game of forfeit and she had deftly prevented the bottle from exploding on the floor.

Ian was grateful.

As soon as the iced

water and the coffee began to clear his brain he asked her for a dance.

She danced better than most of the girls he had danced

with before.

She treated Ian with a mixture of awe and familiar-

ity, calculated to put him at ease. "My name is Magda," she said. Somogy ... " interest.

"I'm from the county of

As that was Szigetvar's county, Ian began to show an

"I know who you are," she added hastily.

"Do you live in Budapest?" Ian asked. "Yes I do," she replied. bank

"I'm employed at Baron Schwarz's

I lost both of my parents before I was ten

job is a lifesaver for me ...

That

Baron Schwarz and his son have

been very good to me." "How long have you been at the bank?" "Eleven years." "You don't look old enough to have worked that long." "I'm twenty-seven," continued Magda.

"In my spare time I do

a little modeling." That led them to discussing the House of Hochschield.

Ian

had never before danced with anyone so compliant, so eager to please, so gay and carefree. Maria was easy enough to dance with, but she always kept a distance between them, reflected Ian.

-15-

Even in their most pas-

sionate moments of dancing there was a little withholding.

Ian

wanted to give and give with abandon and that withholding put a brake on his passion. ness.

Magda, on the other hand, met his eager-

She had an easy familiarity which smoothed out the wrin-

kles in I an's awkwardness.

He barely knew her,

yet he felt

comfortable being with her even when she began pushing her right thigh between hi s as they continued to dance together. The primas, ever ready to please a romantic couple, stepped up to them.

Magda, at Ian's urging, named a chardash.

Milord, milord has a full glass, And in his lap a pretty lass, Milord, he drinks from a full glass. Magda whispered the lyrics in Ian's ear. "Not his, not his,"

he said urgently, "I want to hear your

favori te tune!" with the emphasi s on the word 'your' . Magda shouted to the primas: "Please play: Swallow.

]

[There is No More Beautiful a Bird than a

"Do you know ... " she stopped in mid-sentence when

she noticed the primas' smile. the bird and the bride.

He began to play the tune about

Under the influence of the gypsy violins

and the ice-cold champagne, the watchful look in her eyes gradually began to mellow.

Ian was a lovable boy.

They were interrupted by another round of the game of forfeit which ended with Ian losing his pants, which Georgie handed to Magda for moment.

safe keeping.

Georgie then left the room for a

Ilse quickly announced the penalty imposed on Ian:

-16-

had to drink a whole bottle of champagne.

Magda became alarmed.

There was nothing she could do to stop Ian, always the gentleman, from paying up.

The guests in the ballroom surrounded him and

urged him on with calls of encouragement.

The primas played a

flourish on his violin.

As Ian came close to gurgling down the

contents of the bottle,

the clapping of hands resounded with

increasing intensity.

Ian was greeted with thunderous applause

when he finished drinking the champagne. Magda rushed up to him quickly. 111'11 take you to your room, II she said firmly. II I'll be quite all right, II responded Ian more softly. IILet me help you! II IITruly ... II he began, with lessening assurance. IIBy that time it' 11 hit your insides

II Magda obj ected

insistently. His stomach suddenly began to feel queezy. liDo as you please ... " said Ian, giving in at last. The walk along the south wing and then through the entire length of the mansion took a long time. Ian's arms and hands. steps.

Magda held firmly to

The most difficult part was walking up the

At that point Ian's blood began to turn into champagne.

Magda needed all her skills and strength to steer him into his room.

She began to nurse him with devoted energy and with a

speed and efficiency which made Ian feel even more grateful. head began to spin and an awful cramp attacked his insides.

-17-

His

"I ... am ... going to be ... sick," Ian announced slowly. She put Ian on top of the bed and propped him up with two or three large pillows. "Wait, darling," Magda said pleading.

"Can you just hold on

for one more minute please ... please!" She pulled off his shoes, socks and pants in no time at all. "What little feet you have!" she exclaimed.

Then she took a

small linen towel and dipped it in the white water pitcher decorated with a pastoral scene in light blue.

She made a bandage out

of the towel and held it to Ian's forehead. "Good ... Good," she cooed as Ian struggled to contain the volcano inside him. Finally he couldn't restrain himself any longer.

The entire

seven course dinner took a much shorter time to disgorge than it had taken to consume. more to throw up.

Magda tried to make sure he had nothing

Ian had never been drunk before.

He felt

humiliated and embarassed at having had a witness to his unappetizing performance. While his nurse hastily carried the basin to the toilet at the end of the hall, Ian whispered for help, "Maria, Maria." eyelids closed.

His

By the time Magda returned, quickly undressed

and slipped under the covers next to Ian he was already fast asleep.

-18-

40.

Klesheim used to be the palace of the immensely wealthy Prince-Archbishops of Salzburg.

Its new masters, the top Nazi

hierarchy, used its baroque magnificence to overawe their visi,

tors.

Hitler was in his impressive study on the ground floor.

He was in a frightful mood and in the pit of a depression such as that which engulfs a gambler who, after an uninterrupted run of luck during which he has flung his money

about in abandon and

won in each instance, SUddenly finds just when he has cunningly figured out all the chances of the game, that the more carefully he plans his moves, the more certainly he loses. The immutable law of cause and effect began to manifest itself in Hitler's health too. in recent months.

It had been deteriorating rapidly

Just a few weeks previously, he had encoun-

tered a disturbance in the vitreous body of his right eye that had cleared up, but had left him disconcerted.

Yesterday he had

developed a series of agonizing stomach cramps while listening to some unwelcome reports about the Magyars, his tiny neighbors to the east.

The Fuhrer was also suffering from increased fatigue.

He insisted on staying up until the last Allied plane left German airspace.

As the Anglo-American raids became more frequent and

lasted longer, Hitler slept less.

The evening before, he had

less than five hours of sleep. He was in expectation of a visit

from the regent of Magyar-

land, whom he was eager to anzupfeiffeni that is, to tell off.

-19-

Hitler pulled himself together when he heard the approach of his guest's ponderous but firm steps.

He carried his relative small-

ness as a constant challenge.

He motioned towards Ambassador

Paul Schmidt, his interpreter,

to open the doors of his study.

With a deep bow, the ambassador greeted the tall Miklos Horthy, an imposing figure in his bemedalled naval uniform, then led him to his chief. After an exchange of greetings in German the old seaman turned to the ambassador. to act as an interpreter?"

"I appreciate your presence.

Are you

he asked in his excellent German.

"Yes, your serenity." "As you can hear, I speak fluent German; therefore, I don't believe we need an interpreter." Schmidt was dismissed. suppressed fury.

Hitler watched this performance with

Did not his empire stretch from the English

Channel in the west, to the Greek Islands in the east and from the tip of Norway in the north to Italy in the south?

How did

this old man dare to outmaneuver the great Fuhrer in the very first

round!

senile?

Didn't his

agents

report that he was

turning

Loaded with penetrating malevolence, he rested his gaze

on the admiral.

He was trying to bore into the most secret

recesses of the admiral's soul.

All Horthy could see were a pair

of dull opaque blue eyes. Hi tIer began to feel the cramp return into his stomach. Without any warning he lashed out, "You are planning to betray us just as the Italians did!"

-20-

The regent shrank before the dictator's outburst, but was impelled

reply:

"Your

excellency!

That

untrue!"

He was convinced he was telling the truth.

completely The Tollays

had carefully refrained from sharing Imre's and their efforts to find an honorable way out of the war. "There is no use denying it!" shouted Hi tIer. The admiral was appalled at this undiplomatic, unprecedented and indecent language. "During the course of its thousand year history, Magyarland never committed an act of treachery," he said firmly, recovering his composure.

"And as long as I am around, I'll make certain

that record remains unblemished!" Hitler turned abruptly and, stepping up to the admiral while gesticulating wildly and almost poking his face with his clenched hand, he shouted:

"You are ready to stab us in the back and

conclude an armistice!" "When I'm convinced the war is lost," replied the regent, his composure fully recovered, "I will inform you first that it is time to sue for an armistice." "We have to occupy your country," continued Hitler, his rage reaching a new plateau. "Your excellency

Horthy raising his voice.

despised by the whole world!"

said

"If you dare invade my country, the

Magyar people would be added to the list of those who hate you and the German people!"

-21-

"I 'm sending in my divisions tomorrow!

"We'll be able to defend ourselves against your invasion,

replied the admiral defiantly. "We have plenty of reserves to act with the proper effect against you!

Hi tIer was becoming red in the face.

was getting worse.

His cramp

The more he talked the less able he was to

control his temper.

In addition to our own troops,

he con-

tinued, with a demonical flame flickering in his eyes,

we have

the Croatian, Slovak and Rumanian divisions ready to help us!" The admiral could thank his position as head of state to the fact that he had helped chase the Rumanian troops out of Magyarland, who had tried to fish in troubled waters during the disorders following the defeat in the First World War.

That was the

time of the Communist reign of terror and the humiliating presence of Rumanian troops.

The admiral had entered Budapest on a

white charger when these enemies were routed, and now Hitler was trying to engineer an encore of these horrors.

The Fuhrer knew

how to strike for the jugular. "You had better use those reserve divisions against the Russians!

retorted the admiral very angrily, "They'll be knock-

ing at your doors very soon!

"We'll occupy your country tomorrow! all control.

shouted Hitler, losing

A tremor started in his left leg.

"If everything has been decided already," replied the regent furiously,

"there is no point in my staying here any longer.

shall leave at once.

After a stiff bow, he quickly turned on

his heels and abruptly pushed the doors of the room open. -22-

"Your serenity!

Let's discuss

But the admiral would not stop. as well as his own was outraged.

The dignity of his country

He ascended the magnificent

circular staircase with surprising agility.

His foreign secre-

tary carne out of the Magyar suite and awaited him on top of the stairs. switching to Magyar, the admiral said, "These creatures from the sewer are going to invade us tomorrow!" Thereupon the foreign secretary rushed to the communication center of the castle to send his deputy in Budapest a telegram. "Tell my wife I am well. " It was not yet eleven o'clock that Saturday morning when that telegram was sent out by the staff of Klesheim Castle.

was the prearranged signal for "the Germans are corning."

41.

"Tell my brother I am well. \I

It was two-thirty in the

afternoon. Imre could hear the stunned silence at the other end.

When

we are aware of an impending danger and it's slow in corning, we are still bound to be surprised when it is actually upon us. "And how is he?" he continued when there was no answer. Baron Edward de Schwarz was just aroused. in his bed.

He bolted upright

Within a few seconds, his mind geared into over-

-23-

drive.

He made a quick calculation to figure out if that last

train load of sugar was to be on the right side of the SwissGerman border.

It was the final installment of goods needed to

set up a bank in America after the war.

His mental computer spit

out a positive answer. "Your brother is fine," he replied finally, then he switched gears again.

"Have you already been released from the hospital?"

"Not until late this evening or very early in the morning." The telephone clicked. Imre had many calls to make.

Atilla had

phoned him an hour before with the prearranged message for "the Germans are coming," and he had been alerting his key people and his family ever since.

He tried Komlo several times.

The phone

kept ringing and nobody had picked it up until now. A tired voice answered him.

It was Uncle Ede' s personal

valet, and he needed convincing to wake his master. Imre's only remaining concern was Ellen.

Atilla told him he

had seen her with Andy around mid-day after their first meeting with the chief of Magyar counter intelligence. his family he had already alerted:

Everyone else in

Elma in Transylvania and his

mother at the Tennis Club, who in turn had immediately called Daisy Hochschield.

His mother was already packing ready to take

the afternoon train to Miskolc, the nearest city to Gerle. The baron asked his valet to fetch Georgie.

While he was

awaiting the arrival of his older son, he recalled with pleasure the seven no-trump contract he had won in the bridge game the night before along with a five thousand rubber.

-24-

And he had done

it with only three aces!

The openlng hand couldn't believe that

the baron didn't have the ace of hearts.

After all, he had made

a jump bid of three hearts on his partner's one spade openlng, and he had started with the highest card of his longest suit, the queen of clubs.

He recalled the five quick tricks he had made in

clubs, six in spades and the remaining in diamonds, never coming into play.

the hearts

Baron Schwarz smiled inwardly as he

recalled the expression on the players'

faces to his left and

right as he discarded his king, queen, ten and eight of hearts on the long spade suit of the dummy.

It was the kind of spirited

bidding he enjoyed not only in the game of bridge but in the game of business.

It often landed him in trouble with those bridge

partners who were unaccustomed to his mode of bidding. night he had been lucky. was not the money,

Last

He loved to outfox his opponents.

it was the winning he loved.

It was quite

incidental to him but not unwelcome that that grand slam last night had paid for the cost of the entire week-end.

And Imre's

call was worth every penny of his handsome annual renumeration from the bank. [ Where is Georgie? ] he wondered with a tinge of jealousy. [ Probably in the sack with that delicious morsel who had sat next to him at supper. ]

He was wrong.

His valet found Georgie on the

tennis court in the opening round of the tournament.

He had a

more agreeable way to work off last night's feast than Ian. baron's thoughts wandered to his older son.

The

Georgie had made a

very good start at the bank since his graduation at the Piarists

-25-

when was it? ...

seven years ago?

He had worked in all the

departments of the bank, the second largest in the country, and now he did an excellent job on the loan committee.

Sometimes he

could be frighteningly lazy but when he set his mind to a problem, Georgie was a whiz.

His father recalled with particular

pleasure his trip to Milan on a fake passport--with the looks he had inherited from his mother, he could easily pass as a gentile. The way he set up the sugar deal during a side trip to Lugano in the Italian part of Switzerland had been posi tively brilliant. What Uncle Ede didn't know was clinched,

how the

deal

had been

secret confided by Georgie to only Imre.

sealed in Davos,

where Georgie had spent a

memorable

It was skiing

week-end with the bored wife of the chocolate manufacturer who needed a

lot of sugar.

The rest,

like the doctoring of the

export license documents and the bribing of a key customs officer, was mere routine.

Yes, Georgie was doing well and was going

to do even better. Georgie,

standing by his bed in his tennis shorts and mop-

ping his brow brought Uncle Ede back to the present. "The Germans are going to invade us," the baron said, without wasting words

on niceties.

"Imre just called using the

agreed code. " "When?" asked Georgie very alert. "Late tonight or before dawn tomorrow. like to strike in the dead of night."

He climbed out of bed and

gave Georgie a series of terse instructions.

-26-

Those gutter-snipes

Then he interrupted

only to ask his valet to put on his shoes as he had trouble bending down. II

I '11 take your mother to Budape s t,

he started.

"Al so,

Baranyai [ he was the president of the National Bank ] and our cousin Ferenc and Edith in the bank's car Lancia with you

I '11 leave the

You'll be in charge of getting everyone out

of here by six

Being so close to the German border, we'll be

lucky if they get away before the Nazi invaders get here ...

have to tell the servants but not until a few minutes before we leave ...

Make an exception here and there but only if absolutely

necessary

don't want panic in the countryside

Have

the El Grecos crated immediately ... have them use the crates we used to get them here after they were cleaned last year ... them on the estate truck with the silver ... china

Put

Never mind the

say they are needed for an exhibition at the ... National

Gallery

Tell your friends.

any excitement

Try and keep them from showing

don't want their servants to know

want to be out of here,

dear Georgie, within the hour

I'll

have lots of things to do at the bank as soon as I get to Budapest ... I know your mother won't be easy," and with an affectionate pat on his son's cheek. Georgie

"Please... you wake her up

knew why his father didn't want to go into his

mother's bedroom. By the time Uncle Ede was fully dressed, he fired off his last instructions.

True to his word,

the large Mercedes Benz

rolled through the gates of Komlo precisely at four What he didn't know was ... -27-

clock.

Georgie was the very image of coolness. his senses and put him on his mettle.

Crisis sharpened

After taking care of the

paintings, he calmly played another round of tennis to reach the semi-finals.

Only then did he awaken Tommy who was still fast

asleep. Then he knocked at the door of the adjoining room and, without waiting for an answer, entered Ian's room.

He said a few

whispered words to Magda, who got deathly pale.

She quickly

climbed out of the bed and hurriedly began to dress. opened and shut his eyes.

Ian quickly

The sun blinded his vision and a

splitting headache his concentration.

He hid under the covers,

and only Magda at her most insistent was able to rouse him. The fear in her was mixed with concern about her job and the fate of her young half-brother doing labor-service on the Russian front.

To her own surprise, she found herself deeply concerned

about Ian. virgin.

She had really taken a liking to that boy--still a

Her regret was drowned in memories of Prince Tibor,

electioneering in her village for the Union Party.

Now there was

a handsome man, the most appealing she had ever seen. going to get Ian out of this calamity? ] she wondered. ever is needed,

I'll help him to escape.

[How am I [What-

He can hide in my

apartment. ] For the umpteenth time since he had heard the news of the Nazi invasion, Georgie repeated the first half of "Bassa Nova"-that's the way the Magyars pronounce the equivalent of the Anglo-Saxon's four letter word.

-28-

After a brief conference with

Tommy,

it was decided that Magda would travel to Budapest with

Ian and him in the jump-seat of the MG. awake.

He was the first ready to go.

Ian was suddenly wide From then on everything

became hurried. They arrived in the capital only a few hours ahead of the Nazi juggernaut.

42.

Ambassador

Schmidt was astounded by the anger on Regent

Horthy's face as he had rushed away from Hitler's presence.

The

interpreter hurried in to see his leader. "Get me Herr Ribbentrop! Marshal Keitel,

Get me Herr Himmler!

the dictator barked at him.

have to do everything?

Get me Field

"Hurry up!

I'm surrounded by idiots!

Do I

Foreign secretary Ribbentrop, who lived nearby in the palatial Villa Fuschl, was already on the scenic road to Klesheim. Hitler's cabal held an emergency council of war to repair the damage caused by their leader's intemperance. "Verflucht noch mal! Hitler, still angry. tation,

Dammit!

We can't let him go!" shouted

The Nazi chieftain was in a state of irri-

wherein a man would talk and talk,

himself that he was right.

just to prove to

"I'll show that doddering old fool!"

It was obvious he wanted to do all the talking himself,

-29-

and he

went on with the petulent impatience and passion to which people spoiled by success are so partial. aback by his display of temper.

His listeners were taken

It is not that they were not

accustomed to his periodic outbursts, but today their leader's behavior displayed a new dimension of his sick mind.

Himmler's

sharp eyes had noticed during lunch that his hand shook enough to rattle his cup of soup in its saucer.

Hitler went on and on,

hardly able to keep pace in words with the rush of arguments providing him with his right and might, which to the Fuhrer's mind meant one and the same thing. "I'll have the locomotive of his train detached," suggested Field Marshal

Keitel,

when he

discerned the end of Hi tIer's

harangue. "The Magyar regent and his delegation will not be able to leave," chimed in Ribbentrop. "I have a proposal," chuckled Himmler, wi th a malevolent grin.

the security chief,

"Let's stage an air raid and tell the

Magyars it's too dangerous for them to undertake a railway journey." "A capital idea," said Hitler regaining his calm. "An excellent excuse to keep his train here!" Gobbels exclaimed, and after a brief pause the Nazi propaganda chief added, "It'll give us time to issue the press release we have in mind." "I believe I know where I could lay my hands on some smoke bombs!" added Himmler, mischief lighting up his hatchet face.

-30-

Thus the stage was set for the most farcical

and tragic

performance of the top Nazi hierarchy during the war.

Background

music was provided by a wailing air raid siren; special effects, courtesy of Hirnrnler,

in the form of smoke obscured rays of the

sun above the castle:

[ ACT ONE Scene One (2:00 p.m.): Admiral Horthy is told his train can't leave under these adverse circumstances. Scene Two: Enter Hi tIer; he promi ses to cancel the invasion if the regent would only sit down and be reasonable. Horthy sits down. Scene Three: Enter Keitel; Hitler tells him to rescind the order to occupy Magyarland. Horthy now convinced that his initial hunch, that the invasion threat was a bluff, was correct. ACT TWO Scene One: Hitler tells Horthy, he has always liked Magyarland a lot; the idea that he wants to turn Magyarland into a province is ridiculous. Bohemia was different; it was part of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation and then of the Austrian Empire. Scene Two: Enter Field Marshal Keitel, reporting to Hi tIer: "Unfortunately, it is too late to cancel Operation Margarethe" (disbelief all around) . Scene Three: (Comedy becomes tragedy) The Nazi leadership submits its wish list: A new Magyar cabinet that will mobilize the economy for the war; all new cabinet members must be approved by the Reich government. To assist the new government in mobilizing the economy, German troops will be available on the spot. To supervise all this, a Gauleiter, that is a provincial governor, will be needed and sent to Budapest. Scene Four: Enter Foreign Minister Ribbentrop: "Here is the text of the press release we have prepared on

-31-

two proclamations, one to be issued immediately and addressed to the Magyar Army not to offer any resistance to the Germans / and the other to the Magyar people ordering the population and the authorities to receive the German troops with open arms and to support the policies of the new administration. " Scene Five: The admiral rising, "I don't want to have anything to do with this business!" Hi tIer (reasonably): "I'll tell you what I' 11 do for you. I promi se to withdraw my troops as soon as you appoint an acceptable prime minister." Ribbentrop, (also reasonably): "I'll rescind the order to Ambassador Schmidt to have you escorted back to the frontier under guard. " ACT THREE Scene One: over.

Horthy is given time to think this all

Scene Two: Monologue by Horthy: He muses that Hitler placed so much emphasis on the words "I promise." "Is it a promise, or not a promise?" he wonders. "In my days at the court of the Emperor-King a promise was a promise, and the promise of an officer was like a sacred oath. I must try again. " Scene Three: Monologue by Hi tIer: " 'I promi se' has a magic ring. Countless world leaders ... the prime ministers of England ... of France ... believed me when I said, 'I promise.' Horthy, he was brought up in the Habsburg monarchy. He is a fool for the words 'I promi se ' (rubbing hi s hands together). I've got the old man hooked. " Scene Four: 8:00 p.m. Discussions are resumed. Ribbentrop again presents press release. Horthy refuses to sign anything. Ribbentrop announces telegrams were sent out to Budapest in the name of Horthy, his commander-in-chief and his chief-of-staff to order friendly receptions for German troops. Horthy (in stage whi spers quoting Shakespeare): "But you shall not say I yield, being silent I would not speak." Ribbentrop (aside quoting an old legal maxim): "Who is silent is held to consent." Horthy tried again. EPILOGUE 9:00 p.m. The train of the Magyar delegation pulls out of the Salzburg railway station. This was not quite the end of the Salzburg tragi-comedy. The Nazis didn't

-32-

trust the Magyars. When the train on its journey eastward toward Budapest arrived in the neighboring Vienna, close to Komlo, it was shunted to a siding and not allowed to continue until the early morning hours. ] During the

critical night and early mornlng hours,

all

communication between the regent, the top generals and the government in Budapest was effectively cut with that simple device.

was in those hours that the German military might marched into Magyarland. Prime Minister Tollay and Atilla tried desperately to get in touch with the delegation visiting Hitler. its whereabouts. At eleven

They had no idea of

They didn I t even know the regent I s fate. 0

clock in the morning when the train finally

arrived at the railway station in Budapest, German troops were lined up to greet the returning visitors.

-33-

CHAPTER EIGHT OCCUPATION

[ Why should we be afraid of last judgment's raid? But let those really tremble Who so vilely dissemble. Petofi, 1849

]

43.

The German High Command,

the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht,

recorded with satisfaction that Hitler was right with the timing of his Blitzkrieg against the Magyars.

This record reflected

Hitler's overpowering conviction that no possibility existed of his making a mistake and that according to his understanding of affairs whatever he did was right not because it harmonized with any preconceived notion of right and wrong but because it was he who did it. In reality, the German dictator committed a terrible blunder.

This was not altogether surprising because gnawed as he was

by his demented illusions and the symptoms of his deteriorating health,

he was entirely out of tune with the real world.

The

Nazi chieftain was quite incapable of understanding the inner rhythm of unfolding events. the third eye view,

He completely lacked what some call

that magnificent sense of what fits what,

what does and doesn't harmonize with circumstances.

-34-

In other

words, he completely lacked insight, wisdom, a sense of the past, and an understanding of life and human character.

In short, he

lacked practical genius. If he had contained a deeper insight, he would have realized that in the spring of 1944 a Blitzkrieg along the Danube was a first class perversion of strategic common sense.

But he hadn't

realized it and so pressed ahead with the invasion. Hi tIer lived in the future and in the past, completely overlooking the present.

He remembered his past triumphs and

projected them into the future, confident of ultimate victory. He also tried to function by projecting the future back into the present.

In his sad imagination he visualized the extermination

of the Jews,

a world freed from their pollution.

completely obscured his sense of reality.

That vision

It not only obscured

his vision.

It blinded him to the inexorable currents flowing

against him.

Hitler was completely incapable of visualizing the

mighty unfolding of the enormous economic and military potential of the united states of America; he was too deaf to hear the roar of America's mighty war engine which was revving itself up in the British islands, getting ready to unleash the world's mightiest armada ever seen.

Playing games with the Magyar admiral in the

splendor of his baroque castle on March 18, 1944, Hitler appeared to be completely unaware that the Allied invasion of Europe was less than ninety days away. In a similar fashion, the Fuhrer was unable to visualize the endless columns of hundreds of Red Army divisions in the East

-35-

being organized and getting ready to hurl themselves against the Nazi invaders.

Just as he was incapable of hearing the revving

of America's war engine 1n the west, he was equally deaf to the roar of Russian masses clamoring in the east for retribution for the unspeakable atrocities committed against them by the Nazi conquerors.

Playing out his crude farce with the Magyars in

Salzburg on that March 18th in 1944, Hitler could not imagine that the Red Armies were ready to batter themselves against the gates of Europe and the Carpathian Rockies within the next six months. Typically, he had ignored the voices of restraint.

He did

agree to the suggestion by the head of Gestapo, Ernst Kaltenbrunner, that Rumanian and Slovak divisions not be deployed against the Magyars.

That was as far as his moderation went.

He was about

to repeat the mistake he had committed in 1941 when, immediately before the invasion of Russia, he unleashed a Blitzkrieg against Greece and Yugoslavia which in the overall scheme of his strategy had been secondary targets.

Now just before the Allied invasion

of France and the Red Army offensive in Russia, he was unleashing a

Blitzkrieg

against

another

secondary

target--the

Magyars.

Instead of concentrating his still formidable military machine on guarding his Western frontiers against the Anglo-American threat and strengthening his Eastern outposts

against the Russians'

seemingly inexhaustible millions, he sent his margin of safety or part of it, time,

almost a dozen divisions,

into Magyarland.

This

because his might was declining that blunder was having

-36-

imminent and far reaching political/ military and economic repercussions on the rest of the war in Europe. The Nazi columns marched on Budapest from four directions. From the north came three reinforced regiments supplied by the Gross Deutschland/ Feldherrenhalle and Brandenburg divisions/ as well as sapper and engineering units.

From the northwest came

the 16th Armored Granadier Division/ the Armored Training Division/ the 997th heavy artillery battalion/ , ,

a battalion of the

Viking Armored Division and a militia battalion. came the 8th Cavalry Division/ motorized Granadier Regiment 92/ Brandenburg Regiment/ Armored Battalion.

From the south

the 42nd Alpine Division/

the

the 55 Police Regiment 5/ the

also the 55 Brigade 201 and the

202nd

From the southwest carne the 1st Alpine Divi-

sion/ the 367th Infantry Division and the 18th 55 Armored Division.

In addition/ the 21st Armored Division and at least two

battalions of paratroopers were also allocated to the invasion. The plans of the German High Command also included the Trojan Horse transport group including some 55 contingents which were to detrain on the evening of March 18th. German sappers did a

little comedy act of their own by

blowing up the rai lway tracks around Budapest.

Thi s

obliged

their own troops to get off their trains/ which they did/ around 2:00 a.m.

Their march on the capital commenced two hours later/

coinciding wi th the four pincer movements of their main forces.

-37-

This onslaught represented a superior force over its victim. Immediately before the invasion,

according to German intelli-

gence, the Magyar Army had barely 450,000 troops, of which nearly a quarter were on the Eastern front.

The German High Command

made sure that the Magyar soldiers were posted at the most northern flank of the front, remainder were

as far away as possible from home.

scattered allover Magyarland with a

concentration of troops

along the

The

limited

Carpathian Rockies

at the

Eastern end of the country. Moreover, Nazi intelligence reported that lithe efficiency of the units deficient";

is limited,

the training incomplete,

for example,

the equipment

lithe divisions have no heavy anti-tank

artillery and only part of the equipment can be described as modern.

Not only were the Nazi troops superior ln quality and equipment but also in experience.

Gleichschaltung had been refined to

a high pitch of efficiency in the course of the previous four and a half years when the Nazi legions made a habit of raping one European country after another. Added to this was the element of surprise.

For example, in

accordance with directives of the Trojan Horse operation, troops were sent to the Budapest area by train and by way of the Danube ostensibly as German units on their way to the Russian front. Reinforced with the airborne battalions of the elite Brandenburg Division,

which were dropped at a nearby airport,

these

troops occupied strategic positions in Budapest to force Hitler's will on Geza and Atilla de Tollay and their government. -38-

To put Magyar suspicions aroused by such unusual movement of troops to sleep, the German explained their concentrations in the south and southwest as preparations for anti-partisan moves in Yugoslavia and in the north and northwest as maneuvers in preparation for the spring offensive on the Russian front. Hi tIer could congratulate himself on Blitzkrieg.

another

successful

In less than forty-eight hours, Hitler's wind car-

ried the foul miasma of Nazi occupation over the thousand-yearold homeland of the Magyars. But God was not in the wind.

44.

Andy was in a wonderful heaven of his own.

Seeing Ellen

after all these months, he was dreaming the poems of Keats.

had read them avidly during the months in Italy he had spent getting ready for his mission to Magyarland.

After being picked up

at Szigetvar the night before, on March 17th, he was conveyed to Budapest where he met the three senior officers of Magyar counterintelligence.

He was going to work with them in the coming weeks

and months in anticipation of puncturing a hole in the Nazis' soft underbelly. The evening had been reserved for Ellen.

They had agreed to

meet at the Budapest palace of Aunt Daisy's, chateleine of Churgo, where they had spent such happy days together last year.

-39-

He was now walking back to the safe house near police headquarters where he and his three American colleagues were staying for the one night before dispersing in various directions. He remembered this evening with Ellen in the language of Keats:

"Looked at me as she did love and made sweet moan."

had shut her "wild wild eyes with kisses forever."

sitting in

Aunt Daisy's drawing room, they spoke in the language of lovers and poets, like Liza and Ian, who were a hundred kilometers west of them.

During his solitary combat missions Andy was always

sustained by the visions of Etienne de saint Exupery, the poetsaint of flyers,

but facing Ellen he had broken one of their

silences with:

[ To sorrow I bade good morrow, And thought to leave her far behind; But cheerly, cheerly, She loves me dearly; She is so constant to me, and so kind. ] Then Andy continued:

"I have your answer ... this book."

Pulling out a pocket edition of English poets, he pointed to a dog-eared page.

"Read here! "

[ It's a flaw,

]

Ellen read as she took the volume in

her lap,

[ In happiness to see beyond our bourn ... It forces us in summer skies to mourn, It spoils the singing of the nightingale. ]

-40-

Then,

putting the tip of her finger on Andy's hand,

she

said, "When I came here to keep Christina company because she had just received the news that Bela was reported missing in action on the Eastern front, I tried to console her ... but the consolation I gave her," she added with a permeating smile, comparison with that which you give me now.

"pal es in

Andy thought how infallible she was with her words.

spoke with the broken sentences of a Western American frontiersman.

It was only in poems that he found his fluency and was able

to recite long sequences and endless stanzas.

The evening with

Ellen had passed swiftly and with a certainty that each moment was

precious

and unrepeatable,

but they had sensed the slow

current of each other's inner rhythms.

As he had kissed her

goodbye, three lines of Keats' had crossed Andy's mind:

[ Parting they seemed to tread upon the air, Twin roses by the zephyr blown apart Only to meet again more close. ] As Andy measured his steps toward the safe house of the Magyar counter-intelligence service, he became aware of a brand new sensation far removed from Ellen. of the sound of his own steps.

Suddenly he became aware

He had never been aware of the

resonance of his footsteps before.

He became acutely aware of

his own shadow as it shortened and lengthened as he walked past a street light.

He became aware of the traffic noises in the far

distance and the nearby honking of a car at a crossing.

-41-

Andy

became aware of the swish of a bike as it passed him, of the echoes lunging at him close by, of the sudden darkness which fell on an illuminated window on his approach. looked different.

The smell of the gutters was unfamiliar.

shapes of the houses were unaccustomed. ing his

ears

had a

strange

The

The conversations reach-

intonation.

squeaked in a different language. color and shape.

The color of the sky

The speeding trams

The mailboxes had the wrong

The cars had another accent in their unusual

acceleration. For the first time, Andy felt the sensations of an undercover agent.

He was aware that he was surrounded by friendly,

even enthusiastic Magyars. in by HitIer's night,

Yet this country was entirely hemmed

Nazi surveillance and Gestapo stealth.

Andy was beginning to realize he was not at home.

