Chapter 4 Chapter Four

As soon as Henry and his wife arrived in Berlin, they were received by Hitler.The embassy staff told them that this is rare good luck.It is very rare that the scope of the prime minister's reception is expanded to include military attaches at the second level.The Führer was away from Berlin during this period in order to calm down the war controversy; now he is back in Berlin because of the visit of the Prime Minister of Bulgaria. Lieutenant Colonel Henry's official affairs piled up, he just learned about the etiquette of the Nazi interview in his spare time, and Rhoda was busy for two days with clothes and hair, complaining that the imbecile barber in the Adlon Hotel made her Her hair was a mess that could never be done again, but as far as Pug could see it looked the same as it had in the past.She thought that none of the clothes she had brought would be suitable for a formal audience on a spring afternoon.How come no one warned her in advance?Three hours before the interview, Rhoda drove from one fashion store in Berlin to another in the embassy's car.Finally she broke into their hotel room in a pink silk dress with gold buttons and a gold mesh shirt. "What do you think?" she exclaimed. "Sally Forrest said Hitler liked pink."

"Excellent!" In fact, her husband thought the suit was terrible, and Rhoda must have been too big for it, but there was no time to tell the truth. "My God, where did you find that?" Outside the hotel, on the breezy street, there were rectangular red flags made of almost transparent cheesecloth, with a black letter A in a white circle in the center; next to each flag was a fancy Bulgarian flag.More flags hang at the intersection of the Prime Minister's Office, like a raging river of red flags, interspersed with dozens of Nazi national emblems imitating the ancient Roman legionary emblems - at the top of the long flagpole, a patterned golden eagle Perched on the letter a around the wreath—the five letters nsdap are printed underneath in imitation of the Roman spqr style.

① Latin abbreviation for "Roman Senate and People". "What does nsdap stand for?" Rhoda asked from the window of the embassy car looking at the golden flagpoles outside. "National Socialist German Workers' Party," Pug said. "That's the official name of the Nazis? How funny. When you read the full name, it sounds like the Communist Party," Pug said. "Exactly. Hitler started out on the extreme left." "Really? I don't know a thing. I thought he was adamant against this kind of stuff. Well, it's a pain in the ass. I'm talking about European politics. But I think the stuff too It's exciting. Washington looks pretty banal by comparison, doesn't it?"

The first time Victor Henry walked into Hitler's new Chancellery, he somehow thought of New York's Radio City Music Hall.The extravagant carpets, the long queues of waiting people, the high ceilings, the great blocks of shiny marble, the vast spaces, the people in fine uniforms who showed the way to the guests--all this gave a sense of wonder. A false, vulgar and reluctantly pursuing ostentation impression; but strangely, this is not a movie theater, but the residence of a great government.An officer in blue uniform took his name, and the slow-moving procession escorted the couple to the Führer far down the hall.The SS soldiers are as uniform as the members of the chorus, wearing a silver and black two-color uniform and black leather boots, all of them have broad shoulders, golden curly hair, white teeth, copper-colored skin, and blue eyes.Some of them guide the guests with cautious smiles on their faces, and some stand along the wall, rigid and expressionless.

Hitler was no taller than Henry.He was a little man, with hair cut short like a prisoner's, who bowed and shook hands.His head was always on one side, and the front hair was pulled over his forehead.This was Henry's momentary impression when he first saw Hitler standing next to the burly, decorated Bulgarian Prime Minister.However, after a while, his impression changed.Hitler could have a flattering smile.His downturned mouth was rigid and tense, his eyes stern and self-assured, but when he smiled the air of self-importance disappeared; There was a curious, almost childlike shyness about it.Sometimes he held the hands of the guests and talked.When something particularly pleased him, he would laugh, and at the same time make a strange and sudden movement of his right knee: he lifted it and gave it a slight jerk inward.

He met the American couple in front of the Henrys with a casual, no smile on his face, and while shaking hands his wandering eyes lingered for a moment before falling back on them. A master of ceremonies, wearing a sky-blue diplomatic uniform inlaid with gold, raised his voice in German: "Lieutenant Colonel Victor Henry, Naval Attaché of the Embassy of the United States of America!" The Führer's hands were shriveled and rough, as if they were still a little swollen.He looked at Henry's face and clenched his hands tightly.Seen from this close, his deeply sunken eyes were a grayish blue, slightly swollen and watery.Hitler looked tired; his face was blue, with sunburnt streaks on his forehead, nose, and cheekbones, and he seemed to have been persuaded to leave his desk in Berchtesgaden every day outside a couple of hours.Facing this world-famous face, with its drooping hair, pointed nose, fanatic's indifferent eyes, and small mustache, Henry felt that this was the strangest feeling he had ever experienced in his life.Hitler said: "willkommen in deutschland," and let go of it.

