* Old German proverb
“Do you have weapons? Guns? Rifles?”, questioned Frank, staring at Tschistokjow.
“Not so many...”, replied the young dissident.
“Not so many?”, aped Kohlhaas. “If we work together with your organization, we want to have a perspective!”,
“Yes, you can help us in Lithuania”, answered Tschistokjow.
“This may be the next step...”, grumbled Wilden who still wanted to show his guests some more of his books.
“Next step? Forget it! You are here and you know our village, Artur. Now, we will work together and I just want to know how!”, said Frank.
Artur and his comrades looked around, apparently irritated by the angry atmosphere. For a short moment, there was silence in the library.
Tschistokjow was disturbed and stared at the ceiling.
”Now tell us about the situation in Belarus, Artur! Is it even realistic that there will ever be an uprising? Are the people really that poor and discontent?”, asked Kohlhaas.
“Yes, it is getting worse. Fewer and fewer people have no more money, understand?”, said the tall man in the trenchcoat. “In Russia are still more poor people!”
“Meanwhile, most people are poor, but nevertheless, they wouldn`t start a revolution!”, remarked Alfred sardonically.
”You have a few hundred men, right?”, commented Frank while Artur was browsing his dictionary.
“Yes, hundreds of men. In Russia, in Ukraine and in Baltic countries are members of my group”, returned Tschistokjow and slowly seemed to become angry, because of Frank`s doubts concerning the chances of his revolutionary movement.
”You want to take over the power in Belarus? With a few hundred men?”, joked Kohlhaas and grinned cynically.
Artur Tschistokjow gave him back a piercing look and snarled quietly.
“Yes, maybe...someday...I do not know what is in the future!”, he replied, shaking his head.
”Do you have supporters among the Belarusian policemen and the officials? Or even in the administration?”
“Yes, but not so many...”
Wilden`s patience snapped: “This is a first meeting. We will talk about these things...”
Frank interrupted him. “No! We talk about it now, Thorsten! You have brought them to Ivas, without asking the rest of us! This was a mortal sin! You have told everyone to keep the mouth shut and now you have been the first one, who has broken this iron rule. Your own rule!”, scolded Bäumer.
”You have called these Russians. Now they are here, in our village! And now I want our new rebel friends to tell us about their great plans to take over Belarus!”, added Frank angrily.
Wilden gasped and apparently felt a bit ashamed. His Russian guests were silent and looked around in embarrassment.
“Well, then we want to make plans for political work”, muttered Tschistokjow. “If you help us, I am very happy!”
“All right! We go to my office to talk about some things”, grumbled the village boss and waved the rest nearer.
They went upstairs and sat down in Wilden's study. Frank immediately began to ask the rebel leader from Vitebsk further questions. Finally, they deliberated till the early morning hours. Then the guests went back home.
Frank Kohlhaas could hardly sleep for the rest of the night. Questions and concerns still bored deep inside his mind. Wilden had acted more than imprudent and had endangered the entire community of Ivas. But a spoken out secret could not be catched anymore, to lock it up again in a cage. This was a fact. However, the village boss had agreed to support the small gazette of Tschistokjow`s political movement with a donation, so that the Rus could increase its circulation. Frank had urged the Russians to build up an armed group of members, as some kind of security guard. Furthermore, the Rus should infiltrate production complexes, in order to organize strikes one day.
Tschistokjow agreed and promised Frank to work on all this. For the next weeks, the Russians had planned to spread their propaganda in some bigger cities of Belarus, even in Minsk. The distribution of newspapers and leaflets on a large scale, should be done by the younger members of the organization.
Frank and Alfred, who had already fought in the Japanese war and had killed the governor of “Central Europe”, told Artur, that they would stay away from such “childish” actions. Moreover, there was a too high risk for them to be caught by the police if they walked around, spreading illegal pamphlets. Wilden promised, however, to recruit some young people in the village to distribute Artur`s propaganda material.
Apart from that, the village boss used the following days to re-establish several old contacts with some like-minded business partners and colleagues from his earlier days as an entrepreneur. These men should support him with some donations. And the results of his efforts were impressive. He “organized” several thousand Globes in only a few days. Frank, Alfred and Tschistokjow were stunned. About a dozen young men from Ivas finally joined the freedom movement and Wilden`s persuasiveness was once again successful.
