The House of Wittgenstein : a family at war Part 9

In the matter of Gretl's dealings with Arthur Seyss-Inquart, the report concludes: Mrs s...o...b..rough evidently felt in 1938 and 1939 that there was such a thing as an obligation of honor owed to a n.a.z.i, that the n.a.z.is were people with whom one did business on the basis of honor. If we regard her charitably, the best we can say for her is that she was a very silly woman.

The result of the first pa.s.sport-fraud trial had been fixed in advance. Quite how is not known, but it now appears that Gretl and Hermine turned down the offer of an adjournment when their Jewish defense lawyer was dismissed because they were confident that they had already "negotiated themselves out of it," and that they knew from the start that Judge Standhartinger was poised and ready to acquit them. The appeal case, however, was likely to be a lot trickier. This time they were terrified that it would be dealt with by a higher authority in Berlin, by people beyond their sphere of influence, who might not "regard us as the eminent ladies s...o...b..rough and Wittgenstein, who had trusted a crook, but rather as two old Jews juggling with false pa.s.sports." Once again Gretl's contacts came to the rescue, as Hermine revealed: "Gretl and some good friends again found means of preventing the new court proceedings. A suitable man was found who was to change the Public Prosecutor's att.i.tude, and he succeeded. The appeal was withdrawn and we were delivered of this serious anxiety."

This "suitable man" was probably Alfred Indra, the lawyer and Viennese operator who had represented Arvid Sjogren, Helene's son-in-law, at the original fraud trial. Shortly after that he was asked to represent Gretl in various battles with the authorities concerning her property. Ji described him as "a gent and on very good terms with thousands of people. A fixer." Dr. Indra, whose father and uncle were both senior government ministers, was one of only three lawyers during the n.a.z.i period who represented both the n.a.z.i authorities and the well-to-do Jews whose property was threatened with confiscation. In a totalitarian state such as. .h.i.tler's Germany, hiring a lawyer to fight the government was not a serious option. A plaintiff wis.h.i.+ng to take his case to the courts was offered, by the authorities, a choice of three approved lawyers to represent him. These were Hans Frank, Erich Zeiner and Alfred Indra. Clearly, if any of them fought the case of their clients too brilliantly they would be removed from their posts. Indra's most famous client in 1938 was Sigmund Freud. After the war he represented Freud's heirs in their efforts to retrieve something of the psychoa.n.a.lyst's confiscated estate, but all his files (so he claimed in 1961) were ransacked first by the SS and later by the Russians.

Dr. Indra had been introduced to Freud by Princess Marie Bonaparte (Gretl's friend from Luzern days) and it was he who organized the Professor's emigration to London and he who drafted the chilling and wholly mendacious declaration for the octogenarian to sign before he left: I hereby confirm of my own free will that as of today, June 4th 1938, neither I, nor any of those around me, have been hara.s.sed. The authorities and representatives of the NSDAP have always conducted themselves correctly and with restraint towards me and those around me. Prof. Dr. Sigm. Freud Dr. Indra was forty-four years old in 1938, six foot two inches tall, dark eyed, slick and deceitful. He had been educated at the Theresianum--the same smart Viennese school that Ji attended eighteen years later, and the younger man looked up to him as the impressionable first-year looks up to the square-jawed sporting hero of the upper-sixth. "Indra was a very handsome man," he later recalled. "A wonderful lawyer... One who knew how to hunt with the hounds and run with the hare ... A great help!! ... He and I were of course on Theresianum terms of 'Du.' " Dr. Indra's trick was to give his clients the impression that he thought the n.a.z.i authorities were stupid and ignorant and that he was entirely on their side against them. This the s...o...b..roughs swallowed easily, and if Dr. Indra had indeed been instrumental in dissuading the Public Prosecutor from his appeal against Hermine's and Gretl's acquittal, who could blame them?

