In The Garden Of Beasts Part 17

The SS officer asked where he was going.

"To the king of Siam," the driver said, and smiled.

The SS man took this as a wisecrack. Enraged by the driver's impudence, he and his a.s.sociates dragged the Storm Trooper out of the van and forced him to open the rear doors. The cargo s.p.a.ce was filled with trays of food.

Still suspicious, the SS officer accused the driver of bringing the food to one of Rohm's orgies.

The driver, no longer smiling, said, "No, it's for the king of Siam."

The SS still believed the driver was merely being insolent. Two SS men climbed onto the van and ordered the driver to continue to the palace where the party supposedly was being held. To their chagrin, they learned that a banquet for the king of Siam was indeed planned and that Goring was one of the expected guests.

And then there was poor Willi Schmid-Wilhelm Eduard Schmid, respected music critic for a Munich newspaper-who was playing his cello at home with his wife and three children nearby when the SS came to the door, hauled him away, and shot him.

The SS had erred. Their intended target was a different Schmid. Or rather, a Schmitt.

Hitler dispatched Rudolf Hess to make a personal apology to the dead critic's wife.

PUTZI HANFSTAENGL, WHOSE RELATIONs.h.i.+P with Hitler had grown strained, was rumored to have been on Hitler's list of targets. Providently, he was in America to take part in the twenty-fifth reunion of his cla.s.s at Harvard. The invitation to attend had caused an outcry in America, and until the last moment Hanfstaengl had offered no indication as to whether he actually would attend. On the night of June 10, 1934, he threw a dinner party, whose timing in retrospect seemed all too convenient given that surely he knew the purge was coming. In midmeal, he stepped from the dining room, disguised himself in a raincoat and sungla.s.ses, and left. He took a night train to Cologne, where he climbed into a mail plane that took him directly to Cherbourg, France, and there he boarded his s.h.i.+p, the with Hitler had grown strained, was rumored to have been on Hitler's list of targets. Providently, he was in America to take part in the twenty-fifth reunion of his cla.s.s at Harvard. The invitation to attend had caused an outcry in America, and until the last moment Hanfstaengl had offered no indication as to whether he actually would attend. On the night of June 10, 1934, he threw a dinner party, whose timing in retrospect seemed all too convenient given that surely he knew the purge was coming. In midmeal, he stepped from the dining room, disguised himself in a raincoat and sungla.s.ses, and left. He took a night train to Cologne, where he climbed into a mail plane that took him directly to Cherbourg, France, and there he boarded his s.h.i.+p, the Europa Europa, bound for New York. He brought five suitcases and three crates containing sculptural busts meant as gifts.

The New York City police department, fearing threats to Hanfstaengl from outraged protesters, sent six young officers aboard to guide him from the s.h.i.+p. They were dressed in Harvard jackets and ties.

On June 30, 1934, the day of the purge, Putzi attended the Newport, Rhode Island, wedding of Ellen Tuck French and John Jacob Astor III, said to be the richest bachelor in America. His father had been lost with the t.i.tanic t.i.tanic. A crowd of about a thousand people gathered outside the church to catch a glimpse of the bride and groom and the arriving guests. One of the first "to cause the crowd to gasp with excitement," wrote a gus.h.i.+ng society reporter for the New York Times New York Times, was Hanfstaengl, "in a top hat, black coat and striped gray trousers."

Hanfstaengl knew nothing about events back home until asked about them by reporters. "I have no comment to make," he said. "I am here to attend the wedding of my friend's daughter." Later, after learning more details, he stated, "My leader, Adolf Hitler, had to act and he acted thus as always. Hitler has proven himself never greater, never more human, than in the last forty-eight hours."

Inwardly, however, Hanfstaengl worried about his own safety and that of his wife and son back in Berlin. He sent a discreet inquiry to Foreign Minister Neurath.

