The Kindly Ones

I left the old town by the shortest route and with difficulty made my way through the jubilant crowd. At the Gruppenstab things were very animated. The same officer welcomed me: “Oh, it’s you again.” Finally, Brigadeführer Dr. Rasch received me. He shook my hand cordially, but his massive face remained severe. “Have a seat. What happened with Standartenführer Blobel?” He wasn’t wearing a cap and his broad domed forehead shone under the lightbulb. I briefly described Blobel’s collapse: “According to the doctor, it was due to fever and exhaustion.” His thick lips sketched a pout. He leafed through the papers on his desk and took out a sheet. “The Ic from AOK Six wrote to me to complain about his remarks. Apparently he threatened some officers from the Wehrmacht?”—“That’s an exaggeration, Brigadeführer. It is true that he was delirious, he was making incoherent remarks. But he wasn’t after anyone in particular, it was just an effect of the illness.”—“Good.” He questioned me on a few other points, then signaled that the discussion was over. “Sturmbannführer von Radetzky is already back from Lutsk, he’ll take the Standartenführer’s place until he recovers. I’ll have the orders drawn up, together with some other papers. For tonight, go find Hartl over in Personnel, he’ll see to it that you’re put up somewhere.” I left and went in search of the office of the Leiter I; one of his subordinates issued me some ration coupons. Then I went downstairs to find Höfler and Popp. In the lobby, I ran into Thomas. “Max!” He slapped me on the shoulder and I was filled with a sudden flush of joy. “I’m happy to see you here. What are you doing?” I explained to him. “And you’re staying till tomorrow? That’s wonderful. I’m going to have dinner with some people from the Abwehr, in a little restaurant, a good one, apparently. You’ll come with us. Did they find you a bunk? It’s not the Ritz, but at least you’ll have clean sheets. It’s good you didn’t arrive yesterday: it was a real mess. The Reds trashed everything before they left, and the Ukrainians came through before we arrived. We had some Jews clean up but it took hours, we didn’t get to bed till morning.” I arranged to meet him in the garden behind the building and left him. Popp was snoring in the Opel, but Höfler was playing cards with some policemen; I explained the arrangements to him and went to smoke in the garden as I waited for Thomas.