Sven, the young man, who had returned with severe mutilations from Japan in the last year, led the group and seemed to be glad to have a new task which let him forget his constant depressions.
In the following weeks, the young activists from Ivas were “on duty” in the north of Belarus, where they spreaded immense quantities of propaganda material in the rural areas. The result was a hysterical outcry of the Belarusian media which reacted with hate and slander on Tschistokjow`s newest “propaganda crime”.
The heavily understaffed police in these regions did not came all too often to the sleepy villages and small towns near the northern boder. Aside from that, the newspapers and pamphlets were distributed by night, so the rebels hardly saw any cops on the dark streets of the small villages. This first action lasted until July 2033. Then Tschistokjow visited Wilden and the others again. This time, his longest and best friend, Peter Ulljewski, accompanied him to Ivas.
“We are planning a rally on 25th July with about 1000 men”, said the leader of the Rus. “In Nowopolozk, near a factory! We are preparing it since one week!”
Wilden cleared his throat. “A rally? A march through Nowopolozk? Are you insane?”
”Insane?”, asked Tschistokjow and scratched his head.
”Insane! Crazy!”, answered Alf, tapping his forehead at the Russian.
“Ah, yes! No, I`m not crazy. In Nowopolozk we have many members and the citizens there are very angry against the government. There are many factories that make machinery, and chemical plants, and there are also other factories. Most factories will be closed at the end of the year and many citizens will not have to work any longer. The factory is going to Africa, where workers are cheaper to pay. Do you understand?”
“I don`t know this city at all. However, I`ve heard that there are some large industrial centers. Maybe the largest in whole Belarus”, said Wilden, looking at the other young men from Ivas who had gathered in his living room.
”In Nowopolozk all people are angry and very poor. If the factories are closed, many people have no more Globes to live no longer”, said the Russian. His friend Peter nodded and continued to stare at the wall.
“But you can`t simply march through the streets. What`s about the police?”, asked Frank incredulously.
“The police has only one station in the city. There are not many police officers in Nowopolozk!”
Now Sven intervened, vehemently refusing Artur`s crazy plan and trying to calm the others. But the leader of the Rus remained stubborn and said: ”If we make the demonstration, television and the newspapers will report about us. It will be on TV in whole Russia, you understand?”
Frank laughed scornfully. “Something like this is nothing but madness! It will end in a disaster!”
Meanwhile, Wilden`s eyes were shining and he seemed to have a fancy for Tschistokjow`s idea. Apparently, he was under the spell of the young rebel. The Russian finally continued with further details of his plan. The rally should last only
one hour, then his supporters should leave the city and disappear on their own. Shortly afterwards, Peter Ulljewski explained that they would come to Nowopolozk with a few armed men, if more police officers showed up than expected. This all sounded like political frenzy.
After two hours, Frank and Alfred went home, shaking their heads and leaving Tschistokjow alone with the village boss and the others. They just had enough of the crazy ideas of the Russian and promised each other to stay away from all this – in any case!
“Do not think that the cops let Artur and his men just walk through the city. He is nuts!”, said Kohlhaas on the way home.
”Yes, certainly this city in northern Belarus is no fortress of state authority, but I don`t believe that we can make our enemies look like fools that easy. It all will end in riots, with deads and casualties. I don`t want to waste my health for such a nonsense”, answered Alf and rubbed his dark beard, still brooding.
”Sure! But it seems, that Artur wants to attract attention at any cost. He doesn`t care about his own life and even of the lifes of his men. Well, I should not say something. I have been not much different from him – some time ago. He is a real freak”, remarked Kohlhaas.
“Of that there is no doubt. This Russian is a true fanatic. Just like you, Frank!”, returned Alf and trudged towards the house.
”If you say so, dude! Anyhow, we will stay away from Artur`s death rally, okay?”
“I don`t intend to participate in it. Tschistokjow`s freedom movement is still far too weak for such a provocative show of force.”
The two men went into the house and talked till the evening. Kohlhaas was once more excited because of Wilden`s carelessness and Alf had to prove him right. But the village boss had already planned another surprise for them.