HITLER RETURNED TO BERLIN that evening. Again, Gisevius stood witness. Hitler's plane appeared "against the background of a blood-red sky, a piece of theatricality that no one had staged," Gisevius wrote. After the plane came to a stop, a small army of men moved forward to greet Hitler, among them Goring and Himmler. Hitler was first to emerge from the aircraft. He wore a brown s.h.i.+rt, dark brown leather jacket, black bow tie, high black boots. He looked pale and tired and had not shaved but otherwise seemed untroubled. "It was clear that the murders of his friends had cost him no effort at all," Gisevius wrote. "He had felt nothing; he had merely acted out his rage." that evening. Again, Gisevius stood witness. Hitler's plane appeared "against the background of a blood-red sky, a piece of theatricality that no one had staged," Gisevius wrote. After the plane came to a stop, a small army of men moved forward to greet Hitler, among them Goring and Himmler. Hitler was first to emerge from the aircraft. He wore a brown s.h.i.+rt, dark brown leather jacket, black bow tie, high black boots. He looked pale and tired and had not shaved but otherwise seemed untroubled. "It was clear that the murders of his friends had cost him no effort at all," Gisevius wrote. "He had felt nothing; he had merely acted out his rage."

In a radio address, propaganda chief Goebbels rea.s.sured the nation.

"In Germany," he said, "there is now complete peace and order. Public security has been restored. Never was the Fuhrer Fuhrer more completely master of the situation. May a favorable destiny bless us so that we can carry our great task to its conclusion with Adolf Hitler!" more completely master of the situation. May a favorable destiny bless us so that we can carry our great task to its conclusion with Adolf Hitler!"

Dodd, however, continued to receive reports that indicated the purge was far from ended. There was still no firm news as to what had happened to Rohm and Papen. Waves of gunfire continued to roll from the courtyard at Lichterfelde.

CHAPTER 50.

Among the Living Sunday morning was cool, sunny, and breezy. Dodd was struck by the absence of any visible markers of all that had occurred during the past twenty-four hours. "It was a strange day," he wrote, "with only ordinary news in the papers."

Papen was said to be alive but under house arrest at his apartment along with his family. Dodd hoped to use what little influence he possessed to help keep him alive-if indeed the reports of Papen's continued survival were correct. Rumor held that the vice-chancellor was marked for execution and that it could happen at any time.

Dodd and Martha took the family Buick for a drive to Papen's apartment building. They drove past the entrance very slowly, intending that the SS guards see the car and recognize its provenance.

The pale face of Papen's son appeared at a window, partially hidden by curtains. An SS officer on guard at the building entrance glared as the car pa.s.sed. It was clear to Martha that the officer had recognized the license plate as belonging to a diplomat.

That afternoon Dodd drove to Papen's home again, but this time he stopped and left a calling card with one of the guards, on which he had written, "I hope we may call on you soon."

Though Dodd disapproved of Papen's political machinations and his past behavior in the United States, he did like the man and had enjoyed sparring with him ever since their dinner confrontation at the Little Press Ball. What motivated Dodd now was revulsion at the idea of men being executed at Hitler's whim without warrant or trial.

Dodd drove back home. Later, Papen's son would tell the Dodds how grateful he and his family had been for the appearance of that simple Buick on their street that lethal afternoon.

REPORTS CONTINUED TO ARRIVE at the Dodds' residence of new arrests and murders. By Sunday night Dodd knew with reasonable certainty that Captain Rohm was dead. at the Dodds' residence of new arrests and murders. By Sunday night Dodd knew with reasonable certainty that Captain Rohm was dead.

The story, pieced together later, went like this: At first Hitler was undecided as to whether to execute his old ally, locked in a cell at Stadelheim Prison, but eventually he bowed to pressure from Goring and Himmler. Even then, however, Hitler insisted that Rohm first should have an opportunity to kill himself.

The man a.s.signed the task of offering Rohm this opportunity was Theodor Eicke, commander of Dachau, who drove to the prison on Sunday along with a deputy, Michael Lippert, and another SS man from the camp. The three were led to Rohm's cell.

Eicke gave Rohm a Browning automatic and a fresh edition of the Volkischer Beobachter Volkischer Beobachter containing an account of what the paper called the "Rohm Putsch," apparently to show Rohm that all was indeed lost. containing an account of what the paper called the "Rohm Putsch," apparently to show Rohm that all was indeed lost.

Eicke left the room. Ten minutes pa.s.sed with no gunfire. Eicke and Lippert returned to the cell, removed the Browning, then came back with their own weapons drawn. They found Rohm standing before them, s.h.i.+rtless.