Pug was amazed that Hitler would notice his recent arrival in Germany, and he stammered, "danke, herr reichskanzler." ①German: Thank you, Mr. Prime Minister. ②German: Welcome to Germany. "Mrs. Henry!" With shining eyes, Rhoda shook hands with Hitler.He said in German: "I hope you feel comfortable in Berlin." His voice was low and approachable; Henry was surprised to hear it, he had only heard Hitler yelling loudly on the radio or in newsreels. "Well, Mr. Prime Minister, to be honest, I've just started looking for a house," Rhoda breathed out nervously, unable to think of a polite word for a moment, and continued walking.

"You won't have any trouble," Hitler said, hearing her speak German very well, and his eyes immediately shone with tenderness.Apparently he thought Rhoda was pretty.He held her hand tightly, a smile on his face. “It’s just that there are so many beautiful neighborhoods in Berlin that I don’t know where to live. That’s the problem. Hitler found it pleasant or amusing.He laughed out loud, shook his knees inwardly, turned his head and said something to an adjutant behind him.The adjutant bowed.Hitler held out his hand again to the guests behind him.The Henrys continued to move forward, towards the Prime Minister of Bulgaria.

The interview time was not long.Colonel Forrest, the army attache, was a fat, air officer in the army, from Idaho, USA, and had been in Germany for two years.He introduced the Henrys to foreign military attaches and Nazi leaders, including Goebbels and Ribbentrop.The image of these two people is exactly the same as in the newsreel, only smaller.The two of them shook hands very quickly and completely perfunctorily, which made Henry feel how small he was; Hitler was not like that.Pug had been keeping an eye on Hitler.The Führer wore black trousers, a brown double-breasted coat with an eagle on one arm and a small Iron Cross on the left breast.By American fashion standards the suit seemed too large.This made the German leader look as if he was wearing ill-fitting clothes from a thrift store.From time to time Hitler appeared restless, tired, bored, or else suddenly likable and charming.He is rarely quiet.From time to time he shifted his feet, turned his head from side to side, clasped his hands on his breast, put one hand on top of the other, or made gestures with both hands, followed absent-mindedly. Talking to the majority, talking solemnly to a few, often shaking his knees.Once Pug saw him eat little sugar-coated biscuits from a plate: he greedily popped them into his mouth while talking to a decorated guest.After a while he left, and the audience began to gradually disperse.

It was raining lightly outside; the densely packed red flags were drooping.The rain dripped down their faces from the steel helmets of the sentries, but the sentries stood erect and paid no attention to the rain on their faces.The female guests of the American embassy crowded the entrance.Pug, Colonel Forrester, and the charge d'affaires went out and called the embassy's car.The charge d'affaires was tall, with a mustache, and a bright, pale face wrinkled and bored.He is currently in charge of the work of the embassy. After the "Crystal Liquid" incident, President Roosevelt recalled the American ambassador and never released him.Everyone in the embassy opposed the policy.This cut off some official ties between the United States and Germany and made it difficult for the embassy to work, including speaking on behalf of the Jews.The staff at the embassy thought it was a political gesture by the president to the Jews in New York; but in Germany it not only didn't work, it looked ridiculous.The charge d'affaires said to Henry: "Well, what do you think of the Führer?"