He felt at

home in England and even in Italy, neither of which was his home. In this city he felt despite Ellen's loving presence an intruder, an alien body, a visitor, even an interloper in the flow of its current. Very early next morning Andy went with Colonel Lollillard, Major Jacquemont and Captain Nemeth to a second conference with their new friends in Magyar intelligence.

The sun had just hit

the rooftops across the street as they entered the doorway of the police station.

In a micro-second everything changed.

of strange faces surrounded the four. had been free.

Now they were prisoners.

-42-

Aphalanx

An instant earlier they

In the anteroom they were addressed by German accents.

Andy

didn't understand the staccato sequence of words, but he realized the members of his group were marched off in four different directions. Andy was propelled down a corridor.

He wished desperately

that some supernatural power would reverse the action.

He would

walk backward, rejoin the other three and walk backwards again through the entrance of the building out into the early morning rays of the sun.

He knew it wouldn't happen.

The men behind him nudged him forward, and the guard before him led the one-way progression. case, then made a sharp turn. door open.

They proceeded down a stair-

The guard in front of him swung a

It was not the kind of door he was accustomed to.

was black metal, and it had bars across the small window in it. Andy had to stoop slightly to enter the cell. in one before. ent.

He had never been

He had seen cells in movies, but this was differ-

The black cot was real.

The grey blanket was real.

naked bulb dangling from the ceiling was real. floor was real. real.

The

The concrete

The oppressive dimensions of the space was very

The German bark of the guard was also real.

So was the

turning of the key in the lock and the click of the door when the guard slammed it closed. Andy was the prisoner of the Gestapo. As the noise of the booted footsteps slowly died away, he felt the gradual march of fear creeping up his spine.

During the

training he had received for this mission a situation just like

-43-

this

had been carefully explained.

except your name,

"Don't give out anything

rank and serial number," he had been told.

Something about the Geneva conventions and how they didn't apply as soon as you shed your uniform.

Even if you are in uniform--

Andy wasn't--the Gestapo, he had been warned, was not adhering to the international rules and conventions of war. But this was different!

He was most definitely not sitting

in an armchair and watching a screen.

There was no training

which could possibly prepare Andy for the damp chill creeping out of the walls, lently,

for the filth that seemed to be accumulating si-

for the fear that fell on his forehead,

drop by drop,

like a Chinese torture. "Andy,

pull yoursel f together," he said to himsel f aloud.

"Keep calm and everything will be all right. will keep in control.

Don't panic and you

Concentrate on self-discipline and your

heartbeat will slow down.

Think about peace, and the racing of

your blood will come to a standstill." He found his hands and groped at his jacket.

The two pocket-

books were still there. One was the collection of Keats poems.

The other was the

active service edition of the King James version of the Bible. Pasted on the front page was a message from His Majesty the King:

To all serving in my forces by sea or land, or 1n the air, and indeed, to all my people engaged in the defense of the Realm, I commend the reading of this book. For centuries the Bible has been a wholesome and strengthening influence

-44-

in our national life, and it behooves us in these momentous days to turn with renewed faith to this Divine source of comfort and inspiration. ] Below it was dated 15th september, 1939. Andy had not bothered to read these pages before, but now when he knew he was in danger of losing this volume, everything about it assumed a new significance.

He turned to the twenty-

third Psalm:

[ The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want ... ] The light was turned off in the cell. There was a slow march of hours, of minutes, of seconds, of microseconds,

ln the dark.

"0f what stuff are heroes made of?"

he wondered.

He thought of those pilots who climbed out of the

cockpits of the Spitfires during the Battle of Britain.

Their

names appeared along with Andy's in the columns of the newspapers, in the speeches of the politicians,

on the bulletin board of

officers' messes. But here? Andy remembered his Keats:

[ My heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains, My sense, as though of hemlock I had drunk. ]

Then he thought of Ellen.

-45-

45.

Something was in the wind. The apparatus

of the Budapest government was put on an

emergency basis by Prime Minister Geza de Tollay.

He decided to

stay in the Sandor Palace over the weekend with his son Atilla during the regent's visit to Klesheim Castle. was unsettled by the turn of events. to play for more time. time.

Time

The prime minister

He did everything possible

That's what the country needed:

to outlast the Nazi whirlwind.

Time to survive.

"Every passing month, every passing week brings us closer to the end of the war," he mused.

"Somehow we Magyars must survive."

He had tried to convince Admiral Horthy not to go to Salzburg but he had failed.

Nothing would be gained, he had argued,

but much could be lost. When the Magyar delegation entrained, knew time was running out.

the prime minister

But he fought on obstinately.

decided after talking with Atilla, a few senators and friends, not to whistle down the wind. For two years now, ever since he had become prime minister, Geza de Tollay had hoped that time was running in favor of the Magyars.

There had to be an end of this Nazi nightmare.

early as 1942, he had felt uncertain about the Germans ultimate victory,

a doubt his son Atilla actively nourished.

"My son's

friendship with Imre is one of the insurances I have to find grace with the Anglo-Americans.

My own speeches have been pro-

-46-

Nazi,1I he said to himself, IIbut my deeds were on the side of the Allies, and for Magyarland.

I had to soothe the Nazi beast with

honeyed words to gain time. II Time had run out for honeyed words.

Recent events quite out

of Tollay's control threatened to take the wind out of his policy of playing for the time.

Time had begun to run against the

Magyars. The old man thought he knew which way the wind was blowing, but in recent months he had become less certain. As viewed by the Magyars, the key to Magyarland' s future didnt' lay in Salzburg or Berlin after the war, not in London or Washington, not even in Moscow. Italy.

It lay on the battlefields of

More than six months had passed since the Italians aban-

doned the Nazi camp and declared war on it.

six months.

those months, in those long months, th Allied advance from Rome up the peninsula toward Central Europe, the Danube valley, and the soft underbelly of the Nazi empire, could only be measured in meters and kilometers.

The retreating German legions were put-

ting up fierce resistance in the mountains.

Those Appenine

mountains ran along the spine of Italy like the horned back of a dragon.

The uneven peaks, and the rock formations favored the

defenders. The attackers' progress was slow, very slow. By comparison, the Russians measured their advance against the German invaders in terms of tens and hundreds of kilometers. While Eisenhower and Montgomery were bogged down in Italy, the Red Armies inflicted one disaster after another on the Wehrmacht.

-47-

The magnitude of the reverses around Stalingrad had become apparent only in recent months. During the winter of 1943-44 in Budapest, the elation over the Anglo-American landings in Sicily and the Italian mainland gradually turned into dismay.

Unfavorable and to Magyarland,

ominous comparisons were made between the inch by inch progress by the Western Allies toward Central Europe with the Russians advance from the east in the same direction. The Magyars

were

much in favor of an Anglo-American

occupation as they were opposed to one by the Red Armies.

Magyar-

land's first taste of MOscow's imperial designs had been the bitter experience of 1849 when hundreds of thousands of Russian troops poured over the Carpathian Rockies into the Danube valley to extinguish the flame of the Magyars' War of Independence. a bitter taste it was.

And

Furthermore, every Magyar over the age of

thirty remembered the 1919 reign of terror engineered from Moscow, in which only one of the Commissars had not been of Jewish extraction.

The feelings aroused by these distant events would have

their consequences in the coming months and years. The Nazi propaganda machine cleverly exploited the Magyars' fears of an encore performance of the Communist takeover and the untender memories

of Jewish commissars.

Despi te the constant

barrage of Gobbels' propaganda, it was a wonder that the great majority of the population held steadfast against the persecution of Jews.

Indeed,

helped provoke the

the Magyars'

kind attitude toward the Jews

Blitzkrieg of March 1944.

-48-

The cry about

Moscow's imperialistic designs on Europe fell on more ready ears. The Magyars had a number of light brigades on the Russian front, but lately their half-hearted soldiers were employed in the rear of the front instead of active service again@t regular Red Army troops. The majority of the Magyars were peasants,

peasants who

voted regularly whenever they could, for the Union Party candidates backed by Imre and his father.

They voted in an even more

effective way against German exploitation, and they did this in the

wind's

eye.

politischen Druck;

The

Germans

that is,

called

severe

forth

Entsprechenden

'political pressure'.

Nazi economic spies dutifully reported that the 1941, 1942, 1943 harvests were poor, unusually poor. poor?

The and

But were they really

These same spies complained in their meticulous reports

that the Magyar authorities were helping peasants to conceal the facts. Atilla,

pacing up and down his office on that Saturday

morning, on March 18, 1944, was wondering if the Nazi leadership in Klesheim Castle was also dissembling. from

the delegation at

Not one word was heard

the castle until

the

terse telegram

arrived in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announcing "the Germans

are

coming."

Atilla' s

worst fears

were

realized.

brought the news to his father who was taking a cat nap on the couch in his office.

Then he called Veronka to get ready to

escape.

-49-

The Tollays were not likely to forget the next eighteen hours.

Communications with Schloss Klesheim were completely off.

Then came the Ribbentrop telegrams about offering no resistance to Nazi invasion troops.

Atilla tried to get verification, but

the contacts between Budapest and Slazburg flowed one way only, from Salzburg to Budapest.

After the Ribbentrop telegrams even

that communication was cut off. He waited with his father another six hours and still no news. "We don't even know if the regent is alive or not!" complaind the prime minister to his son. "I fear the worst," replied Atilla. "We have to prepare for the defense of the realm!" hi s father cried. "Active resistance!" "We must," continued th prime mini ster. "I'll call the top generals," suggested Atilla,

"and have

them report here as soon as possible. " "The two senior generals are out of the country," said his father,

"but get a hold of as many as you can and tell them you

are acting under my direct orders. " Seven generals showed up at the Sandor palace at 2:00 a.m. on Sunday, March 19th.

The prime minister was visibly shaken by

the consensus of the officers:

no action is possible without the

sanction of the regent, or at least the commander-in-chief.

-50-

And

then there were

those

telegrams

advising,

nay,

ordering no

resistance. When they left Atilla asked his father,

"Do you remember

when I advised you how often Imre urged us to get rid of these generals? Most of them are of German descent anyway. " "Trai tors, " muttered hi s father. "Bloody treason,"

added hi s

son.

Neither father nor son

could go to sleep. In the early morning hours a German general the two haven't seen before appeared in their offices and read a message to the prime minister and Atilla. German Commander-in-Chief.

It was from Field Marshal Keitel, the It was

terse

and

the point:

Should the Magyar Army oppose the Nazi invasion, Czechoslovak, Rumanian and Croatian divisions would be asked to join in the occupation.

He didn't even bother wai ting for a reply.

A few hours later, sions

around 10:00 a.m., with the Nazi divi-

already deep inside Magyarland,

the regent was on the

phone. "You have to resign," the prime mini ster was told.

"I am

sorry, but I had no choice. " "I'll happily resign if it helps the nation," replied Geza de Tollay. "I appreciate your sacrifice," the voice said at the other end. "Your serenity,

I urge you to make the same sacrifice,"

said the prime mini ster.

-51-

you

have to try again,

the old admiral replied.

"I beg

"If I resign," interrupted the regent, plete Nazi

takeover ....

"there'll be a com-

The creatures from the sewers will

reign. II II wi th all due respect, may I remind you that Hi tIer is a stickler on formalities ... ties ....

he likes to adhere to the legali-

Without you he has not even a semblance of legality.1I

Despite his tiredness, Geza de Tollay was able to convey a ring of sincerity and conviction. liMy presence ... " said Horthy hal tingly, right words.

feel

gropl.ng for the

I'll be able to do some good ....

Pre-

serve ... some ... decency." "What is your will, your serenity?1I asked the prime ml.nl.Ster, defeated. "I'm calling a meeting of the Crown Council immediately," the regent replied.

"Come over and listen to our report."

A few hours later Geza de Tollay penned his resignation.

used the occasion to denounce the illegality of the Nazi actions and urged resistance. IITake this to the radio station and have it read out as a special news bulletin," he told his son.

"Please take it ...

yourself and give it to Ferenc ... you know him ... give it to him only

hand it over to him personally.

anyone any more."

-52-

We can't trust

A few hours later father and son were together again at the Sandor palace, nearly dropping from exhaustion. any sleep

for

twenty-four hours.

They hadn't had

Tiredness was magnified by

anxiety and fear. The winds of change were blowing. Atilla had already burnt the prime ministry's top secret files.

Orders went out to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to

destroy all documents relating to armistice negotiations.

The

National Archives was directed to shread immediately all confidential government files.

The prime minister's son was preparing

the text of cables to key ambassadors in Europe and overseas when he heard a knock on the door. General Hans von Grieffenberg, the German military attache was outside.

"Gott sei dank!

he exclaimed.

"Thank God,

you

didn't order any resistance. II The two Tollays didn't deign to answer. After he left there was another knock on the door. visitors were the faceless ones. he knew.

The next

When Atilla saw them coming in,

"Please tell my wife I am well!

he whispered urgently

to his secretary. within seconds the prime minister and his son were taken into custody. and order.

Something was said about incitement against law

Time for the Tollays had run out.

prisoners of the Gestapo.

-53-

They were the

46.

The winds of change set loose a menagerie of depraved monsters in Budapest, threatening its cohesiveness, its sassy bustle, the tranquility of its quiet corners, the unity born out of its diversity. tal.

They were bent on tearing apart the Magyar capi-

Fear stalked the streets.

These monsters had many guises:

fear of liberty, fear of losing a job or position, fear of losing a business,

wealth, and worldly possessions,

fear of unnatural

loss of life. Fear was beget by another monster:

hate that was about to

assume a terrifying proportion, its stringency shattering serenity with the tune and words of the Nazi anthem:

[ When Jewish blood from the knife shall spurt! ]

Guilt followed close behind. by humans to humans.

Guilt, the lethal flower given

It echoed the lamentations of two thousand

five hundred years ago:

"Our fathers sinned,

and we bear their iniquities."

and are no more;

It may have been spawned by a

sharp transaction or by usury and a foreclosure perhaps.

These

guilts worked against unity. The secret police unleashed an unholy quartet of monsters: treachery,

aggression,

brutality and murder.

These were soon

joined by envy which begot greed which begot cunning and calumny. The last monster born was pain, pain caused by all its parents:

-54-

fear,

hate,

guilt,

treachery,

envy, greed, cunning, calumny. festering

aggression,

brutality,

murder,

It soon became a gigantic sore, a

lesion threatening to destroy life and humanity in

Budapest. By express design of the aggressor these twelve monsters were still tiny little kittens on Sunday, March 19th. day Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel, Army, issued an order:

the commander of the German

Jeglicher Eingriff in das wirtschaftsleben

ist strengstens verboten; that is, of the

any interference in the life

economy is strictly forbidden.

pricipal

objective

On that

"The German command's

in Magyarland," he claimed,

"is to secure

continued work in all fields of agriculture, the petroleum industry and in the factories working for the German interest. II When

Ian was

dropped off Saturday night at the Schwarz

palace near City Park, he decided not to go home immediately. needed time to re-orient himself.

Outwardly, Budapest was the

same, but the decomposition had already started--the rumor mills were grinding out fear of an imminent invasion. Magda invited him to stay at her apartment. to be thrust into entirely new surroundings. even know what he wanted. Komlo,

Ian didn't want

He really didn't

The further Tommy's car sped away from

the more the euphoria of last night faded and the closer

it got to the capital,

the more the weight of the forthcoming

invasion pressed into his consciousness. When he first heard the news from Georgie he had thought i t was a big lark; and the flight from Komlo a chase from a cowboy

-55-

and Indian story, a celluloid fantasy. changed to caution.

Now in Budapest all that

He decided to spend the night at Cartier's

across the street from the Chabaffy townhouse.

Claude had left

Komlo before he had, so Ian felt certain he would be home when he got there. Ian took a cab.

Claude himself let his classmate in and

gave Ian a guestroom in the rear of the palace overlooking the Danube river and the illuminated east side of Budapest stretching far out into the lowlands. After several hours of trying, Claude got through to his mother who was vacationing in Switzerland.

"At least she is

safe,"

attempts he

said

I an to himself.

After

several

got

through to Imre. "Thank God you are here!"

Ian heard a distinct sigh of

relief at the other end of the line. "I'm right across from you with Claude.

What is happening?"

Ian asked anxiously. "Just talked to Atilla wi th a full-scale

invasion

It looks like we'll be treated

Imre said slowly.

His voice

sounded reassuring. "When?" Ian quieted down. "It's imminent ... tonight ... at dawn. he added as an afterthought. lance ....

Juliska,

Don't come over,"

"I suspect we are under surveil-

or Vince, will meet you under the tail of

the statue at precisely eleven in the morning."

Ian knew his

brother meant the equestrian statue of St. Istvan, Magyarland' s

-56-

first king, between the Coronation Cathedral and the Fisherman's Bastion a few minutes walk away. That night Ian had a terrible dream, a Bosch-like heraldic nightmare. monsters.

He found himself in a desert surrounded by the twelve They spoke Volapuk.

Each introduced itself and struck

a heraldic pose or had a heraldic device. Fear said:

liMy name is Funk. II

It was a burning giraffe,

rampant. Hate said:

liMy name is Klu-Klux.

It was a cannabalistic

hermaphrodite with four bodies, chevroned. Guilt said:

liMy name is Sheol.

It was a one-eyed tapir

with a peacock tail, nascent. Treachery said:

"My name is Jim Crow.

It was a three-

headed dog with sable fur, with a Geryonian appetite, cove. Aggression said:

liMy name is Heriot.

It was a B~te Noir

wizard with flaming nostrils and flyfot-shaped body, wearing a wreath of vervain, salient. Brutality said:

"My name

is Third degree."

It was an

ice-blinking Rhodian bully, hauriant. Murder said:

"My name is Thirteen-pence-half penny."

was a half-witted dragon guarding a guillotine, erased. Envy said:

"My name is Magaera."

It was a hairstone-headed

sulphuric jackal, volant. Greed said:

liMy name is Mock-beggar."

bull's horns, passant regardant.

-57-

It was a zebra with

Cunning said:

"My name

is Out-herod Herod."

It was a

roaring hyena with wings, counter-passant. Calumny said:

"My name is Moaning Minnie."

It was a spout-

ing crocodile with a snake body and sinister hind leg, hauriant. Pain said:

"My name is Herrenvolk."

It was a bellowing

hydra covered with burning brands with Hercules absent, trippant. They were going to throw Ian into the styx, the river of Hate.

He sprouted

voodoo vespers. swallowed him.

Infapapsarian wings to escape these fatal

Ian flew over Vesuvius.

He woke up, screaming, still dreaming, Veronka

wiping his perspiring brow. woke up.

The volcano erupted and

As she bent down to kiss him,

Ian

It was four o'clock in the morning.

Later that morning when Ian descended from the citadel to visit with the Swiss consul, a panoramic view of the city unfolded in front of him.

Outwardly, Budapest looked the same, but

Ian knew the winds of change had brought a profound and unalterable change overnight. There were at least two hundred thousand Jews in the city. That was almost one quarter of the population, not counting those who embraced the Christian faith but were regarded as Jews by the Nazis. refugees l

Their number was swelled by at least thirty thousand from

Poland

and

other

parts

Europe.

Eighteen

thousand businesses were owned by the Jews.

Jews were heavily

concentrated in the professions; more than one-half of the doctors and lawyers were Jews.

They played a leading role in litera-

ture, journalism, the arts, music and the theatre.

-58-

Five families

of Jewish heritage,

including the Schwarz dynasty,

controlled

Magyar industry and two of the largest private banks were run by them as well.

All five members of the Senate's Finance Committee

were Christians of Jewish parentage or Jews. Magyarland was good to the Jews, and the Jews contributed with equal measure to the welfare of the country. Magyars first and deeply loved their homeland.

Many Jews were Ian knew well,

the Nazi wind was about to sweep away much of this with uncontrollable fury. "God is not in this wind," he thought. Imre had arranged a meeting for Ian with the Swiss consul who expressed his readiness to issue a document he hoped would give Ian some protection.

Because the British and Magyars were

technically belligerents,

the

Swiss government took over the

protection of the British living in the country. As

he crossed the Chain Bridge Ian noticed some of the

visible changes.

The streets were practically deserted, and the

coffee houses where much of the social life centered, Paris,

Rome and Madrid,

were quite empty.

as in

Near the bridge he

noticed an armored carrier with six German soldiers armed to the teeth.

After crossing the bridge and making a left turn,

approached Parliament Square,

Ian

a large public park behind the

Houses of Parliament which graced the banks of the Danube.

This

square, normally crowded with strolling pecple, was empty but for detachments of German paratroopers and the SS. arc around them to reach the Swiss consulate.

-59-

Ian made a big

The quiet of oppression was frequently punctuated by the sirens of police cars and the honking of speeding cars with drawn curtains.

Ian couldn't help wondering how many of his friends

and acquaintances were inside them, being raced to prison, interrogations, even torture and death. He

quickened

his

step

through its side entrance.

and entered the The handsome,

Swiss Consulate

spare-looking consul

contracted his brow in a frown and straightened himself to greet Ian. "It's good of you to see me on this Sunday," said Ian.

The

simple but tastefully furnished office on the second floor of the building bristled with seals, stamps and efficiency. After

exchanging

few commonplace remarks,

handed Ian a buff-colored document. they spoke in German,

the consul

"I hope, Lieber Campbell,"

"this will help yoU!"

The light manila

paper was headed "Swiss Consulate-Budapest," and it announced that the bearer--nationality unspecified--was under the protection of the Swiss authorities, signed by the consul himself and bearing his imposing seal.

It looked rather splendid and very

official. "I '11 use it sparingly," promised I an. "If we can save your life with this piece of paper," replied the consul allowing himself a faint smile, time to have come in on this Sunday."

"it'll be worth my

Bowing slightly, he added,

"I f you find it helps you and you are in a position to let us know,

please do so.

This is really a sort of experiment, you

understand." -60-

"But of course," Ian responded,

and after a brief hesita-

tion, plunged into the next sentence.

"You would do us a great

favor if you would send an SOS to your government about the danger threatening our Jews here," he said, feeling rather bold. Ian was determined to mention this request, but when he entered the consul's office he was overawed by his surroundings.

Ian

felt it almost presumptuous to bring up the matter at all. "As a neutral country," said the consul as his face assumed a diplomatic expression, "it is our absolute obligation to stick to facts." "Absolutely,"

replied

Ian

almost

inaudibly,

wouldn't bungle the assignment Imre had given him.

wishing

"My brother

wanted me to let you know first of all that he is very grateful that you see me today." "But naturally," the consul's face became more relaxed.

"We

are always disposed to help Prince Chabaffy as long as it is in accordance with international law." "He asked me to let you know," Ian continued, gaining his courage, ferred

"that he has it on the best authority," here Ian re-

to viktor' s German government documents that Imre had

strictly enjoined him not to mention,

"the Nazis are determined

to solve the Jewish question in Magyarland." During the pause that ensued Ian folded his new identification document twice and put it in his back trouser pocket. "We'll make our own observations, Lieber Campbell," observed the consul dryly.

-61-

"And we trust you pass on any verifiable facts immediately." Ian became embarrassed by his boldness, but he continued:

"Are

you ready to receive the facts when my brother has them available and submits them for your consideration?" "We'll consider them at the time of their receipt," replied the Swiss official, over.

and with a bow indicated the meeting was

The frown reappeared on his face as he escorted his visi-

tor down the stairs and opened the side door for him. Ian took a different route returning to the Citadel. wasn't

comfortable

getting

Parliament

Square.

He He

directed his step northward to the Margaret bridge which connected the Margaret island to both sides of Budapest.

It was

only 10:35 a.m., but he didn't dare loiter in the streets.

hurried over the bridge, glancing nervously at the few SS soldiers casually chatting with each other at the center of the bridge where it branched out to the island.

Slowly he ascended the

deserted footpath leading up to the northern end of the Citadel, a route he frequently had used as a child when visiting a schoolmate who lived at the foot of the hill. He reached the Lutheran church on top of the hill and he still didn't see a single uniformed person, only a few burghers who walked by with averted glances. and became momentarily

He strolled casually along

frightened when he heard loud German

voices corning from the Hatvany palace, which Ian knew was often visited by his mother and brother.

-62-

He tried to conceal his fear

with disconcern and bravely walked past.

Turning on his heels

would only create more suspicion, he decided. He was greatly relieved when he reached the gothic Coronation Church a few minutes later.

He ducked inside it and, glancing at

his watch, he realized he had a few more minutes to kill before the meeting with Vince or his wife.

Ian was surprised once again

that the inside of the magnificent structure was as empty as the streets outside.

Even in the church his feeling of being con-

spicuous didn't leave him.

He sat down on one of the carved

wooden benches near an upward soaring stone column and timidly looked around.

Only a few worshipers were visible kneeling in

fervent prayer as Ian listened to the click of their rosaries. Glancing at his watch, he got up and walked out of the church through the southern door.

The deep tones of the cathedral bells

struck eleven. He was momentarily blinded by the light.

He was relieved to

see Vince under the tail of St. Istvan's mount.

Vince tried to

appear unconcerned as he looked with minute attention to the smallest detail of the statue from the cross on top of the sainted king's crown given to him by the pope down to the horse's hooves. Ian was struck again by Vince's unprepossessing appearance. He

couldn't quiet understand how Juliska,

a pert,

dark-eyed

Magyar peasant beauty, had married this rather plain-looking man. Vince was short, with a fringe of thin dark brown hair around his flat scalp, his face marred by a few pockmarks.

-63-

His eyes were

narrow,

almost Asiaticj he had a stump of a nose and a short,

squat neck. Devotion.

That one word struck Ian at that instant as he

approached Vince.

That word was the answer to his riddle.

he was devoted and reliable.

Yes,

Two sterling qualities, particu-

larly in these times when the wind from the west blew fiercely. Imre had asked him to be there at eleven, eleven ready to help Ian.

and he was there at

He greeted Ian with a fleeting smile,

put his cap on and pulled it down to his eyebrows, then motioned to his charge to follow him. They went along the Prince Eszterhazy palace into a side street and entered a spacious low building with a large courtyard.

Vince noiselessly slid down the steps leading into the

cellar.

On reaching the lower level they faced two doors.

Vince

opened the smaller of the two with a key and led Ian into one end of a long subterranean corridor with a domed low ceiling.

The

two walked about two hundred paces until reaching another door close to the end of the corridor.

No key was needed to open it.

The door led into one end of another long but more irregularly shaped corridor, dug out of the rocky foundations of the Citadel. It was sparsely lit by a few bare electric bulbs. These were the catacombs dating back to Turkish times hundreds of years ago.

Much of the Citadel was honey-combed with

these underground passages.

Imre had told Ian about them only a

few months ago when their mother was appointed civil defense chief of Buda.

Only recently, by order of the municipal council,

-64-

these catacombs were cleared of their rubble to make room for a civil defense headquarters and a Red Cross emergency hospital. Wi th the German occupation, immune to Allied bombing.

the Magyar capital was no longer

The solid rock walls of the catacombs

promised safe shelter even in the event of a heavy bombing raid. After a long and tedious walk, Vince reached a side opening along the rockwall.

He di sappeared through a narrow low door

painted the color of the rocks and invisible in the faint light. Ian found himself in almost total darkness.

He had the impres-

sion he was at the bottom of a well. Vince locked the door behind him and grabbed the end of a rope ladder, and carefully started to haul himself up the steep, damp side of the chamber.

After what to Ian appeared to be an

interminable and dangerous climb Vince stopped.

Straining him-

self, he pushed a wooden platform which covered the opening at the top of the chamber.

He helped Ian up the last few rungs of

the ladder,

then replaced the platform and covered it with a

plain rug.

They found themselves standing in a medium-sized

chamber carved out of the Citadel's rock foundation three years ago at his father's orders.

It contained a couple of cots with

colorless blankets, a carefully selected stock of non-perishable provisions and a large supply of candles. A narrow stairway led into the cellar of the Chabaffy townhouse.

Vince raising his hat in a wordless goodbye disappeared

in the direction of the small apartment he shared with Juliska near the building's rear entrance.

-65-

Ian was safe at home again. But was he really safe?

47.

The Wehrmacht was bad news.

Much worse was the sinister

baggage of Nazi aggression which accompanied and even anticipated the invasion. It was headed by the Gauleiter, euphemistically called the 'Plenipotentiary of the Reich',

Edmund Veesenmayer.

He was a

Magyar-hating bureaucrat who actually travelled with the regent's train from Salzburg to Budapest.

He was the funcionary who had

recommended the invasion to the Nazi leadership.

His boss was

the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Herr Ribbentrop,

the producer

and a star in the tragi-comedy at Schloss Klesheim on Saturday. Then there were Dieter Wisliczeny, who commanded the SS in Magyarland,

and Otto Winkelmann, who was the SS police chief.

The letters SS stand for Schutz Staffeln,

literally "defense

corps," an armed force that started as Hitler's bodyguard in 1923.

Part of this force was the SA, the Sturm Abteilung, liter-

ally "storm detachment."

In 1929,

Heinrich Himmler took over

command of the SS with the order "to find out,

to fight and to

destroy all open and secret enemies of the Fuhrer, the National Socialist (Nazi)

Movement,

and our

racial

resurrection."

promoted it into a power similar to that enjoyed by the Russian

-66-

security police.

SS divisi9ns fought with fanatical zeal in the

war and played a prominent part in the invasion. The worst part of the baggage was the Gestapo, from the German Geheime police."

Staatspolizei

meaning

shortened

"Secret State-

It acquired a sinister fame in Germany after the Nazi

takeover in 1933.

It was Goring's brain child and was later

controlled by the same Himmler who was the chief of the SS.

Its

job was to terrorize first the Germans and later the populace of the occupied countries.

One of the reasons the Nuremberg Inter-

national Tribunal declared the Gestapo a criminal organization stemmed from the deeds it committed in Magyarland from March 19th onward.

Their officials reported directly to Himmler and didn't

tolerate any intereference from the regular army or even the SS. Imre feared and respected the Gestapo most.

To evade their

eavesdropping, he had a special telephone line installed at the Citadel townhouse.

He had the help of the telephone company and

of course his number was unlisted and immune to routine Gestapo tapping.

It was installed by a few trusted trade union members.

Not even Ian was aware of its existence before the invasion. This

special

arrangement proved

its value

today.

It became

Imre's principal channel to the underground leadership and the underground commando units. The night before,

Imre had warned the Union Party commando

leaders of the impending invasion.

As a

result,

the Budapest

unit greeted the paratroopers descending on the capital's airport , ,

with fire from its sharp shooters.

-67-

Only when an armored SS unit

had started to zero in on them did they melt into the nearby woods. Another commando unit blew up a section of the railway line twenty-five kilometers north of Ujvidek in the south. Imre's secret phone was constantly ringing.

When Ian joined

him around noon, he asked his help and assigned him to the open, that is,

regular telephone.

Congressman Endre' s

One caller reported a battle in

apartment house.

Early in the morning a

squad of SS men drew up infront of it only to be greeted by gunfire.

After several shots were exchanged,

the 55 rushed the

home after the Congressman had been hit and had fallen unconscious to the ground.

The fact that Endre was not mortally

wounded didn't diminish Imre's distress.

Endre was the most

outspoken and courageous member of the Union Party. When Andy failed to show up for their luncheon date, Ellen called up speaking wi th hysterical fear in her voice. "Darling, you better disappear yourself," advised Imre, "and go to Churgo as fast as you can. " "I don't want to leave.

I'll stay at Aunt Daisy's place,"

argued Ellen. "You must leave at once unless you want to be arrested yourself!"

Ian seldom heard Imre talk to his sister so roughly.

He didn't have the heart to tell Ellen that Atilla had called a little earlier to let him know that the top officers of Magyar counter-intelligence were nabbed by the Gestapo. all probability,

Imre knew, in

that meant that Andy and the three American

-68-

officers had also been caught.

The arrests of a number of sena-

tors were among the first arrests reported to Imre.

The senate

then consisted of four Habsburgs; the commander of the Crown and the Life Guards; the judges of the supreme court; the bishops and archbishops;

the president of the National Bank;

aristocrats elected by their peers; of counties and municipalities; the

chambers

notaries,

agriculture,

the Hero's Order,

seventy-six representatives

thirty-six representatives of industry,

commerce,

lawyers,

and the Academy of Science;

life members appointed by the regent; trialist;

thirty-eight

and one farm expert.

small minority in the Senate.

one doctor;

forty

one indus-

The peers of the realm were a

This body was the most representa-

tive of the Magyar electorate,

and its leaders were among the

first of the Gestapo's targets. Imre heard of the arrest of Sigray who had been at Szigetvar with his American wife for Christine's coming-out party.

Also

the National Bank president, who spent the weekend at Komlo with Ian, had been arrested. along with his cousin. Senate.

Yet

The next reported arrest was Uncle Ede's Both sat on the Finance Committee of the

another call

came from Lotti who confirmed the

arrest of Gian-Carlo and the rest of the Royal Italian diplomats. Imre called the Foreign Office.

He found out that the Gestapo

had arrested the two top Tollay aides who had helped to organize the armistice negotiations wi th the British and the Americans. Veronka called on the open line.

-69-

I an picked up the phone.

"Oh my dear Ian," she sobbed, "Atilla and my father-in-law have just been arrested! " Ian muttered some unintelligible reply, and his eyes went in search of Imre. the room,

He called out for him; and when Imre rushed into

Ian handed the receiver to him saying,

"Atilla and

Uncle Geza are under arrest." The news was not unexpected.