Two days later, Wilden convened a meeting of all the villagers in a big old barn. Some men and women were still angry, because of his behaviour, and boycotted Wilden`s showmanship by staying at home. Finally he had announced, that all young men had to go to the rally in Nowopolozk. Furthermore, he had already made an agreement with Tschistokjow, as he gruffly explained, and demanded that everybody should follow his orders without asking. Shortly afterwards, a minor riot broke out among the villagers.
“Who do you think you are, Mr. Wilden? You have just brought strangers to Ivas, what has been more than careless!”, screamed an elderly woman through the barn.
“She is right! Suddely some unfamiliar faces walked around here, and no one of us knew who these guys were. Have you lost your mind?”, added a bearded man.
John Thorphy, the Irishman, was fuming with rage and stood shortly before going for Wilden`s throat: “You have said, no one shall know anything about Ivas. And now - this shit!”
Frank and Alfred nodded, mumbling to themselves and whispering to the other villagers. The leader and founder of the community of Ivas was now confronted with the discontent of his fellows and became more and more uncertain. He had not expected so much anger.
“First, you send my son to that damn war in Japan, and now you let these Russians into our village”, he heard a stout woman shouting from the side.
“I have not sent your son to the front! He has volunteered, Mrs. Müller!”, he barked back angrily.
”Yes! You have, Wilden!”
”Quiet, everybody! You can trust me. Have I ever deliberately endangered you? Artur Tschistokjow is an outstanding man and it is furthermore time, that we start to fight here! We can`t enjoy our hermit lifes forever!”, hissed the village boss.
His daughter, standing next to Frank, shook her head: “My father is nuts, no question!”
“This rally is just crazy. What if some of us are arrested by the police or even shot down? Shall we risk our lives for a ridiculous demonstration in a dilapidated Belarusian city?”, shouted one of the villagers.
“I don`t think that it will be that dangerous. Our Russian friends have professionally planned this rally and after one hour the whole thing will be over, got it? Apart from that, the police presence in Nowopolozk won`t be strong.”
“Really? How can you know all this, Thorsten?”, complained Bäumer.
“This is no armed assault on a government building, but just a little demonstration which will attract some attention. Now calm down!”, grumbled the village boss and stroked through his gray hair.
“Anyhow, you haven`t asked us, if we want this. And if we want a cooperation with that Tschistokjow at all!”, said Steffen de Vries, the Belgian.
“Wait a minute! I bought this rotten, formerly deserted village and built it up! Do not forget that! Without me, there wouldn`t be a hiding place for all of you!”, yelled Wilden in anger.
“Let`s see how long this hiding place will still be safe”, said his daugther and looked in Frank`s direction.
“But you have not bought us!”, growled Frank. “A leader is only proper in his position, when he shows responsibility for those who are led by him. But you have ignored that rule!”
“Apart from that, you can not force us to follow you to Nowopolozk!”, said a woman, waving her hands.
”She is right, dad!”, said Julia.
Her father looked at her insultedly, pushing his thin lower lip upward. For several seconds he hesitated and was silent.
“I fed up with your crazy ideas too, Thorsten!”, hissed his wife Agatha in the background
“Well, I will go to the rally! Who is courageous enough to march through the streets of Nowopolozk for just one hour, might contact me. The others can pull up weeds in their gardens or scavenge the street in front of her houses! What has become of you? A horde of little Babbitts?”
Wilden left the barn, loudly cursing and ranting. The meeting was over.
But the former businessman was as stubborn as his new Russian friend, and it lasted only a few days until he started a new campaign to convince his fellows to come with him to the rally.
Again and again, the older man talked insistenly to the young men of Ivas and did not even stop in front of Frank and Alfred. He stressed the importance of a resistance on the spot, and advertised the Freedom Movement of the Rus as good as he could. Three long weeks, he laid siege to Frank and Alfred and finally he succeeded. The two men promised to accompany him to the demonstration in Nowopolozk. Annoyed and tired of the eternal arguing, they agreed and gave up. And now, still more young men followed the village boss to Artur`s rally. He had enforced his will with ruthless tenacity.
Rally in Nowopolozk