Saints and Villains by Denise Giardina

Author:Denise Giardina
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Published: 1998-08-01T16:00:00+00:00

SS-Hauptsturmführer Alois Bauer was visiting the Prussian State Library. He wanted to see the manuscript of Mozart’s Mass in C Minor and was ready to threaten and swagger as on his first visit, but with the added bravado of a Futurist. On he went, past the iron gates, past the nightmare of a fountain with its greenscum water, across the chipped tile floors yellowed with age. To the same scrawny curator with pocked skin.

But something was different. The curator, pitiful specimen of Aryan manhood though he was, no longer cowered at the sight of the black SS uniform. Because this time Alois Bauer was not an unexpected visitor from a new and unpredictable conquering army. The new order had long been firmly established and the curator himself had found a place in it. He had his own orders and they came from someone higher than a middling officer in the SS.

“The Mozart manuscript,” he said unctuously, “the manuscript of the Mass in C Minor,” speaking even more slowly, “which you request,” preening a bit, brushing back a stray lock of hair with one finger, “is no longer available for your perusal.”

“And why not?” Bauer demanded.

“Because, my dear Hauptsturmführer, like our other great treasures—” Bauer’s stomach turned at the smugly possessive our—“it has been packed for transportation to a safe place far from Berlin. In view of the growing international crisis. We would not want Germany’s cultural heritage to fall into enemy hands—” he realized his mistake and quickly corrected himself—“not that any enemy could ever set foot in the Fatherland. But there is the destructive nature of modern warfare to consider. I’m sure the Hauptsturmführer will agree totally with the judgment of the Führer in this matter.” Strong emphasis on Führer, followed by a triumphant smile.

“Where has it been sent?” Bauer managed to ask.

The curator spread his hands. “I am not at liberty to disclose that information.”

Bauer was so distraught he could say nothing else. He rescued himself with a sudden straight-armed salute and a quick exit.

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