Himmler's 55 and Gestapo had

done their homework and must have been busy with their customary efficiency since the early morning hours. Imre was able to talk calmly to Veronka who was on the verge of despair:

"Come to our house ....

calling from quickly ....

All right,

Give me the number you're I'll call you right back,"

which he did on the secret line. "I'll go to my parents," she replied. "Right.

Budapest is not the safest place," agreed Imre.

was relieved to hear her sounding calmer. This litany of disasters began to affect Ian profoundly. Even Imre looked tired after he finished talking to Veronka. Mercifully they didn't know that the country's new leader, the Reich's

"plenipotentiary,"

had

reported to his chief in

Berlin the beginning of a round-up of escaped Allied prisonersof-war which by April 7th would amount to eight hundred twelve Frenchmen,

five thousand four hundred fifty Poles,

thirty-nine

Englishmen, eleven Americans, sixteen Belgians, sixteen Dutch and eighteen Russians. Ian found refuge in the Old Testament.

-70-

He read Ecclesiastes:

For everything there is a season, a time for every matter under heaven. ] Yes, even "a time to break down" and "a time to weep" and "a time to mourn" and "a time to lose, " he thought. Imre's spirit rebelled against these words.

"We must fight

on, " he muttered. A few minutes earlier when Ian had handed the receiver over to

Imre to console Veronka,

he had felt defeated.

Now after

reading the Old Testament, he began to understand Imre' s defiance. Imre refused to concede defeat. He revolted against the Nazi whirlwind and the rapid clouds of oppression which one by one began to extinguish the flickering lights of freedom around him, but not his own.

48.

It was seven

clock, Monday morning.

When Vince knocked hesitantly on the door, the four hours of sleep out of his eyes.

Imre tried to get

The sun was barely up,

and as if struck by the silent sight it immediately disappeared behind the clouds. "Come in!"

Imre was surprised not to see Janos, but Vince.

He stopped in the doorway shifting his weight from one foot to

-71-

the other.

Janos usually woke him at nine; both he and Ian were

night people and disliked getting up early. "Your Excel .... " for a moment.

Vince was vi sibly shaken and hesitated

"We are surrounded

I mean around the house ...

a lot of suspicious looking people

men ... "

"Any of them armed?" Imre asked, fully awake now. "None

could

see,

your

exce llency ...

hope

wanted .... " Vince slowed wi th a stammer. "You've done right,

Vince.

Thank you very much.

tell Janos to take breakfast up

Please

and do wake my brother

immediately." "I'll go to Master Ian ... his Lordship

"Vince disap-

peared, with his shoulders hunched tensely up to his ears. He tip-toed into I an's room and looked tenderly at the boyish face. ings.

He was reluctant to be a bearer of such ill tid-

Of all his masters and mistresses his wife Juliska loved

this boy the most.

He was the only one who came down to the

kitchen after school to chat with her and compliment her on an exceptional meal.

Juliska rewarded him with an extra treat:

piece of cake or a morsel of a delicacy, favorite food,

above all, with Ian's

a slice of fresh baked bread spread with home

churned butter from the country. from Zsibo,

As groceries and even supplies

Putnok and Gerle became harder to get,

Juliska' s

complaints fell on Ian's receptive ears. Vince thought that here was a sleeping angel as he looked at Ian's light locks, curly and disheveled, with the back of his

-72-

hand stretched over the white

Irish linen pillow,

his

little

finger sticking upward in a tentative curl. "Lord Ian," he said finally, gently touching his shoulder. Then when he didn't get any response, he crouched down and whispered into hi sear:

"Master I an! "

"Good morn ... Vince ... what is it?" asked Ian, still half asleep. "Sorry to trouble you ... but his excellency asked me to wake you

rounded

Then,

standing up,

he announced:

"We are sur-

Gestapo was a word outside Vince's simple vocabu-

lary, but it began to dawn upon Ian what he was trying to say. When he fully comprehended, he jumped out of bed and ran up to the window. "Don't!" pleaded Vince anxiously. "Of course," replied Ian and left the thick curtains unopened. Imre walked in. "I an,

my dear Ii ttle brother.

We can't stay here,"

and

turning to Vince, "Please ask Juliska to pack a days provisions. We'll be down presently." ing to himself:

Vince scurried out of the room mutter-

"Dear me ... dear God .... "

"The Gestapo is here!

They might knock on the door any

moment," said Imre urgently.

"I think all they are waiting for

is an armed SS detachment .... " " I'm surpri sed they didn't corne any sooner," said I an. "I'm sure they had bigger fish to hook .... Vince is our look-out man ....

Get ready

Anything happens and we'll have

-73-

to disappear in the cellar in a hurry."

Then he added,

"You

leave fi rst. " "What are you going to do?" Ian asked. "It's better that even you don't know about it ... I have to get out of here too ...

and wait until the

situation simmers

down ... You better go to Butnok or Gerle as best you can. " "I want to be wi th Maria. " Imre smiled for the first time that day. "All right ... go there ... this is even a better place than Butnok.

I don't think they'll bother to get there for a while.

They have to do their dirty work here. until the end of April '"

My code name is Janos

yours .. , let me think .. , Jonas!"

"I'll get packed right away. " "Travel

lightly

Here is

some money ...

Do you have

your Swiss paper?" "In my back pocket. " "We'll meet Easter Monday, five

rapidly:

the

evening

on April eleventh at precisely

I Idiko' s

"She is my secretary, you know that.

police officer.

We'll be safe at her place.

Imre handed Ian a piece of paper, paper ...

apartment,"

Imre

continued

Her husband is a

Here is her address,"

"Memorize it,

then burn the

Now listen carefully ... Ian, please listen!"

Ian was

pulling out a drawer full of his shirts. "I'm Ii stening. " "If there is a change, you'll get a telegram saying:

'Mother

is well, she'll be released from the hospital in so many days ... '

-74-

That gives you the new date of our meeting. place and same time. "Yes, Imre.

But remember, same

Understood?"

Be careful," said I an anxiously.

"I can look after myself," Imre replied confidently. Ian got into the dining room, his breakfast.

When

Imre was already halfway through

Juliska served ham and eggs with her wonderful

horne-baked bread.

Her face had a care-worn expression.

muttering to herself:

"My God!

My God!

Save us!

She kept

What will

happen to us?" "You'll be safer here," replied Imre.

"If anybody asks you,

you haven't seen us since last Friday. " After breakfast Imre walked into Ian's room. "God bless you," he exclaimed astonished, "What do you have in those bags?" "All the things I'll need at the Potocki's." "You'll be tired of carrying all that!

You'll look suspi-

cious wi th all that baggage!" cried Imre. "Vince wi 11 carry the big piece. " "All the way to Oak Farm?" Imre said sarcastically. Reluctantly, Ian repacked the contents of the large suitcase into his boy scout rucksack. Imre shook his head, then embraced Ian warmly:

"God be with

you. " Earlier Ian had taken a cautious peak through a chink in the curtains. doubled.

In the

last half hour the number of loiterers had

Hearing about danger was different from seeing it in

-75-

the flesh.

Very different.

to shake with fear.

After Imre left his room, Ian began

He centered himself with difficulty and

threw his belongings into his rucksack and overnight bag in a helter-skelter fashion, not really knowing what he was doing. said goodbye to Juliska. empty.

The house was going to be completely

The twins had left on Friday, and the prince had hurried

off yesterday.

Juli ska was nervous too.

"What will happen to us?" she kept wailing. "God preserve you."

I an kissed her.

A fear shone in Juliska' s eyes.

"Be careful Master Ian."

Vince led him down to the cellar. was sliding down the footpath,

Fifteen minutes later Ian

the one he had used yesterday.

Trying to keep up with the agile Vince, he stumbled over the root of a tree, lost his balance and fell against a rock. pain lit into him.

A riveting

His knee connected with the sharp edge of the

rock; and when he scrambled up, he was barely able to stand on his left leg. Vince didn't stop.

He wanted to get I an away from the

Citadel as fast as possible.

With a sharp bend of the footpath

the German embassy compound came into view.

It was swarming with

people and surrounded by a detachment of paratroopers and 55 guards.

They walked for another fifteen minutes and got to the

Margaret bridge.

Only a few people were on the streets.

knee began to hurt bad, and he begged Vince to stop.

Ian's

After about

a ten minute wait, a tram showed up which took Ian and Vince over the bridge.

The German guards Ian saw yesterday were no longer

-76-

there.

On the Pest side they got into another tram.

left bank of the Danube the streets were not full.

Even on the Budapest was

breathing in, waiting to see what happened before breathing out again.

After an interminable, slow, rickety trip, Ian and Vince

arri ved in the suburbs. "There is a railway station a few kilometers from here," said Vince, pointing eastward.

"Perhaps you can catch a train

there." Ian gave him a piece of paper:

"Please send this telegram

from the nearest post office on this side of the Danube," with emphasis on the word' this'.

"God be wi th you!"

"Be careful!" Ian would hear these two words many many times in the future.

Vince handed over the overnight bag, donned his

cap and turned on his heel.

Ian looked with affection at his

disappearing figure. When he lifted the bag, Ian remembered his brother's admonition.

The combined weight of the big rucksack and the bag was

heavy.

Hobbling along with his injured knee,

it was heavier

still. After walking less than a kilometer, and sat on it to rest.

Ian put the bag down

A few minutes later a young factory

worker on a bicycle could be seen nearing Ian. He stopped when Ian waved at him and gave the injured student and his baggage a questions.

cheerful lift.

He didn't ask Ian any

He knew well what was going on in Budapest,

didn't wish to go beyond guessing about Ian's business.

-77-

and he With the

doubled load the bike squeaked, wheezed and squirmed but kept on making steady progress. "Where?" asked the bicyclist tersely. "Please get me to the nearest railway station," answered Ian. "But that's eleven ki lometers away, my young friend! " "Can you take me?" he asked anxiously. "I'll be late '" anyway ...

have been late for my shift before

What the hell! "

"I'll make it worth your while," said Ian, with the pain in his knee not diminishing even though he was not walking any more. An hour later when they got to the station,

Ian gave the

worker a tip which was perhaps as much as a week's wages. "Just wait here," he said cheerfully as he got on the bike again.

"A train will show up sooner or later."

Three hours later Ian piled his rucksack and suitcase on the steps of a second class carriage and pulled himself up slowly. The carriage was full of Magyar soldiers returning to the eastern front. He felt safe there and gradually regained his confidence. Seated in the acrid cigarette smoke, he had time to think about the last day or two. l

He wondered about his family and relatives.

How were his friends doing?

He felt ashamed that he had been

afraid only a few hours ago.

Ian felt particularly self-lacerat-

ing about Veronka.

When she called yesterday, he had been unable

to console her, muttering only a few unintelligible syllables.

-78-

Imre had remained cool and confident.

"Why can't I be like him?"

he wondered. The train stopped at every little railway station.

By later

afternoon it was close to Miskolc, the largest city and railroad center near Oak Farm. Ian wondered if Maria got his telegram. The carriage was bustling as the soldiers were packing their gear and saying excited goodbyes.

Mi skolc had a big transit

depot, where the soldiers returning from leave were assigned to their old uni ts or re-assigned to new ones. The train slowed to walking speed.

Putting his head through

the window of the carriage and looking toward the station, Ian became petrified.

It was packed with German troops.

He worked

his way back to the last carriage and jumped off the train.

-79-

CHAPTER NINE MOONLIGHT RIDE

[ In your innersides Eternity glides Ian's poem inspired by Atilla Jozsef ]

49.

The twentieth of March, 1944, Monday afternoon. Maria heard a knock on the door. Oak Wood,

the Potocki's home

farm,

She had just returned from where she had supervised

spring sowing and other chores since dawn. "Gracious Princess,

this telegram has

just arrived.

took the yellow envelope from the silver-salver. to touch it.

She

She didn't want

Telegrams were bearers of bad news during war.

"Thank you Pista!

she

said,

dismissing the valet,

retreated backwards to the door and quietly closed it.

who Maria

didn't want anyone present when she was reading the telegram. She tore the envelope open, read the text, then read it again.

[ Please meet mural painter at station The signature was even more baffling. , Benj amin.

-80-

SlX

this evening. ]

Then in an instant Maria understood. The mural painter, of course, was Michaelangelo; and Benjamin? The postcards! Ian!

The ones Ian had sent last summer.

He wasn't due here until Easter.

Some accident! in trouble! home.

And what station?

Benj amin?

What had happened to him?

[Holy Mary, ] she thought.

What am I going to do?

It must be

[ I hope he is not

Neither Papa nor Mama are at

Miskolc?

Or our local station?

No matter what I better get going.

Why

It's past four

already! ] Maria pressed the bell.

Tereza, her maid, came in courtseying.

"Tell Feri to hitch the fastest horses to the carriage ... whatever we have. noticed

Tereza

I want to leave in ten minutes.

hesitating

she

continued crossly:

When she "Just go!

No--run!" She heard another knock. "Come in!

Maria said impatiently.

"Beg your pardon, gracious princess--the postman stopped by on his way home ... II stammered Feri.

liThe Germans ... may God

strike them with lightning ... invaded us ... and are in Budapest." "Virgin Mary, mother of God! her chair.

exclaimed Maria, jumping from

"Now I know why Ian sent that telegram!

said, "Get the horses harnessed!

getting more and more confused. II

To Feri she

"0f course, gracious princess

know ... that terrible

I was just ... " Feri was II

thought

you wished to

"Get going!" exclaimed Maria,

"Don't just stand there.

have to pick up Prince Chabaffy's son at the station up! "

Hurry

Maria hoped that magic name would electrify Feri and get

him moving.

Chabaffy had been the congressman representing the

district in which Oak Wood lay for many years. districts'

congressman was Uncle

Freddy,

The neighboring

another Union Party

representative, and thus the two adjoining counties were two of the prince's staunchest strongholds.

His name was spoken here

wi th even greater reverence than in the rest of the country. Maria quickly changed into her riding outfit.

On her way

down to the stables, she gave a final instruction to Jani: ready the first guestroom immediately.

"Get

Get Piroska to help you! "

The two horses pawed the ground impatiently.

Their mobile

ears caught every shade of intonation in the fast words flying between Princess Maria and Feri. "Get a couple of blankets in the back ... I'll drive!"

she

said. Feri barely had time to jump on the carriage and sit down next to the princess.

She put the whip to the horses,

the car-

riage flew out of Oak Hill. "Do we have a six o'clock train?" she asked Feri,

as the

carriage careened down the main street of the village, kicking up a huge cloud of dust. "Not at our station, gracious princess. is due at Miskolc five after six."

A train from Budapest

The leisurely two hour ride

was shortened to an hour and fifteen minutes by the galloping horses. -82-

Arriving in the outskirst of Miskolc, Feri uttered the first sentence since they had left Oak Hill:

"Do you see what I see,

gracious princess?" "What are you talking about?" "All these soldiers," replied Feri.

Maria was so intent on

the horses and the road she didn't pay much attention to her surroundings.

She knew every farm, ditch and side road by sight.

She pulled the horses, steaming with sweat, to a halt. "We have to find him!" Maria said insistently. we have to find a place where we can stop.

"But first

Help me!"

Feri scratched his head. "My sister lives in the next village," he announced after a long silence. "Do they have a phone?" "A phone?" asked Feri, astonished. "I'm sure we I 11 find a phone somewhere in the village ... I'd like to avoid using the phone at the post office."

After a

short drive, with Feri holding the reins now, the carriage stopped in front of a white-washed peasant cottage with a beautifully decorated picket fence and a well-tended garden.

Feri jumped off

the carriage and handed the reins to Maria. "My sister knows of no phone in the village, only the one at the post office.

It's just a small distance from here, gracious

princess," he said, returning to the carriage after a few minutes. Feri called out for Kati, his sister, and introduced her to Maria.

-83-

II I'll take care of the horses, gracious princess, II said Feri.

liMy sister will take you over to the post office. II The operator got Maria through to Oak Hill without delay. IIGet me ... Ah, it's you Kelemen?1I she was talking rapidly

to the man who was more a foreman of the farm laborers than an estate manager; he had splendid peasant common sense.

III expect

we'll get a call within the next hour or so at the castle, from our guest. II IIGracious princess, you mean

IINo names, please,1I she hurriedly interrupted Kelemen.

liAs

soon as he calls, just find out where he is, so I can pick him up

Is that understood?1I IIYes, gracious princess. II IIWhat did I ask you to do?1I He repeated her instructions precisely.

She gave Kelemen

the number of the phone she was talking from and finally said:' II I'll wait for your call right here. II The postmistress recognized Maria, and gave her a voluble account of the day's happenings.

Early that morning a detachment

of German soldiers had occupied the Miskolc railway station. Maria's heart sank on hearing that.

"Ian is going to walk right

into their arms! II she said to herself. This was the first time she had time to let the news of the German occupation penetrate her consciousness.

Anxiety over Ian

alternated with dismay over the invasion in swift succession in her mind.

For a while she was preoccupied with schemes to hide

produce, grain,

animals, everything a farmer does when his land

1S threatened by a hostile occupation which requisitions whatever is mobile or can be carted away, European

farmers

since

Hi tIer

the kind in thoughts of many had

let

loose

his

rapacious

Blitzkriegs on every part of Europe. Her reverie was interrupted by the postmistress.

When she

picked up the receiver she heard an unknown voice which said tersely: went dead.

IIBe at Dezso' s house as soon as possible. II

The phone

Maria knew Dezso, but it wasn't his voice.

He was

the ward captain of the Union Party for the area around Miskolc. Why didn't Dezso himself call? III 1 m getting too jumpy, II she thought.

Maria brushed all

misgivings aside and let Feri do the driving.

She vaguely re-

membered his place about eight kilometers from Miskolc,

a neat

country house surrounded by a small estate. It turned out to be a lot further than Maria remembered.

was getting dark when her horses, now near exhaustion, arrived at Dezso's place.

Feri had to stop a couple of times to ask for

directions; and when she caught sight of the ward captain, Maria couldn't conceal her anxiety any more. IIIs Ian here?1I she asked him without any preliminary n1ceties, getting off the carriage in one bound. Dezso, a country gentleman of unhurried movements and even slower speech,

left Maria

in an agonized suspense before he

answered her question in a bass voice: Maria. II

-85-

IIYes, he is, Princess

"Can I see him right away?" she asked, her impatience beginning to show. "All in good time, Princess Maria ... I have to warn you ... he is none too well ... I have called a doctor ... " "Virgin Mary, holy Mother of God," exclaimed Maria, unable to contain her impatience any longer.

"Where on earth is he?"

50.

Maria found

Ian in the parlor,

greeted her with a tired smile.

resting on a couch.

Dezso, a bulky man with a handle-

bar moustache and jovial face, watched the reunion with an amused glint in his eyes.

Maria knelt down next to the couch and looked

straight into his eyes. "Are you alright, my dear Ian?" "I'm perfectly well ... just a little tired."

"Dezso said

"That's nothing,"

"I had a fall

Ian said with assurance.

and inj ured my knees." "A fall?

What happened?"

Ian told her.

"Dezso was good enough to call a doctor," Ian explained. "And then 1'11 take you home!" whispered Maria.

Then aloud

to Dezso she asked, "When is he coming?" "He is due any minute," he replied with deliberation. "And I'll put Ian into my carriage and take him to Oak Hill," declared Maria, rising.

-86-

"Please stay,

Princess Maria ...

We'll get you a light

dinner. II "We better get going as soon as possible, "Your horses need a rest badly, which was respectful but firm. too

she insisted.

declared Dezso, with a tone

"Ian needs some nourishment,

You know, he got here less than an hour ago.

was a cup of tea.

All he had

Please accept my hospi tali ty. II

"0f course, Dezso ... I'm sorry,

conceded Maria.

I'm a

bit concerned about I an. II "He'll be all right ... he is a strong boy, confidently.

I f you'll excuse me for a moment,

I'll see what's going on in the kitchen.

said Dezso

you two ...

The moment their host stepped out of the room, Maria again knelt next to the couch and smothered Ian with kisses, murmuring encouragements. "After dinner please tell me the news from Budapest. II A few minutes later, Dezso returned with the doctor, who examined Ian and quickly diagnosed:

"His knee wound is deep, cut

into the knee-cap, even the bone suffered some abrasions."

After

finding out from Ian when he had fallen,

"Of

he continued:

course the fact that he continued using his leg all day certainly didn't help at all ...

It's nothing serious, but to prevent the

infection from spreading it'll have to be thoroughly disinfected.

Doctor Szabo, a sparse little man in his late fifties, with dark brown eyes,

bristling eyebrows

didn't waste any time.

and an engaging manner,

He speedily disinfected the gash--an

-87-

experience Ian would rather forget--cleaned up the abrasion on his leg and expertly dressed the entire area.

He admonished Ian

to use his left leg sparingly in the next few days. As Ian had a mild form of hemophilia which caused him problems with even minor inj uries , the doctor prescribed a blood coagulant. parting.

You 'II be fine in a couple of weeks, II he said in

He had to visit another patient in the village who had

been kicked by a bull, and regretfully turned down Dezso's invitation for dinner and departed in a hurry. Dezso noted with satisfaction that Ian wolfed down his dinner and asked for seconds--a sure sign he was well on his way to recovery. It was past nine when Feri rolled the carriage up to the mal.n entrance. Maria looked at Ian's bulging rucksack and overnight bag. "Did you carryall this ... ?" then started to laugh.

She gave Ian a reproving glance,

She didn't say anything.

She helped Ian

into the carriage after thankful farewells to Dezso. down to his right,

Maria sat

and Feri carefully arranged a wool blanket

around their feet. The horses after their good rest were eager to go home. few clouds scurried across the sky.

The moon was out and played

hide and seek casting a silvery glow over the quiet countryside. All Ian and Maria could hear was the steady pounding of the horses' hooves, soft and rhythmic on the unpaved country roads, clambering and groping over rough ground.

-88-

Ian and Maria felt

vibrations of peace which transcended all illusory perceptions. Ian's unhappy feelings about the German occupation vanished into the moonlit sky as if attached to balloons. farewell.

He bade them a quiet

A state of blessedness enveloped the two--an infinite

love, a state where they felt no difference between having and being, a serenity they both shared.

Sharing increased their love

in a way not experienced before by either of them. attempt to establish their love.

There was no

It was being and having, a

state of natural, foreordained existence.

Having and sharing not

only elevated them into bliss, it also made them acutely aware of every moment's reality. Ian was aware in a remote way that Feri was sitting with his back to them, guiding the horses. him was more real.

The love that both Ian and Maria felt that

moment could only be experienced. right then.

But he felt that Maria next to

Both knew they experienced it

Both Ian and Maria would often remember that moon-

light ride, yet be unable to describe it. not with words but with silence and love.

That night, they spoke In the full splendor

of the night love came upon them of itself, complete and whole. They found each other's lips effortlessly, unconsciously, like the lark beating the air with its wings, flying skyward. The horses started to clamber up, then down an embankment. The carriage reached the ferry of the Bodrog river. Ian get out of the carriage.

Maria helped

Leaning their elbows on the wooden

rail, the two gazed silently at the quiet swift current glittering in the moonlight, clearer than liquid silver.

-89-

Ian looked at

his beloved without speaking. lips.

A happy smile played over his

Maria looked back at him like an angel,

a fairy tale

apparition. At the edge of the other bank, Ian saw a magic forest with shifting light and dark shadows, glittering like precious stones in the moonlight.

Ian breathed deeply,

inhaling the barely

shifting breeze and the scent of the sweating horses.

The night

was like a haunting melody with the crickets playing the solo parts and the eddy whirling around the ferry providing the beat. The pain of disinfecting iodine vanished from his leg. Eternity stood still.

When Maria touched his arm tremulously,

Ian felt invulnerable. "Come here," said Maria almost inaudibly, with her face lit full of tender meaning.

She breathed a kiss on his cheek.

seemed impossible the night would ever come to an end. They were near the stage of life they were both looking for, too much in love to do more than breathe an occasional smile.

moved his nose close to her ear and watched the silent labor of the ferryman. Under the silken canopy of the forest their journey continued. Ian was dreaming of another poem, an adaptation of Atilla Jozsef's "Goddess":

[ She is dew on the meadows, Bower in uncertain fates, She tramples on my shadows, Her smile extinguishes my cares. ]

One after another,

pictures of the recent past came into

Ian's mind, then vanished on the beams of the moon.

Maria moved

closer to him, their fingers playing tender ties. As the carriage moved closer to Oak Hill, Ian's cares metamorphosed with love; and love, swelled by Maria's beloved presence, metamorphosed into passion.

They stared into each other's eyes

and their fingers felt the twin wild beat of their hearts, the rhythmic flow of their blood.

"Share, share,

beat of their hearts.

give,

their blood.

"Love,

telegraph poles.

"Give, love,

share,"

said the

give," said the rhyme of

love," echoed the swiftly passing

"This is the only reality," thought Ian.

can never pass away.

"It

Moons may wax and wane, love remains the

same. " Ian dreamed he heard the tongues of angels telling of the love that never ends, of tyrannies that pass away, of words that fade into silences, of the imperfections that pass away with the advent of perfections.

He felt up until now he had perceived

dimly, but now face to face with Maria he could comprehend clearly. As she kissed him and smiled blissfully, he beheld the beauty in her, the beauty of her love, of her eyes, the white of her teeth, the softness of her lips, the tenderness of her fingers. The horses sensed the nearness of the stables and accelerated.

Ian felt the dust in his nostrils as the increasing speed

of the carriage raised increasing clouds of dust. He drew nearer Maria and buried his head in her breasts. She softly stroked his silken tresses and dreamed of his noble ,

determination, his quiet assurance, his flaming poetic passion, the pinkness of his nails,

the narrowness of his waist,

the

wistfulness in his eyes, the thickness of his lips, his imperfections blending into perfections.

Until now she too felt she had

loved dimly, but now, face to face, touch to touch with Ian, she loved with astonishing clarity. The louder thud of the horses hooves signalled that they had arrived at the main street of Oak Hill, Potockis.

the home of the Magyar

Maria saw the shadow of the acacias and bare oak trees

along the roadside, blending with the clear lunar rays in a new light.

It all looked, smelled, almost tasted so familiar, yet it

was so new and wonderfully alive as well. The chorus of barking dogs

signalled Oak Hill,

Maria's

unpretentious but hospi table home. The magnificent oaks after which the manor house was named were still bare of leaves, light.

giant silent sentinels in the moon-

The calf-size kommondors which guarded the Potocki's home

sniffed excitedly at the newcomer.

Feri carried Ian's belongings

inside the house, then carried them up to his room. Inhaling the centuries old vibrations emanating from the carved oak wainscoating and the upward curving staircase, which reminded him of Transylvania, Ian felt immediately at home. Feri

lit a candelabra and then left them alone.

In the

semi-darkness Ian was barely able to discern the ancient entrance hall with its cathedral ceiling.

He saw some dark oil paintings

in gold frames which suffused a rich reflection in the candlelight.

He also saw pieces of armor with a silvery moon filter. -92-

It happened suddenly. of the candelabra. Ian close.

Maria extinguished all but one candle

They flew into each other's arms.

Maria held

Ian held Maria close.

"I love you. " "I love you. " Her close.

fingers

fumbled with hi s

buttons.

She pressed him

She held him closely, pulling him into her.

She fumbled

some more. All

the

waiting through the previous

summer

throughout the school term and the flight from through the train ride,

and fall,

the

capital,

through the waiting for her arrival,

through the moonlight ride,

the silent communion on the ferry,

through the kisses in the coach, building up an ever-accelerating crescendo, until the arrival at the entrance, counting the moments as the coachman deposited his luggage in his room, the seconds as he walked out of the building and returned to his horses--all this and more--the fantasizing in his bed in Buda, his fevered poems, imagining her arms around him and her lips pressed against his--all that and more-And the dam burst and exploded among Maria's fumbling fingers. Ian felt a wetness spreading down his thighs.

A sudden dizziness.

He held Maria's shoulders tightly for closeness and more for support. Maria expelled a small cry. "I'll show you to your room," she whispered. to ...," c r i ed I an .

-93-

"But I want

"Not so loud! II "0f course. II II

is.

We '11 go to your room, but first I'll show you where mine

My granny is sleeping in my drawing room, and my bedroom is

right behind her,

Maria explained, still whispering.

Ian didn't

have time or the inclination to wonder about all this. lowed Maria towards the guest-wing.

He fol-

Dragging his left leg,

stumbled over a pair of upright boots in the corridor,

Ian

which

sounded startlingly loud in the stillness. "Shsh," whispered Maria, excited as much by the noise as by her anxiety that the racket should wake her grandmother. Ian began to feel that somehow he had let Maria down.

She

didn't feel let down at all. "First let's see if Granny is still asleep," she whispered. Of course she was.

They went into Ian's room.

"Come to me in fifteen minutes,

Maria said, still whisper-

ing, although it was no longer necessary.

"1'11 be waiting for

you ... ! II

Then, as she was leaving his room, she told Ian:

into bed,

rumple it up

change ...

"Get

I'll just get myself ready, wash and

1'11 see you soon!

Ian brushed his teeth,

lay down in his bed and started to

count the seconds. As Maria crept through her drawing room, her thoughts raced at the speed of light.

[My beloved is mine and I am his until

the day breathes and the shadows flee. be like a young stag. ]

-94-

Turn towards me, Ian, and

The ancient song sang in her heart as she tip-toed to the door of her room from which her candle cast but a very faint glow.

She beckoned Ian to come close as he entered the drawing

room through the door from the corridor.

She thought of the

lines:

[ Upon my bed by night I sought him whom my soul loves, I called him and now he comes closer to me ... ] Ian cursed his bandaged knee which made his movements so awkward and silently slipped into Maria's bedroom, past grandmother's motionless form.

He looked at her closely before he

closed the door behind him and watched her quiet breathing. Maria locked the door. "We'll have to be quiet," she whispered. Ian stopped in the middle of her bedroom, trembling and shed his dressing gown.

Maria blew out the candle on her nightstand,

then carefully led the naked Ian into her bed.

The linen breathed

the scent of the water in which it had been laundered and the sunlight in which it had dried.

Ian sat down on the edge of the

bed and swung himself arond, slowly sliding under the covers on his back.

Ever so tender and careful, Maria caressed him.

"I'm your first, am I not?" "Yes," came back Ian's embarrassed answer. Women blossom in all ages--some at sixteen, others 1n the full tide of their first love, or soon after their first child's

-95-

birth. beauty.

Yet others

in old age's

wrinkles

find their ageless

Maria blossomed that night she had held Ian in her arms,

her soul a down pillow, so soft and silky. "He is like me," she thought. "She is like me," he thought. "I love you," their bodies sang.

[ You are all fair, my love; there is no flaw in you. ]

"I love you," Ian said with a depth and width of first love, when the heart is in spring and the petals unfold.

Your lips Honey and with your A well of

distill nectar, my love ... milk are under your tongue, innersides like a scented fountain, living water. ]

For the first time Ian felt skin to skin, his head and neck to the tip of his toes.

from the top of

He fell asleep in

blissful peace. Awakening ln each others arms was another dream come true. The first rays of the sun slipped through the lace curtains as Ian and Maria exchanged the first kiss of the new day. Ian felt quite inadequate.

"I'm not much good for you,"

whispered, his mouth close to her ear. "Psst," she replied. virgin for your sake.

"Don't say that ...

I wish I were a

It was Ian's turn to stop her lips with kisses. Slowly, closely, they began to hold each other again, Ian pulling her gently on top of him. Ian gazed at the perfection of her curves, her flawless lines.

For the first time he noticed the clear outline of her

full lips and how the pink of her lips extended above and below that outline.

The touch of her skin vivified his blood.

The

feel of her skin enveloping his skin electrified his soul. Not much later Maria let him doze off. bed and quickly got dressed.

She jumped out of

Ian felt the sudden lack of her

next to him and became wide awake.

He got out of bed too.

stepped up to the mirror above her chest of drawers and looked at himself with intensity. II

I look the same as yesterday," he said aloud and full of

surprise at Maria as she emerged from the bathroom. She placed her head in the crook of his neck, looking at the reflection looking at them.

"I wish I had never ... 11 she sighed

as she drank in the sight of her beloved. She had confessed about her first two lovers, the two before him, one who "didn't count ll because she had too much to drink. "I wish you were my first," she said to Ian's surprise. They looked into each others eyes reflected in the mirror. Ian half turned and tenderly kissed her cheek as if to say, "The past had no importance, let's enj oy love now. II

-97-

52.

The large coarse brush felt wonderful on Ian's back. the old prince's servant,

Jani,

administered it to him, his left leg

dangling out of the large circular tub.

Jani helped him to step

out and wrapped an enormous linen towel around him, covered his body from head to foot.

He sat down to rest his left leg.

chorus of yelps announced the arrival of the master.

When Ian

got up and looked down from the window of his bedroom, he saw the old prince helping his wife get out of the carriage.

The Komon-

dors almost tumbled over themselves around them. When Jani hurried down to meet his master,

Ian started to

get dressed for supper; Maria had warned him it was served at eight and that her father was a stickler for punctuality. being a few minutes late met his severe disapproval. lots of time.