"I was very impressed. He knew I had just arrived." "Really? Well, you've seen the efficiency of the Germans with your own eyes now. Somebody made a survey and reported it to him." "But he remembers it. The interview line is so long." The charge d'affaires smiled slightly. "A politician's brain." Colonel Forrest wiped his large flat nose, which had been damaged in a plane crash some years before.He said to the chargé d'affaires: "The Führer had quite a conversation with Mrs. Henry. Pug, what did they talk about?" "Nothing. A word or two about finding a house." "You have a beautiful wife," said the chargé d'affaires. "Hitler liked pretty women. That outfit she was wearing was also noticed. They said Hitler liked pink." Two days later, Henry was at the embassy reading the morning's mail, and his office was no different from the studio he used to work in the Operations Planning Division—small, full of steel folders, piled high with technical books and reports .This office has a window that looks out to see Hitler's Chancellery.Henry went to the office every morning, and when he saw the Prime Minister's Palace outside the window, his heartstrings always trembled slightly.His clerk called him from the small clerk's room up front.The clerical room, like all clerical rooms, smelled of ink, cigarettes, and over-brewed coffee. "Mrs. Henry, sir." Normally, Rhoda hadn't gotten up at this time.She said gruffly that a broker named Knoedler, who rented furnished apartments, sent a business card to their hotel room.The card read: He has been notified that they are looking for housing.The man is now waiting for an answer in the lounge. "Well, what's wrong with that?" said Henry. "Go and see his house." "I find that odd. Do you think Hitler might have sent him?" Pug laughed. "Perhaps his adjutant sent him." Rhoda called again at 3:30 in the afternoon.He just came back from lunch. "Huh?" He yawned. "How is it?" He is not very used to the diplomat's way of eating, sipping the spirits slowly, the time is long, the dishes are rich, and he is always full. "Beautiful house. In Greenwood, right by the lake. There's even a tennis court! It's ridiculously cheap, less than a hundred dollars a month. Can you come and see it right away?" Pug went.It was a gray stone house with a roof of red tiles, very solidly constructed.The house sits in the middle of a clump of tall old trees with a flat grassy area in front that slopes down to the water's edge.The tennis court is at the back of the house, next to a formal garden.In the garden there was a marble pool with huge red fish.Flower beds bloom around the pool.There were Oriental rugs, large old pictures in gold frames, a walnut dining table and sixteen ottomans with blue silk cushions; and a long drawing room filled with elegant French furniture. furniture.Upstairs are five bedrooms and three marble bathrooms. The broker was in his thirties, chubby, with straight brown hair, rimless glasses, and a practical air. He looked very much like an American real estate broker.He later said that he did have an older brother who was a real estate agent in Chicago and that he had worked in his office.Pug asked him why the rent was so low.The broker explained with a smile in fluent English that Mr. Rosenthal, the property owner, was a Jewish factory owner.The house had to be vacated under a new regulation governing the Jewish people.He therefore urgently needs to find a lodger. "What's the content of this new regulation?" Henry asked. "I don't know. It's restricting their real estate ownership." Knoedler spoke in a completely nonchalant tone, as if he was talking about Chicago's zoning regulations. "You want to rent this house to us, does the owner know how much rent you will charge?" Pug asked. "of course I know." "When can I meet him?" "You can do whatever you want." The next day, Pug made an appointment with the property owner during lunch time.The broker made an introduction to them at the door of the house and walked away to sit in his car.Rosenthal has gray hair, a big belly, and a black suit tailored in the British style that fits perfectly. He looks like a high-class man.He invited Henry into the house. "This house is beautiful," Henry said in German. Rosenthal looked around reluctantly, gestured to a chair, and sat down himself. "Thank you. We love this house and spent a lot of time and money on it." "Mrs. Henry and I feel a little embarrassed about renting the place." "Why?" The Jew looked surprised. "You are ideal tenants. If you think the rent is too high—" "My God, it's not expensive at all! The rent is unbelievably low. But can you really get any money?" "Of course I can take it. Who else will take it? This is my house." Rosenthal said firmly and proudly. "Except for the broker's commission and the taxes paid according to the regulations, I can receive every penny." Pug pointed his thumb toward the gate. "Knoedler told me that some kind of new regulation forces you to rent out the house." "It won't affect a tenant like you, I can assure you. Would you like to enter into a two-year contract? I would." "But what is the content of that regulation?" Although they were alone in an empty room, Rosenthal turned his head, looked around, and said in a low voice: "Well—this is an emergency decree, you know. I'm sure it will be canceled eventually. In fact, there are I have been assured by persons of high standing. But in the interim the property is likely to be held in trust, and may be sold at any time without my consent. However, if there is a tenant who enjoys diplomatic immunity, the The place will not be under trusteeship." Rosenthal smiled slightly. "That's why the rent is