“When we bought it we thought that we would have our children here with us, but the war has destroyed our hopes.”
Frau Schneider insisted that Amelia call her by her first name, Agnete, and in order to mark them out from the other guests, she sat Max on her right-hand side, and Amelia between Herr Schneider and Martin Wulff.
“So you’ve decided to come down here and mingle with the rest of us,” Martin Wulff said.
“I’m so sorry?” she said in surprise.
“I imagine that the fact of your being aristocrats must make you think that we’re no great shakes, but we are the people who fought to make Germany great. Our Führer is dead, but we are his legacy, and one day we will make his dream come true. No, we have not been beaten yet, Frau von Schumann, or should I call you Baroness?”
“The war is over, Herr Wulff, and we’re beginning a new era, and the sooner we accept it the better,” Amelia said drily, trying to overcome the repugnance she felt toward this SS sergeant.
“You are right, we live in different times, if they had not changed then an aristocrat and his wife would never sit down at the same table as people like us. But here we are, all of us equal, living as expatriates while the Allies destroy our country. They dare to judge us, but who are they to judge anyone? Haven’t they killed the same number of people as we did? The Nuremberg trials are a new humiliation for the German people.”
Amelia controlled her urge to give him a sharp answer. She was there to get Winkler out of his hidey-hole, and to do that he would have to know that she was there. She deflected the conversation by asking Wulff about his “feats” during the war, then asked him about the success of the Café Saladin.
“I don’t think there’s a single German in Cairo who doesn’t visit your café.”
He didn’t reply to this, but instead enjoyed rubbing shoulders with fellow countrymen who wouldn’t even have looked at him before the war.
“It’s a shame that the best German scientists have seen their research frustrated and that some of them have felt the need to go to America or Russia in order to save their lives,” Amelia said, to see the effect that this would have on Wulff. And it had an effect, because he did not reply, but merely turned to look at her and then deliberately turned away to talk to the woman on his other side.
When they got home, Max seemed exhausted.
“So much vulgarity!” he exclaimed.
“I’m sorry, it comes with the job.”
“I know, I know, and I think that we’ll have earned whatever money they end up giving us. I had to listen all evening to the plans that Herr Schneider has made for the future. He told me that Nazism was not dead, that it is like a reed that grows on the banks of the Nile, which bends with the wind and is covered by water but is never uprooted, and never dies.”
“They haven’t disbanded, Max, they’re still here.”
“I don’t understand...”
“They’ve lost the war, but they’re ready to fight for a future Fourth Reich. They’ve tucked their heads in for the time being, but they will come out again when they find an opportune moment. They will return, Max, they will return. What we have to find out is if they are organized, if they are something more than they seem to be. That’s the case with Wulff, at least. Albert told me.”
“I am not a spy,” Max said, uncomfortably. “The only thing we are doing here is getting Winkler to leave his hidey-hole, if indeed he is here.”
“I know, but we can’t ignore the information we do get here, it could be useful. I want you to tell me in detail everything you heard tonight, and then I’ll write a report for Bob Robinson.”
“Is that what you did when you were spying on me?”
Amelia lowered her head in shame. Sometimes Max made her feel that she was a wicked person. It was not that he blamed her for anything that had happened in Athens, but some of his comments, such as the one he had just made, reminded her that he would never forget how much she had betrayed him.
“I’ll smoke a pipe while I tell you all the stupidities I have heard, and you can note them down for your report, alright?”
One afternoon, their neighbor from the third floor, Dr. Ram, suggested that they go to the Valley of the Kings.
“I am going to take my family, I want my children to know the history of our country. I speak and speak about this history in school every day, but the children will understand it better if it is something they can touch. I thought that maybe you would like to come with us. We will stay in Luxor, at the house of some friends of mine; they would be happy to put you up.”
Amelia was pleased with the invitation, but Max did not want to go.
“Do you think I’m in any state to go on archaeological expeditions? What am I going to do? Sit next to Fatima while you and Friedrich run from one side of the dig to the other? No, I won’t go, but I think it would be good if you and the boy went with Dr. Ram. I will stay here with Fatima. She’ll look after me.”
Friedrich said that he would not go anywhere without his father. The child had not yet gotten over the horror he had lived through, trapped with his dead mother under the rubble of their house. When they rescued him, they took him to an institution with other orphans, until they found his father. His uncles and aunts had also been killed. He had no one in the world apart from his father, and would not allow himself to be separated from him.
In the end, Max gave in for Friedrich’s sake.
At that time, he did not seem to have too many problems with Arabic, and started to be able to chat with the boys in the street, as well as go happily to Dr. Ram’s school.
Max, on the other hand, did not try very hard to learn the language, in spite of Dr. Ram’s patience: He came every afternoon to give Max and Amelia lessons. Amelia applied herself with interest to the task of learning the language, whereas Max seemed distracted and indifferent.
Amelia and Friedrich were deeply affected by their visit to Luxor, and Ram and his family did everything possible to make Max comfortable.