Even

Ian had

He put on a cream-colored shirt, with lace cuffs,

then his black tie outfit.

He felt luxuriant slipping on his

feather-light pumps from Lobb's of London, a hand-down from Imre. Then he tied his large velvet bow tie. It was only seven-fifteen when Ian put a final brush to his unruly wavy hair and stepped out into the corridor. first chance to look around the house.

This was his

He had slept most of that

Tuesday morning; and after a brief lunch with Maria before she set off to the home farm, he had read a book of poems and a large folio of Madach's monumental play 'The Tragedy of Mankind,' which he had discovered in the library.

-98-

A U-shaped balcony ran along three sides of the hall, with carved oak doors leading to the four principal suites of the second floor:

the master suite; Maria's; her older brother's;

and the main guest suite, known as the green room where Ian had just finished dressing. with hunting trophies:

All the walls were whitewashed, dotted huge antlers and menacing boar-heads, all

meticulously inscribed with dates and places.

The rest of the

walls were covered with portraits of armoured warriors and melancholy ladies, forbidding battle-axes and oversized swords. Ambling along the balcony towards Maria's suite, struck by a painting of a young woman.

Ian was

Stepping closer to it, he

thought he discerned the brushstrokes of Leonardo, barely visible under the thick varnish and in the twilight of the evening.

was the portrait of a beautiful young woman in a tantalizing pose, holding an ermine.

Her name was Cecilia, the mistress of a

duke who made a sort of reputation in the ipternecine warfare of Italian cities and a more enduring one for commissioning this painting. Maria's chambermaid opened the door when knocked with three short raps and one long one, the Morse code for V for Victory, the opening notes of Beethoven's fifth symphony,

a universal

resistance sYmbol and a password in a Nazi-occupied Europe. Her drawing room looked entirely different from the previous night.

Granny's bed was no longer there, but back in her own

room downstairs.

Some of the mansion's severity was modified in

this room because it was stamped by Maria's personality.

-99-

It was

decorated with flowers, plants, flowerprint curtains and cheerful covers on a sofa and two armchairs.

The walls were white-washed

like the rest of the house, and the highly polished oak floor was adorned only by a small carpet in front of the sofa. "You may leave," said Maria dismissing her maid. she left, Ian and Maria were in each other's arms. less kisses,

Ian acquired a quizzical

look:

As soon as

After count-

"Do tell me, my

love, is that painting outside your door a real Leonardo?" "Of course.

Our cousins in Poland left it with us for

safekeeping when they fled here in 1939 ... lous ... she added:

But you look marvel-

I like your lace cuffs," and clapping her hands together, "P apa wi 11 approve. "

Maria wore a long sky-blue dress tinted with golden bees, which perfectly matched her complexion.

"Let's go down and join

my parents. " Ian felt a marvellous exhilaration and sat down on top of the railing as Maria took the first step down the circular stairway in the hall.

He felt

like sliding down the bani ster and

flying, flying. Maria smiled and put a

restraining hand on his forearm:

"When your knee is healed and if you don't have a mad urge to tumble among the supper guests, do it at your heart's content." Leaning lightly on Maria's shoulder Ian entered the drawing room. The prince in black tie and Princess Ilona in a long dark blue dress greeted them effusively.

The prince introduced Ian to

his wife who hadn't yet met him before, and then to the rest of

-100-

the small gathering:

granny,

the priest of the chapel, the

village doctor Janos Marton and two neighboring estate owners whose names he didn't catch. Last to join the party was Maria's little brother Peter, who was dressed in country tweeds and carried an enormous Chinese vase in his arms. lessly.

The gathering watched his progress breath-

Not only a priceless heirloom the prince's uncle brought

back from China was in danger, but also Peter. it could have caused an accident. in front of Ian.

If he had slipped,

He proudly deposited the vase

When Ian bowed politely to thank him for the

presentation Peter's face,

contorted into a perpetual grimace,

was lit up by an angelic smile.

As her brother hung onto her

arm, Maria whispered to Ian, "He likes you!" "It's eight o'clock precisely," announced Prince Laszlo, and the servants opened the dining room doors. A large candelabra with two dozen candles cast a golden glow over the huge dining room table which would easily seat twentyfour.

On the walls hung a row of fierce-looking Potocki princes,

one on a prancing horse in the full-dress uniform of a colonel of the guards.

The utter simplicity of the room, devoid of cur-

tains, clocks and fussy ornamentation, breathed elegance.

Ian

sensed this room's furnishings had been in use for centuries, and he began to understand Maria's devotion to Oak Hill. Maria noted with pleasure her father motioned I an to sit next to her mother, a place of honor reserved for distinguished guests.

After the first course was served Maria, who sat on

Ian's other side,

turned to her father:

"How was your trip,

Papa?" "Nothing doing," he growled back. conference with Lukacs." Lord-Lieutenant

the

"The Nazis already had a

He turned towards next

county.

The

Ian.

"He is the

Nazi s have already

started to put the squeeze on him! " "What do you mean, Papa?" asked Maria. "He has his estate mortgaged to the hilt. how they found out, but they did.

I have no idea

Our local Nazis hint they'll

foreclose unless he complies with their demands, as yet unspecified."

The last three words were spoken with a sarcastic growl,

then he added, "He comes from a good family.

It's a disgrace."

"Lukacs gave us a hard time last fall," Maria explained to Ian.

"He refused to let us have any rolling stock--the railyards

are under his control--and we were forced to cart every bushel of grain and each sack of potatoes to the market.

And mind you,

most of our horses and mules have been already requisitioned by the army. " After a long silence, during which several fine roast hares were served, Prince Laszlo turned to Ian:

"Damn lucky you got

away. " Ian explained the system of underground tunnels honeycombing the Ci tadel in Budapest. "I'm glad you are here," Prince Laszlo said,

"The Germans

are terrible, but the Russians are worse! " "But

the

Russians are our allies,"

coming to liberate us from the Germans. " -102-

said Ian,

"They are

Prince Laszlo banged his fist on the table. "Allies? he cried.

Do you have any idea what they've done in Poland?!"

"They stabbed Poland in the back in 1939, at the end

of the Nazi Blitzkrieg--you were too young to remember

"But I do remember," interposed Ian. "Hi tIer and Stalin had Poland for breakfast have us for dinner tion.

They'll

Heaven help us from a Red Army occupa-

I tell you," and he shook his finger towards Ian, "We saw

with our own eyes as our kin from Poland and well over a hundred thousand refugees streamed through our estate. else to escape.

They had no where

Up North, the Baltic Sea, in the West, the Nazi

divisions; and in the East, the Russian barbarians." "The only way out of that mousetrap was South, towards Magyarland," chimed in the village doctor. Maria's mother had kept silent during her husband's outbursts and talked little during the rest of the evening. must have been beautiful as a young woman.

She

Now in her early

forties she had no wrinkles, and her hair had a lustrous, silvery glow. After dinner, the ladies retired to the drawing room, and the men to the library.

It was only then that Ian had an oppor-

tunity to take a leisurely look at Prince Laszlo Potocki. nearly two meters tall.

He was

He had been severely wounded in the

first war and lost his left arm, and the unremitting cares following a lost war reduced him to a gaunt old man. whi te hair,

He had snow-

which must have been fair originally,

-103-

and the

Potockis'

narrow but prominent nose and bushy eyebrows.

His

clean-shaven face was long and already full of fine wrinkles.

had a thick, melodious voice which could easily rise to a roar. He was quick-tempered but also quick to forgive. When

the

men settled down in the comfortable

sofas and

armchairs of the library, Prince Laszlo turned to Ian:

"Have you

heard from your father lately?" ,"We got a message not two weeks ago," replied Ian proudly, "' Keep the Fai th--We will win! '" "That's him alright!

Can I offer you a cigar?"

"Thank you, but I don't ... " "Your father likes a good cigar Orlowski?"

Have you any news about

The prince's inquiry referred to Count Leon Orlowski,

who became the Polish envoy in Budapest when his homeland was di smembered by Stalin and Hi tler in 1939. "He is with Papi in Washington; they are working together," replied Ian. "I

remember well

prince said slowly.

that dreadful

September

1939,"

the

"Leon helped to mastermind the transit of

nearly a quarter million of refugees from Poland ... " "We put up a soup kitchen in the village," said the priest. "They kept coming for weeks, with their belongings piled high on horse-drawn carriages,

cars,

trucks ...

We even had a bus ...

Many just came on foot." "I

remember Maria telling me some didn't even stop until

reaching Budapest,"

said Ian,

"with

-104-

antiques,

oriental

rugs,

bedding thrown helter-skelter on top of any means of transportation ... one even stopped in front of our house in Buda. " "More than thirty thousand of them joined General Sikorski's Polish Army in exile," said the prince proudly.

"Others serve in

Africa and in the air squadrons based in England." reli t hi s cigar.

The prince

"How old are you, my son?" he asked I an abruptly.

"I'll be seventeen next July." "A mere boy ... lucky the Gestapo didn't get you." "I have a document from the Swiss consulate,"

said Ian,

fingering hi s pocket. The prince let out a

loud laugh:

"You really think the

German secret police would care about a piece of paper?

They

will try and catch you and Imre ... I bet they have a price on your heads," he continued. your father ...

"There is no one they hate more than

You'll be a prime target for a hostage! "

"It's Imre they're after," replied Ian.

"But he has the

charmed life of the Scarlet Pimpernel ... " "Wri tten by my wife's aunt puffing at his cigar.

"the prince said casually,

"You must stay here for a while, at least

until this shock wears off. " "I must get back to Budapest," replied Ian. "But your knee needs healing. insisted the prince.

-105-

Stay at least until Easter,"

53.

It wasn't until Saturday that Ian was able to bend his left leg sufficiently to mount a horse.

The doctor visited him a

couple of times during the week and slimmed down his bandages to an oversize band-aid. Maria kept busy visiting the home-farm and the Potocki's small farm,

called the Valley Farm,

part of her mother's dowry.

a good way south.

It was

Maria urged the peasants to hide all

the animals, foodstuffs and grain and to act dumb if any authorities with power to requisition showed up. Ian hobbled around the big house.

Most of the time he was

immured in the library, which had an extensive collection of the new wave of Magyar authors.

He immersed himself in the books of

these writers most of whom came from peasant families.

Their raw

beauty, heartfelt compassion and cries of indignation touched a deep chord in Ian's soul and gave him a better understanding of his father's immense devotion to improve the lot of the peasants who were still the vast majority and the core of humanity in Magyarland. Ian and Maria burnt with impatience.

Spending the night

with Ian in the manor with her parents there was unthinkable to Maria.

The sun greeted Saturday with entrancing rays.

trees were still bare, started to bloom. breakfast.

The oak

but the white lilac bushes around had

Ian and Maria mounted their horses right after

Ian rode beside Maria, occasionally plucking leaves

-106-

from a branch that met his hand and sometimes touching his horses flank with his good foot.

They were headed for the Valley Farm

directly south stretching along the Bodrog river. into a gallop.

Maria broke

Ian was hard put to keep up with her.

The signs

of spring were everywhere, the greens spreading over the monotonous coloring of the winter.

After more than a good hour of

riding, when Ian's knee had started to throb, Maria slowed down near an enormous haystack standing

the middle of a

flat,

expansive field reaching down to the river in the far distance. With one bound she jumped off her saddle near the top of the haystack and scrambled up laughing the rest of the way. down a rope,

Throwing

she helped Ian up the steep side of the stack five

or six meters high.

When he finally made it close to the top,

Maria stretched out her hand and pulled him up. "Come and lie down!" she exclaimed.

"Isn't it glorious!"

As Ian slumped into the hay he looked into her unnaturally large eyes,

full of adoration and invitation.

stalk of a dried corn-flower. the color of ripe wheat.

Maria chewed the

She shook the shock of her hair,

She cocked her head sideways as if to

get a better look at her lover.

Ian looked at her dreamily.

Her eyebrows turned upward and her beauteous face broke into a provocative smile:

"Let's just think about today," she whis-

pered as she leaned forward to kiss Ian, who noticed she didn't wear anything under her white cotton blouse. She pulled off her riding boots with swift movements, also her breeches,

all the while looking steadily into Ian's eyes.

"Let me love you," she panted, and she started to undress him. -107-

The rough straw stalks pricked I an's skin, but he soon ignored them as he looked at her firm milk-white breasts that contrasted invitingly with her honey-colored skin.

To Ian she

looked like a lusty, healthy peasant girl, like the heroines of some of the books he had read recently, so natural and giving, so unlike most of the girls he met in the capital.

Her nipples were

dark pink and erect with desire. "Come my dear," Maria said, "What are you waiting for?" Ian, unable to take his eyes off her, still didn't move.

wish to inhale your presence," he said, finally, "never to forget this

" "You can have me always," she said, urging him on.

pulled him close and guided him into her.

She

This time their love-

making lasted longer than Monday night where Ian sprayed her belly with his seed before she had a chance to embrace him. Monday night she had let him sleep off the tension and fatigue of the weekend, but not this Saturday morning.

Today she arched

herself forward and moved up and down like a swelling wave. "Stay with me," she whispered to him joyfully. into me

deeper ... and stronger ...

"Come deeper

Just move with me, my

love." The way she looked at him and touched him lips to lips, the thrusting up and down made him feel strong and majestic. "Gently hold my breasts ously.

Oh yes," she said half deliri-

"Hold them ... caress them."

-108-

As Ian bent down to kiss her nipples, filled with the honey scent of her skin.

his nostrils were That scent was so

all-pervading, Ian felt the very air conspired to entice him to a pitch of passion. Maria's lips parted slightly. tive curve of a wave. larger.

Her upper lip had the seduc-

Her lower appeared disproportionately

Both were irresistibly drawn to search out the inside of

Ian's mouth.

She was full of the yearning to give herself,

give all herself without any reservations, to this beautiful man who was now hers alone.

Gradually she began to sing a prolonged

moan out of the depth of her throat. her body into his.

She arched every fiber of

When she felt his hot seed jet inside her,

Maria felt a deep satisfaction and fulfillment. she dug her fingers into his flanks: love!

with a wild cry

"Hold me!

Hold me,

Don't let go!" Only much later did Ian become aware of the pin-pricks of

the wheat stalks. Maria half got up and rearranged their scattered clothing as a bed.

She dug a hollow in the stack and built a low wall of

straw all around them.

A swift glance to the outside satisfied

her that there was not a living soul as far as her eyes could see.

She placed Ian on his back in the middle of the bed, exam-

ined his knee, which she propped up, then gently lowered herself across him with her right breast resting on his stomach. "I wish I could keep you here forever," smile which was haunting and full of mischief.

-109-

she said with a

"The forever is distilled into this moment," Ian replied, shielding his eyes with his hand from the sunshine. treasured his skin with the tips of her fingers. held his tightly. it lasted.

She lovingly

Her other hand

The stillness gathered in intensity the longer

Again,

the honey-scent of her skin assailed his

nostrils. "Give me a kiss!" he said. In the stillness of their JOY the lovers could hear a skylark rocketing into the

shimmering blue,

the horses

chewing the hay below them in the haystack, scurrying,

noisily

a field mouse's

and the zooming of a bee which came very close, then

veered away in a big arc.

This was the chamber music of Ian's

budding love--a joyful tune after the dirge of Budapest. drank her voice.

The modulation of her sentences came from

somewhere deep inside yet were so soft and melodious.

He eyed

with fierce passion the tremor of her limbs, the heaving of her stomach,

her delicious belly-button.

His gaze wandered to a

group of freckles which adorned the top of her right breast ln the exact formation of the Little Dipper.

He observed the

natural grace of her movements, the gravity-defying upward tilt of her breasts,

her miniaturized ears.

She had taught him to

nibble at the lobes as a prelude to passion. trilling laughter and throaty groans, giving, her unreserved caring.

Ian relished her

above all her abandoned

Her wild hungry passion inflamed

every part of his body, resonating in his soul, a tremor in his spiri t.

He looked deep into her eyes, glittering darkly now in

-110-

the shade of the strong mid-day sun.

Then he picked up the stalk

of the wheat flower she had dropped earlier and touched her earlobe with its blue petals. Maria began to slide down.

Using the tips of her long

strands of hair, she started to tickle him from his stomach down to his knees. and

When she noticed his strength, she slid over him

I an with the help of his fingers positioned her nipples

precisely on top of his. "You are learning fast," she said.

Maria held both of them

in a prolonged delicious suspense, devouring him with a knowing look.

"I adore you!" she whispered as she slipped him inside

her. Both trembled with excitement. between his legs.

Her fluid began to trickle

Now it was Maria who ecstasied first.

with

the ferocity of a Hun warrior galloping toward the sack of Paris, Ian repeatedly thrust himself deep into her.

The sun was still quite high. their horses.

Ian and Maria swung onto

"We'll go home by the way of the river," Maria

said cantering toward a small forest near the edge of the Bodrog. Slipping and sinking back on their haunches, their horses slid down to the edge of the water.

The strong current foamed

around their steed's bellies and sprayed Maria's blouse wet until her nipple I s

rosiness

showed through her blouse.

chestnut clambered back on the embankment, canter with Ian hard on her heels.

After her

Maria broke into a

They didn't slow down until

reaching the outskirts of Oak Hill.

A team of oxen lumbered

toward them, pulling an immense hay wagon, their gigantic loads sweeping both sides of the road.

The powerful,

slow-moving

beasts, of light grey color had muscular necks and forked longhorns with a wider sweep than Maria's arms.

In the light of the

afternoon sun, Ian and Maria were surrounded by peace. not March 1944.

This was

This was a scene from some enchanted dream,

where Ian's twelve demons had no place.

54.

Maria got off her chestnut horse in a single bound and threw the reins to the stable boy.

Kelemen, who has been apparently

waiting for their return, ran out of the great house in their direction. his arms.

"Gracious princess," they heard him shout as he waved When he got closer, Ian and Maria saw that sorrow and

anguish was written allover his face.

Maria gripped Ian's hand.

"My dear Princess Maria," Kelemen stuttered using an unaccustomed way addressing her, "I ... I ... have ... " "What is it?" asked Maria turning pale.

"Has my father, the

Prince, been taken ill?" "The prince ... incoherently.

your brother," continued Kelemen almost

"Prince Jozsef ... "

"Go on Kelemen!

What about my brother?!" asked Maria, with

terrible foreboding.

-112-

"He ... he was killed aged to

bring out.

in Poland," Kelemen finally man-

"The news ...

around noon.

Gracious princess!

right awaYi

and you too, my Lord.

did."

the news

just arrived

Please go and see your father He took it hard, his grace

A tear appeared in his eyes.

"I'm sorry, gracious prin-

cess, to give you the sad news, but I thought you better know about it before

"Kelemen was unable to continue and broke

into tears. Ian pul.led Maria closer.

"Get Doctor Molnar right away,"

she said firmly. He wanted to preserve their enchanted dream and guard it wi th fierce

jealousy against the strong and mighty wind.

wanted to thrust his very body in its wake to protect Maria. gently led her to the main entrance.

Ian He

Glancing sideways at her,

he noted a slight convulsion on her face.

Ian pulled her inside

and embraced her tightly. Maria finally let go and sobbed unabashed on his breast. "Papa!

He was almost a cripple,

amid her sobs.

even before this,"

"My darling Peter is an idiot...

is going to happen to us!

...

she said

Oh, Ian, what

This can't be true!

It's not

true!" I an whi spered soothing words. Slowly the convulsive shaking of her shoulders, sobs died down.

then her

She looked up to him, wiping the tears out of

her eyes, holding onto Ian with one arm: am glad I can love you!

"My love, my darling, I

I am glad you are here! "

-113-

"I love you, my dove, II said Ian urgently.

II Everything will

be all right. II Maria shook her entire body, as if to throw her grief away. with eyes clear she raised herself onto her toes and gave Ian a hot,

prolonged kiss.

IIWhatever happens, II she said,

to assure

herself more than Ian or both of them, II we have each other.

"Nothing can take our eternity away, II whispered Ian. The pair found Maria's father slumped in an armchair in his room upstairs,

staring vacantly at a piece of paper in his lap.

He didn't hear his daughter and Ian come into the room. looked like a broken man.

He had lost his heir and the hope for

the future of the Potockis in Magyarland. Maria kneeled down in front of him.

IIPapa!

Papa!

It's me,

Maria!

Your daughter,1I she said, getting hold of his only hand.

II Ian

here too. II

He disengaged his hand from Maria's grip.

Wordlessly he

pushed the piece of paper closer to his daughter. For Ian's benefit Maria translated the text of the terse note,

written in Polish:

II' The commander of the Home Army of

Poland regretfully informs you that your son Jozsef has been killed in action near Warsaw on March 19th. death. "'

He died a hero's

She held the note in front of Ian's eyes.

IIDarling

what is this?" "Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori," sweet and decorous to die for one's country. II

-114-

read Ian.

lilt's

It was路 fortunate that spring sowing and the many other seasonal chores of farming kept Maria very busy the next. few days .... ,For some time' her- father had been unable to. perform the day-to-day supervision of the farms.

Her mother was much more

interested in the village school and the aispensary and had no knack for ,business management.

During Jozsef's more frequent and

prolonged absences, it had fallen upon Maria by default to take over the running of the family estates.

She was not yet eighteen

when her brother had left for Poland on his first tour of duty. Maria took over her new responsibilities with remarkable maturity. Last fall as well as this spring she was careful to provide the peasants with hay and with seed for their own small holdings and plots.

Few la,ndowners had their crops sown and. harv~s_ted as well

and as early as Maria's.

To her, the peasants seemed not merely

farm laborers, but great teachers. She once told Ian:

"If my peasants,"--she was fond of

'" with not much referring to them as 'my' peasants--l'were destitute

more than a small flock of poultry and no livestock to speak of, they would be no good to themselves or to me. II Maria also had a sense of duty.

She felt the land under her

management was a stewardship and it was her duty to look after the peasants and the land to the best of her abilities. noticed that beyond these considerations,

Ian

Maria loved 'her'

peasants and _their way of life with her heart and soul.

She

instinctively knew and was able to adopt a way of running the es~ate

which produced the best results.

-115-

with Ian in tow, she threw herself with even greater vigor and love into the managing the family's two farms and a tiny vineyard on the slopes of the mountain near Tokay.

This was her

way of overcoming the deep sense of loss she felt and the even greater sense of loss she knew her father felt. unconsciously perhaps,

Not altogether

she tried to get Ian better acquainted

with the work she so much enjoyed doing. Up to the Easter holidays, Maria and Ian managed to find something to do at the Valley Farm every morning.

Around noon

they would canter off to their mountainous haystack near the Bodrog river.

Their lovemaking was,

sionate than before.

possibly,

even more pas-

Both were deeply conscious of the precious

nature of their love.

There was a perfect awareness, although

that awareness was never expressed in words, that the winds of change were beginning to blow and time was running out on their way of life. Maria's parents took to Ian.

They liked his unobtrusive,

strong support, his youthful exuberance and his obvious devotion to their daughter. with him.

At first they didn't quite know what to do

Soon they got accustomed to his presence and treated

him as a member of the family. Peter adopted the habit of joining Ian in the library, even in his room.

Ian had no previous experience dealing with the

mentally handicapped, but in a few days he got used to Peter's presence and the way his grotesque attitudes.

legs and arms tended to fall into

Beyond Peter's stares,

-116-

he discerned the

tremendous effort Maria's brother put into his attempts to convey emotions of love, sympathy and devotion . ... By Easter time the Poto<::kis were unwilling to let go of Ian.

Never. fond of the capital and now, with the Nazis in control, they were convinced it was a plague-:ridden city, to be avoided at all cost.

Becoming so used to his presence, they tried all kinds

of inducements to prolong his stay, despite his repeated assertions that he was determined to submit his thesis to the Piarist Fathers. "The Gestapo will set up. a trap for you! II warned Prince Laszlo. Ian found Maria's pleadings hardest to resist. .

.....

,uDarling, . don't go. back to Budapest! II she said sobbing,

sitting on the sofa of her upstairs room.

She had cried alot in

recent weeks, first for her brother's death, then for the very noticeable aging of her father, and now for her beloved leaving ~

her.

All this was too much to bear.

"Why do you leave me?" she

continued amid tears. Ian was at a loss.

liMy love, II he replied, "you are my life!

I'll be back! II "When shall I see you again?" Maria persisted, drying her tears. "Always! II declared Ian vehemently,

I'll carry you in my

heart! II "You haven't answered my question, Ian!" she said earnestly, moving up very close to him.

-117-

"I love you!

I'll be back for my birthday.

By then all my

studies will be behind me. " Maria was getting quite desperate. was haunting her. her.

Some terrible foreboding

She felt her happiness was slipping away from

She was certain about one thing:

she must persuade Ian to

stay at Oak Hill. "You'll be safe here, my darling. cherish you!"

she cried.

I wish to protect and

"I wish I could be everything for

you--everything you ever dreamed of!" "Please don't make it difficult," replied Ian weakening. "It's not only the school.

Imre I'm sure will need my help. "

"You could stay here," appeal.

countered Maria,

trying a final

"wi th Jozsef gone we could run the estate together.

I'll inherit everything now." Ian felt torn bit by bit. "My darling, I'll be back." Maria gave in, but not without extracting solemn promises from Ian that he would return after he had gotten his bachelor's degree. emotions:

Both of them were tortured by a legion of conflicting love and fear, a sense of duty and panic, desire and

the anguish of separation to come, devotion and sadness.

Their

bodies shook, and only a flood of tears and innumerable kisses could calm them down. The strong and mighty wind was merciless towards Maria and her beloved Ian.

-118-

CHAPTER TEN ASH HEAPS

Those who perish those who lie on

feasted on dainties in the streets; were brought up in purple ash heaps.

The Lamentation of Jeremiah ]

55.

Four

the monsters

Ian's

nightmare--Hate,

Brutality and Cunning--materialized on March 10, 1944.

Murder, The quar-

tet gathered for a workshop in Mauthausen near Linz, in the Austrian part of Hitler's Third Reich.

The purpose of the workshop

was to draw and sharpen the sword to destroy Magyarland's one million Jews. Twenty-five centuries earlier, the prophet Ezekiel wrote the script for the four monsters.

That great Hebrew prophet is one

of many authors who have described a main thread running through the more than thirty books of the Old Testament.

That theme is a

recurring cycle involving relations of the Israelites with their God.

This cycle consists of covenants, the breaking of covenants,

destruction,

repentance and redemption.

This immutable cycle is

described repeatedly in the Old Testament, but none could surpass the power of Ezekiel's language.

His most awesome passages warn

of impending doom: -119-

The word of the Lord carne to me: Son of man ... prophesy against the land of Isreal ... thus says the Lord: 'Behold, I am against you, and will draw my sword out of my sheath, and will cut off from you both righteous and wicked ... ' My sword shall go out of its sheath against all flesh from south to north. Sigh therefore, son of man; sigh with breaking heart and bitter grief before their eyes. And when they say to you, 'Why do you sigh?' you shall say, 'Because of the tidings.' When it corne, every heart will melt and all hands will be feeble. Every spiri t will faint and all knees will be weak as water ... And the word of the Lord carne to me: Son of man, prophesize and say, Thus says the Lord: A sword, a sword is sharpened and also polished sharpened for slaughter poli shed to flash like lightning! ... 'So the sword is ... sharpened and polished to be given into the hand of the slayer. Cry and wail, son of man, for it is against my people ... 'Prophesy therefore, son of man; clap your hands and let the sword corne down twice, yea thrice, the sword for those to be slain; it is the sword for the great slaughter, which encompasses ~hem, that their hearts may melt and may fall at all their gates. I have given the glittering sword. Ah! it is made like lightning, it is polished for slaughter I also will clap my hands and I will satisfy my fury; I the Lord have spoken. ' Therefore thus says the Lord God: because you have made your guilt to be remembered, in that your transgressions are uncovered, so that in all your doings your sins appear ... And you, 0 unhallowed wicked one, prince of Israel, whose day has come, the time of your final punishment, thus says the Lord God: 'Things shall not remain as they are ... A ruin, a ruin I will make it; there shall not even be a trace of it until he comes whose right it is; and to him I will give it . .. ' A sword, a sword is drawn for slaughter, it is polished to glitter and flash like lightning ... to be laid on the necks of the unhallowed wicked, whose day has corne, the time of their final punishment ...

-120-

I will pour my indignation upon you; I will blow upon you with the fire of my wrath; and I will deliver you into the hands of brutal men, skillful to destroy ... ] Twenty-five centuries later four brutal men, skillful to destroy, met. Dannecker.

Their names were Eichmann, Krumey, Wisliceny and

They were all members of Himmler' s special agency

called Rsha, which was tasked with destroying the Jews of Europe. The workshop was chaired by SS-Obersturmbannfuhrer Karl Adolf Eichmann. purpose:

"I have called you, my trusted comrades, for one

to discuss and plan the final punishment of the nearly

one million Jews sheltered by the Magyars," he said.

"Since I

became head of our Jewish Department in 1939, this has been our most important mission left to do." Eichmann was eminently gratified to wield this sword, the sword of mass extermination.

since the beginning of the war, he

had been the staff-officer behind a desk in Berlin who masterminded Nazi heaven:

a judenfrei--that is,

'Jew-free '--Europe.

Now he had finally been given an opportunity to test his skills in the field.

He was determined that this operation would be the

crowning glory of his career. SS-Hauptsturmfuhrer Dieter Wisliceny asked the first question, his face full of anticipation.

He had almost completed the

liquidation of Jews in Slovakia, a job he was given after making Greece judenfrei.

He was ready for a new assignment.

we going into action?"

-121-

"When are

"I am pleased to tell you that our great Fuhrer, our leader, decided to occupy Magyarland on March 19th, next Sunday which ... " and Lieutenant Colonel Eichmann stopped for a moment, allowing a rare smile to spread on his face:

"That will be my thirty-eighth

birthday!" "What are we going to get?" queried SS Obersturmbannfuhrer Hermann Alois Krumey, known as the Bloodhound of Vienna. "Plenty," replied the chairman. sions plus an SS division.

"We'll have the army divi-

On top of all, we'll have the usual

Gestapo back-up which will be headed by SS Obergruppenfuhrer Ernst Kaltenbrunner, our commanding general." "How much time do we need?" asked SS Hauptsturmfuhrer Theodor Dannecker, perhaps the blood-thirstiest member of the quartet. "We must act like lightning; the Magyar Jews' final punishment will be achieved in record time," replied Eichmann. that's enough questions.

"But

Let's get on with the plan."

The officers were sitting around a table in comfortable armchairs plotting murder on a grand scale. "Let me go through with the steps to be taken l.n sequence. First, and we'll do that immediately, we'll arrest the top two hundred Jews, the most dangerous only, their Magyar friends, the leadership of the unreliable element," said Eichmann, waving his arms sideways. "That will show strength and put fear into the Jews.

The

very next step is to appoint a Jewish council composed of the

-122-

most respected Jews, preferably older men, none of them dangerous, but all highly regarded by the Budapest Jews. " "They'll carry out our orders, just as in Slovakia and Greece, " said Wisliceny wi th glee. "I was asked to set up a Sonderkommando, an elite commando unit consisting of less than two hundred men.

We have to show

the fist, then the hand with the glove," continued Eichmann. have

be cunning with those crafty Jews,

out Herod-Herod.

That's where the Jewish Council will come in. the Jews by arresting the wealthy leaders, older men on the council. lies,

exempt

them

from

First, we frighten then we pacify the

We show them favors, our

reminds me," added Eichmann.

administrative

"We

spare their fami-

regulations.

"The regulations.

That

They'll have to

wear the yellow star and observe all the standard restrictions you are familiar wi tho " He pointed towards Krumey, who was shifting his heavy body from one haunch to another:

"Hermann!

Your job will be to visit

the Jewish headquarters a few days after our arrival. them they have nothing to fear. the flashing of our sword, like

butter!"

Eichmann,

You tell

Promise them protection.

After

those soothing words will melt them warming up to his task,

jumped up:

"We'll have yellow stars, freezing of Jewish bank accounts, closing of all Jewish shops--there are eighteen thousand in Budapest alone--then the ghettos, and then the final solution!" "A magnificent plan!" exclaimed Wisliceny. are called the 'Master' in Berlin!"

-123-

"No wonder you

"Now listen, my comrades," continued Eichmann sitting down. "We have to do the job in stages.

We have a monumental task.

There are more Jews in tiny Magyar1and than we had in our Reich of sixty million when our Fuhrer came to power in 1933.

We have

a hundred and fifty hand-picked men to dissolve a mass of a million.

So I decided," said Eichmann, getting up again and point-

ing to a map,

"to divide the solution into three parts:

first,

we gather together the Jews in the Ruthenia and Transylvania; secondly, Budapest! "

in the

Lowlands

and Transdanubia;

Pointing towards Dunnecker,

and finally,

he said,

"That's where

your extensive experience in France will come in useful, when we tackle the provinces in the first two phases. " The SS Captain smiled in anticipation. Jews out of the villages," he said,

"We'll get all the

"into the city ghettos.

That'll make my job a lot easier. " "Already decided," replied Eichmann. cunning.

"Again, we have to use

We can't afford any problems like Warsaw.