cheaper, Monsieur Lieutenant Colonel! You see, I have nothing to hide from you." "Can I ask you a question? Why don't you sell these things and leave Germany?" The Jew blinked.A cheerful and dignified look remained on his face. "My family has been here for more than a hundred years. We refine sugar. My children go to school in England, but my wife and I feel quite comfortable in Berlin. We both grew up in Berlin," he said. Sighing, looking around the library where they sat (it was comfortably paneled with rosewood), he went on: "Things are better now than they were in 1938. It was a terrible time. If there hadn’t been a war, the situation would have improved quickly. Several high-ranking officials have talked to me seriously. They are all my old friends.” Rosenthal hesitated, and added: “The Fuehrer has done something wrong to the country. It would be foolish to deny that. I have been through other difficult times. I was wounded in Belgium in 1914 when a bullet pierced one of my lungs. No one lives without suffering." Spreading his hands together, he gracefully made a helpless gesture. Victor Henry said, "Well, Mrs. Henry likes the house. But I don't want to risk it." "You did the exact opposite. You should understand by now. Two years?" "How about subscribing for a year first, then renewing at that time?" Rosenthal immediately stood up and held out a hand.Henry also stood up and shook hands with him. "We were supposed to have a drink to celebrate," Rosenthal said, "but we emptied the liquor cabinet when we left. You can't keep wine in an empty house." The first night, the Henry and his wife slept in the big and soft bed of the Rosenthal's house, feeling a little strange.But after a few days they got used to it and were busy arranging a new life.Through a broker's introduction, they hired a maid, a cook, and a valet-driver from an employment agency. They were all first-class servants, but in Henry's view, they were all spies placed in.He checked the wiring in the house for bugs.But he was not familiar with German equipment and wiring, and found nothing.Even so, he and Rhoda always went for walks on the grass when they talked about risky things. Two weeks passed in a blink of an eye.They saw Hitler again, this time at a distance, at the premiere of the new opera.Hitler was in a box painted crimson and lined with brocade, and his white tie and tailcoat were still too big for him. He really looked like Charlie Chaplin's well-dressed hooligan, although he looked serious and wore a The stiff posture saluted frequently, while some beautiful women and dignitary-looking men applauded and cheered desperately, all of them stretched their necks and stared at him respectfully. The embassy held two welcome parties for Henry and his wife, one at the agent's house and the other at Colonel Forrest's residence. They met many foreign diplomats and German dignitaries at the two receptions: business circles, An important figure in the arts, politics and the military.Rhoda made a big splash socially.After the false alarm before the prime minister's interview, she added a lot of luxurious clothes to herself.She is even more beautiful in her new clothes.Her German is getting better and better.She loves Berlin and its people.The Germans, aware of this, were especially kind to her, although there were also people in the embassy who hated the Nazi system and were surprised to see how kind she was to the Nazis.At these parties Pug looked a bit like a bear, standing silent and not answering unless someone spoke to him first.But Rhoda's success covered up his shortcomings. It's not that Rhoda didn't see the ugly side of the Nazis.She went to the zoo once and refused to go again.She admits that the Berlin Zoo is neater, more beautiful, and more charming than any other park in America, but the "juden verb boten" signs nailed to the benches are disgusting.If she saw a similar sign at the door of a restaurant, she immediately recoiled, preferring to go somewhere else.When Pug told her about his meeting with Rosenthal, she fell into a severe depression: she was giving up the house, and even talked of leaving Germany. "Hey, think about it! Renting out this beautiful house on the cheap just to keep people from selling it behind his back - no doubt to powerful Nazis who are waiting to buy it cheap. Horrible Ah!" But in the end she agreed to rent the house.They had to find somewhere to live, and this house was ideal. ① German: Jews are not allowed to sit. As the days passed, her reactions grew colder, and it was no surprise to find that such things had become commonplace in Berlin.She was once invited to lunch in a restaurant by Nazi-hater Sally Forrester, who thought it foolish to refuse to go in despite the sign saying "No Jews Served" in the outside window.Before long she was eating in such restaurants without even thinking about it.Soon the zoo became her favorite place for Sunday walks.But she was adamant that anti-Semitism was a blemish on this lovely, exciting land.She expressed her opinion to some important Nazis.Some of them looked stiff, and some smirked indulgently.There were also a few hints that the issue would be fixed soon. "I'm an American through and through, and I've lived in America for six generations," she'd say, "and I can never agree with you on the mistreatment of Jews. It's horrible." Most Germans seem to understand the independent, outspoken style of American women and the resignation of their husbands; they see it as a national trait. Victor Henry avoids Jewish subjects.Nazi Germany was a new life too big to digest for a while.The attitude of most foreigners towards the Nazis is either strenuously against or