Accounts vary as to exactly what happened next. Some report that Eicke and Lippert said nothing and began firing. One account holds that Eicke shouted, "Rohm, make yourself ready," at which point Lippert fired two shots. Yet another account gives Rohm a moment of gallantry, during which he declared, "If I am to be killed, let Adolf do it himself."

The first salvo did not kill Rohm. He lay on the floor moaning, "Mein Fuhrer, mein Fuhrer." A final bullet was fired into his temple.

As a reward, Eicke received a promotion that placed him in charge of all Germany's concentration camps. He exported the draconian regulations he had put in place at Dachau to all the other camps under his command.

That Sunday a grateful Reichswehr made another payment on the deal struck aboard the Deutschland Deutschland. Defense Minister Blomberg in his order of the day for that Sunday, July 1, announced, "The Fuhrer Fuhrer with soldierly decision and exemplary courage has himself attacked and crushed the traitors and murderers. The army, as the bearer of arms of the entire people, far removed from the conflicts of domestic politics, will show its grat.i.tude through devotion and loyalty. The good relations.h.i.+p towards the new SA demanded by the with soldierly decision and exemplary courage has himself attacked and crushed the traitors and murderers. The army, as the bearer of arms of the entire people, far removed from the conflicts of domestic politics, will show its grat.i.tude through devotion and loyalty. The good relations.h.i.+p towards the new SA demanded by the Fuhrer Fuhrer will be gladly fostered by the Army in the consciousness that the ideals of both are held in common. The state of emergency has come to an end everywhere." will be gladly fostered by the Army in the consciousness that the ideals of both are held in common. The state of emergency has come to an end everywhere."

AS THE WEEKEND PROGRESSED, the Dodds learned that a new phrase was making the rounds in Berlin, to be deployed upon encountering a friend or acquaintance on the street, ideally with a sardonic lift of one eyebrow: "Lebst du noch?" Which meant, "Are you still among the living?"

CHAPTER 51.

Sympathy's End Though rumors continued to sketch a blood purge of startling dimension, Amba.s.sador Dodd and his wife chose not to cancel the emba.s.sy's Fourth of July celebration, to which they had invited some three hundred guests. If anything, there was more reason now to hold the party, to provide a symbolic demonstration of American freedom and offer a respite from the terror outside. This was to be the first formal occasion since the weekend at which Americans and Germans would encounter each other face to face. The Dodds had invited a number of Martha's friends as well, including Mildred Fish Harnack and her husband, Arvid. Boris apparently did not attend. One guest, Bella Fromm, noted an "electric tension" that pervaded the party. "The diplomats seemed jittery," she wrote. "The Germans were on edge."

Dodd and his wife stood at the entrance to the ballroom to greet each new arrival. Martha saw that outwardly her father was behaving as he always did at such affairs, hiding his boredom with ironic quips and sallies, his expression that of an amused skeptic seemingly on the verge of laughter. Her mother wore a long blue and white dress and greeted guests in her usual quiet manner-all southern grace, with silver hair and a gentle accent-but Martha detected an unusual flush to her mother's cheeks and noted that the nearly black irises of her eyes, always striking, were especially so.

Tables throughout the ballroom and the garden were decorated with bouquets of red, white, and blue flowers and small American flags. An orchestra played American songs quietly. The weather was warm but cloudy. Guests wandered through the house and garden. All in all it was a peaceful and surreal scene, in powerful contrast to the bloodshed of the prior seventy-two hours. For Martha and her brother the juxtaposition was simply too glaring to go unacknowledged, so they made a point of greeting the younger German guests with the question "Lebst du noch?"

"We thought we were being sarcastic, revealing to the Germans some of the fury we felt," she wrote. "No doubt many of them thought the remark bad taste. Some n.a.z.is showed extreme irritation."

Guests arrived bearing fresh news. Now and then a correspondent or emba.s.sy staffer pulled Dodd away for a few moments of conversation. One topic, surely, was a law enacted the day before by Hitler's cabinet that made all the murders legal; it justified them as actions taken in "emergency defense of the state." Guests arrived looking pale and shaken, fearing the worst for their friends throughout the city.