We'll tell

them that their brothers in the city live under much better conditions, and by moving them into the cities--we don't mention the word' ghetto' --we'll improve their environment." A chorus of laughter greeted Eichmann, at his humorous best. "To ensure speed and efficiency," he continued,

"we'll cut

all communications between Budapest and the provincial cities. But first, Hermann, you instruct the Jewish Council in the capital to appoint Jewish Councils in all major cities which will operate strictly under the jurisdiction of the Supreme Jewish

-124-

council and the Budapest council will believe the fiction of provincial councils even after we have liquidated all the provincial Jews!" "I have a great idea!" said Wisliceny, warml.ng up to the others' enthusiasm.

111'11 get Rabbi Weissmandel of Bratislava in

Slovakia to gl.ve me a letter of recommendation to the rabbis of Budapest! " "Bravo!

Bravo!" shouted everybody.

"That should fool the Budapest council and keep them quiet while we pack the Jews in the provinces into trains!" Eichmann. table,

liMy comrades!" he added,

said

banging his fist on the

liMy time table runs from April 16th to July 8th for the

provincial Jews!" "But, but,1I sputtered Krumey, "That's nearly half a million Jews in six ... seven weeks. " "That's impossible,1I added Dannecker, taking off his glasses and putting them on again. "I have figured out the number of trains we need, one hundred forty-seven, voice rising.

and I can get them!

replied Eichmann, his

"I can load twelve thousand Jews a day!

I have

already told our comrades in Auschwitz to start stoking the furnaces." "Bravo!" shouted the other three in unison. added, "Soon we'll eat fine Magyar salami!

"And then we tackle the Jews of Budapest Eichmann.

-125-

One voice

"continued

For three days, starting with the tenth of March, on Friday, Saturday and Sunday: and plotted.

Hate, Murder, Brutality and Cunning planned

Word by word,

letter by letter, their plan was to

be executed with terrifying efficiency.

There was to be no resis-

tance against their death machine. As prophesied by Ezekiel,

the sword was indeed drawn for

slaughter of the children of Israel:

[ And I will direct my indignation against you, that they may deal with you in fury. They shall cut off your nose and your ears and your survivors shall fall by the sword. They shall seize your sons and your daughters and your survivors shall be devoured by fire. ]

56.

The same four officers were gathered together in Budapest, 1n the spacious office of their leader at 8:20 in the morning of March 31, 1944.

The four looked rather formidable in their full-

dress uniform, the SS tabs on their collars flashing like lightn1ng,

Eichmann and Krumey resplendent with the

lieutenant-colonels,

Wisliceny

and

Dannacker

insignias

with

those

of of

captains. "I like this place,"

said Eichmann,

stepping out on the

balcony of his suite in one of the top resort hotels of Budapest. The Majestic Hotel was on the German Hill of Buda, the highest of the hills ranging the western half of the Magyar capital.

-126-

"Here we are surrounded by nature," Colonel Krumey,

remarked Lieutenant-

surveying the forest around the headquarters of

the Sonderkommando. "And one can sing some songs," added Captain Wisliceny. "The Jews will sing too!" captain Dannecker chimed in with a sly

gr~n.

When the others'

laughter gave him a clue, he broke

into a guffaw himself. "Congratulations, my dear Hermann," said Eichmann beaming, "at your success with the Jewish Council." "As you know, days,"

I've met with them twice in the last ten

replied Krumey with evident satisfaction.

"I tried to

quiet their panic." "The gloved hand after the mailed fist.

It works every time

wi th those miserable Jews," remarked his chief. "I told them alles geht wei ter, instructed me, Krumey.

wie vorher,

continue with their

just as you

activi ties,"

proceeded

"They even swallowed my argument that their very life

depends on their proper organization,

and above all for them to

remain calm. " "We certainly can't afford the unrest we have in Warsaw," exclaimed Eichmann. "Those stupid Jews even obeyed the Jewish council's appeal," observed Wisliceny, "to re-deposi t

their cash and valuables in

their bank accounts and safe deposit boxes! " "Like the obedient boys they are," Krumey added, with a grim laugh.

"The appeal in the Jewish paper talked about 'strict and

conscious observance' of our orders! -127-

Isn't that marvellous! "

Eichmann slapped him on the back and smiled at his three fellow officers:

"Our plan is working like clock work!

Heil

Hitler!" "Heil Hitler!" said the others with all four raising arms in the Nazi salute. A knock sounded on the door. "Come in! " barked Eichmann. His secretary poked her nose in. it is 8:30,"

she reported.

"The

"Herr Obersturmbannfuhrer,

executive committee

the

Jewish Council is here." In the last five years Eichmann had avoided person-to-person confrontations with Jews. ground pulling the strings.

He preferred to remain in the backBudapest was to be his first oppor-

tunity to deal personally with the leaders of the Jewish community, by far the largest remaining in Europe. He dropped his habitual calculating expression and assumed a smile as he greeted the Magyar Jewish leaders and their interpreter, Janos Gabor, an attorney.

Their trepidation was evident.

They were well aware of Eichmann's fearsome reputation;

and if

they didn't choose to remember particulars, everybody in occupied Europe was only too familiar with terror,

the specialty of the

SS. Gabor introduced Eichmann to Sam Stern,

Chairman of the

Jewish Council, aged seventy, a wealthy business man who carried the title of "Counsellor to the Magyar Royal Court," and the two vice-chairmen, Boda and Peto, both lawyers and in their early sixties. -128-

"Please be seated," said Eichmann poli tely. Stern, encouraged by the facial expressions of the SS officers, asked about the new regulations, particularly those relating to wearing the distinctive yellow star. "The yellow stars must be issued by you," Eichmann replied sternly. "You asked us to do it by the fifth. away, " declared Stern.

That's only five days

"That's qui te impossible. "

"You'll have to issue temporary ones.

But from the fifth

everybody will have to wear a star," insisted Eichmann.

"Later,

the temporary stars will be replaced by the ones officially issued by you.

Please understand that everybody who is required to

wear a yellow star falls under your jurisdiction regardless of religion, Jews or Jews who converted to be Catholics and Protestants.

My advice to you is," he emphasized the word "advice"

making it clear that he expected his advice to be obeyed, "get in touch with a factory because you'll need three million stars.

is important that the stars be uniform throughout the country and that they be factory made.

I'll be glad to help you.

to contact

the Ministry of

materials.

Get in touch with Under-Secretary Endre who handles

all such matters.

Supplies

issue

According to our calculation,

about twenty thousand meters of fabric.

necessary

you will need

It would be my advice,"

and he again put emphasis on the word "advice," three pengos--three Magyar dollars--per star. "

-129-

the

You have

"that you charge

"How can a poor Jewish family," wailed stern, "afford to pay that much?"

They often have a lot of children!"

"Let the rich pay for them,

replied Eichmann smoothly.

"You can profit by the sale of the stars.

It will bring in some

income for you which you will need anyway." "What about our new travel restrictions?" asked the chairman of the Jewish council. Eichmann replied, "For the time being, I have made no decision about long distance travel; but as you know, I have received and approved a number of individual requests." "What about commuters?" asked one of the deputy-chairmen. "How many would be involved?" asked the SS leader. "Several thousand," replied stern. "Qui te a few thousand," added Peto. "I'll consider the question," answered Eichmann, "I'll give you an answer in a memo. " "The housing evictions?" asked Stern,

"They are of great

concern." "I f

someone

1.S

evicted from his apartment," replied the

SS-Obersturmbannfuhrer,

"and does not have enough time to find

another, he can go to his family or friends.

But do remember,"

he added sternly, "you have to report the change of address for our approval.

Also remember,

if anyone wishes to change his

address, he'll need your approval first," putting the emphasis on the last word.

-130-

"What shall we do about requisi tions?" asked Stern. "Fill only requisitions which are submitted in writing and approved by me personally," explained Eichmann.

"In each in-

stance we'll prepare an order in German, which will also serve as a receipt for you. " The Jewish leaders were very much concerned about their brethren who had been interned on the first days of the occupation in a camp close to BUdapest. "I'll consider the matter," replied Eichmann, "but I can't give you a date.

Things will be expedited if they behave."

"What about our employees?"

asked one

of the

Council's

vice-chairmen. "Submit a memo, and I'll make sure they are released; but," he added, rai sing hi s voice, "I wi 11 not tolerate any deception! " "What are your instructions about deliveries," asked Boda. "We mean, Herr Eichmann ... " "Obersturrnbannfuhrer Eichmann!"

Lieutenant Colonel Krumey

corrected him severely. "Obersturrnbannfuhrer

" repeated Gabor, who spoke excel-

lent German. "We wish to appear before the government," said Stern. "I acknowledge your request," replied the leader of the 55 quartet.

"My major concern is the speedy expansion of industrial

production and particularly war production. principle.

That is my guiding

I will issue orders to set up labor units.

If you

Jews show the correct attitude, I promise no harm will happen to

-131-

you.

Jews will be treated like all other workers."

He added

wi th a smile, "Perhaps they could go home at night." "will those in the labor camps stay in Magyarland?" Vicechairman Peto asked. "I can' t give you a defini tive answer," replied Eichmann. "Men up to the age of forty-two are in labor camps," cried Boda.

"Forty-two!" "You are lucky!" replied Obersturmbannfuhrer Krumey.

"In

Germany we have men in the forty-five to fifty-six age groups 1n camps too!

For the moment we request only three to four hundred

people." "We like volunteers," added Eichmann. have to use force!

"Otherwise, we'll

But that won't be necessary at all!

These

men will be paid well and will be treated right, just like the other workers." "But we need authorization to get those men," objected Stern. "You better get rid of your liberal habits!" said Eichmann, raising his voice.

'You do not request!

You order!"

57.

So far the meeting had been highly successful as far as the Germans were concerned. tion raised.

Eichmann had an answer for every ques-

He appeared to be reasonable on marginal issues,

but in reality he had not yielded on any important matter. the contrary, he seemed to have gained the upper hand. -132-

He pressed his advantage by raising the question of money. "I want to put you in charge of the finances of the Jews of Magyarland.

All finances will come under your jurisdiction," he

said smoothly.

"The converts are the richest,

collect much of what you need from them.

and you should

This measure will be

authorized ln a decree which will be published soon.

Your Coun-

cil should be reorganized so it can include every function referred to in the decree. II Eichmann knew it was time to spread the butter on:

IIYou

should have a section that is familiar with the education of the Jews in Magyarland.

You should know where the schools are, how

many students you have and in what buildings.

I suggest you have

a statistical and technical department ready for action when needed. II

Now he smiled.

"I am very interested in Jewish his-

torical artifacts and in Hebrew literature. wi th Jewish affairs since 1934,

I have been busy

and I assure you I can speak

better Hebrew than any of you. II No one felt like challenging him. Stern observed:

IIWe have a Jewish museum where we keep our

antiques, and we have libraries containing our ancient scripts." IIExcellent! II beamed the SS-Obersturmbannfuhrer.

II ltd like

to visit them the day after tomorrow, on Wednesday." IIWe would appreciate your interest, II said Peto. IIWould you please provide a guide for me, II suggested Eichmann, IIsomeone who is an expert in the field. "Of course," replied Stern.

-133-

"I have received a petition from the Orthodox Jews to get my permission to publish an Orthodox Jewish newspaper. their request.

Let's have only one paper:

I denied

!! Magyar Zsidok Lapja,"

continued Eichmann, having difficulty pronouncing the Magyar name of the "Herald of the Magyar Jews. II competition to your paper. page or two in yours."

"We don't need to add any

Perhaps you could let them have a

Warming up to the subject, Eichmann added,

"To help you, I'll issue an order to have your Herald sent to every Jewish family in the country.

This would add to the income

of your community . " Chairman stern, encouraged by this unexpectedly reasonable, even helpful, attitude, raised a delicate question.

"If you need

something, it would be very difficult for us to pick a specific source of supply.

That would be really painful for us to do.

Very painful." "We would list everything we took," replied Eichmann, trying to be as persuasive as possible. est detail.

"Everything down to the small-

We will return the goods.

we'll pay compensation.

If that is impractical,

I have only one wish:

you take care and

handle the administrative details of what we need." The Jewish leaders nodded in agreement. "Administration is very important. tion.

We need proper organiza-

Please prepare a map showing every city in which there are

Jewish institutions.

Show the location of those institutions.

Have an appendix giving the name and nature of each institution. The organization of every single congregation will remain intact,

-134-

but all institutions belonging to these congregations must come under your jurisdiction." Eichmann spoke so rapidly that Boda, who kept shorthand notes of the meeting, had a hard time keeping up with him. "But may I suggest some changes," he continued relentlessly. "For example, if you had someone who had set up a trust fund to have prayers said in the Talmud Torah for the salvation of his soul, I ask you, is there any sense in letting such a trust fund continue? poses.

These funds could be used much better for other pur-

All Jewish foundations should come under your exclusive

jurisdiction." It was time to spread the butter on with a trowel. "May I emphasize, Herr stern, that all these things," Eichmann put contempt into "things," "they will last only as long as the war lasts. want.

After the war, you will be free to do whatever you

Everything taking place on the Jewish question is a regret-

table wartime condition. good-natured.

with the end of the war we would become

You know that's what we are.

But during the war

we have to put our good nature and the finer things in life aside. When the'war is over, we Germans will become good-natured again and allow everything as in the past." The Jewish leaders began to believe they were among friends. These officers were not as bad as the rumors would have it.

They

are representatives of a great nation, and they seemed to be reasonable, even friendly.

-135-

Sensing their receptive mood, most brilliant performance.

Eichmann launched into his

He wanted these Jews to believe that

he was their protector, their friend.

"Believe me, meine Herren,"

he continued with increasing confidence, which in turn translated to an increasing ring of sincerity, "I am no friend of violence. I do not like force. smoothly without force.

I sincerely hope everything will proceed Please try to understand our position.

Manpower is written with capital letters in our dictionary.

Germans need every single man and we could not possibly spare many soldiers for guard duty. " Eichmann skillfully mixed this morsel of truth into the mass of his appeal for cooperation:

"According to my experience,

least so far"--he made a significant pause here--"force, executions and all that nastiness occurred only when the Jews offered resistance.

You must understand, should it happen that your Jews

joined the partisans in the Carpathian Rockies or Tito's Communist bands as a few Greek Jews did,

then you give me no choice.

have to mow them down without mercy. have to tell you war is war. choices.

There is a war on.

I don't

In wartime one is not given many

You would force my hand,

and I hope that would never

happen! " The Obersturmbannfuhrer sounded so sincere that he began to believe his own words.

The Jewish leaders certainly did.

They

had a need to believe, and Eichmann gave them what they needed to hear.

-136-

"Do understand,

meine Herren,"

he proceeded,

nothing more than order and discipline from you. you do your work where manpower is most needed, all harm. harm.

"We

expect

That's all!

you will avoid

Not only will you avoid harm, I will protect you from

Your Jewish workers would have the benefit of the same

treatment and remuneration as other workers. " Rising on his feet, the 55 lieutenant colonel continued, "I wish most emphatically that you disseminate my idea among all classes of Jews!

To help you propagate this idea among all Jews

without exception, I will publish a decree that will order all Jewish households to subscribe to your Tribune." sion crossed Eichmann's face.

A sly expres-

"I recommend that you establish a

price that will allow you, the Jewish Council, to make a profit on these subscriptions. " Pouring on some more honey, tone.

he assumed an understanding

"I do recognize it would be quite natural if a few people

in your community would be foolish enough to perpetrate some actions which you, the Jewish Council, could not be held accontable.

After all, you are so many!

Do understand:

we are reason-

able officials and this consideration will be taken fully into account.

I wish to emphasize over and over again that I want to

protect the Jews of Magyarland.

If you ever hear of wrongdoing--

even if it is committed by German soldiers--report it to me immediately.

I promise I will deal harshly with the offenders!

save the severest punishment for those who try to take advantage

-137-

of Jews and attempt to enrich themselves from the wealth of the Jewi sh community. " "I request your help, and I'll give you all the help in my power on behalf of the Reich.

Your job is quite simple.

There

should be total unity in the Jewish community of Magyarland.

you think you need to raise the religious tax which Christians also pay to their own churches, by all means do so. my support.

Everyone must obey your orders.

You'll have

I will see to that!"

The SS officer was coming to the end of his brilliant performance.

"Do understand, meine Herren, I am your friend.

friends everything should be above board. afford to speak frankly. with total honesty.

Among

Among friends we can

I appeal to you to tell me everything

I invite you to be open with me.

An honest

approach from you deserves an honest answer from me. " He became almost emotional, but checked himself in time. "As you know, I have vast experience dealing with Jewish affairs. Do no believe that anyone can fool me.

If anyone tries to pull

the wool over my eyes, he will have to face me personally!" The Jewish leaders couldn't suppress their relief.

It all

sounded so wonderful, so reassuring. Something unexpected happened. Gabor, who faithfully interpreted every word Eichmann uttered, stood up. "Herr Obersturmbannfuhrer Eichmann," choking with emotion.

said,

his voice

"In all honesty may I tell you that I am

upset with the order that every Jew has to wear a yellow star,

-138-

back and front, prominently displayed on his clothing.

My father

served in the First World War as a major in the Judge Advocate Corps and my grandfather served in our glorious War of Independence in 1848."

Gabor was so full of emotion that he was barely

able to finish what he wanted to say:

"The sight of the yellow

star would invite the rabble to attack and taunt us on the sidewalks ... " "I would never tolerate any attack, any mocking of your Jews for

wearing the

yellow

star,"

replied Eichmann indignantly.

"They are merely obeying your orders!

If you would let me know

about such incidents, believe me, I know how to deal wi th them! " The meeting broke up at 9:45. hour and fifteen minutes.

It had lasted exactly one

The SS conjurer had produced the bait,

and the executive committee had taken it. One member didn't want to wait until he got home. his wife from the phone in the Majestic Hotel's lobby.

He called "Every-

thing is all right," he said, "All they want from us is that we cooperate." Eichmann performed the ultimate magic trick.

He had con-

vinced the Jewish Council that he was their friend and protector.

58.

Eichmann was ready to perform an even greater feat very soon.

Between May 15th and July 8th he deported over four hun-

-139-

dred thirty thousand Jews.

Almost all of them ended up at

Auschwitz, the world's most efficient factory of death.

They

arrived there in one hundred forty seven trains, each trainload carrying upward of thirty-five hundred Jews. This was the SS lieutenant-colonel's crowning achievement. In the same period the Allies launched their successful invasion of Europe from the west, the Red armies battered at the gates of the Carpathian Rockies,

and the Anglo-Polish-American forces

occupied Rome. He knew time was running against him. Eichmann lived by the maxim written some four hundred fifty years earlier by the German writer Sebastian Brandt:

Die Welt

die will betrogen sein--the world wants to be betrayed. The Jews of Magyarland must have felt the truth of that maxim as they stood in the showers of Auschwitz, hydrogen and cyanide raining down on them. In April the Jewish Council sent out a letter to all the major Jewish communi ties, which read in part:

"Your attention is

drawn to the fact that the Central Council of Magyar Jews of Budapest executes the orders given by the higher authorities. Under pain of drastic consequences, members of the Council are personally liable for the instant and complete implementation of these orders. " It went on to say that failure to carry out the instructions of the Central Council "could have fatal consequences for all the Jews of Magyarland ... "

-140-

Not content with sending out this intimidating letter, on April 6th the Jewish newspaper approved by Eichmann carried an urgent appeal.

Explaining first that the Central Council of

Magyar Jews is the body which is responsible for sending "all instructions relating to Jews of the entire country"

and that

"each and every member of the Central Council is responsible with his very life for the faithful implementation of these orders ... Anyone called to a specific place by request of the Central Council must do so.

The Central Council not only carries the respon-

sibilities for every single Jew,

but it also has the power to

exercise control over their spiritual and worldly possessions, as well as over their performance of labor. of the Central Council:

you women,

All of you are agents

girls, men and boys alike.

Do realize that the weightiest decisions of the Central Council are based on orders by the authorities and that the very life of every person as well as of all the community depends on their punctual execution. "

[ The world wants to be betrayed.

]

On April 13th, the chairman of the Council issued another appeal entitled:

"Work and Do Not Despair!" which exhorted all

Jews to obey orders "without any complaint or grumbling. "

[ The world wants to be betrayed.

-141-

]

Another appeal, called "The World of Law" by Boda, the vicechairman of the Jewish Council who kept the minutes of Eichmann's magic trick of March 31st.

The lawyer reminded the Jews that

they were not only of the book but also of the law, and therefore they "must obey even the most severe instructions without hesitation and reflection."

He went on to urge the Jews "to trust

their leaders and accept their orders with resignation, with the understanding that their leaders are guided by brotherly love even in their strictest orders."

He ended urging all Jews to

subscribe to the Jewi sh Herald.

[ The world wants to be betrayed.

]

While the Jewish Council was deluding its flock,

Eichmann

wasted no time getting rid of the Jews and making Magyarland another country in the Judenfrei Nazi paradise.

Eichmann passed

the word to SS Major General Richard Glucks who was head of what was euphemistically called Amtsgruppe D of the Wirtschaft und Verwaltungshauptamt, Administrative

that is, department D of the Economic and

Staff Headquarters.

The

Gruppenfuhrer was

inspector general of the SS 'Death Head' units, the extermination squads and the chiefs of the concentration camps. Auschwitz's sword was sharpened and polished for slaughter: the furnaces were relined,

the buildings put into shape,

chimneys equipped with steelbands and large pits dug nearby.

the For

convenience a new railway line was extended up to two hundred

-142-

meters

of the

crematorium and the

strength of Jewish labor

Kommandos almost quadrupled. The trip from Magyarland to the gas chambers usually took three or four days in slow moving freight trains. about forty-five freight cars.

Each train had

Each freight car was sealed and

carried seventy to ninety Jews, standing room only. not even straw.

A few loaves of bread.

Each car had two buckets:

one full of water, one for human waste.

A layer of ten centi-

meters of unslacked lime covered the floor. ing,

Because of overcrowd-

people had to relieve themselves standing up.

waste triggered a chemical reaction:

No blankets,

The human

lime gases formed.

Many

suffocated. Upon arrival in Auschwitz the human cargo almost fell out of the cars from exhaustion and many fell out because they were dead.

Every survivor had one thing in mind:

water!

They were

barely able to pay attention to where they were or what time of the day it was.

It was all scientifically calculated to produce

lethargy and apathy. Did any remember the forty-fourth psalm:

[ Thou has made us like sheep for slaughter ...

Others from Isaiah?

Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, and like a sheep that before it is sheared is dumb, so he opened with his mouth. ]

-143-

The Jews had no chance to open their mouths and no water was provided.

They were promised disinfecting showers, but the shower-

heads contained amethyst blue crystals of Zyklon.

The assembly

line was the triumph of science and technology. First stop:

stripping.

Second stop:

the showers.

Third stop:

processing of bodies to salvage the gold and

silver out of the teeth and the valuables hidden in orifices and the hair off women's heads. Fourth stop:

cremation.

The entire area was covered in smoke which occasionally completely blocked out the sun, ] an eye witness reported. [ A revolting stench of burning human bones and flesh pervaded Auschwitz. ] The death factory worked twenty-four hours a day. extra refinement,

As an

trenches were dug around the piles of corpses

inside the pits, which served as channels for the fat dripping from the roasting bodies. burn faster.

The fat was used to make the bodies

The assembly line processed nearly four hundred

thousand Magyar Jews during the blazing summer heat of 1944. They were indeed "devoured by fire. "

59.

Your prophets have seen for you false and deceptive visions; they have seen for you oracles false and misleading. ] -144-

Such passages from Lamentations were recalled in many a home in Nazi-occupied Budapest.

How lonely sits the city that was full of people How like a widow has she become, she that was great among the nations! She that was a princess among the cities has become a vassal. She weeps bitterly in the night, tears on her cheeks ... Her pursuers have overtaken her in the midst of her distress. ] As spring turned into summer, these lamentations continued: Her people fell into the hand of the foe, and there was no one to help her. The foe gloated over her, mocking at her downfall. Jerusalem sinned grievously, therefore she became filthy ... Her uncleanness was in her skirts; She took no thought of her doom; therefore her fall is terrible, she has no comforter. o Lord, behold affliction, for the enemy has triumphed. Many remembered Jeremiah's prophecy: From on high he sent fire; into my bones he made it descend.

The meeting in the crowded ghetto was full of lamentations. One leader stood up.

"Since the last session of the coun-

cil," he said, "our ranks have thinned.

During the intervening

period many of our dear ones have been snatched away and sent to

-145-

die, together with the Jewish masses in the provinces. not wish to speak lamentations now. the books.

But I do

The time has come to balance

We have to probe into our .consciences now, not some-

time in the future." Several people stood up in the back to get a better view of the speaker as he proceeded:

liThe truth in all its nakedness has

been revealed to us now that our brethren in the provinces have been deported.

Despite all these revelations there are still

some of us who see the truth but dimly. II Raising his hand, he exclaimed:

"The truth is:

we can no

longer believe that our brethren who were deported are still alive.

It is impossible to believe that they were sent in trains

to some other place.

They were dragged away to Ponar--death.

Even that is not the total truth. than that.

The total truth is mightier

The extermination of our friends in the country is

nothing more than the overture to the extermination of the hundreds of thousands in Budapest.

Their death spells our death,

their annihilation our annihilation!" His voice now rang with emotion. clearly:

"It has come to me very

Ponar is not a transient illusion.

The yellow stars we

have to wear is not a fit of fancy born in the brains of the local authority.

It is part of a systematic organization.

are confronted with a system to which we are still trying to find a key.

Is there an escape from it?

No.

If this organization is

as systematic as I believe it, escaping from one place to another 1S

pure illusion.

Like all illusions it is a foolish one, for

-146-

who will escape from the ghetto? the alert ones.

But the weak,

Perhaps the able, the healthy,

the aged and the kids are doomed

to a ghetto doomed to destruction.

When the destruction reaches

those parts of the city where the able and the young have found refuge,

they will be broken in spirit, unprepared, without roots

and direction." He paused before he went on.

"There is no escape in escape.

We have to be realistic and face the truth, the cruel truth, the total truth.

There is no escape.

We can only hope that possibly

tens of thousands of Jews will be rescued, but for us, the hundreds of thousands in Budapest, there is no chance." A murmur arose from the assembly. The leader shouted, "Is there a solution? Oh, yes, there is a way out!

Revolt! II

A young doctor jumped up. our families,

Is there an answer?

IICan't you see, but you must:

our parents, our brothers and sisters are jammed

into freight cars seventy at a time and taken to some unknown places to be exterminated! II he roared. human waste!

IIThey are treated like

Can we tolerate this any further?

tent with humble requests?

Should we not disclose these horrors

to our gentile brothers and sisters? world know that they are murdering us! We have to defend ourselves!

Can we be con-

We have to let the whole We have to fight back!

We should stop any further cowardice! II

There was a pregnant silence when he sat down. Another man with flashing eyes stood up. midst of a terrible catastrophy.

"We are in the

Can we even hope to survive,

-147-

even with our spirits broken?

Even that hope may be forlorn,

hopeless hope because we are faced with complete extermination! We are in the eye of the whirlwind! save as many of us as possible.

Rescue is possible.

would be only a token demonstration. abandoned.

We must bend every effort to Any revolt

What is more, we are alone,

By ourselves we are not strong, we are defenseless.

Our foes are triumphant.

They are powerful!

our struggle is hopeless.

Let's be realistic,

I feel certain we are all doomed to

die!" Then a young man spoke. minated?

" l s i t true that we'll be all exter-

A few of us will survive.

I ask you honestly:

will the survivors say when our children will ask, do?

what

'What did you

What have you all done when thousands upon thousands, mil-

lions upon millions of our brothers and sisters were exterminated?' Will we be able to say shame-facedly to our children, saved ourselves,' or say,

'We only

'We went into hiding and refused to be

dragged to our murder like everybody else! " He continued amid encouraging murmurs from hi s friends. overwhelming disaster is engulfing our people!

The Jews of Europe,

or what's left of them are facing annihilation! stark reality,

the truth.

We have an historic responsibility.

Let us have more than tragedy. in self-defense.

That is the

Yet can we realistically hope that

there will be a few survivors?

gles,

"An

Let us engage in heroic strug-

Let us face death calmly if we have to,

but let it be death wi th honor! "

-148-

Now a more experienced leader spoke. heard mentioned one important problem.

II So far I have not

I refer to the collective

responsibility which is on our shoulders as we are shut up in the ghetto.

In our hopeless situation, how can we dream of fighting?

How can we possibly plan to brandish our swords, when we are perfectly aware that an open insurrection would invite instant liquidation of the ghetto, our certain extermination!

Are we not

endangering everybody in our ghetto with belligerence? Our readiness is not in question.

We are willing and able.

But what

right do we have to assume responsibility for all of us in the ghetto?

Would we not endanger the lives of everybody?

Should we

be unsuccessful, would we be in fact accomplices in their extermination?

None of the Jews in the ghetto would help us because

they would have no idea what we would be up to.

They might even

curse us and become our foes because in their imagination we would be the cause of the disaster which would engulf them.

you understand what I'm trying to say?1I He ended his short speech by saying:

IIWe have absolutely no

moral right to take any drastic steps without thorough discussion.

Please do remember the collective responsibility for the

entire ghetto for the deeds of a few hangs over our heads like a flashing sword! II Another person wanted to have his say. equation present here. faced with liquidation?

"There is an unknown

How do we know for sure that we are all I may be quite convinced that we are,

but can I convince others?

Only the last survivor will have the

-149-

indisputable, around us.

the irrefutable proof.

Observe what's going on

Strip yourselves of all illusions and fantasies.

are going downhill towards complete extermination. be here soon when we will all realize that fact.

The time will But let's make

an attempt towards the goal to make this tragic realization not come too much delayed,

at a point in time when we are already

beaten down and exhausted. " Slowly he went on measuring his voice carefully. make a choice!

"We must

Despite our doubts, we have to make a decision!

We Jews have no refuge.

As a community we have little hope.

Individuals will do what they can to save their necks. the way things are.

That is

But if we as a community decide that is the

answer to our pedicament, then each and everyone of us will be bound by that decision.

In the final accounting we shall realize

we made the wrong decision.

Why?

Because there was no escape.

All the time our capacity to resist and fight back will gradually deteriorate to a point where it will reach zero. " He surveyed his audience.

"Please remember that the oppor-

tunity to rescue even individuals or a handful of people is almost non-existent. down Jews.

Out there, there is an organized effort to hunt

We all know how conditions are.

will demand the lowest means.

To rescue a person

Do we want to pretend we are Jew-

haters when our fellow Jews are being shipped off to extermination?

Do we want to be vicious?

hell with everybody else?

Everyone for himself and to

Do we want to debase ourselves with

treachery? To serve our foes to save ourselves? Don't we want

-150-

to preserve our dignity in the face of our murderers? here mentioned collective responsibility.

Someone

Can we in fact take

responsibility for our fellow human being when the result will be the sacrifice of hundreds, maybe thousands!

For me, at least,

this collective responsibility will be the greatest decision of my life." He stopped to give his concluding words greater impact. the final accounting what does it really mean?

"In

A revolt may

bring the end closer, but the end will come whether we want it or not.

What I demand to know is, who will take the enormous re-

sponsibility to let us all go to our deaths like sheep to slaughter? Emotions threatened to run wild. The chairman of the Jewish Council decided it was time to take a stand.

"Everything possible is being done by us.

The

Jewish Council has appealed to every single authority and church official from whom assistance can be hoped for on the matter of the deportations." tremor.

His voice was cool, with the least trace of

"Unfortunately, the Germans are in power and the Magyar

authorities cannot or will not resist.

A Jewish revolt would be

a futile gesture that would be suppressed within an instant.

would aggravate the situation of all the others ln unimaginable ways.

The duties of the Council will continue to be carried on

my shoulders."

-151-

60.

Ian was startled by the ring of the phone. On Easter Monday after he had returned from Maria and had his meeting with Imre at Ildiko's apartment he had not been at all sure it was safe to go near his home.

He had deposited his

luggage at the Mission of the Maltese Knights on the citadel. From there it had been a short walk to his house.

The sun had

dipped below the horizon as he had reached a street corner near the rear entrance.

He had stood there for a while to see if the

house were under Gestapo surveillance or not.

He had felt very

conspicuous standing there, although barely visible as it rapidly became dark.

He had waited as long as he dared on the corner of

Gentlemen's street, one of the two major thoroughfares running north to south almost the entire length of the Citadel.

At the

northern end was the compound of the German embassy, near the other the Ministry of Defense. and even fewer pedestrians.

Only a few cars had zipped by him

No one had looked at him.

Having decided his house was not being watched,

Ian had

darted across the street, ducking around the arc of the streetlight.

He had eagerly pressed the ivory bellbutton of the town-

house and had been rewarded by the smiling face of Vince. Today was a solitary birthday for Ian. without his family.

He was seventeen and

He hadn't heard from Imre since Easter Mon-

day; he was without news from his mother and the twins.

He had

tried to call Maria, but the line seemed to be disconnected; he

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just couldn't get through.

Sadness, loneliness and a foreboding

of something terrible about to happen to Maria, something absolutely undefined yet certain, gripped hi s insides. Even so, he had accomplished one of the major objectives which he had set out to do when he returned to Budapest:

the

private ceremony in Father Tabori's office during which he was "annointed" with his bachelor's degree. He had also noticed signs of tremendous resilience in the big city.

