The Shield: a novel (21 page)

After waiting for more than thirty minutes Eichmann decided to use the bathroom. It was a complete surprise. There were polished marble mosaic floors, granite counter tops and gilded or maybe solid gold, fixtures - a room worthy of Goering set up for men of his own rank and below, and on a temporary base yet. Incredible. He used the toilet, which flushed by itself when he was done. The faucet, he discovered after some exploration, dispensed warm water when he held his hands under it. By the time he was invited into the inner office an hour later, the waiting room was empty and his mood was subdued. He had to report on his experience here in detail and he did his best to commit everything to memory, especially the self flushing toilet and smart faucet. He still hadn’t decided how to interpret the opulent and luxurious amenities. He would have liked to tell himself that these were clear signs of decadence, like the Ottomans or the Colonial British. There was something that wouldn’t let him accept this interpretation. He decided to reserve his opinion until after the meeting with Colonel Rakhman.

Finally the sergeant told him that the colonel was ready for him and led him into the inner sanctum. This room was big and matched the bathroom in its opulence. A stocky man in his late thirties sat behind an intricately carved desk.

“Hail Hitler.” Eichmann clicked his heels in the Nazi salute.

“
Herr Eichmann, I am very pleased to see you”. Hirshson shook the Nazi’s hand ignoring the salute. “Let’s make ourselves comfortable,” he said, gesturing at the leather sofa and armchairs arranged around a low table. Without apologizing for the wait, he politely inquired about Eichmann’s trip to Brindisi. Eichmann was neither surprised nor annoyed. This was behavior he expected from superiors.

After a few minutes of polite chitchat, Hirshson got down to business. “Please describe to me the problems you claim you are having with our Jews.”

“Well, Colonel, we are doing our best to round them up for transport to Brindisi. Since you limit the amount of force we can use, it is difficult to persuade them to come. You will either have to allow us to use somewhat more effective means of persuasion” - Eichmann smiled thinking of what he would do to the Jews if the colonel agreed - “or be prepared for a very slow trickle coming in for treatment. I also have to warn you that the Fuehrer’s patience is running out. If the Jews are not gone soon, he may decide to restart our own treatment program.”

“
Dear Adolph - may I call you Adolph? There's really no need to get all worked up about the slow progress. As you can see, we are just getting ready to receive the Jews. If the Fuehrer decides to take care of them himself or use what you call ‘more effective means of persuasion’, I will destroy Munich. It'll be the Fuehrer’s decision. Please remind him of our determination when you have an opportunity.

“
On the other hand, I do understand your frustration. We are also impatient to finish this business. How about we send a large group of our agents, pretending to be Palestinian Jews, to persuade their leadership that this idea of moving to Palestine is the best thing that happened to them since Moses.” Hirshson was waiting with a wolfish smile for the Nazi to swallow the bait – It would be great if he thought that the whole idea was his to begin with. It would be enough if Eichmann just thought that he improved it and made it workable – in either case, he would promote it enthusiastically with his superiors.

“
Dear Colonel Rakhman, the basic idea is good, but its success will depend on your agents being fluent in the local Jewish languages, mostly Yiddish, fluent in Hebrew, and able to tell the Jews a believable story.”

“
Ah, I knew you were the man to ask!” The Colonel was beaming at Eichmann. “Your advice is invaluable! Assuming we can find people with the necessary skills, what kind of a story do you think would work?”

Eichmann was thinking as fast as he knew how: “As you know, every good lie has to have bases in truth to be believable. Also, as our friend Goebbels says, the bigger the lie and the more often it's repeated the larger numbers of people believe it. I would tell the Jews the truth, but turn it on
its head: tell them that the Caliphate is an invention of the Palestinians who, with the support of the Brits, fooled the Reich into giving up the Jews.”

“
I am somewhat dubious about that.” The Colonel sipped some orange juice “The Caliphate story is difficult to believe, unless, of course, you had personal experience like you did. It is even more difficult to believe that the Third Reich would be deceived by such a story.”

Eichmann felt confident enough to now pour himself some juice as well. “You are probably right. We can dilute the story somewhat to make it more believable.”

They discussed the details for a while, finally arriving at a mutually agreed cover story.

“
We'll be sending our agents to as many Jewish communities as possible. They will leave as soon as I get word from you that they have safe passage. All of them will carry documents issued by the Jewish Yishuv in Palestine. To enable your people to identify them as agents and citizens of the Caliphate the documents will look like this one,” the Colonel showed Eichmann a plastic card with his name and photograph. “The number on the Palestinian ID will be the same as the citizen’s real ID number – just in case you need to cross check with us
.

“
These agents will have free travel rights between this port and every Jewish community.”

Eichmann smiled: “You should also issue these ID cards, in German, to some of the real Jews, and send them back to their communities. They will be the most effective means of luring the rest of them.”

“Herr Eichmann,” Hirshson smiled an almost genuine smile, “You are a genius. We will definitely follow your advice.”

Eichmann hesitated and decided this was a good time to obtain the information Himmler wanted “Your facilities here are very comfortable and look quite permanent. I wish I could have an office like this.”

Hirshson smiled: “Yes, I like comfort and see no reason to deny it to myself or my subordinates even in a temporary base like this one. We believe that a well-rested, well-fed and healthy soldier can be a formidable fighter. He has to be well-trained, dedicated and armed – and you can trust me that we take care of all these aspects of a good army.”

“
So you don’t think that all this makes you soft?”

Hirshson smiled a wolfish smile: “I would advise you to ask our enemies about how soft we are. But they are all dead, so you will have to take my word for it.”