Fritz, the butler, brought Martha word that a visitor was waiting for her downstairs. "Der junge Herr von Papen," Fritz said. The young Mr. Papen-the vice-chancellor's son, Franz Jr. Martha was expecting him and had alerted her mother that if he appeared she might have to leave. She touched her mother's arm and left the reception line.

Franz was tall, blond, and slender, with a sharply sculpted face and, Martha recalled, "a certain fine beauty-like that of blonde fox." He was graceful as well. To dance with him, she wrote, "was like living in music itself."

Franz took her arm and briskly led her away from the house. They crossed the street to the Tiergarten, where they strolled awhile, watching for signs of being followed. Finding none, they walked to an outdoor cafe, took a table, and ordered drinks.

The terror of the last few days showed on Franz's face and in his manner. Anxiety muted his usual easygoing humor.

Though grateful for Amba.s.sador Dodd's appearance outside his family's home, Franz understood that what had really saved his father was his relations.h.i.+p with President Hindenburg. Even that closeness, however, had not kept the SS from terrorizing Papen and his family, as Franz now revealed. On Sat.u.r.day armed SS men had taken up positions within the family's apartment and at the street entrance. They told the vice-chancellor that two of his staff had been shot and indicated the same end awaited him. The order, they said, would arrive at any moment. The family spent a lonely, terrifying weekend.

Franz and Martha talked awhile longer, then he escorted her back through the park. She returned to the party alone.

LATE ONE AFTERNOON DURING that week, Mrs. Cerruti, wife of the Italian amba.s.sador, happened to look out a window of her residence, which stood across the street from Rohm's house. At that moment, a large car pulled up. Two men got out and went into the house and emerged carrying armloads of Rohm's suits and other clothing. They made several trips. that week, Mrs. Cerruti, wife of the Italian amba.s.sador, happened to look out a window of her residence, which stood across the street from Rohm's house. At that moment, a large car pulled up. Two men got out and went into the house and emerged carrying armloads of Rohm's suits and other clothing. They made several trips.

The scene brought home to her the events of the past weekend in a particularly vivid manner. "The sight of these clothes, now deprived of their owner, was nauseating," she recalled in a memoir. "They were so obviously 'the garments of the hanged' that I had to turn away my head."

She suffered "a regular fit of nerves." She ran upstairs and vowed to take an immediate break from Berlin. She left the next day for Venice.

THE DODDS LEARNED THAT Wilhelm Regendanz, the wealthy banker who had hosted the fateful dinner for Captain Rohm and French amba.s.sador Francois-Poncet at his Dahlem home, had managed to escape Berlin on the day of the purge and make his way safely to London. He feared now, however, that he could never return. Worse, his wife was still in Berlin and his adult son, Alex, who also had been present at the dinner, had been arrested by the Gestapo. On July 3 Regendanz wrote to Mrs. Dodd to ask if she would go to Dahlem to check on his wife and younger children and "to bring her my heartiest greetings." He wrote, "It seems that I am suspect now, because so many diplomats have been in my house and because I was also a friend of General von Schleicher." Wilhelm Regendanz, the wealthy banker who had hosted the fateful dinner for Captain Rohm and French amba.s.sador Francois-Poncet at his Dahlem home, had managed to escape Berlin on the day of the purge and make his way safely to London. He feared now, however, that he could never return. Worse, his wife was still in Berlin and his adult son, Alex, who also had been present at the dinner, had been arrested by the Gestapo. On July 3 Regendanz wrote to Mrs. Dodd to ask if she would go to Dahlem to check on his wife and younger children and "to bring her my heartiest greetings." He wrote, "It seems that I am suspect now, because so many diplomats have been in my house and because I was also a friend of General von Schleicher."

Mrs. Dodd and Martha drove to Dahlem to see Mrs. Regendanz. A servant girl met them at the door, her eyes red. Soon Mrs. Regendanz herself appeared, looking dark and thin, her eyes deeply shadowed and her mannerisms halting and nervous. She knew Martha and Mattie and was perplexed to see them there in her home. She led them inside. After a few moments of conversation, the Dodds told Mrs. Regendanz about the message from her husband. She put her hands to her face and wept softly.

Mrs. Regendanz recounted how her house had been searched and her pa.s.sport confiscated. "When she spoke of her son," Martha wrote, "her self-control collapsed and she became hysterical with fear." She had no idea where Alex was, whether he was alive or dead.

