Iranov gestured and one of his lieutenants handed out mimeographed copies of the demands.
“Oof, oof, oof,” Rublev of the GRU was complaining before he had finished half of the first page.
General Iranov was right. It was far worse than any of them had been imagining.
CHAPTER 71
The original demands read inside the Kremlin that afternoon were censored severely before their general release to the public. As they subsequently appeared in major newspapers, the demands of Dachau Two were as follows:
Yes, the Jewish nation has finally learned the sad and tragic lessons of our fathers—“Yea, when a man rises up to strike you, rise up and strike him down first.”
This was critical dogma we should have learned in ancient Rome, when the legions destroyed and desecrated our land, exiling us, forcing us to live in the desert for the first time.
It was a sad lesson we should have learned in Spain during the Inquisition. Or in Poland. Or in the Russian Pale.
But most of all, this was an object lesson that should have consumed each and every Jew with a burning hatred for you after the fires of Dachau, Treblinka, Mauthausen, Auschwitz, Belsen, Ravensbruck, Buchenwald, Maidanek, and Riga consumed the bodies of our mothers, our fathers, our sisters and brothers, our precious little babies.
This holocaust, this attempted extermination of an entire race, horrified and fascinated even you. Yet you could not begin to understand or, more important, to feel what it all meant.
As of July 18, however, we believe it will be seen that the Jews have finally learned the lesson of history.
It will be seen by all that we have shed our “sheep-to-slaughter mentality and traditions.”
The world must now learn to reckon with us on its own brutish level. The docile, acquiescent, “moral” Jew has undergone a metamorphosis. A new, stronger breed of Jew has emerged. The Warrior Jew. Ready to combat racist hatred with force, with power, with our lives.
This has become necessary because Gentile hatred of Jews has not diminished since the fall of Hitler and Nazi Germany.
Rather, all over the world, there has been a subtle Nazi rebirth—a rebirth of vicious anti-Semitism.
Civilized countries have knowingly permitted former Nazi war criminals to live and prosper within their borders. Former SS officers have become influential members of the Austrian Parliament, the German Bundestag, the United States House of Representatives. In Germany alone, more than seven million Nazi criminals remain unpunished. Of the men and women who once staffed Dachau Konzentrationslager, to take just one example, only 140 of more than seven thousand have ever been brought to justice.
Note this well.
The Nazis did not suddenly appear in 1933, then disappear in 1945. Any man or woman who can think at all must know that.
The Nazis are ever with us.
On September 2, 1972, the Federation of West Germany was informed by Rabbi Dr. Michael Ben-Iban that heavily armed bands of PLO terrorists were preparing to attack the Israeli Athletes at the Munich Olympics. Germany, however, did nothing to stop these murderers. Furthermore, the West German government subsequently participated in the “staged” hijacking of a Lufthansa 727 airliner at Zagreb. During this charade, the surviving fellaheen who had participated in the Munich massacre were released back to the PLO.
For these and innumerable other crimes against all Jews, the German people must now pay a fair penalty, a long overdue penalty.
As symbolic payment for Germany’s injustices, we demand:
THE GERMAN AND AUSTRIAN GOVERNMENTS MUST IMMEDIATELY MUST IMMEDIATELY EXECUTE THE FOLLOWING NAZI CRIMINALS CURRENTLY LIVING IN THEIR RESPECTIVE COUNTRIES.
1. Friedrich Peter—present chairman of the Austrian Freedom Party, this former commander of the infamous SS “Murder Brigade” took part in massacres of civilians resulting in approximately 20,000 deaths.
2. Hermine Braunsteiner—the notorious murderess of Majcenek, who is now supposedly standing trial in Désseldorf.
3. Dr. Josef Muller—a former high-ranking Gestapo officer, Muller is presently the director of a high school in Kelkheim, Germany.
4. Hans Gogl—former officer in the Mauthausen concentration camp. Gogl was responsible for the murder of thousands of Jews as well as airmen from the Royal Dutch Air Force.
5. Manfred Roeder—a modern-day advocate of Adolf Hitler’s plan to destroy the Jews, Roeder practices this art where it is easiest—in Austria. Although brought to trial in 1963, Roeder has never spent a single day in jail.
