The Kindly Ones

The next day I awoke distraught, with a sad rage stuck in my head. I went to see Kehrig and closed the office door: “I’d like to talk with you, Sturmbannführer.”—“What about, Obersturmführer?”—“About the extermination order.” He raised his bird’s head and stared at me through his fine-rimmed glasses: “There is nothing to discuss, Obersturmführer. Anyhow I’m leaving.” He gestured to me to sit down. “You’re leaving? How’s that?”—“I settled it with Brigadeführer Streckenbach, with the help of a friend. I’m going back to Berlin.”—“When?”—“Soon, in a few days.”—“And your replacement?” He shrugged: “He’ll come when he comes. In the meantime, you’ll run the shop.” He stared at me again: “If you want to leave too, you know, that can be arranged. I can go see Streckenbach for you in Berlin, if you like.”—“Thank you, Sturmbannführer. But I’ll stay.”—“Why?” he asked sharply. “To end up like Häfner or Hans? To wallow in this mud?”—“You’ve stayed till now,” I said gently. He laughed dryly: “I requested my transfer at the beginning of July. In Lutsk. But you know how it is, it takes time.”—“I’ll be sorry to see you leave, Sturmbannführer.”—“Not me. What they want to do is insane. I’m not the only one who thinks so. Schulz, from Kommando Five, broke down when he learned about the Vernichtungsbefehl. He asked to leave right away, and the Obergruppenführer gave his consent.”—“You might be right. But if you leave, if Oberführer Schulz leaves, if all the honorable men leave, only the butchers will be left here, the dregs. We can’t accept that.” He made a grimace of disgust: “Because you think you can change something if you stay? You?” He shook his head. “No, Doktor, follow my advice, leave. Let the butchers take care of the butchering.” “Thank you, Sturmbannführer.” I shook his hand and left. I headed for the Gruppenstab and went to find Thomas. “Kehrig is a sissy,” he said curtly when I had reported the conversation to him. “Schulz too. We’ve had our eye on Schulz for a while now. In Lemberg, he let some condemned men go, without permission. All the better if he leaves, we don’t need men like that.” He looked at me pensively. “Of course, it’s atrocious, what they’re asking us to do. But you’ll see, we’ll get through it.” He suddenly grew even more serious. “I don’t believe it’s the right solution. It’s an emergency response, improvised because of the war. We must win this war soon; afterward, we can discuss things more calmly, and carefully think them through. More subtle opinions can be taken into account. With the war, that’s impossible.”—“Do you think it will last much longer? We were supposed to reach Moscow in five weeks. It’s been two months now and we haven’t even taken Kiev or Leningrad.”—“It’s hard to say. It’s obvious that we underestimated their industrial potential. Every time we think their reserves are exhausted, they throw fresh divisions at us. But they must be reaching the end now. And also, the Führer’s decision to send us Guderian will soon open up the front, here. As for Army Group Center, since the beginning of the month, they’ve taken four hundred thousand prisoners. And in Uman we’re also surrounding two entire armies.”