She pleaded with Martha and her mother to locate Alex and visit him, bring him cigarettes, anything to demonstrate to his captors that he had drawn the attention of the U.S. emba.s.sy. The Dodds promised to try. Mrs. Dodd and Mrs. Regendanz agreed that henceforth Mrs. Regendanz would use a code name, Carrie, in any contact with the Dodds or the emba.s.sy.

Over the next few days the Dodds spoke with influential friends, diplomats, and friendly government officials about the situation. Whether their intercession helped or not can't be known, but Alex was freed after about a month of incarceration. He left Germany immediately, by night train, and joined his father in London.

Through connections, Mrs. Regendanz managed to acquire another pa.s.sport and to secure pa.s.sage out of Germany by air. Once she and her children were also in London, she sent a postcard to Mrs. Dodd: "Arrived safe and sound. Deepest grat.i.tude. Love. Carrie."

IN WAs.h.i.+NGTON, WESTERN EUROPEAN affairs chief Jay Pierrepont Moffat noted a surge of inquiries from American travelers asking whether it was still safe to visit Germany. "We have replied to them," he wrote, "that in all the trouble to date no foreigner has been molested and we see no cause for worry if they mind their own business and keep out of trouble's way." affairs chief Jay Pierrepont Moffat noted a surge of inquiries from American travelers asking whether it was still safe to visit Germany. "We have replied to them," he wrote, "that in all the trouble to date no foreigner has been molested and we see no cause for worry if they mind their own business and keep out of trouble's way."

His mother, for one, had survived the purge unscathed and professed to have found it "quite exciting," Moffat wrote in a later entry.

His sister's home was in the Tiergarten district, where it "was blocked off by soldiers and they had to make quite a detour to get in or out." Nonetheless, mother, daughter, and granddaughter set off by car, with chauffeur, for their previously planned tour of Germany.

What most occupied the attention of the State Department was the outstanding German debt to American creditors. It was a strange juxtaposition. In Germany, there was blood, viscera, and gunfire; at the State Department in Was.h.i.+ngton, there were white s.h.i.+rts, Hull's red pencils, and mounting frustration with Dodd for failing to press America's case. In a telegram from Berlin dated Friday, July 6, Dodd reported that he had met with Foreign Minister Neurath on the bond issue and that Neurath had said he would do what he could to ensure that interest was paid but that "this would be extremely difficult." When Dodd asked Neurath whether the United States could at least expect the same treatment as other international creditors, Neurath "merely expressed the hope that this might be possible."

The telegram infuriated Secretary Hull and the elders of the Pretty Good Club. "By his own showing," Moffat wrote in his diary, Dodd "put up very little fight and rather let von Neurath walk away with the situation. The Secretary knows that [Dodd] has scant sympathy with our financial interests but even so was pretty fed up with the Dodd telegram."

Hull angrily ordered Moffat to compose a harsh response to Dodd to compel him "not only to take but to create every opportunity to drive home the justice of our complaints."

The result was a cable transmitted at 4:00 p.m. on Sat.u.r.day, July 7, under Secretary Hull's name that questioned whether Dodd had challenged Germany's failure to pay its bond debt "with the utmost vigor alike from the point of view of logic, equity, and its effect upon the estimated 60,000 mainly innocent holders in this country...."

Moffat wrote, "It was a fairly stiff telegram, one sentence of which the Secretary with his intense kindly nature modified to salve Dodd's feelings." Moffat noted that "the irreverent ones" in the department had begun referring to Dodd as "Amba.s.sador Dud."

During another meeting on the bond situation later that week, Hull continued to express his dissatisfaction with Dodd. Moffat wrote, "The Secretary kept repeating while Dodd was a very fine man in many ways, he certainly had a peculiar slant to his make-up."

That day Moffat attended a garden party at the home of a wealthy friend-the friend with the pool-who had invited as well "the entire State Department." There were exhibition tennis matches and swimming races. Moffat had to leave early, however, for a cruise down the Potomac on a power yacht "fitted out with a luxury that would satisfy the soul of any sybarite."