More facts!
While Germany and Austria continue to participate in thinly veiled anti-Jewish activity, so does a more subtle offender—the United States of America.
Let it be known by the world, therefore, that, since 1945, the United States has pursued a policy of nonprosecution of Nazi war criminals in the Americas. Of protection of neo-Nazi organizations. Of racial discrimination against Jews.
So be it. We have learned to expect as much from the Gentile countries of the world.
What we will not allow, however, is American participation in the economic strangulation of Israel.
American corporations have religiously followed the Arab boycott. American corporations have kept Jews from top managerial posts at Arab direction. American corporations have refused to deal with Israeli firms such as Clal Israel, Israel Discount Bank, Ampal Development, Israel Paper. …
EXXON CORPORATION, PEPSICO, ITT, CHRYSLER MOTOR COMPANY, MOBIL CORPORATION, AND OTHERS MUST THEREFORE MAKE PAYMENT OF TEN MILLION DOLLARS EACH TO THE STATE OF ISRAEL. … ONCE AGAIN, THIS PAYMENT OF MONEY FOR LIVES IS SYMBOLIC, A TOKEN THAT IS FAR BELOW THE COST OF THE ACTUAL DAMAGE INCURRED.
And finally, we turn our attention to our hosts and comrades, the self-acclaimed “leaders of the people’s revolution,” the Soviet Union.
If “Mother Russia” was ever a mother to the Jew, then may God make us all orphans.
From our earliest experiences with the Russian people we have been treated to violent hatred, pogroms, discrimination, physical and spiritual murder. Inside Russia, Jews have never been allowed to own land. A Russian Jew wishing to return to his homeland of Israel must request “permission.” However, the mere act of requesting an exit visa means loss of job and livelihood, which is in itself a crime under Soviet Law.
Russian Jews are stripped of all their human rights. This includes constant harassment by Soviet police; separation from family; eviction from their homes; arrest and imprisonment in Siberian corrective-labor camps for unspecified “anti-Soviet activities.”
We will no longer tolerate the imprisonment of Jews for practicing Judaism, however. We will no longer tolerate the denial to Russian Jews of their right to leave Russia and live in Israel.
WE THEREFORE DEMAND THAT THE SOVIET UNION RELEASE IMMEDIATELY THE FOLLOWING JEWISH POLITICAL PRISONERS.
1. Anatold Altman—a simple, honest engraver now serving ten years in a Siberian labor prison.
2. Hillel Butman—lawyer and engineer, serving ten years under strict regime for anti-Soviet activities.
3. Mark Dimshitz—pilot, serving fifteen years for anti-Soviet activities.
4. Arye Khnokh—electrician, serving seven years for anti-Soviet activities.
5. Edward Kuznetsov—translator, serving fifteen years under “specially” strict regime in a labor camp for anti-Soviet activities. Also accused of being a Zionist.
6. Mikhail Korenblit—dentist, serving seven years.
7. Iosif Mendelevich—student, serving twelve years.
8. Boris Penson—artist, serving ten years.
9. Israel Zalmanson—student, serving eight years under strict regime at a labor camp for anti-Soviet activities. Also accused of being a Zionist.
10. Vladamir Slepok—engineer, serving five years for hanging a banner from his Moscow apartment saying “Let us join our son in Israel.”
(The complete list of Russian Jew POWs, supposedly more than one hundred pages, was never released b
y the Novosti Press Agency.) The nations implicated in these pages have twelve hours in which to begin to comply with our just demands.
If there is no compliance after twelve hours’ time, we will begin to execute our harsh but just plan of vengeance. After twelve hours what happens inside Olympic Village is your responsibility.
THERE WILL BE NO DEADLINE EXTENSIONS BEYOND TWELVE HOURS.
In the first twelve centuries of the Olympic Games, the sacred trust was broken just once, by the Arcadian Army during the 103rd ancient Olympiad.
Now, in our century, the peace has been broken twice within ten years.
Truly, it is a sad time for all men.
May God save us all.