strenuously in favor.The foreign correspondents, as Kip Tolliver said, all hated the Nazis.Opinions within the embassy were divided.Some believed that Hitler was the greatest threat to America since 1776.He will not rest until he has achieved world supremacy; one day he will have enough power to attack the United States.Others saw him as a saviour, the only anti-Communist bastion in Europe.Those democracies, they said, had proved incapable of dealing with the growth of the Bolshevik party.Hitler met totalitarian firepower with greater firepower. ① The year the United States declared its independence. But the above two conclusions are lack of reliable basis.Whenever Victor Henry pressed his new acquaintances for facts, all he got was fierce words and gestures.There are quite a few statistics in the bundles of analysis materials and reports.But the vast majority of them come from speculation, propaganda, and dubious paid intelligence.He tried to study German history and read until late at night, only to find that this history can be traced back a thousand years, which is unfathomable.He could not find the method and the key to the solution of the 1939 problem in it.Just trying to figure out the mystery of where the Nazis came from and how Hitler came to be embraced by the Germans was powerless to him, and so were all the people he talked to; even asking about German anti-Semitism seemed worthless When you ask a question, you will get more than a dozen different explanations, mainly depending on which one you ask among the dozen or so diplomats.Lieutenant Colonel Henry finally concluded that it would be a waste of his time and energy to rush to get to the bottom of all these important problems.Military potential was his familiar trade; it was the narrow but decisive aspect of Hitler's Third Reich.Is Nazi Germany really as powerful as the troops who regularly demonstrate in the streets and the soldiers who gather in coffee houses make it appear?Or is it just for show, actually as fragile as the transparent red gauze on the high-hanging A flag?Victor Henry decided not to allow himself to be preconceived and to have all the facts for himself, so he immediately got to work digging into this difficult problem. During this period, Rhoda happily adjusted to life as a diplomat.As she gradually became familiar with the staff of the embassy and the customs and habits of Berlin, the scale of the banquets she hosted became larger and larger.She threw a grand banquet for Grock, attended by the chargé d'affaires, a French film actor, the conductor of the Berlin Symphony Orchestra, and a serious, massive German general named Armin von Roon with a very It has a special aquiline nose, and its every move is very rigid.Rhoda was not familiar with any of these people.General von Roon, for example, she had met at Colonel Forrester's house, and she had been approached by someone who told her that he was a high-ranking and talented man in the German Armed Forces.She has the gift of being likable at first sight.She always seemed so regal that she could effortlessly be attractive or sexy; she made one feel that it would be pleasant to befriend her further.People are happy to accept her invitation. The status of the guests is higher than that of the Grockers.They were a little dazzled, a little proud, and a little distraught by General Long's presence.Groc once whispered to Victor Henry that Long was the true brain of the High Command.So Pug went up to talk to Ron, deliberately bringing up the topic of war.He found that Long's English was excellent, but he only talked about the general situation coldly about the war, which made the military attache look at him differently, although there was no information for reporting upwards from what he said. Before the banquet was over, Groc, getting drunk, pulled Victor Henry aside and told him that the colonel at the Swinamonti submarine base was making some stupid difficulties, but that he would make the visit OK "I'm asking your English friends to come with me, damn it. I said I would, and I mean what I say. These shore bastards live to make trouble." The Henrys received only one listless letter from Madeleine, who had arrived in Newport for the summer.Warren, as usual, never wrote.At the beginning of July, Byron's letter to his father finally arrived: dear dad: When I received the letter, I was taken aback.I guess I've given you the wrong impression of the girl Natalie Jastrow.She was fun to work with, but she was older than me and a top third year student at Radcliffe College.Her best boyfriend is an honor student on a Rhodes scholarship.I'm not that material.Nevertheless, I appreciate your advice.She is indeed an ideal friend, and I have benefited a lot from talking to her.You will be glad to know. Dr. Jastrow asked me to study the history of the wars of Constantine the Great.I took this job mainly to earn lines, but I love it.The balance of power in the world was shifting from heresy to Christianity at the time, so it's a history worth studying, Dad.It is quite similar to our reality today.I think you'll enjoy this new book by Dr. Jastrow.He was just a scholar and couldn't tell the difference between a torpedo boat and a medium tank, but he was able to capture the characteristics of the ancient battlefield and describe it so that everyone could understand and imagine the scene at that time. Siena is going to be full of tourists, they're all here for the annual goddamn horse race.There were horses galloping all over the town square, and they all said that there was often tragedy.Warren would make an excellent pilot.Well, I figured that was all I had to say.Hello everyone. Byron