IN BERLIN, DODD WAS UNMOVED. He thought it pointless to pursue full payment, because Germany simply did not have the money, and there were far more important issues at stake. In a letter to Hull a few weeks later he wrote, "Our people will have to lose their bonds."

EARLY ON THE MORNING of Friday, July 6, Martha went to her father's bedroom to tell him good-bye. She knew he disapproved of her journey to Russia, but as they hugged and kissed he seemed at ease. He urged her to be careful but hoped she would have "an interesting trip." of Friday, July 6, Martha went to her father's bedroom to tell him good-bye. She knew he disapproved of her journey to Russia, but as they hugged and kissed he seemed at ease. He urged her to be careful but hoped she would have "an interesting trip."

Her mother and brother took her to Tempelhof Airport; Dodd remained in the city, aware, no doubt, that the n.a.z.i press might try to capitalize on his presence at the airport, waving farewell as his daughter flew off to the hated Soviet Union.

Martha climbed a tall set of steel stairs to the three-engine Junker that would take her on the first leg of her journey. A photographer captured her looking jaunty at the top of the stairs, her hat at a rakish angle. She wore a plain jumper over a polka-dotted blouse and matching scarf. Improbably, given the heat, she carried a long coat draped over her arm and a pair of white gloves.

She claimed later that she had no idea her trip would be of interest to the press or that it would create something of a diplomatic scandal. This hardly seems credible, however. After a year in which she had come to know intimately such intriguers as Rudolf Diels and Putzi Hanfstaengl, she could not have failed to realize that in Hitler's Germany even the smallest actions possessed exaggerated symbolic power.

On a personal level her departure marked the fact that the last traces of the sympathy she had felt for the strange and n.o.ble beings of the n.a.z.i revolution had disappeared, and whether she recognized it or not, her departure, as captured by news photographers and duly registered by emba.s.sy officials and Gestapo watchers alike, was a public declaration of her final disillusionment.

She wrote, "I had had enough of blood and terror to last me for the rest of my life."

HER FATHER REACHED a similar moment of transformation. Throughout that first year in Germany, Dodd had been struck again and again by the strange indifference to atrocity that had settled over the nation, the willingness of the populace and of the moderate elements in the government to accept each new oppressive decree, each new act of violence, without protest. It was as if he had entered the dark forest of a fairy tale where all the rules of right and wrong were upended. He wrote to his friend Roper, "I could not have imagined the outbreak against the Jews when everybody was suffering, one way or another, from declining commerce. Nor could one have imagined that such a terroristic performance as that of June 30 would have been permitted in modern times." a similar moment of transformation. Throughout that first year in Germany, Dodd had been struck again and again by the strange indifference to atrocity that had settled over the nation, the willingness of the populace and of the moderate elements in the government to accept each new oppressive decree, each new act of violence, without protest. It was as if he had entered the dark forest of a fairy tale where all the rules of right and wrong were upended. He wrote to his friend Roper, "I could not have imagined the outbreak against the Jews when everybody was suffering, one way or another, from declining commerce. Nor could one have imagined that such a terroristic performance as that of June 30 would have been permitted in modern times."

Dodd continued to hope that the murders would so outrage the German public that the regime would fall, but as the days pa.s.sed he saw no evidence of any such outpouring of anger. Even the army had stood by, despite the murder of two of its generals. President Hindenburg sent Hitler a telegram of praise. "From the reports placed before me, I learn that you, by your determined action and gallant personal intervention, have nipped treason in the bud. You have saved the German nation from serious danger. For this I express to you my most profound thanks and sincere appreciation." In another telegram Hindenburg thanked Goring for his "energetic and successful proceeding of the smas.h.i.+ng of high treason."

Dodd learned that Goring personally had ordered over seventy-five executions. He was glad when Goring, like Rohm before him, sent his regrets at not being able to attend the dinner party the Dodds had planned for Friday evening, July 6. Dodd wrote, "It was a relief that he did not appear. I don't know what I would have done if he had."