Dr. Ram’s brother’s house was a safe distance from the Nile, a sensible precaution in the face of the annual floods. Ram’s family made a living from agriculture, and they also helped with the archaeological expeditions that had been common in that part of Egypt before the war. The French, the English, and the Germans all competed to sift through the sands of the desert and discover its secrets and hidden treasures.
Dr. Ram’s brother put the visitors up in a cool room with a view of the Nile. Fatima had a nook in the corridor.
It was impossible that Max’s wheelchair would not get stuck in the sand, but Dr. Ram would not be defeated, and improvised a stretcher to be borne by his donkey. The baron refused to contemplate such a mode of transport at first, fearing to appear ridiculous, but Friedrich insisted so much that in the end he decided to give it a chance. And that was how he was able to get onto the road that led down to the Valley of the Kings. Dr. Ram’s nephews helped him to go down into some tombs, carrying the stretcher themselves.
After four days, they came back happy from the trip.
“Friedrich is enjoying himself here,” Max admitted.
“He eats, he plays, he studies, he interacts with other children, and he has you. Also, this sun makes him more cheerful; it’s probably snowing in Berlin at the moment.”
Amelia was upset by the lack of news about Winkler. As much as they went to have dinner at the houses of the expatriate Germans they met, no one ever mentioned any scientist who had sought refuge in Cairo. Either Winkler was not there, or else he valued his life and his father’s life too much to expose himself to risk by trying to kill Amelia.
“I think I’m wasting your money,” Amelia admitted one day to Bob Robinson.
“Don’t you believe it, Amelia, your reports are extremely helpful.”
“But they’re irrelevant!” Amelia protested.
One month later Albert came back for a few days to Cairo. He explained to Max what was happening in Europe, and Max list
ened attentively.
“Tito has created a Federal Republic in Yugoslavia, made up of Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Macedonia. The Italian monarchy may be living on borrowed time: There’s an unstoppable movement to establish a republic.”
It was not until mid-April that Frau Schneider confessed a secret to Amelia.
“I trust you, my dear, and the baron, of course. You’ve suffered so much in this terrible war. But my husband tells me that there are things I can’t tell you.”
“I trust you too, Agnete. Max always asks me to be careful as well: He says that us women talk too much. But we know who we can trust and who we cannot. I knew that you would be my friend as soon as I met you. In fact, you’re my best friend here.”
“You don’t know how happy I am to hear that! You are a great lady, and it cost Ernst a great deal to finish his studies, he worked all the time to earn money to pay the university. We were engaged at that time, and I must say that I felt envious of the carefree young men who went to class with Ernst.”
That afternoon, Amelia used all her tricks as an agent to make Frau Schneider “confess” something to her.
To begin with, she said that she and Max would both like to help contribute to the regaining of Germany’s former grandeur.
“Max has paid a high price for defending the fatherland, and now he wishes he could return to doing so. But there’s very little we can do here, of course it’s better to be here than in Berlin, exposed to the persecution that the good Germans are faced with. You can’t imagine how often they’ve interrogated Max for having been a Wehrmacht officer. They don’t even respect his physical state... ,” Amelia complained.
Frau Schneider listened with interest, and Amelia could see in her eyes the struggle that she was undergoing internally to decide whether to tell her secret.
“Oh, I’m so sorry! I’m doing everything I can to make sure... that... that our little group can count on the baron.”
“Really? What can Max and I do?
“Well, first of all you need to let me convince Ernst, and he’ll take care of the rest.”
Amelia did not insist. She had managed to make Frau Schneider speak about her little “group.” That was enough for one afternoon.
“Agnete, maybe you and Ernst would like to come have dinner with Max and me. I’d love the four of us to be able to speak calmly, in confidence. What do you think?”
“At your house?” Frau Schneider seemed enthusiastic.
“Maybe next Friday, if you don’t have any other engagements.”
“Black tie, of course, a dinner with the baron... ,” Frau Schneider stated more than asked.
Amelia managed with some difficulty to conceal her laughter, and assented.
Max got cross when Amelia told him that she had invited the Schneiders to dinner.
“Here, in our house? I don’t think that’s a good idea. And I don’t know why we have to wear dinner jackets. It’s ridiculous for us to wear black tie to a dinner with these people.”
Amelia took his hand and sat down next to him, then looked into his eyes, where she could see all his rage held with difficulty at bay.
“We had nothing to eat in Berlin. Friedrich cried at night because his stomach hurt because it was empty. We had nothing left that we could sell. Now we lack for nothing: We have a good house, abundant food, even a nursemaid. Friedrich is happy: Didn’t you see his smile when he came back from bathing in the Nile with Dr. Ram’s sons? But we have to pay for all of this, and the price we have to pay is that we need to deal with people whom you would not even have looked at in the past, as well as making ourselves visible so that Winkler can find out that I am here. I think that Frau Schneider is about to reveal to us the fact that there is a secret Nazi organization here in Egypt. I don’t know if they are just a band of nostalgic fools who gather to talk about times gone by and dream about the future, or if they are really doing anything more than that. The only way to find this out is to be part of this group, and for that I need you to help me. They like you, they are interested in you. They are astounded that Baron von Schumann might be on their side.”
