by the Maris brothers were rather a disappointment."
IX
The period of the Detaze show in Berlin corresponded with an election campaign throughout
the German Reich; assuredly the strangest election campaign since that contrivance had been
born of the human brain. Hitler had wiped out all other political parties, and all the legislative
bodies of the twenty-two German states; by his methods of murder and imprisonment he had
destroyed democracy and representative government, religious toleration and all civil rights; but
being still the victim of a "legality complex," he insisted upon having the German people endorse
what he had done. A vote to say that votes had no meaning! A Reichstag to declare that a
Reichstag was without power! A completely democratic repudiation of democracy! Lanny
thought: "Has there ever been such a madman since the world began? Has it ever before
happened that a whole nation has gone mad?"
Living in the midst of this enormous institute of lunacy, Lanny Budd tried to keep his
balance and not be permanently stood upon his head. If there was anything he couldn't
comprehend, his Nazi friends were eager to explain it, but there wasn't a single German from
whom he could hear a sane word. Even Hugo Behr and his friends who were planning the
"Second Revolution" were all loyal Hitlerites, co-operating in what they considered a sublime
demonstration of patriotic fervor. Even the members of smart society dared give no greater sign
of rationality than a slight smile, or the flicker of an eyelash so faint that you couldn't be sure if
you had seen it. The danger was real, even to important persons. Only a few days later they
would see Herzog Philip Albert of Württemberg imprisoned for failing to cast his vote in this
sublime national referendum.
Hitler had raised the issue in the middle of October when the British at Geneva had dared to
propose a four years' "trial period" before permitting Germany to rearm. The Führer's reply was
to withdraw the German delegates from both the League of Nations and the Conference for
Arms Limitation. In so doing he issued to the German people one of those eloquent manifestoes
which he delighted to compose; he told them how much he loved peace and how eager he was
to disarm when the other nations would do the same. He talked to them about "honor"—he, the
author of Mein Kampf— and they believed him, thus proving that they were exactly what he had
said they were. He proclaimed that what the German people wanted was "equal rights"; and,
having just deprived them of all rights, he put to them in the name of the government this
solemn question:
"Does the German people accept the policy of its National Cabinet as enunciated here and is it
willing to declare this to be the expression of its own view and its own will and to give it holy
support?"
Such was the "referendum" to be voted on a month later. In addition, there was to be a new
Reichstag election, with only one slate of candidates, 686 of them, all selected by the Führer,
and headed by the leading Nazis: Hitler, Göring, Goebbels, Hess, Röhm, and so on. One party,
one list—and one circle in which you could mark your cross to indicate "yes." There was no place
for you to vote "no," and blank ballots were declared invalid.
For that sort of "election" the Fatherland was kept in a turmoil for four weeks, and more
money was spent than had ever been spent by all the forty-five parties in any previous
Reichstag election. The shows and spectacles, the marching and singing, the carrying of the
"blood banners," the ceremonies in honor of the Nazi martyrs; the posters and proclamations,
the torchlight processions, the standing at attention and saluting, the radio orations with the
people assembled in the public squares to listen to loud-speakers— and a few sent to
concentration camps for failing to listen. Hitherto the business of standing silent had been
reserved as an honor for the war dead; but now all over Germany the traffic came to a halt and
people stood in silence with bared heads; all the factories ceased work and thirty million
workers stood to listen to the voice of Adolf Hitler, speaking in the dynamo hall of the enormous
Siemens-Schuckert Electrical Works in Berlin. Afterward they stayed and worked an hour
overtime, so that they and not their employers might have the honor and glory of making a
sacrifice for the Fatherland!