The frozen uniformity of the occupation blanketed much

of Budapest, but here and there a crocus stuck its head through the snow.

The opera, the theatres and cinemas were open.

transportation had returned to normal. scarce but adequate.

Public

Grocery supplies were

He hadn't seen Gestapo cars with their POL

license plates racing along the streets any more. Some of Ian's friends had even found the courage to arrange a few get-togethers.

The Gestapo had apparently given up trying

to trap any of the Chabaffys in the Buda townhouse.

Still, Ian

had avoided using the front gate, but he had become increasingly bold in the use of the rear entrance, and by June used it daily. Summer carne early and by July fourth, Ian's birthday, it had become unseasonably hot.

If only that sinking feeling in his

insides would disappear ... A hysterical female voice was at the other end of the line when the loud ring of the telephone startled him. "Ian,

Ian

It's terrible!

You've got to help!

P lease help! "

-153-

... You must help ...

He couldn't make head nor tail of it.

The voice at the

other end of the line spun in an emotional whirlwind, Ian couldn't figure out whose it was and what she wanted. tences went on for a while. Daisy Hochschield. down somewhat. about.

The staccato sen-

Then he realized he was listening to

She needed that fit of crying to calm her

Ian still didn't know what Daisy had called up

He hadn't seen her since the German invasion.

She was on

Imre's Saturday list of people to be alerted about the pending disaster. "Please help me, darling Ian!" she cried. "Can you please tell me what I can do?" "You remember Viola?" "Viola?"

Ian ransacked his brain for a clue.

"Ian darling, she is one of our models, the tall one "0f course I remember now.

Ian tried to sound convincing.

"She has been with me for years.

Really a wonderful person."

Daisy, usually so blunt, had a hard time getting to the point. "She is lovely," agreed Ian just to encourage Daisy to get on with the business. "Oh,

Ian darling ... She has been caught this morning and

taken to the ghetto! II "What can I do?" asked Ian utterly bewildered. "I don't know "You are so smart

but please do something,

Daisy rushed on.

and you look so much like a distinguished

gentleman ... You can think of something to do!"

-154-

Ian arranged to call her back in a few minutes on the untapped telephone line--at least he hoped that it was still untapped. Daisy gave

Ian precise directions on how to get to the

ghetto and described fully the building in which Viola was supposed to be staying. A thousand schemes flashed through his mind. Half an hour later he was on his way to Pest, side of the city.

He crossed the Danube over the Chain-Bridge.

He didn't like to be in Pest. cloud. pected.

to the East

Death hung over the city like a

He arrived at the gates of the ghetto sooner than exIt consisted of a group of yellow-star buildings.

They

were easily recognizable as each house had at least one yellow star about thirty centimeters in diameter affixed on a dark background conspicuously displayed.

The compound was surrounded by a

high fence. A German guard stood at the gate. Ian took a deep breath and plunged into the ghetto.

He had

no trouble finding the building within the compound which Daisy had described to him in such detail. greeted him inside.

Undescribable confusion

Overcrowding everywhere.

He was barely able

to pick his way through piles of luggage and objects strewn helter-skelter allover the place.

Even the corridors were jam-

med with people and their belongings.

The constant humming of

voices was punctuated by despairing crles.

Everyone was terri-

fied about deportation. Rumors flew everywhere, fear.

-155-

growing fat on

Several people stared at Ian.

That made him feel rather

uncomfortable.

The looks asked, "What are you doing here?

don't belong!"

Yet they were not hostile looks at all, but looks

of wonder and amazement. friendly?

Could it be that he was someone who was

possible even helpful?

singled out.

You

Those looks made Ian feel

Everyone in the building had a yellow star sewn

onto his or her clothing front and back--except Ian. looks of despair,

lethargy,

resignation,

He saw

fear, terror, apathy.

No light came from anyone's look. Ian pressed on.

He climbed up the stairway from one floor

to another, inquiring about Viola.

He climbed all the way up to

the eighth floor which was the top floor of the apartment house. He still couldn't find Viola. He started to descend the staircase.

It was full of humanity,

suitcases, boxes, pieces of furniture, clothing. walk around each floor in descending order.

Ian decided to

He searched for a

familiar face only to see faceless faces of despair and fear. Then suddenly he found Viola. She was leaning on a balustrade staring into the courtyard at nothing in particular. dark eyes.

Viola was taller than Ian, with large

When she heard Ian's cry of recognition, she smiled a

smile Ian was never likely to forget.

It was a mere reflex.

expressed no pleasure. II

I came to get you!

he said simply.

"I can't go," she said.

-156-

"Why not?" "They won't let us out." "Take your yellow stars off!" "I can't." "Shall I tear them off?1I " I an , I can't do it." "Of course you can." She rummaged in her handbag and found a pair of scissors. Ian helped her snip them off, then threw them into the courtyard wi th contempt. "Come," he said quietly. She put her arms into his. Arm in arm the two walked down to the ground floor, to the gate, and out into the street. It barely took two minutes. free.

She held tightly onto Ian.

Viola didn't believe she was He directed their steps towards

an address which sounded familiar to him. right and left. clung to him.

Viola kept looking

Ian felt her absolute terror by the way she In less than fifteen minutes they reached the

address Daisy had given him.

It was Ilidko's apartment house.

"A miracle!" Daisy shouted when Ildiko opened the door. Daisy kissed and hugged Ian. Ildiko was Daisy and her husband Sam's benefactor.

Shel-

tering Jews was a serious offense; but half the population, if not more, took it upon themselves to defy the Nazi regulations. Either by active participation or tacit consent they offered

refuge to some one hundred thousand Jews, nearly one-third of Budapest's Jewish population. "But it was so easy," exclaimed Ian.

"We just walked out,

didn't we Viola?" "You are a hero!" "I didn't do anything." "You saved her life!" "Nothing of the sort." When they settled down Ian asked in astonishment, "Why do you let yourselves be shut up in the ghetto?" "The Nazi propaganda, day and night, keeps telling us we are inferior," replied Daisy. Her husband agreed.

"The greatest achievement of the Nazi

propaganda is that we accept ourselves as people who are supposed to be killed." "You don't even think about the absurdity," said Ildiko, "of someone trying to kill you because of your religion." "It is the victory of the Nazi terror on the Jewish psyche," said Daisy. "Not on yours!" countered Ian. "We consider ourselves future murder victims," Sam said, gesturing in Ian's direction. "We are only trying to escape the fate that was pre-arranged for us," his wi fe added. "We can't believe that the Germans would want to kill us. It is impossible to believe that the compatriots of Kepler, Bach,

-158-

Beethoven,

Goethe,

and Thomas Mann are a murderous lot,

Sam

continued. "And it can't possibly happen in civilized Magyarland," Daisy continued, "the land of chivalry and the home of gentlemen and ladies, the land of beautiful music and romance! " ... and hundreds of diplomats around,

remarked Ildiko.

Ian felt unnerved and got up to say goodbye. him a tender kiss.

He would never see her again.

-159-

Viola gave

CHAPTER ELEVEN THE DEAL [ They have laid a net for my feet and pressed down my soul: they have digged a pit before me and are fallen into the midst of it themselves. The Book of Common Prayer Merchant and pirate were for a long period one and the same person. Even today mercantile morality is nothing but a refinement of piratical morality. Nietzsche My idea of an agreeable person is a person who agrees with me. Disraeli ]

61.

Baron Schwarz looked at the German officer with an appraising eye.

Could he trust him or not?

The object of his scrutiny

was an SS man who he jUdged was in his early thirties, of average height, with light brown hair, blue eyes, unremarkable bony face. Quite ordinary, except for one feature,

his eyes.

There was a

mobility and sharpness in them, which the baron believed could be indicative of a man on the look-out for an opportunity.

The

baron also noticed he had the interesting habit of scratching his chin with his left forefinger, caution,

a possible sign of prudence and

of a man capable of weighing the various angles of a

situation.

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It was an opportunist the captive baron was hoping to find. This young man must have been at least adroit for having reached th rank of lieutenant colonel--the rank Eichmann held--at so early an age.

Perhaps it was a sign of opportunism that had led

this officer to fish the baron out of the Mauthausen concentration camp near Linz where he and his family had been taken (the very camp where a few weeks earlier Eichmann had worked out his staff plan for the purification of Magyarland). "The game is up!" exclaimed Hans Bader to Budapest,

"I brought you back

your excellency, with the understanding that your

presence here would be kept confidential, so you can help me with my job." "Colonel Bader, II countered the baron,

"you must be quite

aware that my contacts in business and industry are not available they had to leave. II "The real problem is that your presence in Budapest is known and General Kaltenbrunner, my boss, is quite mad at me for having spirited you out of ... into

protective custody.

Now there

is no reason why you should not be taken back there." The baron cringed. happen.

That was the last thing he wanted to

Mauthausen was a kind of transit camp for shipment to

the gas chambers.

Once out of it, once free of the stench of

brutality and death, for five weeks of it, the baron had no wish to return.

IIThere may be some other ways I could help you,"

said hoping to gain time.

-161-

The conversation took place near City Park in the baron's palace which had been taken over by the SS at the end of March shortly after the invasion.

It was there that Uncle Ede, Georgie

and Tommy were caught at dawn the day after their return from the country.

Lieutenant colonel Bader set up the baron in his old

private apartments on the second floor after retrieving him from the concentration camp--alone. "In order to find a way to help you," Baron Schwarz continued rapidly, "perhaps you tIl tell me, at least as much as you can, about your mission here. II The German officer was not displeased to hear this question. He had worked hard to get to his present position of power.

had first joined the Nazi party and been admitted to the SS in 1934.

He had kept his job 1n Leipzig as manager of an export-

import company specializing 1n spices.

He had gone to Magyarland

several times before the war to negotiate for large quantities of paprika, an increasingly essential ingredient for many varieties of German sausages when the war threatened the traditional oriental and Caribbean sources of spices. been thinking about the future.

Even early in 1939 Bader had He had spent several months in

Magyarland ostensibly on a business trip for his paprika imports, but his real purpose had been to investigate the country's economic potential for the SS to further Hitler's conquest of Europe. In recognition of his reports on Magyarland he had been transferred at the outbreak of the war in September of 1939 to the SS center in Berlin, the Economic Warfare Department.

-162-

first the war had gone well.

His promotion had been rapid while

many of his less adroit comrades had encountered heroic deaths in the various Blitzkriegs and on the Russian front. In 1943 Bader had even more earnestly been thinking about the future.

The wind had begun to blow in the faces of the Nazis.

Only thirty at the time, he wanted a long and prosperous life. He had seen an opportunity when a file concerning the arrest of wealthy Greek and French Jews crossed his desk. an export-import deal of a new kind:

He had proposed

export a few Jews in ex-

change for the import of huge quantities of raw materials needed for the war effort.

The deal had earned him a promotion to SS

major and the attention of SS Chief Heinrich Himmler, who was also the Minister of Interior, the chief of police, and a member of Hi tler' s innermost circle. A few months later he had negotiated a more delicate transaction:

the export was the same commodity, but the import stayed

abroad--in the form of a balance in a secret bank account for the SS in Switzerland.

He had suspected the money went into Himmler's

personal bank account, but had been not foolish enough to endanger his life by asking too many questions.

His discretion had been

rewarded by a lieutenant-colonelcy. To Baron Schwarz's question he merely answered:

"I'm the

chief buyer of goods for the Reich. " His captive's eyes lit up with excitement. the goods! " he said firmly.

-163-

"I can supply

III don't understand,1I Bader remarked trying not to show his mounting interest. At some point one has to take a risk.

The baron decided

from instincts born out of innumerable business deals that the time to take one had arrived. ing in the gas chamber.

And he didn't want to die scream-

liTo prove to you that my offer is not a

frivolous one I'll sketch you a background of my family's interest," he said. "But of course, your excellency."

Bader was not unwilling

to be convinced. "This outline includes the interest of our family as well as some other non Aryan [that is, Jewish] families who have been our partners and relatives through inter-marriage for generations," said the baron. "Please continue, Herr Baron. II The conversation was in German, Schwarz's second language in which he was quite fluent.

He was not all displeased to notice

that the SS man was calling him "baron,1I his aristocratic title, and "Your excellency," his title as a privy councillor.

Lately

he had been called far less flattering names by the lower echelons of the SS. "For four generations we have built up a conglomeration of enterprises that cover every facet of Magyarland's economy in as unobtrusive manner as possible," Schwarz's account began. great grandfather was a seed merchant.

liMy

My grandfather founded an

agricultural bank, called the Union Cooperative Bank in Szeged,

-164-

one of the country's largest cities, to finance the farmers.

father expanded into a nation-wide chain of co-ops and through them acquired a controlling stake in the National First Bank of Budapest, now our second largest commercial bank." "And the first?" asked the German. "You mean, the Union Bank?

We control that too," said the

baron with a wave of his hand. "The Reich owns twenty-three percent." "I know, colonel.

Your five percent increased to fifteen

percent when you ... entered Vienna and the rest you have ... acquired in Paris.

Before I proceed may I light a cigarette?"

"Please do, Herr Baron."

Schwarz took his time trying to

appraise the SS man more closely. "Are you sure the smoke doesn't bother you?" "Not at all.

Please proceed, your excellency."

There was

an edge of impatience in his voice, which was exactly what the baron wanted to hear. "With the help of the banks, my father brought the industrial revolution to our country--steel mills, coal mines to feed the steel mills, textile mills to clothe the steel workers and coal miners.

My job, Colonel Bader, was to build on that firm's

fondation and usher in the twentieth century:

chemicals, syn-

thetic fibers, aluminum and full circle back to our roots in the soil:

food, sugar beets, canned foods, canned everything." "That

covers

about

everything,"

impressed.

-165-

remarked

Bader

quite

"Not quite.

We have our own research farm where we experi-

ment wi th new varieties of crops and vegetables. " "Now I remember,

Butnok:

income of 83, 000 gold crowns in

1930, the last year for which reliable statistics were available. "You are well informed," replied Schwarz. "My firm--that was before the war--imported your seeds into Germany and Holland. " "Indeed!

And I don't have to tell you that our latest major

venture is the Omnia Aircraft Company which we started with a capi tal of ninety mi llion ... " "

and the Hermann Goring Works contributed six hundred

million." "We have delivered one hundred eighty-two planes to the Reich since last year. " "Messerschmi tts, of course," said Bader. "Of course,"

replied Schwarz getting quite enthusiastic,

"and nearly five hundred aircraft engines for your all-purpose, all-weather fighter planes.

Not a mean job for a small country,

is it, Colonel Bader?" "You have served the Reich well, your excellency," added the SS man wi th equal enthusiasm. Now that the baron had swayed his captor to his side, he decided it was time to deal the next card.

"All the names of the

various interests of my family, as you may have noticed, my dear colonel, begin wi th letters spelling out the name 'union.'"

Schwarz

permitted himself to address the SS man in a more familiar way,

-166-

perhaps

thank him

for

all

those

'Excellency's

and

Herr

Baron's. "How very appraisingly.

interesting,

Baron Schwarz,"

the officer said

"How very interesting. "

"To pull these various enterprises together, we formed an umbrella organization. " "A mercantile holding company?" "Exactly.

That

served a maj or purpose:

to prevent the

break up of my family's and partners' holdings into small fragments which the increasing number of beneficiaries through the generations would have caused. " "Like the British system of entailed estates." "Precisely," said the baron.

"We have the same system for

land holdings in our ancient noble Magyar families.

We have

merely extended the principle--and a wise one, may I be permitted to add--to industrial and commercial enterprises. " "This is all very interesting," remarked SS Obersturmbannfuhrer Hans Bader.

"But why are you telling me all this,

your

excellency?" "To answer your question in greatest detail," replied the baron. "Oh, really

Schwarz imagined he heard a note of disappointment in the German's voice which was exactly what he wanted to hear. stubbed out his cigarette and added with quiet emphasis, because I have a deal for you, colonel."

-167-

" ... and

62.

Now this was precisely what Bader wanted to hear. merchant.

Deals were the lifeblood of his career.

He was a

His last two

promotions had resulted from successful deals he had initiated. "What is it you propose?" asked the SS man softly.

There

was a brief but very deep silence, so real neither could not touch it. "The shares of our holding company in exchange for the freedom of my family and our associates." Bader inhaled deeply. "Can you be more specific, Herr Baron?" he asked, no longer concealing his excitement.

It was the biggest deal he had come

across so far, the deal of a lifetime! "Fifty-five percent of the holding shares,l/ said Schwarz, "are owned by members of my family and the members of my partner's families even you would consider Christian.... know, we have been Lutheran for two generations. few years ago that we discovered we were Jews.

As you

It was only a In any event, I

can give you that controlling block." "What about the remaining forty-five percent?" asked the colonel with greed creeping into his voice. "That was classified as Jewish property and is held in escrow at Magyarland's central bank," and Schwarz added rapidly. "with the fifty-five in your pocket and with your ... influence ... I do not see any problems with the minority interest. Reich

or the 5S can have it all!" -168-

The

II And in exchange ... ? 1/ IIThere are about thirty to forty people involved. ily.

My partner I s

others ...

families.

Some are

in the ...

My fam-

camp ...

I don I t know ... II

Schwarz didn't hear any objections, so he continued.

passage to a neutral contry ... say switzerland ... plus some spending money until the war is over." IIWhich you reckon to be ... ? II "A million dollars ... " Bader raised his eyebrows. II Some of it could be in Deutschmarks. " Ills that your deal?1I IIWel1 ... there are a few minor details, II the baron hurried on.

IILet's see what you think of the deal, then we can proceed

further.

By the way, there are more than sufficient funds in our

various accuounts here to cover the million.

What we need is an

authorization to convert to foreign currencies." "I see you have given this some thought, Herr Baron." "I had a lot of time to think about it colonel," observed Schwarz dryly. II I have to give ita lot of thought too," remarked Bader. "Of course," his captive agreed.

"I have to caution you

that absolute secrecy is essential as well as dispatch. colonel: " l

secrecy and speed!

Yes

Should the ... proposition leak out

He paused for a long moment, then continued, "other inter-

ests might come into play ... such as our partners in the air-

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craft business, the Hermann Goring Trust.

Then too there are the

German banks which provided some of the funds ... and then there is of course the government here. II III know,1I said Bader, scratching his chin.

IINow do tell me,

your excellency, why?1I II I'm glad you asked me, colonel ...

May I light another

cigarette? II "Please do so, Herr Baron. II IINumber one:

the war will be over soon ... perhaps in a

year, more or less.

Number two:

1n the interim we need strong

management to keep it all together.

We are dealing with large

entities which employ over sixty thousand, embracing at least ... at the very least ... a full one half of Magyar industry and mercantile activity.

Number three:

either you win the war, or

the Allies." Bader remained silent. Schwarz was pleased to hear that silence instead of the usual Nazi propaganda line about "inevitable victory." IIIf you win the war to have the SS as our partner could come 1n handy ... yes, Himmler could prove to be most useful, don't you agree?" lIyou think like a great merchant, your excellency." III see we understand each other, colonel ... on the other hand, the Allies could win ... and I'm convinced that the Allies will win this war ...

The holdings would survive as one legal

-170-

entity, intact and with Allied victory the various restrictions of Jewish ownership would be lifted and we'd be back in business. II Bader scratched his chin again. IIYou have thought of everything, II he remarked at last. IIThat's why I'm the highest paid executive in the Danube valley, II said Schwarz, with a touch of pride. The SS man lit a cigarette and gazed in front of himself in silence. IIWell, colonel,1I asked his captive, II what do you think of my proposal? II II It's worth thinking about, II replied the captor, all the time thinking furiously. II Shall I submit it in wri ting? II "No, oh, nO,1I said Bader slowly.

IIThere is a major obstacle

I see and until I can visualize a solution there is not point in wasting time putting it down on paper. II IIAnd what may that be?1I asked Schwarz barely breathing. "I don't see how I can possibly get authorization for that large number of people. II lIyou are getting a large number of stock certificates and much else ... yes ... much else, besides! II "I agree ... let me think ... it was one thing to get you out of custody and be placed on your word of honor into my personal protective custody, but it's quite another ... II "I know," Schwarz cut in, IIbut consider what you'd get in exchange and please consider, my dear colonel, the personal ad-

-171-

vantages you could gain ... the prestige maj or transaction ... other advantages

of concluding such a II

He let that hang in

the air. "Believe me, your excellency, I'm having the advantage the Reich could gain out of this transaction uppermost in my mind." IIBut of course,1I replied the baron smoothly.

II However , the

Reich would undoubtedly entrust you with concluding the deal ln fact I would insist we I d deal with you personally

"That I s very kind of you, Herr Baron. II II. .. In fact, you'd represent the holding company, the entire complex on our behalf. II

Schwarz was warm with enthusiasm.

IIAnd need I tell you, the company is well known for its generosity." He moved close enough to the SS man to touch his sleeve to give his statement the emphasis he knew it deserved.

IIHalf a million

what do you say to half a million?1I IIReally my dear baron,1I said Colonel Bader, smiling, IIwe can go into those details later. II "Naturally," replied Schwarz.

He knew he had his captor

hooked. The two men, SS captor and Magyar captive, talked for another half an hour.

There were certain details about the holding company

and about the intricate network of cross-ownership binding together the innumerable business interests of the combine which the baron wanted the German to know. He carefully avoided enumerating the foreign assets of his family of which Georgie's trainloads of refined sugar were but a

-172-

minor, very minor part. trading

companies

and

The baron did not mention the web of subsidiaries

neutral

Switzerland,

Sweden, Turkey, even in the United States and the Orient.

Many

had tiny capitals and huge debts owed individual members of his family.

Then there were the secret accounts in Switzerland and

not least of all a top secret trust at the Union Bank in Zurich which controlled one hundred percent of the voting shares in the Budapest holding corporation.

The stock certificates the baron

bandied about in front of his German captor were all non-voting shares. When Lieutenant Colonel Bader rose to say good-bye,

the

baron patted his shoulder. "Please remember, secrecy.

colonel,

We have no time to lose.

secrecy and speed.

Speed and

Neither of us. "

63.

Obersturmbannfuhrer Hans Bader didn't waste any time. could pull this deal together, his future would be assured.

If he As a

result of his previous transactions he had already obtained two letters testifying that during the Nazi regime he had been instrumental in saving several prominent Jews from the gas chambers.

The third transaction would not only provide further tes-

timonial and certain immunity from prosecution as a war criminal but enough money, and very legitimate funds at that, to buy his own business and prosperi ty after the war. -173-

He had been at the SS center in Berlin long enough to know his way about the bureaucratic maze of the huge organization. was Himmler's private empire within the Third Reich. cover himself front, flank and rear.

He had to

He was entering a minefield

of intrigues and power plays where one false move could lead to his own premature cremation in one of the Reich's gas chambers. For two days he went into seclusion to think over every move and counter-move, plot and counter-plot, every possibility and contingency.

On the third day he made his first move.

He went to General Winkelmann who was not only his immediate boss, but a shrewd judge of possibilities and personalities.

briefed him about his talks with the baron, discreetly omitting any reference to the bribe that had been offered.

There was no

misunderstanding in Bader's mind about the nature of the bribe. It made him feel queazy and unclean.

Under Magyar law the pro-

posed deal reeked of illegalities ranglng from currency violations to unauthorized transfer of assets.

Under German laws it

was a criminal, if not a capital, offense. The general gave him two pieces of good advice:

proceed

with utmost secrecy, avoiding any contact with Goring, the Armed Forces supreme chief and his crowd in view of their previous involvement wih the baron and also Ribbentrop,

the Foreign Sec-

retary, under whose jurisdiction--at least nominally--Magyarland came.

Go to the top, go and see Himmler himself.

That was use-

ful in more ways than one, as it was, coming from a superlor, an authorization if not an order.

The general was too old a hand in

-174-

the game of uniformed politics to go out on a limb and g1ve a straight order.

But with his authorization, he also gave a piece

of good tactical advice:

shun contact with Kaltenbrunner, the

Chief of the Nazi Secret Police, a key aide of Himmler's, who was too much of a hard-core fanatic of the Nazi apparatnik to be able to grasp the subtleties involved.

The general also put at his

disposal a S5 courier plane for his trip to Germany. To avoid bumping into Kaltenbrunner, Bader had to wait two days before he could see Himmler. sent him an urgent message: respond.

While he waited, Baron Schwarz

time is running out.

Bader didn't

"Let the baron stew a few more days," he thought.

The wait gave Hans Bader more time to think about the morality of the deal proposed by the baron. thing decent about it.

The general's suggestion promised to ease

his conscience in at least one respect. SC1ence.

He tried to find some-

Yes, Bader had a con-

The flicker of light did burn in him, even if it was

often obscured by self-interest and rationalizations. The general, perhaps unwittingly, showed one path toward rationalizing the deal.

It violated certain laws and orders.

These are often initiated and administered by authorities.

the authorities sanction the deal, it becomes above the law, even a precedent for law, even if it is contrary to existing or previous regulations.

If one goes high enough, as he was about to

do, an approval could conceivably put a stamp of legality on the proposed transaction. originates.

Ex facto jus oritur:

from the fact law

That would at least make it legal under German law.

-175-

And what about the Magyar law?

It was quite specific about

prohibiting the sale of securities to foreign corporations and individuals without the approval of the central bank. Bader's mind was seething on the way to Himmler:

[ There must be a solution ... there must be solution. Is there such a thing as lawful deceit? Can we frame the law unto our will? Or frame the deal to fit the law? The whole idea behind the deal was to maximize the war effort. Could this be done without the Schwarzes' help? No, that was not possible. They controlled more than half of industry and practically all the war industry. How can we get the Schwarzes' backing without their holding company passing into our hands? There must be a solution! ] He walked with some trepidation into the august presence of Himmler, yet his instinct told him that he had come to the right person.

"Herr Reichsfuhrer," he said, after the usual Heil Hi tIer,

addressing Himmler by his title of national commander of the SSe "with the authorization of my superior in Magyarland I have the honor to bring a proposition of first importance to your personal attention. "

Bader paused waiting for some encouragement from

behind the pince-nez, but none came. fronts were less than encouraging.

The news from the battle

One of Himmler's SS divisions

had been mauled by patisans on the Russian front and another had suffered severe losses in Italy. started to be troublesome.

Allied bombing raids had also

In the end

he emitted an unintelli-

gible grunt. The Obersturmbannfuhrer was too smart to refer to any of the prevlous Prospositionen, propositions he had submitted earlier. He decided to start with the bad news.

-176-

" It involves releasing a Jewish family

"How many?" Himmler cut in harshly. "A large one, up to forty or so." "Herr Obersturmbannfuhrer, you must be out of your mind!" he barked.

"What a preposterous idea!

"Herr Reichsfuhrer!

It's out of the question!"

Please listen to me."

"After this I'm not sure I want to hear what you have to say," Himmler said grumbling,

but he couldn't help being im-

pressed by the fellow's audacity.

To Bader,

'not sure' meant

'yes. ' "The SS has a tremendous prl.ze in its grasp," his subordinate pressed on. Magyarland.

"Nothing less than the Schwarz complex in

It is the Thyssen Hutte, the I.G. Farbenindustrie

and the Hermann Goring Werke all rolled into one." The mention of his great rival,

Goring,

among Germany's

three largest industrial empires produced an ill-concealed snarl on Himmler's face. "The Schwarz combine has a finger in every pie.

We'll be

able to mobilize the whole Magyar industry for the war effort-one hundred percent--wi th their backing. " "And how precisely do you propose to accomplish this worthwhile result, Herr Obersturmbannfuhrer?" Himmler's gaze had the quality of a rattlesnake. didn't freeze Bader's mind.

On the contrary,

illuminated it. \

-177-

But it

a sudden light

"By taking over the concern in a trust arrangement,"

Bader

blurted out. "A Treuhand?

A trust?"

"Yes, Herr Reichsfuhrer!" "Who would be the trustee?" "The 55 of course." "Why don't you just grab it from those backstabbing traitors?" "The legality,

Herr Reichsfuhrer!

The Fuhrer wished that

Magyarland's independence, that is, the appearance of its independence, remain." "Go on, Herr Obersturmbannfuhrer!" I

"Magyar laws prohibit the

takeover of the complex.

However, we could establish a Treuhand, a trustee arrangement and gain the same end, control over the Magyar economy." "And that is the great prize you have been talking about?" asked Himmler, with heavy sarcasm.

"We control Magyarland already,

don't we?" "Herr Reichsfuhrer.

The complex is the Magyar industry.

must come under our control. efficiency.

Only then could it achieve peak

And most importantly, then it could not fall into

... the wrong hands. enormous

engine

Bader spoke rapidly.

Under our protection the operation of that war production would continue

smoothly,

He sensed that he had managed to overcome

the police chief's resistance to such a deal.

He felt that with

one more argument he might be able to swing him to his side entirely.

This was poker for the highest stakes.

-178-

Bader gambled on the rivalry between Goring and Himmler. Until recently Goring was undisputed number two or three after Hitler in the Nazi hierarchy, but his increasing dependence on drugs and his scandalous venality promised a vacancy in the position of the Fuhrer's right-hand man.

Himmler lusted after that

position. "The complex, Herr Reichsfuhrer, is one of the largest pro,ducers of Messerschmi tts and aircraft engines wi thin our Lebensraum, our influence.

It's a joint venture with the Goring

combine." The police chief's pince-nez glittered.

To strike a blow at

the rival's crown jewel by stealing one of its key production centers was to Himmler's liking.

And to do it in the name of

higher war production was a brilliant stroke. Bader sensed that it was time to play his last card. Reichsfuhrer.

"Herr

The Danube valley is at a much greater distance

from the enemy air bases than our own production facilities. With the

intensification of the air war, the Schwarz complex

will become increasingly more important for the maintenance of our war effort."

The young officer felt as though he had a royal

flush in his hand. "Now what are the exact details of this operation?" Himmler asked after a pause that seemed much longer to Bader than it actually was.

With the question asked Bader knew for certain he

had won the hand.

-179-

64.

Bader was jubilant.

The day he returned to Budapest, he met

again with the baron and explained Himmler's conditions to him and the new concept behind the deal. "Your excellency, I'm pleased to let you know I have obtained an agreement on the deal you have proposed!" "That is very satisfactory."

The baron grinned happily.

"I have even managed to improve on it!

We no longer have a

sale, but a trust." "That puts an entirely different character on the entire transaction," exclaimed Baron Schwarz with delight. "Precisely.

This trust or lease agreement makes it possible

that we comply with the Magyar government regulations,

which

specifically prohibit sales and related transactions, but not the kind I have devised." "Most ingenious," the baron agreed. "Let me. review

the

main points

have discussed with

Reichsfuhrer Himmler." "Please do." "Number one: Number two:

The trust will run for thirty-three years.

the family and your associates will get a free pas-

sage to Switzerland, but to ensure that you do not spread any ... tendentious, that is

"I know what you mean,

the baron cut 1n.

-180-

"Very well ... as a guarantee of sealed lips, once you arrive in Switzerland, we'll retain half-a-dozen of your group as ... well ... as hostages ... "

The lieutenant colonel left the best

news,

for the end.

as was his custom,

Number three:

"Now listen to this.

despite the fact that we are now talking about a

trust and not a sale, I managed to obtain approval to get you the one million provided we can agree on all other points. " "Which are?" "The ones I mentioned already, plus Number Four: note this carefully,

your excellency.

and

For your fifty-five per-

cent interest you are to receive up to a maximum of a million per annum in dividends. " "What are you getting?" "Five percent of the gross." "Anything else?" "That's it." "I'm most grateful for the excellent job you have done in Berlin, my dear colonel. " "It is my deep satisfaction," added the SS man,

"that this

arrangement enables me to represent both parties on an impartial basis." "I have only one objection." "What's that?" asked Bader. "I want the trust to run for twenty- fi ve years." made this conter-proposal on sheer tactical grounds.

The baron The deal

began to take shape beyond his most sanguine expectations; but in

-181-

order to avoid giving the appearance of unconditional approval, he asked for this reduction of eight years in the length of the trust agreement.

His objection was in the realm of shadow-fenc-

ing if, as he truly believed, the Germans lost the war in a year or so, then the length of the agreement would be totally irrelevant. "I III submit your counter-proposal to Herr Himmler," said Bader, who knew equally well what the baron was up to. "There is another point I wish to raise, my dear colonel," said Schwarz.

"In the interest of fairness, you understand ... "

"Your excellency?" "As long as you demand that half-a-dozen of my group stay in Germany to guarantee our good faith ... and by the way, I expect that none of those will include my immediate family ... ?" "I believe that can be arranged as long as some of them are either your partners or ... shall we say ... close relatives of yours, Herr Baron." "To continue

In exchange for your guarantee,

I shall

require some form of guarantee of your good faith as well." "What do you have in mind?" "Copies of the agreements once signed by all parties should be deposited with the Swedish and Swiss, and yes, also the Turkish embassy in sealed envelopes .... " a moment.

Baron Schwarz stopped for

He was wiping his forehead with a handkerchief.

was sweating profusely. hot one in Magyarland,

May 1944 proved to be an exceptionally as the hundreds of thousands about to be

entrained for Auschwitz were soon to find out.

"These embassies

should have instructions that unless they receive a telegram with a pre-arranged text from me, fixed period of time "

Say three weeks?"