CHAPTER 72
Along Moscow’s broad, Leninesque boulevards—Kropotkin, Gorky, Pirogovskaya—on the lime-tree-lined plazas around Olympic Village, the shock and confusion was unprecedented.
Well-heeled tourists, athletes with their colorful sweat gear, and gray, befuddled Muscovites staggered about the avenue with half-open mouths and dazed, dark expressions.
Necks were craned severely as people searched for hidden rooftop snipers and bomb throwers.
Lovers and families were held and hugged.
Religious people sat, or knelt, and prayed for the first time in half a century on the streets of Moscow.
Pushing his way through the crowds, David watched Russian soldiers in their brown uniforms with red trim.
Troop trucks were roaring down the streets. So were bounding jeeps full of Russian officers. Some sort of correspondent sat on the lawn at Pushkin Mall, his portable Olivetti in his lap, looking at the passing crowds, typing a sentence, looking at the people again. For some reason, David felt an urge to go over and punch some sense of dignity into the man.
Everyone was studying everyone else in the crowds, he noticed. How could this be happening to me was on at least every other face that passed him.
At 2:55 P.M., with swarms of unstrung, war-weary tourists streaming into Sheremetyevo Airports I and II, Aeroflot Flight #101 majestically burst into flames and black billowing smoke clouds where it sat on the crowded tarmac.
The nose blew five hundred feet out onto the runway. The wings flew off. Several other nearby jetliners caught fire.
The planes were empty at 2:55.
Moments later, more than three hundred people would have been boarding the Olympic Special scheduled to fly to Kennedy Airport in New York.
A stern warning from the Dachau group was left in communiqués at both air terminals.
“NO ONE IS TO LEAVE THESE OLYMPICS UNTIL THE DEMANDS OF DACHAU TWO HAVE BEEN SUCCESSFULLY NEGOTIATED. NO ONE!
IF A SINGLE PLANE TAKES OFF, HUNDREDS OF LIVES MAY BE LOST. THIS IS A FINAL WARNING.”
Gary Weinstein, meanwhile, was feeling somewhat like a teenage hell-raiser back in his hometown of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
Dangling his long, skinny legs, he sat on a green metal children’s swing in Marx Plaza. Weinstein calmly watched the unending procession of saris, dashikis, Levi’s, drab Russian suits and dresses, and very frightened faces.
When Colonel Alexander Belov and General Iranov finally appeared on the Security Headquarters front steps, the Engineer pressed a wallet-sized detonator inside his trouser pocket. Not fifteen feet from Soviet Russia’s top secret policeman, a duffel bag planted beneath the bronze figure of a heroic farmer blew the heavy statue fifty feet into the air. It was the first time Gary Weinstein had actually watched his own handiwork, and he was momentarily pleased.
Both Belov and Iranov were kissing the pavement. Both had a completely new awareness of the seriousness of their situation.
At 6:00 P.M., a blue-and-white Russian maintenance truck rode very cautiously down a side street that abutted the northwest corner of Olympic Village.
The truck swerved onto a parking apron in front of Numbers 110-125.
First Alix, then the Führer stepped out of the van. They were immediately approached by Russian soldiers with Kalashnikov assault rifles raised.
These particular soldiers, however, were the Architect, the Medic, the Dentist, and the Weapons Expert.
“If you are frightened and very unsure of yourself,” the leader of Dachau Two whispered to Alix, “then you are exactly the same as me. Believe me, though, the large numbers of police and other officials begin to work for us from now on. These people are confident they are trained for every kind of emergency, and that also works in our favor.”
Alix watched as the others began to filter onto the small, important street.
She saw the Engineer, Housewife, and Lawyer. They were all indistinguishable from the Russian security force. Some of them were actually checking identifications themselves.
“You must be a truly great actress for the rest of this day,” the Führer was whispering to Alix. “You must trust me.”
They all began to walk in the direction of Olympic Village.
CHAPTER 73
Having left Harry Callaghan and the rest of the American intelligence people in a hopeless strategy session, and feeling unbelievably frightened and confused now, David reeled through the swelling crowds.