X
On a bright and pleasant Sunday in mid-November, great masses of the German Volk lined up
in front of polling-places all over the land, and even in foreign lands, and in ships upon the
high seas. They voted in prisons and even in concentration camps. Late in the day the
Stormtroopers rounded up the lazy and careless ones; and so more than forty-three million
ballots were cast, and more than ninety-five per cent voted for the Hitler Reichstag and for the
solemn referendum in favor of their own peace and freedom. Irma read about it, the next day
and the days thereafter, and was tremendously impressed. She said: "You see, Lanny, the
Germans really believe in Hitler. He is what they want." When she read that the internees of
Dachau had voted twenty to one for the man who had shut them up there, she said: "That
seems to show that things can't be so very bad."
The husband replied: "It seems to me to show that they are a lot worse."
But he knew there was no use trying to explain that. It would only mean an argument. He
was learning to keep his unhappiness locked up in his soul. His wife was having a very good time
in Berlin, meeting brilliant and distinguished personalities; and Lanny was going about
tormenting himself over the activities and the probable fates of a little group of secret
conspirators in a Berlin slum!
He could guess pretty well what they were doing; he imagined a small hand-press in the back
of the tailor shop, and they were printing leaflets, perhaps about the Brown Book and its
revelations concerning the Reichstag fire, perhaps quoting opinions of the outside world, so as
to keep up the courage of the comrades in a time of dreadful anguish. Probably Trudi was
carrying some of this "literature" to others who would see to its distribution. All of them were
working in hourly peril of their lives; and Lanny thought: "I ought to be helping them; I am the
one who could really accomplish something, because I could get money, and bring them
information from outside, and carry messages to their comrades in France and England."
But then he would think: "If I did that, I'd ruin the happiness of my mother and my wife and
most of my friends. In the end I'd probably wreck my marriage."
24
Die Juden Sind Schuld
I
A PLEASANT thing to leave the flat windy plain of Prussia at the beginning of winter and
motor into the forests and snug valleys of South Germany. Pleasant to arrive in a beautiful and
comparatively modern city and to find a warm welcome awaiting you in an establishment called
the "Four Seasons of the Year" so as to let you know that it was always ready. Munich was a "Four
Seasons of the Year" city; its life was a series of festivals, and the drinking of beer out of
Maßkrugen was a civic duty.
The devoted Zoltan had come in advance and made all arrangements for the show. The Herr
Privatdozent Doktor der Philosophie Aloysius Winckler zu Sturmschatten had applied his arts,
and the intellectuals of Munich were informed as to the merits of the new school of
representational painting; also the social brilliance of the young couple who were conferring this
bounty upon them.
In the morning came the reporters by appointment. They had been provided with extracts
from what the Berlin press hadsaid about Detaze, and with information as to the Barnes fortune
and the importance of Budd Gunmakers; also the fact that Lanny had been on a shooting trip
with General Göring and had once had tea with the Führer. The young couple exhibited that
affability which is expected from the land of cowboys and movies. Lanny said yes, he knew
Munich very well; he had purchased several old masters here— he named them, and told in what
new world collections they had found havens. He had happened to be in the city on a certain
historic day ten years ago and had witnessed scenes which would make the name of Munich
forever famous. Flashlight bulbs went off while he talked, reminding him of those scenes on the
Marienplatz when the Nazi martyrs had been shot down.
The interviews appeared in due course, and when the exhibition opened on the following
afternoon the crowds came. An old story now, but the people were new, and those who love
greatness and glory never tire of meeting Herzog und Herzogin Überall und Prinz und
Prinzessin Undsoweiter. A great thing for art when ladies of the highest social position take
their stand in a public gallery to pay tribute to genius, even though dead. While Parsifal Dingle
went off to ask the spirit of the dead painter if he was pleased with the show, and while Lanny
went to inspect older masters and dicker over prices, Beauty Budd and her incomparable
daughter-in-law were introduced to importantpersonages, accepted invitations to lunches and
dinners, and collected anecdotes which they would retail to their spouses and later to their
relatives and friends.