Eichmann was at the point in this conversation where he could ask his question without it sounding strange. “You must have had some fierce battles. Only a short time ago Palestine was under British rule with a sizable garrison and hundreds of thousands of Jews to help them against you. I am curious how you could manage against such odds”

Hirshson did not answer immediately. He kept looking at Eichmann until the German lowered his eyes. Only
then did Hirshson recite the answer he was instructed to give: “Dear Colonel, if the Great Mufti of Jerusalem thought that you need this information he would have already given it to you. It is not my place to override the Caliph’s cousin’s decisions.”

Hirshson got up, signaling the end of the interview. As the Colonel was opening the door for his guest to leave the sergeant at the secretary’s desk jumped up to salute: “Sir,” he started in Arabic.

“Please speak German. It is polite to do so in the presence of our esteemed guest,” the Colonel was smiling.

“
Yes Sir. Captain Gamal reports that he just caught an Italian trying to infiltrate the compound to steal whatever he could. Shall we administer the regular punishment?”

“
Did the Italian know what the punishment was going to be before he infiltrated?”

“
Sir, there are clear signs in several languages outside the fence.”

“
Good. Please ask Gamal to make certain the man is not a spy. If he is just a thief, Gamal should round up his family and any friends he can find and administer the punishment in front of them. Then let everybody go. If he is a spy, tell Gamal to wait for me. We shall do the usual.”

“
What is the punishment?” inquired Eichmann.

“
Oh, it’s prescribed by Sharia: We cut of his left hand for a first offense. It is done in public with a sharp ax. His friends and family will be there to comfort him and treat him afterward. The Caliph’s law is merciful. Of course, if he is a spy, we will interrogate him and then cut out his tongue and eyes as is prescribed by law. We are merciful and very infrequently kill our prisoners.”

After returning to his car Eichmann gave orders to drive as fast as possible to Rome where a Lufthansa plane was waiting to take him to Berlin. He needed to report to Himmler on this first face to face encounter with the Caliph’s military. He also had to warn his superiors that Munich would be in danger if the Caliph was displeased. It was depressing, on the other hand he will probably get to see Hitler again – to report about the Grand Mufti – and that might lead to a promotion. He had to think for a while. It was of par
amount importance to present the information about the Mufti as being the result of his great interrogation and diplomatic skills.

***

The weather was nice and hot, not unusual for mid-July in Vilnius. Jacob and Zalman worked side by side at the cabinetmaking shop. Their supervisor, a middle aged German sergeant, was sitting outside smoking a cigarette and reading a newspaper. The sergeant demanded they do a good job of the repairs they were working on but otherwise treated them well. The workshop was busy restoring furniture brought by German officers from conquered Soviet territories. Most were high quality antiques from czarist times needing restoration after years of abuse as office furnishing. Both Jacob and, to a lesser extent, Zalman, were good with their hands. Both were trained cabinetmakers, though Zalman never used his training and Jacob used it only during the short time he ran his late father’s business before it was taken over by the Germans. They found this job and were doing well enough to be made foremen – each with a small crew - by the sergeant.

“
What do you make of the announcement this morning?” Zalman asked his friend. He was referring to the notices posted everywhere in the Ghetto, announcing the commencement of transports to Palestine.

“
I almost believe them,” Jacob responded, “though it’s not clear to me how they can transport us to Palestine while they’re fighting the British. The incentive they offer is irresistible. I don’t like it. On the other hand, Günter told me that some of the smaller ghettos in Poland were emptied. According to his source, another Communist that works for the German railways, they were transported to southern Italy.”

“
You believe the stories our sergeant tells? He knows as little as we do and is even more afraid for his life – having been a member of the Communist party doesn’t give him much standing here.”

“
On the other hand, he’s never lied to us and his information about new repressions has always been accurate. If it wasn’t for him, we wouldn’t be able to smuggle food into the ghetto. He’s warned us that the Gestapo was coming so we could hide. Also, he's not the only former Communist – There were more than 7 million of them in Germany before Hitler took over, so I believe his story,” Jacob responded. “If they start reducing the number of rations for the ghetto by the number of people who are supposed to leave each day for Palestine, and if people don't actually leave, how long do you think it will take for all of us to starve? I believe they'll starve us as the notice said – I’m surprised they haven’t done it already.”

“
Well, I was considering going to the forest,” Zalman said quietly, “but with a wife and baby I can’t go anywhere. My in-laws can’t go to the forest either and my parents will resist going anywhere. Maybe if they hear that your family is going, they will decide to join.”

“
I don’t think I’ll go to the forest,” Jacob said looking around. “Though both my mother and sister are in good health, the forest with all the bandits is not a place for an old woman and a teenage girl. I’m thinking of volunteering for the first train on Monday next week. We don’t even have enough possessions to fill the suitcase per person that we’re allowed, so moving will be easy. The only thing that worries me is that according to Günter’s friend we will be transported in cattle cars. They’ll supposedly supply water and give us food for the journey, but it’s not going to be comfortable. I wish we had more information from a trustworthy source.  I'm going to speak to my uncle today. I hope to persuade him and his family to join us. I’m hoping they’ll treat the first transports well – if only to encourage people to volunteer.”

Zalman was surprised: “You plan on going with the first train? That’s less than two weeks away! I don’t think I can make a decision fast enough to join you.”

***

Commander Thompson was about to salute, but remembered in time that Churchill did not like formalities at his official country residence - the Chequers mansion.

“Sir, we have a request from the Palestinian representative to allow their airplane to land at Croydon. They want to transport several people to add to their mission here. They will be bringing equipment and requested full diplomatic immunity for both the personnel and equipment.”