II II

datelined switzerland, within a

Three weeks is fine, II the baron continued rapidly.

And unless they receive such a telegram, they are to be in-

structed to inform the Magyar government about the ... transaction." II I believe I'll have no trouble getting approval on that, II remarked Hans Bader. IIFine," the baron said quickly and wiped his brow again. IIThat about takes care of everything. II 1I0ne more point, II exclaimed the hunted. "What is that?" asked the hunter wearily. "According to my recollection, the restriction of dealing in stocks of my companies apply to foreigners only, and we should try and find some way to conform to the letter of the law if at all possible. II II I have an idea, II cried the SS officer. "Tell me about it. II IICouldn't I become a citizen of Budapest?" "Register as a Magyar resident, II mused the baron.

"You can

use my address as your place of residence. II IIThat way I'll no longer be a foreign resident,

and the

Magyar restrictions on transfer of ownership will no longer apply in my case! II

-183-

"I like the way you are thinking, my dear colonel,1I

beamed

Schwarz. "That way we'll be doubly protected, my dear baron,1I Bader continued. "We will not be dealing in the transfer of shares and furthermore, neither party will be residing on foreign soil at the time of the transaction." II Bravo ! II the baron cheered.

IIWe have to be particularly

careful to frame the agreement properly ... and as long as we talk about stock certificates I propose you be the custodian of them in your capacity as the trustee of the holding company. II "You really ... " IIAbsolutely.

As trustee you will represent us as well as ...

will it be your government?" "An agency of the Reich government,

the SS,

yes,

your

excellency." "That I s settled then too, II said the baron. "I really appreciate your trust, your excellency," the 5S officer said, permitting himself a smile. IIBut naturally!" explained Schwarz.

"I'm greatly concerned

about the continuity of management. II "An interruption may cause ... problems with our deliveries to the Reich, II added the German, nodding his head. "In this connection I wonder if you were informed?" asked the baron.

-184-

"About what?" the SS man asked sharply. "It

happened

your

absence,"

said the baron.

"What

happened?" "The government proposed the appointment of one of their men as chief executive of the holding company." It was Bader's turn to sweat.

Such a move would nullify all

the work he had done so far. "Is he qualified?" "That's immaterial," observed the baron. The two men looked into each other's eyes with a common interest. "That is exactly why I kept urging you to act with speed

"But I have!" exclaimed Bader. "Anything can happen if we delay any further. ment may pass a new regulation.

The govern-

The cabinet may act and issue a

new directive dealing with this specific situation. my group may be arrested or trans ferred!"

Someone of

explained Schwarz.

"Anything could and usually does happen when a transaction becomes a drawn out affair!" liMy dear baron!" countered the SS officer. called my attorney in Leipzig,

"I have already

an excellent man, while I was in

Berlin to make himself available immediately." "Experienced?" "An expert in contract law." "Good."

-185-

"He'll be arriving tomorrow." "That's even better.

We of course have the best legal tal-

ent available." "We'll start putting everything in writing at our next meeting. " "As I said before," the baron commented while rising, "Speed and secrecy.

Secrecy and speed, my dear colonel."

65.

The paper war flared up immediately. The lawyers got together and went through the steps of their ritual ballet with an ingenuity and speed usually available in situations where legal talent follows orders rather than formulates policy. \

Baron Schwarz was even more hard pressed for time than Bader. He urged the German to make all the necessary arrangements for his immediate departure after signing the proposed agreement. Several of his partners and relatives were in hiding, and each passing day increased the chances of their being caught in the Gestapo net.

Because of the unusual circumstances surrounding

the case, Bader was in no position to issue a cease and desist order. The lawyers worked their way through a maze of board meetings, minutes of special meetings, affidavits, protocols, authorizations,

preparing powers

of attorney,

-186-

resignations of old

directors,

the appointments of new ones.

During the course of

these negotiations and formulations, the lieutenant colonel discovered new companies and subsidiaries the baron had neglected to mention in his previous briefings:

real estate companies, news-

papers, real estate holdings, real estate management operations, match companies, enterprises.

electric utili ties and a wild assortment of

All these were part of an even wilder foray into

the land of illusions:

a legal edifice had to be set up which

was nothing more than a phantom.

The deal was void from the

start because the baron negotiated under duress. the victim of extortion.

He was a prisoner,

His family and partners were blackmailed:

either he sign or die in the gas chamber. The deal was illegal from a German point of view, too. SS had no business being in the mercantile business.

The

Its chief,

who was also the boss of the secret police and the extermination camps in the Nazi Lebensraum, the others nearest Hitler: the generalissimo;

Speer,

fell into the temptation to stun

Martin Bormann, his deputy; Goring, the mobilization and armaments czar;

Gobbels, the propaganda chief; and Ribbentrop, the foreign secretary--that is, comedy.

the whole cast of the Klesheim Castle tragi-

None of Himmler's actions in this deal had any legal

basis whatsoever under international law either. To make the deal void in triplicate,

it was quite illegal

from a Magyar government's point of view as well.

The theft of

the country's largest economic industrial asset under whatever

-187-

guise was illegal by definition as well as a specifically prohibi ted unless sanctioned by the Central Bank, which it was not. Additionally, at all.

the people most concerned were not consulted

These were the fifty-six thousand eight hundred workers

who toiled in the Schwarz enterprises.

Not a single reference

was made to them in any of the legal papers involving the deal. In this surreal fantasy the details followed the prescribed pretentions.

Agreements,

supplementary agreements,

additional

agreements and appendices to all the above had been duly drawn up, some predated, others dated correctly, yet others post-dated. The negotiations stumbled on the rock of a new discovery made by the Germans.

Schwarz and individual members of his family

and their partners owed a fortune to the holding company.

Forty-

two million one hundred and fifty six thousand to be precise. Lieutenant Colonel Hans Bader had really no choice but to acknowledge that enormous but quite worthless group of assets.

That

balance sheet gave him an inkling of the extent to which the baron and his group moved abroad out of his reach.

Additional

tidbits revealed on the balance sheets were the low valuations of the various holdings.

The aircraft company,

for example,

had

received an investment of some one hundred million in the last two years, which was nearly ten times the original capital.

When

Hans Bader examined the books the capital of the various subsidiaries was the same as it had been five years earlier, beginning of the war.

-188-

at the

The trustees,

the lawyers agreed, had to pay a "considera-

tion" for acquiring the use of the assets for a quarter of a century.

Here a neat compromise was reached:

the Germans ac-

cepted the Schwarz's huge debts in the holding company and the Schwarzes agreed to "consideration" of a mere two million that would have to be paid by the Germans.

Even that was not due

before the trusteeship expired, giving the Germans a grace period of at least twenty-five years. block removed,

With the last remaining stumbling

the series of agreements were dated,

signed and

notarized.

This happened at the end of May, the same day when SS

Lieutenant

Colonel

Eichmann's

extermination plan

swung

into

action. The very next day the SS transported Baron Schwarz to Vienna. There the rest of the group was assembled, including Georgie and Tommy.

At the last minute, Himmler produced a major stumbling

block:

he demanded Baron Schwarz get the Magyar authorities

agreement to the deal.

The baron declared adamantly that the

agreement involved private parties, not the government. it was none of their business.

In fact,

He held firmly to this position,

and Hans Bader obtained a last minute reprieve. "Herr Himmler had to go to the Fuhrer himself to get a waiver of that condition," said the lieutenant colonel to the baron on the day of hi s departure. "As a trustee," declared Schwarz,

"I expect you will look

after our interests wi th diligence and integrity. "

-189-

"You can certainly count on that. II "One last request, II said the baron. IIYour excellency?" IIEvacuate everything movable to the upper reaches of the Danube in case you have to evacuate Magyarland.

I don't want the

frui ts of all our labor to fall into Russian hands. " "My dear baron, I see you have our mutual interests at heart. II Colonel Bader took Schwarz's injunction of secrecy to heart. It was not until six weeks later that the Magyar government found out about some of the details of the deal, and all hell broke loose.

Even then it was not until after the end of the war that

the government began to find out the compensation the family received over and above its freedom.

Those details were drawn up

in a super-secret appendix of which only two copies existed:

one

in the possession of the baron, the other in the private safe of SS Colonel Hans Bader.

Meanwhile, he had received another promo-

tion for having secured the Danube valley's largest industrial and commercial group of enterprises for the SS. full colonel.

He was now a

On the day he took leave of the baron, the new

colonel moved into Schwarz's office and began his activities as trustee and acting chief executive officer for the web of Schwarz companies. In the first week of June, two Lufthansa planes took off from the Munich airport,

each carrying an installment of the

Schwarz family and partners to Zurich in neutral switzerland. From that moment on another paper war started.

-190-

The wire services

reported the arrival of a mysterious group of refugees, carrying "unheard of" quantities of gold bars, all duly declared on arrival.

silver coins and jewels,

The Swiss customs authorities

noted with consternation that all the Swiss entry visas for the group were forgeries--clever forgeries betraying the handiwork of the Gestapo, but forgeries nonetheless. Wi th one exception.

The SS escorting officer carrying a

diplomatic passport had all his papers in order.

His only lug-

gage was a rather big suitcase which he never kept out of sight. It contained all those dollar bills specified in the super-secret appendix of the deal. For months afterward the paper war on the deal continued with an almost unending flurry of confidential,

secret and top

secret correspondence emanating from

the Office of Strategic

Services, the British Foreign Office,

the embassies and secret

services of dozens of countries as well as from their agencies and subsidiaries. When the .Nazi Gauleiter,

Ribbentrop' s plenipotentiary in

Magyarland, found out about the deal, he sent the following angry message from Budapest to his boss in Berlin:

"The Schwarz deal

has done immense damage to our interests from its very inception. That damage does not even begin to compare with whatever initial I

advantages the Reich may have gained out of that deal. " l

-191-

66.

The secretary of the Swedish embassy in Budapest dressed with more than the usual care on August 4, diplomatic dark blue, pin-striped suit. wi th the

regent

of Magyarland at

the

1944.

He put on a

He had an appointment royal

palace.

Raoul

Wallenberg knew that the head-of-state was a man of the old school, punctillious in dress, courtly in manner.

The man needed

someone to breathe new spirit into him, battered as he was by personal and national tragedies. As Raoul adjusted his dark tie, he asked himself, "Am I the person to do thi s?"

Back in Stockholm a few weeks ago, one of

the conditions he had demanded before accepting this position was the opportunity to have an audience with the head of state.

had asked for that condition so he could put backbone in the old man.

"Am I really the person to do this?" Raoul asked himself again. time.

He was the right man in the right place at the right He knew it of course, and that was the reason that there

was no hesitation in him, no hate and no fear, love and courage.

His perseverence was about to be put to the

test over and over again. earlier,

only resolution,

Just prior to his arrival four weeks

Eichmann and his Sonderkommando had dispatched nearly

four hundred thousand Magyar Jews to the gas chambers. mission was to save the remaining half.

-192-

Raoul's

This morning his dauntless spirit of resolution was to be pitted against a man who was at war between will and will not. The regent used old-fashioned adjectives like 'decency' and 'honorable.'

He was hopelessly outclassed;

child mesmerized by a viper.

Magyarland was like a

Spine was needed to stiffen irreso-

lution, counter fear, and resurrect a sense of honor.

The omens

were promi sing. On June 30th, a few days before Raoul left Stockholm for Budapest, King Gustav V of Sweden sent a telegram to the man Raoul was about to see.

["Having learned of the extremely harsh

measures your government is applying against the Jewish population in Magyarland," it read, "I take the liberty of intervening personally with your Serene Highness, in beseeching you to take steps to spare the surviving members of that population.

This

appeal to your generosity of spirit is dictated by my long-held feeling of friendship toward your country and my sincere wish that

her

good

reputation

the

community

nations

preserved." ] Raoul reached Budapest a week later and within a few days of his arrival, the recipient of the message ordered the deportations ended.

Things were looking up.

The Nazi jackal's tail had

been twi sted, but the jackal didn't howl. Raoul was received in the royal palace by the head of the cabinet office who greeted him in German.

He accompanied Raoul

to the door of the office of the regent and introduced him to the equerry on duty.

-193-

He opened the door and led Raoul into the regent's presence, who immediately got up from behind his desk. Extending his hand he said in German,

"Good morning, Herr

Wallenberg." "Good morning,

Your Serenity," replied Raoul, bowing.

bring a message from His Majesty King Gustav.

He does appreciate

what you have done. " "I'm doing the best I can to keep the ship afloat,"

re-

sponded the retired naval officer, who towered above Raoul in his uniform decked with medals.

He motioned toward the other end of

the room where there was a large leather sofa and two matching easy chai rs .

"Please be seated,

mein Herr.

I have promi sed

under oath that I shall not forsake my country. admiral of this ship of state. ing ship.

I'm still the

A captain cannot leave his sink-

I must remain on the bridge to the end.

defend the honor of Magyarland?

Who else will

It was entrusted to me.

will defend the Jews and the refugees if I abandon ship?

Who I may

not be able to shield everyone, but I still believe I can be of some help.

I believe

paused for a moment.

can help more than anyone else."

"My job hasn't been an easy one, with the

Germans in full control. " Both sat down. "Your Serenity," said Raoul firmly, control.

"they are not in full

I know of at least one train which was turned back when

it was already moving towards Poland.

-194-

It was as a result of your

direct intervention," and he added rapidly, train

which

country " "

the

Gestapo

succeeded

"I know of another

getting

out

the

" but that's not possible! " by confining all the members of the Jewish Council for

the duration of the train's passage so they would not be able to get in touch wi th you. " "Schweinerei!" exclaimed the regent.

"A dirty business."

"Every method was used to keep the action secret. " "Which one?" "The evacuation of the Sarvar camp in the northeast.

The

Jews were transported with their yellow star removed from their coats." "How do you know, mein Herr?" "I have eye witnesses, reliable people," replied Raoul, "who had seen the Jews at the East Railway Station, on July 26th, at night, at 8:50 p.m. precisely." "But that is in direct defiance of my order." "Sixteen hundred fifty persons,

some of them Christians,

were thus taken to Germany," Raoul went on.

"That was after the

Gestapo took over four hundred thousand Jews out of your country. " "That many?" "Rumors had it that over seven hundred thousand were taken. What I know for certain is that by July 1st at least three hundred fifty thousand were taken to Auschwitz. eighty percent perished in the gas chambers. "

-195-

Of these, at least

" ... and Hitler personally promised me that they were to be taken to work in the Reich!" exclaimed the head of state.

"Are

you sure?" "It has emerged that fourteen or fifteen thousand were taken to Auschwitz every day!" Raoul went on.

"The road from the camp

to the crematorium was rebuilt, the gas chambers expanded, the number of the Sonderkommando increased from six to eight hundred, the maintenance workers from one fifty to seven hundred. "Schrecklich!" said the forlorn regent.

"Terrible!"

"When the capacity of the crematoriums was found insufficient, four trenches were dug each fifty meters long and fifteen meters wide in which bodies were burnt day and night. hilation capacity was unlimited.

The anni-

Of those deported," continued

Raoul, "about ten percent were taken to the work camps, the rest were immediately gassed and burned." "And the Germans would do something like that," said the admiral sorrowfully. "Their leader in Auschwitz-Birkenau is Hauptsturmbannfuhrer Hoss, the former camp commander who shuttles back and forth between Auschwitz

and Budapest,"

Raoul

went on relentlessly.

"Auschwitz is the place where the Germans destroy French, Greek, Dutch people, all kinds, Jews, others, Italians." "How could this happen?" said the regent waving his head from side to side. "Three ways," cunning.

replied Raoul.

"Brutality,

deception and

At the Swedish Foreign office we have depositions. 1I

-196-

put his right forefinger to the tip of his left little finger. "Brutality of the most horrible kind.

The food for the journies

consisted of one loaf of bread per carriage

sometimes only

half a loaf and half a pound of jam plus one pail of water ... a journey which usually lasts five days ...

brutal repression!

have a report that eighteen hundred French, not Jews, mutinied on arrival at the camp.

The SS men brutally suppressed it.

Some

were shot on the spot. II "Incredible!" "Then," Raoul went on touching the next finger, Gestapo cunning.

"there is

just reported on an interesting event,

highly interesting event which took place

about a year ago.

Auschwitz was visited by a commission of four Dutch Jews, very respectable looking gentlemen.

The Gestapo of course informed

their people at the camp ahead of time, and were well prepared. What did they do? clothing,

They gave the Dutch prisoners more decent

genuine knives

course better grub.

and forks,

Wehrmacht plates

The delegation was greeted politely.

and of It was

permitted to inspect the camp whose buildings, lawns and cleanliness made a favorable impression.

They were shown the surviving

Dutch Jews and were told that the 'others' were living in various other camps. "Well,

Raoul

quite satisfied. crematoriums. ,

continued,

lithe

delegation appeared to be

At this point, it expressed a wish to see the

Horrors!

Those were camouflaged as bath houses.

Nevertheless, the Gestapo very obligingly immediately invited all

-197-

the four members for a visit, which turned out to be their final destination.

The camp commander, Aumeyer, had them shot right

then and there.

The Gestapo sent a telegram to Holland that the

four were involved in an automobile accident.

Sorry and all

that." "Unbelievable!" "And then there is cunning," said Raoul, putting the tip of his right little finger to his left middle finger all began everywhere in Europe.

"That's how it

Decree that every Jew must have

a ration card, a birth certificate and identity card on his person,

and must wear the star of David.

Then impose on them a

strict curfew and, to top it all, confiscate their cash and valuables.

That's how it's done."

"You are very well informed," remarked the retired admiral. "All these facts are on deposit in Stockholm," said Raoul, l

who felt it was time to apply an indirect threat.

"Magyarland

has lost a lot of foreign goodwill because of the deportations. I'm afraid that after the war your country will be treated worse than Rumania.

Since it is known that your eastern neighbor has

gradually moved towards a much more lenient Jewi sh policy. " "But they are much further removed from Berlin than we are," the regent interjected.

"Geography is against us, too."

"I'm aware of your situation, tinued smoothly.

Your Serenity," Raoul con-

"And there is still time to save the Jews of

Budapest."

-198-

"As I wired King Gustav and as I'll repeat it now,

I am

doing everything in my power in the present critical circumstances to maintain respect for humanity and justice. the very reason I didn't leave my post. head of state,

That is

I ask you," pleaded the

"to keep the friendly feelings you undoubtedly

have for my people during the sore trial which we have to go through right now. " He stood up, signifying the end of the audience.

"I trust

you are comfortable in our ci ty?" he asked. "I have just rented an eighteenth-century villa with a magnificent view. " "Good.

Good," said the regent,

extending his hand for a

farewell shake. "I appreciate, Your Serenity, the opportunity of being able to speak to you so openly and wi thout reservations. " By the end of the month,

Raoul's efforts were rewarded.

Regent Horthy fired the quisling government the Nazis had installed and appointed his own men to the cabinet.

Raoul knew

that he had certainly not been alone responsible for Horthy's courageous act under the very shadow of German bayonets, but he fel t fortunate that he had played hi s part in it.

-199-

CHAPTER TWELVE STORMY DAYS Checkmate A term in chess meaning to place your adversary's king in such a position that, had it been any other piece, it could not escape capture. The term is from the Arabic shah mat, the king is dead, and was introduced into Old Spanish and Portuguese as xaque mate. Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable ]

67. Liza was a stubborn woman. She didn't heed her parents appeals.

She obstinantly re-

sisted even the idea of leaving her native Magyarland.

In vain,

Baron Schwarz tried to explain to her that by staying in Magyarland she'd remove herself from his protection.

Liza did every-

thing her father had asked her to do during the tense negotiations with the SS.

She dutifully signed all the documents her

father had asked her to.

She drew the line only when it came to

boarding the plane for Switzerland. in flight.

She refused to find safety

She was one of many Magyars who had a chance to leave

their homeland but turned the opportunity down. quite explain her decision even to herself. very soil where she was born.

Liza couldn't

She felt part of the

Leaving it seemed worse to her

-200-

than the privations her family said were awaiting her. agreed with those warnings.

Her mind

Her heart didn't.

Friday July 7th, barely two weeks after the Schwarz's family plane left, Liza decided to travel to Budapest.

She was staying

at Komlo, but could only visit the capital because her residence, the Schwarz mansion, had passed into the possession of the SSe She called Ian before she boarded the train.

They met a few

hours later at Gerbaud, the exquisite confiserie in the heart of the Inner City. This was the sort of thing both Liza and Ian relished:

sit in BUdapest's best known meeting place right in the middle of Nazi-occupied territory.

Ian felt cocky ever since he had res-

cued Viola from the ghetto.

He felt he had gotten away with

something; he had a charmed existence.

Because Liza felt in the

mood of thumbing her nose at the Gestapo, she promptly agreed to Ian's suggestion for their meeting place. She checked her light sui tease in near the entrance. looking around, she immediately spotted Ian.

Quickly

Dear Ian, looking

immaculate in an off-white linen suit and a black and yellow Liberty's of London tie. Ian also smiled when he noticed Liza.

She wore a black and

white short silk dress of elaborate simplicity.

She looked like

she had just stepped out of Erno Laszlo's place down the street, not from a dusty train.

Ian noted with satisfaction that all

eyes turned toward her when she stopped in front of his table.

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They both ordered iced coffee with whipped cream and feasted on dainties.

The weather was glorious, and both looked forward

to basking in each other's company. There was much to talk about.

With relish they plunged into

reminiscences of all that had happened to them since the graduation weekend party at Komlo.

They talked in their usual fashion,

skipping half of every sentence and jumping from one topic to another, without any apparent design or direction yet understanding each other perfectly well. "Of course you can stay at my house," suggested Ian. "Isn't that just a bit too daring?" she countered, at first surprised, then aghast at his suggestion. "Not at all," replied Ian with the smile of a naughty boy up to no good.

"Imre figured out the perfect solution to make our

place a safe house." "Oh, really," said Liza, beginning to believe. "I don't know if you remember Ildiko, Imre's secretary. husband is a police major who has a kid brother. police or something.

Her

He is in the

To make a long story short, he

offi-

cially billeted in our house. "A

double-killing--two

birds

with

murmured

Liza

delightedly. "with him there, the authorities can't billet anyone else to occupy our place and with him there ... " "We are safe," Liza finished the sentence for him.

She took

a delicious sip of the rich concoction and, appearing casual as possible, slipped in the question:"

and what is his name?"

"Jakab Bondi," replied Ian.

"He seems to have gotten him-

self into some trouble with the 55 and his pro-Nazi bosses at the Ministry of Interior

"Don't tell me

smiled Liza.

"The bishop asked him to intervene of behalf of the Jews who were being deported from Pecs a few weeks ago. could break loose

"His brother came to his rescue "

Before all hell

" guessed Liza.

and had him hastily transferred to Budapest as a liaison

officer to his department ... " Ian finished the sentence.

"until

the wind settles down a bit." "How old is this prodigy?" "In his early thirties. soon.

You'll have a chance to meet him

I invited him for dinner tonight." I an took Liza to the citadel in a cab; installed her in

Ellen's room and Juliska's care. dinner.

Electricity was in the air at

Jakab was dressed in his uniform apparently quite unphased

by his near disaster of the week before.

He was 186 centimeters

tall, nearly half-a-head taller than Ian; he was an extraordinary good-looking man in a rough sort of way.

To Liza, the impudent

smile didn't distract one whit from his attractiveness.

A stray

lock of his dark brown hair kept falling over his forehead. Jakab's left hand kept pulling it back, but even the slightest toss of his head moved that troublesome lock forward again. This, plus his dark brown eyes and moustache to match enhanced his coarse even piratical looks which were centered in an aquiline

-203-

nose and large hands.

The way he stepped in front of Liza and

bowed down to kiss her hand indicated a man in peak condition from rigorous training. He appeared slightly disquieting to Ian, but to Liza he was somebody quite different.

Ian watched his two guests, so entirely

dissimilar in background, take to each other instantly.

In fact,

they made no secret of their mutual attraction and were deeply engrossed in each other all evening.

Ian had the distinct feeling

he had lost his guests' interest wi th amazing swiftness. The next day Liza and Imre had a quiet lunch of ham and scrambled eggs. "I'm going to marry Jakab," she announced simply. I an was taken aback, but held hi s peace. "I know what you think." nately,

Growing pale and blushing al ter-

Liza directed her eyes right into Ian's eyes appealing

for understanding.

"I barely know him."

this premonition all this year.

She rushed on:

"I had

You remember at Komlo when

She began to feel uncomfortable, even awkward.

She put her fork

down and lapsed into si lence. Ian cursed himself for not being able to find the right words.

He hesitated among the silence inspired by her confes-

sion, the twinge of jealousy he felt and his natural eagerness to share. Finally glancing at her I an broke the si lence. "You think he is it?" he stammered.

-204-

"I don't think," she said averting her gaze.

"I know."

She

paused for a moment, then said, "Ian dear, we know we are immortal and because we are," she looked at him again, "in our voyages of milleniums we are bound to meet kindred souls." fork in the yolk of her egg.

She dipped her

"Jakab ... yes ... I met him before.

Perhaps a long time ago." "That's what I feel about Maria, my dear Liza," replied Ian. "And now ... she seems to be drifting away." he went on: region.

"I lost contact with her.

After a long pause,

Imre warned me about her

Not to go there under any circumstances ... not anywhere

near there.

Liza, my heart bleeds," he said, almost crying.

"Perhaps Jakab will be able to help," suggested Liza, quickly touching his hand. A silence ensued.

Ian was fighting between letting his

tears go and regaining his composure.

Heavy footsteps approached

the door, which was swung open with a violent movement. "The regent stopped all deportation!" exclaimed Jakab beaming. "That'll get you off the hook," remarked Liza with a dazzling smile. "He is finally showing some guts," added Ian, fully recovered now, and grateful for the interruption. As quickly as he had arrived Jakab left. "Imre has been working on this for weeks," Ian remarked. "The heat is off."

His eyes wandered toward the window.

Liza immediately picked up the change in his mood. dearest Ian ...

We'll find Maria. "

-205-

"My

68.

"This is going to be an historic meeting," Imre said to his brother as they were getting ready to leave their townhouse on the Ci tadel.

"Come wi th me! "

It was Thursday, September 7th. Ian was delighted wi th the invitation.

Since the Nazi invasion

in March he had had little opportunity to be with his brother and even less of a chance to be with him at work.

Although Imre lost

his job as senior correspondent when the Magyar Nation was shut down by the Nazis on the very first day after the invasion, his life had been busier than ever throughout the summer months.

Ian

didn't dare ask him too many questions, but knew that Imre worked hard on his three self-appointed tasks: the war,

help Magyarland out of

inform the outside world about the catastrophy which

engulfed the nation's Jews and to try to keep up the morale of the Schwarz enterprises since their owners' arrest and departure. Although the Gestapo had apparently given up hope of catching any of the Chabaffys, it would have been courting disaster to be seen too much together in public. Imre surprised Ian a second time when he led them not toward the back gate of the house, then down into the cellar.

They were

accompanied by Vince, who carefully closed the secret entrance to the underground tunnel when the brothers vanished in a southerly direction.

After walking nearly five hundred meters in semi-

darkness, Imre knocked on the wall.

A door opened and Imre im-

-206-

patiently beckoned to Ian to follow him.

After climbing climbing

up nearly three flights and walking through a couple of sumptuous rooms, Ian realized they were in the royal palace. Imre announced his presence to Akos, the private secretary to the regent's son, who knew the brothers well as he had previously held the same position with their father many years before the war. "Did you hear the Americans have reached the Moselle river?" he asked them excitedly. "The BBC has just announced," replied Ian, "that the British forces have entered Antwerp. " "The Finns have followed Rumania's example," said Imre, "and signed a truce with the Russians.

The Bulgarians are next!"

"And we are going to be the last as usual," said Akos bitterly. "Only a fool ... " cried Ian. "We must get out of this mess!" exclaimed Imre.

"But we

need better luck than Odeschalchi!" "Didn't you tell me he flew off in his Air Force plane to Italy back in June?" asked Ian, alarmed. "I just found out he got lost in bad weather over the Adriatic Sea and landed in Ancona, into the arms of the Nazis, instead of Foggia more than one hundred kilometers south on the east coast of Italy, where the Americans were waiting for him." "Your excellencies, please come in." When the brothers entered the office of the regent's son an impressive gathering was already under way.

-207-

Ian recognized count

Bethlen, with his high forehead and ascetic face, who was prlme minister for over a decade after the first war.

He was sitting

in a chair near the fireplace and Count Eszterhazy, a leader of the Senate before the Nazi invasion and a privy councilor, who kept stroking his salt-and-pepper goatee. Imre introduced Ian to these two elder statesmen as well as to Miklos Horthy,

Jr. who,

as his brother explained on the way

over, was his big booster in the highest councils of government since Atilla was arrested by the Gestapo. Young Horthy in turn introduced the brothers to General Voros,

Chief of the General Starf, who in mufti paced the floor

along the book shelves which lined young Horthy's study. introduced them to Count Teleki, minister in 1941.

When,

Then he

whose father had been prime

as a protest against the Nazi invasion

of Yugoslavia (the Wehrmacht had to cross Magyar territory for that deed) his father had committed suicide, Churchill had eulogized him for his sacrifice. Last to be greeted by the brothers was an old friend, Mr. Kanya.

He had been their father's boss before the war.

As Secre-

tary of State he had kept a protective eye on Prince Tibor, the nation's youngest ambassador. "We have a number of important items on the agenda," the young Horthy.

announced

"I'll deal with the first one myself. "

The

regent's son was the government's unofficial chief for organizing an armistice with the Allies.

He was shorter than his father and

more effeminate, but his heart was in the right place as far as

-208-

Imre was concerned.

"A Crown Council meeting,

young Horthy

announced, "was held earlier today and decided to send an ultimatum to the Germans." A murmur of approval greeted this sensational announcement. "We demanded five divisions to defend the Carpathian Rockies within twenty-four hours,

he continued.

"I'm sure the Germans

will refuse, and we'll have an excellent excuse to sign an armistice with the Allies." "with respect," Imre said jumping up.

"In that regard I

have just received an important message from my father in America. It is seconded by Archduke otto." "What is the message?" asked Eszterhazy, who was still campaigning for the archduke to be the next king of Magyarland. liThe message says unequivocally, and I quote,

'this is our

last chance,' Imre paused after stressing the last two words and repeated them:

'This is our last chance to get out of the war in

an honorable manner.

We must sign an armistice without any fur-

ther delay,' unquote.

There is more of this but all in the same

vein. II II

I advised His Serenity, the regent, to sue for an armis-

tice," said Bethlen, clearly enunciating every word he used. "Unless

the

Rumanians

immediately,

we'll

lose

Transylvania." Ian was aWhirl.

He whispered to Imre, "What about the armis-

tice Atilla signed in Turkey last year?" Zsibo under foreign rule.

Ian tried to visualize

Imre crossed his forefinger over his

lips, telling Ian to shut up. -209-

IIWhen is the next cabinet meeting?" asked Kanya. "Next Monday," replied the regent's son.

"My father is

going to put the matter of the armistice on the formal agenda of the meeting." Imre beamed.

This was an historic occasion.

on this all summer and years before that, going to happen.

He had worked

and finally it was

Magyarland will be out of the war!

"The next i tern on the agenda," Horthy continued, "is the inhuman sUffering of our Jews.

I have asked Mr. Stern to make a

presentation." "Gentlemen, and if I may be permitted to say so, friends," said the Chairman of the Jewish Council as soon as he was ushered in by Horthy's private secretary. desperate.

"As you know, our situation is

We lost nearly half a million of my brethren ... half

a million good Magyars perished ... half a million faithful patriots, good citizens!

I'm convinced the Nazis next step is to

exterminate the Jews of Budapest! " His voice was choked with emotion.

"It would be extremely

dangerous to have us concentrated even more than we are.

Once we

are concentrated the government with all its good intentions will be unable to prevent our deportation!

All your good will shall

be useless in the face of the Nazi might!" stern paused for a moment to let the impact of his appeal sink in.

"It is quite possible that the Nazis might bomb our

Jewish camps using fake aircraft markings, repeating a trick they used against us in June 1941!"

-210-

"When our government foolishly fell into that trap," said Kanya somberly, "when th city of Kassa was bombed by planes with Russian Air Force markings and we stupidly declared war against Russia." "We'll do everything in our power to help you," declared the regent's son. "You'll be pleased to note," added Imre, bowing in his direction,

"that with the valuable help of Count Eszterhazy, I have

appealed to the papal delegate again and again asking him to let the world know about the disaster that is engulfing the Magyar Jews.

We also interceded with the envoys of Sweden, Switzerland,

Turkey, Portugal and Spain to put pressure on our government to stop this national disgrace. " "We are very well aware of your doings, replied Stern, "and we are grateful. we know you are one of them

your excellency,"

We have so few friends, and

And you,

little brother,"

added with a twinkle in his tired eyes, bowing slightly toward Ian, who turned crimson with embarrassment.

Then the Chairman of

the Jewish Council walked up to Imre and said with emotion:

bist ein Mensch! Daisy Hochschield had used this expression when Ian had led Viola into Ildiko's apartment. meant.

Later he had asked Imre what that

"It is the highest compliment a Jew can give you," his

brother had explained.