FOR DODD, DIPLOMAT by accident, not demeanor, the whole thing was utterly appalling. He was a scholar and Jeffersonian democrat, a farmer who loved history and the old Germany in which he had studied as a young man. Now there was official murder on a terrifying scale. Dodd's friends and acquaintances, people who had been to his house for dinner and tea, had been shot dead. Nothing in Dodd's past had prepared him for this. It brought to the fore with more acuity than ever his doubts about whether he could achieve anything as amba.s.sador. If he could not, what then was the point of remaining in Berlin, when his great love, his by accident, not demeanor, the whole thing was utterly appalling. He was a scholar and Jeffersonian democrat, a farmer who loved history and the old Germany in which he had studied as a young man. Now there was official murder on a terrifying scale. Dodd's friends and acquaintances, people who had been to his house for dinner and tea, had been shot dead. Nothing in Dodd's past had prepared him for this. It brought to the fore with more acuity than ever his doubts about whether he could achieve anything as amba.s.sador. If he could not, what then was the point of remaining in Berlin, when his great love, his Old South Old South, languished on his desk?

Something left him, a vital last element of hope. In his diary entry for July 8, one week after the purge began and just before the one-year anniversary of his arrival in Berlin, he wrote: "My task here is to work for peace and better relations. I do not see how anything can be done so long as. .h.i.tler, Goring and Goebbels are the directing heads of the country. Never have I heard or read of three more unfit men in high place. Ought I to resign?"

He vowed never to host Hitler, Goring, or Goebbels at the emba.s.sy or his home and resolved further "that I would never again attend an address of the Chancellor or seek an interview for myself except upon official grounds. I have a sense of horror when I look at the man."

CHAPTER 52.

Only the Horses But like seemingly everyone else in Berlin, Dodd wanted to hear what Hitler had to say about the purge. The government announced that Hitler would speak on the evening of Friday, July 13, in an address before the deputies of the Reichstag at their temporary hall, the nearby Kroll opera house. Dodd decided not to attend but to listen over the radio. The prospect of being there in person and listening to Hitler justify ma.s.s murder as hundreds of sycophants repeatedly thrust out their arms was too abhorrent.

That Friday afternoon, he and Francois-Poncet arranged to meet in the Tiergarten, as they had done in the past to avoid eavesdropping. Dodd wanted to find out whether Francois-Poncet planned to attend the speech but feared that if he visited the French emba.s.sy, Gestapo watchers would observe his arrival and conclude that he was conspiring to have the great powers boycott the speech, as indeed he was. Dodd had called on Sir Eric Phipps at the British emba.s.sy earlier in the week and learned that Phipps too planned to forgo the speech. Two such visits to major emba.s.sies in so short a time would surely draw attention.

The day was cool and sunny, and as a consequence the park was crowded with people, most on foot but quite a few on horseback, moving slowly through shadow. Now and then the air was punctuated by laughter and the barking of dogs and plumed with the ghosts of cigars fading slowly in the stillness. The two amba.s.sadors walked for an hour.

As they prepared to part company, Francois-Poncet volunteered, "I shall not attend the address." He then offered an observation that Dodd had never expected to hear from a modern diplomat in one of the great capitals of Europe. "I would not be surprised any time to be shot on the streets of Berlin," he said. "Because of this my wife remains in Paris. The Germans hate us so and their leaders.h.i.+p is so crazy."

At eight o'clock that night, in the library at Tiergartenstra.s.se 27a, Dodd turned on his radio and listened as. .h.i.tler took the dais to address the Reichstag. A dozen deputies were absent, murdered in the purge.

The opera house was just a twenty-minute walk across the Tiergarten from where Dodd now sat listening. On his side of the park, all was peaceful and quiet, the evening fragrant with the scent of night flowers. Even over the radio Dodd could hear the frequent risings and Heilings of the audience.

"Deputies," Hitler said. "Men of the German Reichstag!"

Hitler detailed what he described as a plot by Captain Rohm to usurp the government, aided by a foreign diplomat whom he did not identify. In ordering the purge, he said, he had acted only in the best interests of Germany, to save the nation from turmoil.

"Only a ferocious and b.l.o.o.d.y repression could nip the revolt in the bud," he told his audience. He himself had led the attack in Munich, he said, while Goring, with his "steel fist," had done so in Berlin. "If someone asks me why we did not use the regular courts I would reply: at the moment I was responsible for the German nation; consequently, it was I alone who, during those twenty-four hours, was the Supreme Court of Justice of the German People."

Dodd heard the clamor as the audience leapt to its feet, cheering, saluting, and applauding.