The Girl with the Leica by Helena Janeczek

Author:Helena Janeczek
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Europa Editions
Published: 2019-09-03T16:00:00+00:00

Georg seemed so radiantly handsome in the Paris winter (“As long as there’s a ray of sun you’re more comfortable outside: the houses aren’t heated in Naples”), when she had seen him again in February of ’37. His Italian comrades were thrilled to sit in a famous café on the Left Bank breathing that free and idle air after presenting themselves at the recruitment office of the International Brigades. “Maybe we’ll meet again down there,” Ruth had pointed out, “you as doctors, me as the nurse,” explaining that she had enrolled in a course at the Red Cross. At that point a brilliantined young man had made an observation, causing hilarity in the whole group, and Georg felt obliged to translate: “Forgive them, you can’t understand people who’ve grown up in the Catholic patriarchy and fascism. My friend, who also met Gerda yesterday, wondered if you’re all like that in Leipzig . . . A poor wounded fellow, he said, would faint as soon as he opens his eyes and sees someone like you.”

The atmosphere was gay and hopeful, Madrid was resisting the atrocious bombings, Gerda had left again for the front in Jarama, where the new offensive on the capital would be repulsed yet again. “I’ll be waiting for you,” Georg had said, saying goodbye, embracing her.

Months had passed since that meeting, and Gerda hadn’t been seen in Paris. One night Melchior returned from a Party meeting in a black mood. “Terrible signs: Georg Kuritzkes barely escaped execution. They were out to get him, charged him with being a Fascist spy, then an Italian doctor testified in his favor at the trial. Someone certainly informed on him. Here at the recruitment office they didn’t recognize enrollment in the Kommunistischer Jugendverband, the Young Communist League, and accepted his application with reservations . . . ”

“Are you joking? He was born a Communist!” Ruth exclaimed, almost burning herself with the match as she lighted a cigarette.

“Yes, everyone from Leipzig says so, convinced that the slander came from someone in the local Party.”

In the kitchen, where he had gone to look for something to eat, Melchior told her the rest. They hadn’t allowed Kuritzkes to serve as a doctor, giving him the choice of leaving immediately or fighting as a simple soldier, and he had been sent to the front.

“Maybe politics has nothing to do with it,” Ruth said, sitting opposite Melchior to look at him. “Georg always had the girls at his feet. It was probably envy, or revenge by someone whose girl Georg stole. Consider that the thing goes back to February, when the air wasn’t poisoned yet. Whoever is the author of that lie might have thought he was just getting him out of the way.”

“I hope you’re right,” Melchior concluded.

After the terrible events in Barcelona, the SAP had negotiated with the Communists to allow its volunteers to join the International Brigades, since they were in agreement at least on the priority of winning the war. The climate had

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.