"It means that you are a human being, in

the exalted sense of the word ... a little lower than an angel. " \

-211-

Stern exchanged a few remarks with the elder statesmen who were people of his own generation, then he left the meeting with Horthy personally escorting him to the door. "The one remaining item to discuss,"

stated the regent's

son, "is the means by which we get to sign an armistice. asked Naday to give us a brief report."

I have

General Naday entered

the room accompanied by Janos Bondi, Jakab's brother.

Imre remem-

bered Naday had been the only general to advise the prime minister to offer armed resistance on that fateful day in March when the Magyar leadership had been detained by Hitler at Klesheim Castle and then on the railway tracks back to Magyarland. fearless and wiry with dark, mobile eyes. tion is hopeless," Naday began.

He was

"The military situa-

"Not since the defeat of our War

of Independence in 1849 has our situation been this desperate. The Red Army troops have entered Southern Transylvania yesterday. The defense of the realm is becoming more and more impossible. Day by day the situation is deteriorating rapidly. " He took a few steps in the direction of Imre.

"I still have

hopes we can surrender not only to the Russians, but also to the Americans and the British.

As some of you may know, we have a

high ranking British officer in the royal palace, ready to help us.

right here,

He has agreed to fly with me to the British

High Command as soon as we can find a plane to get us to Italy," and

added

grimly,

"We

not

Odeschalchi' s mi stake! "

-212-

intend to

repeat Prince

A stunned silence greeted this exciting revelation.

Even

Imre was unaware of this high ranking British officer. II

I will try to convince the British and also the Americans

to intercede on behalf with their Russian ally. II IIWe need all the help we can get to mitigate the disaster which would undoubtedly fallon us if we were at the mercy of the Russian High Command! II The meeting was declared closed.

Everyone stood up and

started to talk in excited voices. III am Jakab's brother, II said a wiry man with restless, kind eyes and a hatchet face, stepping up to Ian. like General Naday. and wizened face.

He was in mufti,

The smile magically transformed his tired

"We have found Princess Potocki," he whispered

to Ian. IIDid you really?1I he stammered, his heart missing a beat. IIShe has joined the Polish Home Army. II

69.

A week later, about a thousand kilometers west of Moscow, at a general headquarters close to midnight, a small group of people sat around a table: Ribbentrop, performance.

Hitler, Marshal Keitel,

and Himmler,

Foreign Minister

all veterans of the Schloss Klesheim

Also present were General Jodl and SS Maj or Skorzeny,

commander of special units for kidnapping and terror and leader

-213-

of the second section of the German Army Secret Services responsible for sabotage and demoralization of the enemy. was South-East Europe:

The subject

Rumania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Greece and

Magyarland. Hi tIer's cabal was not a little apprehensive.

Hearing earlier

in the evening about the catastrophic situation on the eastern front Hitler had lost his temper,

throwing his pencils so vio-

lently on the table that they fell onto the floor.

He continued

to vent his anger on his generals. II

I want to discuss the southeastern sector with you, Rumania,

Bulgaria, Greece, Yugoslavia and ... Magyarland," he raged.

liThe

front which had been stabilized along the Carpathian Rockies must be held at all costs. immense

salient,

The reason for this is clear:

in that

there are one million of our soldiers.

stakes in Magyarland are enormous:

The

if the Magyar divisions in

the Carpathian Rockies were to stop fighting, or worse, betray us and start fighting against us, these one million German soldiers would find themselves in a desperate situation.

In case of a

sudden collapse, they would all become the prisoners of the Russians.

And if this brought the loss of Budapest, we would face

an unimaginable catastrophy.

This I cannot and will not permit.

To the relief of his caucus their leader continued calmly. "We have just received reports of a secret nature that Admiral Horthy,

the Regent of Magyarland,

has been attempting to get in

touch with our enemies to negotiate a separate armistice.

The

regent according to the highly reliable sources we have wants to

-214-

negotiate not only with the British and the Americans, but also with communist Russia.

He appears to have offered, or is about

to offer, unconditional surrender.

If he succeeds, we could lose

an army of one million Germans ...

This, II Hi tIer repeated, II I

will not permit! II Turning to SS Maj or Skorzeny,

the youngest and the most

junior by far of all those present, he glared into his eyes with unbearable intensity.

IIYou, Major Skorzeny, are going to under-

take the military occupation of the citadel in Budapest. II expression didn't change.

His

lIyou will start this operation as soon

as we have confirmation that the admiral is about to desert his treaty of alliance with the German Reich.

The general staff of

the Wehrmacht has a plan for a paratroop attack on the citadel, perhaps even by landing several planes on the hill itself.

During

this operation you will be placed under General Friessner, the new commander of our forces in Budapest. II lIyou will begin to get ready today!

General Friessner' s

staff may not yet be formed, but this will cause you no problems. In order to shove aside any obstacles you may face, I will give you a written ccmmission with unprecedented powers. II He then motioned to JodI to speak. The general spoke quickly. Fuhrer put under your disposal:

IIThese are the units which the a battalion of paratroopers from

the Air Force, the 600th Battalion of paratroopers from the SS and a battalion of motorized infantry furnished by the officers cadet school near Vienna close to the Magyar border at Wiener-

-215-

Neustadt.

Additionally,

two squadrons of transport gliders will

be posted to Vienna and put under your command. For the entire duration of this operation, Fist, 'II the general concluded,

which we named lI

'Operation Mailed

a plane from the squadron attached

to this general headquarters will be put at your personal disposal. II Hitler then asked the foreign minister to speak. 1I0ur ambassador in Budapest reports to me several times a day,1I said Ribbentrop.

IIHis latest telegrams indicate that the

si tuation is very tense. this:

There seems to be no question about

the Magyar government is committed, even eagerly commit-

ted, to desert us.

Intense negotiations are under way.

All this

information is based on the reports of our agents who we have placed in key positions. II The Fuhrer then took a large sheet of state paper bearing te eagle with outstretched wings with the swastika in the left corner; below the eagle, the legend:

in Gothic characters in gold relief, was

IIFuhrer and Chancellor of the Reich. II

He rapidly glanced over the text:

[Major otto Skorzeny of

the Reserve Corps has been commissioned by me directly to carry out personal and confidential orders of extreme importance.

request all military and civilian authorities aid Major Skorzeny in all possible ways and comply with all his wishes. ]

Under

these two sentences he signed II Adolf Hi tler ll with a trembling hand. He stood up, scrutinized the officer searchingly, adding as one Austrian to another:

II I

rely absolutely on you and your

-216-

man.

He immediately retired from the room with his four top

advisors following him. Major Skorzeny was left alone. This comparatively junior officer had been given such sweeping powers that he himself was awestruck by them and hesitated to use them.

He was about to be unleashed on the Magyars.

The American press dubbed him lithe most dangerous man in Europe.

Barely eighteen months earlier he had been a military engineer hospitalized with dysentery.

In April 1943 he had joined

the branch of military intelligence called Ausland Abwehr and promoted to captain.

His great chance came on July 25th when he

was summoned by Hitler to rescue Benito Mussolini, the very same day that the Italian dictator had been put under arrest by the Italian government immediately after the armistice with the Allies. In seventeen days Skorzeny organized the most daring kidnapping of the war. Sasso,

On September 12th he swooped down on the Hotel Gran

perched high on a peak of the Abruzzi mountains with a

squadron of gliders.

The landing field was not much bigger than

a couple of tennis courts.

Although Mussolini had been heavily

guarded by a large number of Italian carabinieri under the command of a general, Skorzeny had rescued him in less than five minutes. He became an overnight sensation.

He was promoted to major

and showered with Nazi and Fascist decorations.

He had achieved

the awesome reputation as the top commando specialist in kidnap-

-217-

ping and abductions in the world.

And now he was preparing to

repeat his spectacular performance in Budapest.

He didn't waste

any time; he worked until 2:00 a.m., then took off for Vienna. There he inspected the one thousand officer cadets and also his paratroopers.

Before the end of September 1944 he was in Budapest.

Dressed in civilian clothes with papers bearing the name Dr. Wolff, he went to the house of a Nazi agent where a valet and cook were put at his disposal along with the use of the house. "I'm almost ashamed to admit it," he would write later,

"but

never in my life have I lived so comfortably as I did those three weeks.

And that in the fifth year in the war!

His first job was to get together with Major General Hans Friessner and work out a more detailed plan for "0pe ration Mailed Fist.

At a short notice,

they were prepared now to alert all

German troops in and around Budapest and ready to occupy key communication points including telephone and telegraph centers and railway stations. On October 8th he kidnapped General Bakay, commander of the Magyar troops stationed in Budapest.

Compared to the Hotel Gran

Sasso caper, this was a piece of cake:

the general was grabbed

as he was getting out of his car in front of his house.

The

entire operation took less than two minutes. Then all kinds of complications arose. was at loggerheads with the Himmler gang. tiary was at odds with Winkelmann,

The Ribbentrop crowd The German plenipoten-

the SS and Gestapo chief.

Local agents and Magyar spies had their own rivaries.

-218-

Then another fearsome character arrived on October 13th: Obergruppenfuhrer Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski, a three-star general in the SSe

"I'm a specialist in giving more than I receive,"

he announced at a

staff meeting on "Operation Mailed First."

"I'm a tough guy."

He wasn't exaggerating.

anti-partisan forces,

As commander of the

he arrived straight from Warsaw where he

had earned a terrible reputation as a brutal and ruthless adversary of the Polish Home Army.

"If necessary," he shouted, bang-

ing his fist on the table, "I'll be as pitiless in Budapest as I was in Warsaw.

For this purpose I brought with me a sixty-five

centimeter mortar.

We have used this enormous cannon effectively

on the ramparts of the fortress of Sebastopol on the Black Sea. You should have seen those apartment buildings crumble in the Polish capital!

We pulverized Warsaw block by block. "

Skorzeny was horrified,

but not intimidated.

He was 185

centimeters tall, with a corresponding girth and a scarred face. This general, five ranks senior to him but a head shorter was not going to spoil his "Mailed Fist, " he said to himself.

70.

September 22, 1944. Two generals in a car sped towards Szigetvar.

One was Gen-

eral Istvan Naday, the other Brigadier John Graham Martin, D. S. O.

-219-

Martin was the highest ranking Allied officer in Magyarland, a Canadian who earned the Distinguished Service Order, one of the highest decorations for valor in the British Empire, for heroism during a parachute landing behind Turkish lines as a young intelligence officer in 1917. A hand grenade had wounded him at Gallipoli.

His superiors

had then transferred him to the general staff whereupon he had held increasingly important positions between the wars.

He had

married Nonnie Mellon, a Pittsburgh heiress in the early 1920 1s, when he was stationed in Washington.

He had spent a couple of

years as a military attache in Budapest in the 1930 l s and had learned to speak precise Magyar to the delight of his friends in the Magyar capitol. In 1939 at the outbreak of the war he had been transferred from Ottawa to London, where he was attached to the Ministry of Defense as a senior intelligence officer.

Four years later on a

flight to General Mihajlovich1s partisans in Yugoslavia, he had been shot down and put in a prison-of-war camp near Breslau in East Germany.

But he had soon escaped and ended up in Szigetvar

a month after Andy.

Atilla had offered to smuggle him into Yugo-

slavia or Turkey, but Martin decided he would be more useful in Magyarland. Atilla1s father casually mentioned the arrival of the Canadian general to Regent Horthy, who immediately asked to see him. As a result of this meeting arrangements were made for Martin to stay at one of the regent1s military aides l townhouses close to the Royal Palace. -220-

Martin accepted this arrangement under one strict condition: absolutely no one, not even the Chabaffys, was to be told of his identity or even his existence.

It was not that the Canadian was

a solitary man, but a careful one.

He knew one of the basic

roles of intelligence operations was total secrecy, a suit in which the Magyars were not very strong.

Naturally gregarious,

disarmingly unsophisticated and honest to the point of Quixotic chivalry most Magyars were about as clandestine as a glass of water.

During their regular meetings wit the regent he often

cautioned the old admiral to be more circumspect in his dealings with the Germans.

Earlier in the year when Horthy told him that

he promised Hitler advance notice in case the Magyars decided to sue for armistice, Martin congratulated himself for the strict condition under which he accepted his present position.

He knew

that the admiral's code of honor would demand he observe to the letter the promise he made to the Nazi dictator. The Canadian was a small, wiry man in his early forties. was clean-shaven and his dark hair was laced with grey.

He loved

the Magyars but harbored no illusion about their future.

They

belived in miracles, particularly in the miracle of being occupied by the Anglo-American forces, or at the very least, in the only somewhat lesser miracle of being saved by the arrival of an Anglo-American parachute regiment preferably around Lake Balaton, not too far from Budapest.

Martin realized with no slight amaze-

ment that the Magyars revered such notions about as strongly as the Poles revered the image of the Holy Virgin.

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His objectivity didn't prevent the brigadier general from wishing to be the Magyar's knight errant for which role he was perfectly fitted by training,

disposition and his connections

with Churchill's military advisors. "The news from the war front is once more very good today," remarked his Magyar companion.

"The Allied forces moving up from

the French Riviera have linked up with General Eisenhower's divisions in Western France." "What about the Russians?" asked Martin. "They reached the outskirts of Warsaw this week and captured Arad, not even one hundred kilometers from szigetvar," replied Naday somberly.

Then brightening up he added, "But the British

troops have forced the Germans to give up the Rimini line in Italy. " "My dear general," said the Canadian with vigor, "let's face it, you'll have to deal with the Russians." "But surely," Naday countered, "you'll have some say in the matter." "I do hope so," said Martin, "I do hope so," but there was no conviction in his voice. "Surely Churchill will not let the Russians establish themselves in the heart of Europe!" cried the Magyar general. On arrival in Szigetvar the party didn't visit the fort; it went straight to the soccer field.

In the twilight of a glorious

fall day, the two officers could barely see the outline of the aircraft.

The next day they were in the office of Field Marshal

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Henry Maitland Wilson, supreme commander of the Allied troops 1n the Mediterranean theatre. After the introductions, the British officer said, "I hope you had a good flight." "We made it all right," replied Martin.

"We crash landed at

Foggia," which was on the east coast of Italy across from Naples. "Your landing must have been as difficult as the one the Magyar nation is facing now," said the field marshal. General Naday replied in his slow correct English.

"My

country has a great admiration for your people, field marshal, and it would prefer to surrender to you alone and help you to get into Central Europe first." Wilson replied, wish.

"The prime minister and myself share your

A thrust through the Ljubljana gap into Austria and Magyar-

land would hasten Hitler's doom by months. The Magyar general came to the point.

" I'm authorized by

His Serenity Admiral Horthy, Regent of Magyarland and our government to ask for an armistice. power to shorten the war.

We wish to do everything in our

We are too familiar with its horrors,

but it's going to be a very delicate operation to get out of the war because we are in fact occupied by the Germans." "with the Italian experience behind us I know what you are talking about," commented the field marshal. "The Red armies, sir," added Martin, "are at the gates of Magyarland.

They had broken through and around the Carpathian

Rockies and entered the Magyar lowlands when we left the country."

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"Damn fast, those Russkies," growled the Englishman.

"You'll

have to deal with them directly." "We are aware now," replied Naday, "that a Russian occupation of our country is inevitable.

Our experience with the Rus-

sian colussus has been most unfortunate so far, and frankly, we dread the prospect of being under the heels of the Red armies." "The rapid Russian advances have altered the strategic realities in your part of the world," said Wilson sorrowfully.

"You'll

have to deal with them." "The Magyars recognize that,

sir," remarked Martin.

"All

they ask for is that we intercede with the High Command of the Red armies to assure the country's survival." "What help can we expect?" asked the Magyar general.

"What

help can the Allies give to my government and our divisions to overthrow the yoke of Nazi tyranny?" "I'll pass on to London your questions," parried the field marshal. "Also on the political field," pressed Naday, "what help can we expect if we turn our weapons against our tormentors?" "I'll forward your questions to our government," replied Wilson.

"Perhaps I'll have a chance to do that personally in the

near future." A few days later, the Canadian nodded happily while reading Churchill's long address to the House of Commons. larly noted the following passage:

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He particu-

Magyarland is still in the Nazi grip, but when, as will happen, that grip is broken by the steel-hammer blows of the war, or when it relaxes by reason of internal lesions and injuries of the tyrant, the Magyar people will turn their weapons with all their remaining strength, against those who led them through so much suffering to their present ruin and defeat. ] A week later,

on October 6th,

the brigadier general was

again in the office of the supreme commander of the Mediterranean theatre. A familiar figure turned in his direction when he entered the field marshal's presence. between

the

squalid

Nazi

"Damn business,

butcher

Churchill, puffing at his cigar.

and

those countries

Stalin,"

muttered

"I was told you have just got-

ten out of there. " "Yes, Mr. Prime Minister," replied Martin.

"They are indeed

between the devil and the hard rock being between Hitler and Stalin, just like the Poles. " "A sorry mess that is," said Churchill. "I can testify from personal experience that the Magyars hold you, sir, in the highest esteem but are afraid of the Russian monster. tunate.

Their experience with them has been most unfor-

In 1849 the Czar helped to crush their War of Indepen-

dence against the Habsburgs with hundreds of thousands of troops, and in 1919 Moscow engineered a communist coup. experiences for the Magyars, sir."

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Both were bitter

"We'll have to face strategic realities," growled the prl.me minister.

"The Russians will be in possession. "

"The Magyar government is aware of that, sir," replied Martin boldly.

" I t has a wish it asked me to convey to you."

"Pray tell me what is that?" asked Churchill. "Quote:

'That we remember the principles of the Atlantic

Charter relating to seeking no aggrandizement, no territorial changes without the wish of the people involved and paticularly 'the right to choose their own government.'

Unquote."

Churchill stepped closer to Martin, puffed at his cigar as he shook his hand, then remarked in parting, "I'm going to see stalin in a few days.

We'll see what we can extricate from the

claws of the Russian bear. "

October 9, 1944.

Moscow, close to midnight.

Again a few people sat around a table:

Churchill, stalin,

the two Foreign Secretaries, Eden and Molotov, preters, Major Birse and Pavlov.

and two inter-

Again the subject was the same

real estate Hi tIer's cabal had discussed a few weeks earlier: Southeast Europe, that is, Rumania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Greece and Magyarland. After putting the screws on the Polish government-in-exile in London, Churchill said, "Let's settle our affairs in the Balkans. Your armies are in Rumania and Bulgaria. missions and agents there. small ways.

We have interests,

Don't let us get at cross-purposes in

So far as Britain and Russia are concerned, how

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would it do for you to have ninety percent predominance in Rumania, for us to have ninety percent of say in Greece and go fifty-fifty about Yugoslavia?" While Pavlov was translating this into Russian, the British Prime Mini ster scribbled on a half a sheet of paper:

Rumania Russia The others

90% 10%

Greece Great Britain (in accord with USA) Russia

90% 10%

Yugoslavia Magyarland

50-50% 50-50%

Bulgaria Russia The others

75% 25%

When Pavlov finished translating, across to the Russian dictator.

Churchill slid the paper

A pregnant pause ensued.

Stalin

took up a blue pencil and made a large tick upon Churchill's half sheet of paper.

He pushed it back across the table.

longer silence followed.

An even

The paper lay in the middle of the

table. "Might it not be thought rather cynical," said the Britisher at length, "if it seemed we disposed of these issues, so fateful to millions of people, in such an offhand manner? paper." Stalin grinned.

"No, you keep it, " he said.

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Let's burn the

71.

A few days later, Sunday, October 15th. A radiant sun blessed the Magyar capital. Imre and Ian were blissfully unaware of the presence of either Skorzeny or of the piece of paper Churchill slid across the table to Stalin a week earlier. Imre left the townhouse at 8:30 in the morning using the underground passage through the cellar.

He had an appointment

with Miklos Horthy, Jr., at the office of the Magyar Danube Shipping Company on the banks of the Danube across the river. The young Chabaffy was excited because they were going to meet an envoy of the Yugoslav partisans. the Chain Bridge, he entered the buidling at 8:52 precisely.

After walking across

large portals of the office

Miklos arrived at 8:55 and parked

his car in front of the building.

He didn't take any chances. He

had brought a truckload of Magyar soldiers to guard him.

They

parked the truck immediately behind young Horthy' scar. At 9:00 a.m. the Yugoslav envoy arrived. At 9:07, Skorzeny arrived and parked his car immediately in front of Miklos' car. On Saturday,

A fast getaway was now impossible.

the day before,

several Gestapo agents had

taken rooms in the boarding house immediately above the office where Imre and Miklos conferred wi th the Yugoslav partisan. At 9:15,

two other Gestapo agents were due to enter the

building and arrest the three at the meeting. arrest only two.

They were going to

The parti san leader was also a Gestapo agent. -228-

As he got out of his car, 5korzeny noticed a movement under the canvas of the Magyar army truck which escorted young Horthy to the meeting. soldiers.

Upon closer observation he could see three Magyar

He walked back to his car, pretending to look for some

mechanical defect under the hood.

He also noticed two others

walking ln the park along the Danube, close to the building. At 9:15, exactly according to plan, the two Gestapo agents approached the building. All the stars of the drama were present.

The curtain rose

on:

ACT ONE Two agents were about to enter the building. The first agent entered the building unharmed. The second, Captain otto Klages, an 55 Hauptsturmfuhrer and chief of the German security forces in Budapest was shot in the stomach with a burst of fire from the Army truck. He fell mortally wounded onto the pavement. The two Magyar officers stopped strolling along the river bank, came up running at a double, with pistols in their hands and began shooting. 5korzeny ducked behind his Mercedes. A moment later another burst of fire made a sieve out of the door of his car which he had left open. At the first burst of fire, 5korzeny's two aides ran up to help him. One was hit in the thigh but remained standing. ACT TWO 5korzey blew his whistle. This was the signal for his special commandos, many of them veterans of the Mussolini hijacking, to swing into action.

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The three Magyar soldiers continued to pepper Skorzeny's Mercedes with fire. The three Nazi commandos didn't feel too comfortable. Occasionally, they peeped their heads out for a fraction of a second to return the Magyars' fire. But there was no question about it, they were pinned down. The people strolling along the embankment keeping at a safe distance were beginning to wonder what was going on. ACT THREE The German commandos finally arrived on the scene. The first platoon stopped on the corner of the street to block any possible escape. The second platoon attacked the truck with a burst of fire, and the three Magyar officers were forced to retreat into the main entrance of the neighboring office building. The shooting suddenly ceased. Skorzeny and his two aides tried to drag the two wounded Germans into the building next to the offices of the Magyar Danube Shipping Company. The Magyar troops inside were ready to charge out of the building in force. The commander of the second platoon threw a grenade at the entrance. The two wings of the large oak doors collapsed. Several chunks of marble piled on top of them. When the smoke cleared Skorzeny could see that the entrance to the building was firmly blocked. ACT FOUR The Gestapo agents came out of the Shipping Company building, dragging four prisoners with them. The Yugoslav "partisan," an indignant Felix Bornemissza, the distinguished looking president of the Magyar Danube Shipping Company were escorted out on foot, but Imre and Miklos were carried out bundled in two large oriental carpets. The Gestapo agents had a difficult time lugging their two baggages along because Imre and Miklos were wriggling violently. They were forced to drop the carpets and tie them up tightly with ropes.

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The commandos unceremoniously threw the two bundles on a truck, which sped away at top speed. ACT FIVE Skorzeny jumped into the staff car of his secondin-command, Captain Folkersam, and followed the speeding truck. As he was rounding the street corner, three platoons of Magyar infantry came into view. Skorzeny had to stop them to avoid a pitched battle between them and his commandos still in front of the shipping company offices. He had to give his commandos the time to get away. Skorzeny thought furiously. He decided only a bold bluff would do. He ordered his driver to stop. He jumped out of his car and rushed towards the officer leading the troops. "Have your men halt! II he cried in German. II There is terrible confusion back there! I can't make out what's going on! In your place I would go there alone to reconnoitre! II Skorzeny was lucky. The Magyar officer understood German. IIHalt!1I

He ordered,

Skorzeny's bluff succeeded. The officer looked at Skorzeny perplexedly because he was dressed in a civilian suit, not in his SS major's uniform. Vital seconds ticked by. The German was thinking hard again how to gain another minute. He figure that was all he needed for his commandos to climb back into their trucks. The Magyar officer just stood there. Skorzeny barked at him, III'm in a big hurry! II and then turned on his heels and slowly walked back to his car. The minute he needed was over. He slammed

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the door of the car and told his driver to take him to the airport. 9:26 - Exit Skorzeny. EPILOGUE When he got there Miklos and Imre were already hustled aboard the plane bound for Vienna. ]

72. Before leaving the townhouse on the citadel, one of the last words Imre said to Ian was:

"Listen to the radio for an impor-

tant announcement." Imre, morning.

Ian, Liza and Jakab had eaten a hasty breakfast that Imre recounted the news of rapidly accelerating events.

Clearly, the present situation could not be prolonged indefinitely. Two mighty forces were on a collision course: and German aggression,

Russian imperialism

and Magyarland was caught right in the

middle. I/Our own partisan activities are bearing fruit," remarked Imre.

"Only this week I got a report that we are near Szigetvar

across the Danube and in the last five weeks we have destroyed seven German locomotives, seventy-one railway cars, one bridge, two German trucks,

exploded half a dozen German troop trains,

killed nearly four hundred Germans and wounded another four hundred.

We also captured nearly three hundred."

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Ian now understood why he had scarcely seen Imre during the summer. "And the regent finally decided to negotiate with the Russians," added Imre,

putting on some butter on his toast.

"He

sent a three man delegation to Moscow which has been there since te first of this month.

The good news is that an armistice agree-

ment was signed last Wednesday ... " "Great news!"

shouted

Ian happily.

"And the day before

yesterday we sent another delegation to establish contact with Marshal Malinovski near the southern border." "We are finally doing it," said Liza sipping her tea. "Horthy is getting together some of the top Magyar generals; that is,

the few he can trust," continued Imre.

"They'llorgan-

ize an orderly troop withdrawal towards Budapest so we can defend ourselves against the German counter-measures which are sure to come." "The police have been alerted too," added Jakab.

"We are

going to seal off the entire citadel in the next few hours to prevent the Putsch the Nazis are surely planning. " I an was happy ending.

ecstatic.

Events were finally moving towards a

The Russian liberators were less than two hundred

kilometers away and the government had at last decided the time had come to cast the die and dare to throw in Magyarland's lot with the Allies despite the German occupation. Another source of joy for Ian was that Liza and Jakab had become engaged a few days earlier and were planning a quiet pri-

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vate ceremony later this month.

Liza had not returned to Komlo

after meeting Jakab because they had been inseparable ever since. The Chabaffy twins were safely ensconsed in the country and their mother remained in hiding around Miskolc. The only dark cloud in Ian's life was lack of news from Maria. When Imre left followed immediately by Jakab who boldly used the front entrance to the house, Ian tuned into the BBC and listened to the European news broadcasts most of the morning. "Some more good news!" he shouted as he found Liza in the kitchen,

talking with Juliska about lunch.

just heard?

"Do you know what I

The British troops entered Athens, and the Russians

and Yugoslavs have encircled the German troops in Belgrade!" "Gh my God," wailed Juliska. steps.

"The war will be at our door-

It's getting harder and harder to get any decent food.

don't know what we'd do without Captain Bondi who brings us provisions daily." Ian brought the radio set into the dining room during lunch with Liza.

Juliska served them while complaining about the pov-

erty of the menu. Budapest.

Their ears were glued to the news of Radio

At one o'clock the music stopped; then the national

anthem was played. "Juliska,

come in,"

Ian shouted towards the kitchen.

invited her to sit with them and listen to the radio. The announcer said, "We are going to read a proclamation by His Serenity Miklos Horthy, our regent."

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Adjusting her skirt, Juliska sat down.

Liza moved her chair

closer as Ian moved the dial a fraction.

[ Ever since the will of the nation put me at the helm of the country, the most important aim of the Magyar foreign pOlicy was, through peaceful revision, to repair at least partly, the injustices of the 1920 peace treaty. Our hopes in the League of Nations in this regard remained unfulfilled. ] "Papi tried in Geneva," remarked Ian. "Be quiet,1I shushed Liza. [ At the time of the beginning of the new world crisis, Magyarland was not led by a desire to acquire new territories. We had no aggressive intentions to acquire new territories. We had no aggressive intentions against the Republic of Czechoslovakia and Magyarland didn't wish to regain territories taken from her by war. We entered Bacska province only after the collapse of Yugoslavia, and at that time, in order to defend the Magyars Iiving there. We accepted the peaceful decision of the Axis powers on the eastern territories, mostly Transylvania, taken from us in 1918 by Rumania. Magyarland was forced into war against the Allies by German pressure, which weighed upon us because of our geographical situation. But even then we were not guided by an ambition to increase our power and had no intention to snatch as much as one square meter of territory from anybody. Today it is obvious to any sober minded person that the German Reich has lost the war ... ] "

Give it to them! II shouted I an.

IIpsst,1I from Liza. [ All governments responsible for the destiny of their countries must draw the necessary conclusions from this

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fact. A great German statesman Bismarck once said, 'No nation should sacrifice itself on the altar of an alliance. ' conscious of my historic responsibilities I have the obligation to take every step to avoid further unnecessary bloodshed. A nation would lose the respect of the world's public opinion if it allowed the soil inherited from its forefathers to be turned into a theatre of rearguard action in a war already lost, defending foreign interests out of serf-like spirit. ] "You can say that again!" exclaimed Liza who gradually got more and more excited.

[ with grief I'm forced to state that the German Reich on its part violated the loyalty of an ally toward our country a long time ago. For a considerable time it has thrown more and more Magyar troops into a war outside the frontiers of the country against my wish and my will. In March this year the Fuhrer of the German Reich however invited me to negotiate the withdrawal of Magyar troops at my insistent demand. When I was his guest he informed me that Magyarland would be occupied by German forces, and he ordered this to be carried out in the face of my protests while forcibly retaining me at schloss Klesheim near Salzburg. Simultaneously German political police invaded the country and arrested many Magyar citizens as well as the Prime Minister of my government then in office "] Ian was jubilant.

"Finally the truth is broadcast to mil-

lions," he said. "Bravo!" Liza cried.

[ After having received a firm promise from the Fuhrer of the German Reich that he would cancel all acts that violated and restricted Magyarland's sovereignity if I

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would appoint a government which would enjoy the confidence of the Germans, I did appoint the Quisling government. But the Germans didn't keep their promise. Under the umbrella of German occupation the Gestapo handled the Jewish question in a way that is incompatible with the demands of humanity. When the war front moved near our frontiers, and even broke through our frontiers, the Germans repeatedly promised help. Once again they failed to keep their promises. ] "So true!" murmured Liza. [ During their retreat they turned our country's sovereign territory into a theatre of looting and destruction. All these were actions contrary to an ally's loyalty. They were crowned by an act of open provocation when Lieutenant General Bakay, a corps commander was treacherously attacked while he was in the process of establishing and maintaining order in the interior of Budapest. Exploiting the bad visibility of a foggy October morning, Gestapo agents kidnapped him as he was getting out of his car in front of his house. After this, German aircraft dropped leaflets against the government in office. I have received reliable information that troops friendly to Germans were going to attempt forcibly to create apolitical upheaval to overthrow the legal Magyar government appointed by me so they could put their own leader into power, all for the purpose of turning our country into a theatre of rear-guard actions for the Reich. ] "Down with them!" shouted Ian. "Quiet, please," said Liza urgently. [ I decided to safeguard Magyarland's honor. I have decided to do this out of respect for our former ally. I do this despite the fact that this ally, instead of supplying the military assistance it had promised, meant to rob the Magyar nation of its greatest treasure: its freedom and its independence. ]

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"Now!" shouted I an and Liza in unison. [ I have informed the representative of the German Reich that we were about to conclude a military armistice wi th our previous enemies and cease all hostilities against them. ] Ian jumped up and turned on the volume one notch higher. [ Trusting your love of truth, I hope to secure with your agreement, the continuity of our nation's life and the realization of our peaceful aims. ] Ian and Liza could barely contain themselves. [ Commanders of the Magyar army have received corresponding orders from me personally. Accordingly the troops, loyal to their oaths and following the order of the day, issued simultaneously, must obey the commanders appointed by me. I appeal to every honest Magyar to follow me on the path bent with sacrifices. It will lead to Magyarland's salvation!" ] Ian rushed over to Liza and embraced her, then to Juliska and embraced her too. "What is the world coming to," Juliska moaned,

"What is

going to happen to my Vince?" "Everything will be all right," Ian assured her. "Sani ty at last," said Liza. months of spoon-fed lies, "Juliska!

"After all the years and

we have finally heard the truth."

Bring a bottle of wine."

"Yes, this calls for celebration," agreed Liza. "At last!" sighed Ian.

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II I I 11 call up Jakab,

perhaps I can get some more news, II

declared Liza and went into the drawing room. A few moments later she came back. "He is not at headquarters,

she told Ian.

IIHe must be busy, II replied Ian, IIcan you imagine how busy he is!

The entire Budapest police force must be on the alert! II

Juliska brought in a bottle of Tokay. IIJoin us for a toast, "I really ...

,11

suggeseted Ian.

said Juliska modestly.

"Please do! II said Ian.

"We are free at last! II

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