“This was not what I agreed to with Albert James.”
“Yes, Max, it was a part of the bargain as well. There are no impassable barriers in the world of spying, they can all be crossed, nothing is sacred; you can’t wait for the information to get to you, you have to go out yourself and find it. We may find the Winklers via this group.”
“Or we may not, and then we will have gotten caught up in a group of fanatics.”
“You were already caught up in a group of fanatics, they ran your country and drove it to war,” Amelia said coldly.
“So I have to pay my part in earning our food, is that what you’re saying?”
“Yes,” she replied, and returned his gaze without blinking.
Amelia organized the dinner as if they were going to receive the Queen of England. She asked Bob Robinson to lend them some porcelain and some Venetian or Bohemian crystal glasses, as well as a fine tablecloth and silver cutlery.
She made Fatima put on a bonnet, and bought a dinner jacket for Max, and she and Fatima between them made one for Friedrich. She bought a black silk dinner dress and asked Bob Robinson to lend her some jewels with which to dazzle the Schneiders.
Bob arrived early that afternoon with what Amelia had asked for.
“The tablecloth belongs to the embassy, and the jewels are from the wife of a diplomat friend of mine; as for the crockery, they lent it to me as well. Don’t break a single glass or I’ll lose my job! I hope these people tell you something worth the effort.”
“I’m sure they will,” Amelia said.
“I’ll come and pick everything up tomorrow. Ah, and thank you, Baron, for taking part; Amelia was right, you are the one they are really interested in.”
On the night of the dinner, Frau Schneider wore a mauve dress and a fur stole. Amelia felt sorry to see her wearing fur when the temperature was round about twenty-five degrees Centigrade, as it was in Cairo in those days. Herr Schneider’s dinner jacket was straining at the seams, it must have been one he had grown out of, or else he had borrowed it.
The dining room was lit with candles, and the noise of a record, playing Wagner, wafted across it.
Agnete seemed happy to have been invited into the baron’s house, a house that was indeed more modest than the one she lived in, but which was decorated with a taste which made her feel inferior.
It was not until they were eating dessert that Herr Schneider suggested to Max that he join their group.
“Lots of us expatriates think that we can still be of use to Germany, that our commitment to the Führer has not lapsed, and that we need to fight to make the Fourth Reich a reality. We need a new Führer, a man who is as exceptional as Adolf Hitler was, and we will find him, we will choose the best man from among us all. If we could count on you for your help... it would be an honor, Baron.”
“Ernst, your invitation does me honor, but what exactly is it that your group does? How can a man like me be of any use?”
“As you know, I own a currency exchange, and that is not the result of chance or improvisation. The SS planned for what might happen if the Allies won the war and we were toppled. A group of officials planned an escape route for that eventuality, if it should ever happen. You know that the SS had storerooms where they kept works of art confiscated from the Jews and the enemies of the Reich, as well as gold and precious stones, and other objects of value. Each group of officers took one escape route: Some fled to South America, some to Syria, to Iraq, Spain, Portugal, even to Switzerland. The treasure was divided into several parts and sent out of Germany under conditions of absolute secrecy. Each group took care of one of these parts. My group decided to come to Cairo, and that is why I came here a few months before the end of the war, in order to set everything up.”
“That’s impressive,” Max said with complete sincerity.
“Many o
f the men you have met in the Café Saladin are former officers or people whose work, like mine, depended on the SS. They are all unsullied patriots, men and women who are prepared to die for the fatherland. We will look after our treasure and use it for the best possible goal, to recover the Fatherland.”
“And how will you do this?” Max asked.
“There’s not much we can do at the moment, we have to wait for the Allies to get tired of putting Germans on trial, for them to lose interest in us. Then we will help those comrades who are huddled down and waiting for the wind to change. In the meantime, we are helping all of us who were forced to flee. We give them a new identity, and protect the ones who are particularly valuable, deleting all trace of them from the records so that no one knows where they are.”
“That’s impressive,” Max repeated. “And how can I help?”
“For the time being, it will be enough to have your advice. You are a man of the world, with good contacts, and there is no open case against you in Germany, which could be very useful for us.”
“Did many patriots manage to escape?” Max asked.
“Lots of them left Germany days before the final collapse. Each one took his own route, as had been decided previously.”
“And how did you manage to get in touch with each other?”
“You know what? Bankers don’t look at the color of your money. They didn’t mind having Jewish property in their coffers before, and now they don’t ask us where our money comes from. Some of the members of our organization have settled in Switzerland, and they serve as the link between our various groups. And that’s how things will be until we are able to return.”
“When do you think that will be? I would love to return to my fatherland,” Max said, with such conviction that Amelia thought that he was being sincere.
“We mustn’t be too hasty, but who knows? Maybe in two or three years’ time. Lots of us have had to leave Germany, but there are lots of us back there who are still resisting. Can we count on you, Baron?”