There was only one thing wrong between this pair; the fact that Marcel Detaze had died when
Irma was a child and had never had an opportunity to paint a picture of her. Thus Beauty got
more than her proper share of glory, and there was no way to redistribute it. The mother-in-law
would be humble, and try not to talk about herself and her portraits while Irma was standing
by; but others would insist upon doing so, and it was a dangerous situation. Beauty said to her
son: "Who is the best portrait painter living?"
"Why?" he asked, surprised.
"Because, you ought to have him do Irma right away. It would be a sensation, and help to
keep her interested in art."
"Too bad that Sargent is gone!" chuckled Lanny.
"Don't make a joke of it," insisted the mother. "It's quite inexcusable that the crowds should
come and look at pictures of a faded old woman who doesn't matter, instead of one in the
prime of her beauty."
"Art is long and complexions are fleeting," said the incorrigible one.
II
A far greater event than the Detaze exhibition came to Munich, causing the city to break out
with flags. The Reichskanzler, the Führer of the N.S.D.A.P., had been motoring and flying all
over his land making campaign speeches. After his overwhelming triumph he had sought his
mountain retreat, to brood and ponder new policies; and now, refreshed and reinspired, he
came to his favorite city, the one in which his movement had been built and his crown of
martyrdom won. Here he had been a poor Schlawiner, as they called a man whose means of
subsistence they did not know, a Wand- und Landstreicher, who made wild, half-crazy speeches,
and people went to hear him because it was a Gaudi, or what you would call in English a "lark."
Munich had seen him wandering about town looking very depressed, uncouth in his rusty
worn raincoat, carrying an oversize dogwhip because of his fear of enemies, who, however,
paid no attention to him.
But now he had triumphed over them all. Now he was the master of Germany, and Munich
celebrated his arrival with banners. Here in the Braune Haus he had the main headquarters of
the party; a splendid building which Adolf himself had remodeled and decorated according to his
own taste. He, the frustrated architect, had made something so fine that his followers were
exalted when they entered the place, and took fresh vows of loyalty to their leader and his all-
conquering dream.
Mabel Blackless, alias Beauty Budd, alias Madame Detaze, had done some conquering in her
time, and was still capable of dreams. "Oh, Lanny!" she exclaimed. "Do you suppose you could
get him to come to the exhibition? It would be worth a million dollars to us!"
"It's certainly worth thinking about," conceded the son.
"Don't delay! Telephone Heinrich Jung and ask him to come. Pay him whatever he wants,
and we'll all stand our share."
"He won't want much. He's not a greedy person."
The young Nazi official was staggered by the proposal. He feared it was something far, far
beyond his powers. But Lanny urged him to rise to a great occasion. He had worked hard
through the electoral campaign and surely was entitled to a few days' vacation. What better way
to spend it than to pay his compliments to his Führer, and take him to see some paintings of
the special sort which he approved?
"You can bring them to him if he prefers," said Lanny. "We'll close the show for a day and
pick out the best and take them wherever he wishes." He spoke with eagerness, having another
scheme up his sleeve; he wasn't thinking merely about enhancing the prices of his family
property. "If you can get off right away, take a plane. There's no time to be lost."
"Herrgott!" exclaimed the ex-forester. He was in heaven.
Then Lanny put in a long distance call to Kurt Meissner in Stubendorf. Kurt had refused an
invitation to Berlin because he couldn't afford the luxury and wasn't willing to be put under
obligations. But now Lanny could say: "This is a business matter. You will be doing us a service,
and also one for the Führer. You can play your new compositions for him, and that will surely be
important for your career. Heinrich is coming, and we'll paint the town brown." He supposed
that was the proper National Socialist formula!
Irma took the phone and added: "Come on, Kurt. It will be so good for Lanny. I want him to
understand your movement and learn to behave himself." Impossible for an apostle and
propagandist to resist such a call. Irma added: "Take a plane from Breslau if that's quicker. We'll
have a room reserved for you."
III
Somewhat of an adventure for Beauty Budd. Six years had passed since Kurt had departed from