His ears were full of the insistent wailing of the police and ambulance sirens. David’s senses were offended by the awful, hospital-emergency-room ambience.
Walking across a flat, grassy plain above Olympic Village, he happened upon a ragged circle of Russian grandmothers in heavy gray-and-black babushkas.
The women were leaning on their canes. They were kibbitzing like Jews, it seemed to David. The assortment of grandmothers made him think of Elena. Hello, Grandma, David said in his mind. How are you, Elena? You understood what was going to happen—you and Nick did—and you were right. An isolated cell of your Jewish defense network got out of control. A few Jewish defenders finally went mad!
David finally found a grassy space for himself on the hillside. His own little niche, looking down on the Village proper.
Lighting up a cigarette, he watched two Russian helicopters hover between the starkly modern athletic dormitories. A nearby observation needle pierced the Moscow skyline.
Dachau Two, David thought for the eleven-millionth time. Why Dachau Two? A prison here? A death camp? Did that make any sense at all? Did he want the Jews to have some revenge for the Holocaust?
As David’s eyes traveled down the steep, cool slope of the hill, he suddenly found his body jerking straight up again on its grassy seat.
His heart was pounding as if he’d been slapped awake during a vivid nightmare. The fear that was spreading through his body was absolutely paralyzing. David actually wanted to disbelieve his eyes.
Sauntering calmly through the hillside crowd was a man David recognized at once.
David recognized the man from glossy photos and a film shown at the Security Center meeting the day before.
Even dressed as he was, in the brown-and-red uniform of the Russian Army, David recognized this man with absolute certainty.
Colonel Ben Essmann, the Soldier, was heading down toward Olympic Village.
CHAPTER 74
David tried to watch both his own unsteady step and the back and bobbing black head of the retreating killer.
Fear clouded his vision, badly fogging the edges out of focus.
The blinding bright red sun didn’t help, and at one point the Soldier stepped right into it.
But the Israeli commando quickly appeared again. He stopped to light a black Russian cigarette, looking around casually to check his flanks.
David crouched on one bended knee as Ben Essmann’s eyes slowly crept back up the hill. The young doctor’s heart was crashing big bass drums and he’d begun to sweat uncontrollably. David’s shoulders and the back of his neck were already soaked.
Finally, the Israeli man looked straight at David. Their dark eyes met and held for no more than a split second.
Then the Soldier bolted away.
David began to run as well.
He began to screa
m at the top of his voice.
“One of the terrorists. Stop him! Stop that man!”
Some people who understood English looked around. A Russian policeman tried to grab Ben Essmann and was shot in the shoulder. A Russian soldier was wounded in the chest by the Israeli.
Then Ben Essmann was scrambling down into the nearby tunnels that ran under most of Olympic Village. He was getting away, David saw, and he just couldn’t let that happen.
Down in the tunnel David found a rushing four-lane highway lit with overhead sodium lamps. For maybe two hundred yards both David and the Soldier ran at full speed against the flow of traffic. They sprinted down the right-side lane of the highway.
Fiat and Chaika horns screamed. Brakes screeched. Moscow drivers cursed. David continued to yell out that one of the terrorists was getting away.
“You crazy asshole!” A VW van with “U.S. Olympic Team” on the side paneling just missed hitting David.
David actually felt the speeding van nip his shirttail.
“One of the terrorists!” David continued to shout and point.
Off to the side of the main road were shadowy delivery routes that snaked out beneath specific sections of the Village. Suddenly the Soldier veered off onto one of the side routes.
Not far behind, David followed the Israeli. He ran at three-quarters speed down an eerie cigar-tube tunnel. Listening to his own steps. Listening for the Soldier.
At the tunnel’s end, David had to turn right or left along a greasy wall marked with sprawling red Cyrillic letters.
Colonel Essmann suddenly stepped out of the shadows behind David.
The shock made the whole right side of David’s body go numb.
His heart jumped up into his throat and stayed there.
“Not another word, Dr. Strauss. Not a peep or you’re very gruesomely and needlessly dead.”
Without hesitation, David Strauss turned, lunged, and struck the Israeli man in the chest. A Russian service revolver went skidding off across the concrete pavement.