The aging ladies were, after all, worth more to the Germans outside prison than in it, for they held the keys to the vast fortune in gold and foreign currency that the family kept in Switzerland, a fortune on which the Reichsbank was impatient to get its hands. The house of a German citizen who refused to exchange his foreign savings for Reichsmarks would normally be raided by the Gestapo and its occupants thrown into prison, but the Wittgenstein case was complicated. The a.s.sets of the fund, supposedly locked under the terms of incorporation until 1947, belonged to many people, some of whom (Ji and Gretl) were American citizens, and another of whom (Paul) had escaped German jurisdiction. The directors included Ludwig (soon to become a British citizen) and Otto Peyer, a Swiss businessman, neither of them under any compunction to obey German law. If the n.a.z.is were to get their hands on the pot, they needed all parties to be persuaded, but this could hardly be achieved with Gretl and Hermine languis.h.i.+ng in prison for pa.s.sport irregularities, and the authorities soon realized that their best hope was to use them to persuade the others to release the funds.

At the beginning of November 1938 Dr. Indra had asked Ji to go to Zurich to entice Paul back to Vienna as an act of goodwill toward the authorities before leaving for America. The meeting took place over breakfast at the Hotel Savoy Baur en Ville. Ludwig was also present. He had come to help sort out the liquidation of the trust and, since he had given all of his own a.s.sets away, was considered a helpful and impartial adviser in the matter of how this might best be done. The Reich-wide anti-Semitic Kristallnacht Kristallnacht pogroms, during which over 1,000 synagogues and Jewish businesses were destroyed and 100,000 Jews arrested, had taken place only days earlier and the international press was full of it. The risks of returning were too great for Paul. During the discussion Ji told a risque joke that both his uncles found distasteful. pogroms, during which over 1,000 synagogues and Jewish businesses were destroyed and 100,000 Jews arrested, had taken place only days earlier and the international press was full of it. The risks of returning were too great for Paul. During the discussion Ji told a risque joke that both his uncles found distasteful.

When the Reichsbank realized that Paul would not return to Vienna it stepped up the pressure concerning the Wistag fortune. Max Salzer and Anton Groller were threatened with imprisonment. An urgent meeting was convened at the Palais, attended by factotum Groller, Max Salzer, Hermine and Gretl. Only Gretl brought her own legal adviser to the meeting (the sinister Dr. Indra), for she it seems had her own agenda.

The purpose of the meeting was to discuss with Dr. Johannes Schoene, the legal representative of the Reichsbank from Berlin, means by which the Wittgenstein fortune could be paid to his bank. Dr. Schoene was an ambitious lawyer in his early thirties, a signed-up member of the NSDAP, very short, very blond with arresting blue eyes--a sort of Hollywood n.a.z.i archetype. "You know," he said to Hermine, "there are those in Berlin who are dismayed to learn that your family still holds such a large fortune abroad. One of them recently said to me: And are you saying that these people are still running around free?' " A heavy hint of threat seemed to underscore all of Dr. Schoene's utterances, but he must have had a little charm, for Hermine later described this same meeting as "very friendly."

Gretl had learned from her son Thomas that, in cases where a family's foreign a.s.sets were held abroad, concessions could be made if the family was prepared to break up the trust early. This seemingly obvious point filled his mother with optimism and she spoke up at the meeting with an energy that impressed her elder sister as "comparable to that of our father." Her proposition was simple: "if you wish us to liquidate the trust you must pay us to do it, and the price that we demand is full citizens.h.i.+p rights for Hermine and Helene." This Dr. Schoene initially suggested might be possible but, he warned, it would need to be agreed in Berlin with the Reichsbank's Head of Foreign Exchange, Dr. Gorlich.

The Berlin meeting, which took place at the bank's offices in the Vic-toriastra.s.se on May 2, was attended by many of the same partic.i.p.ants as the earlier conference in Vienna. Dr. Gorlich put the case to Gretl and Hermine bluntly: Either you can emigrate, in which case we shall permit you to keep a small portion of your foreign fortune, or you can stay in the Reich and like everybody else change all your foreign money into Reichs-marks. I a.s.sume that you will be choosing the first of these two options as I cannot imagine that you would wish to stay in this country as exception-Jews, against the expressed will of the Fuhrer? Fuhrer?

Hermine did not answer but hoped, by her silence, that Dr. Gorlich would understand that staying in the German Reich was precisely what she intended to do.

As to the sisters receiving Aryan treatment, this, he insisted, was out of the question. They were Jews and that was that, but when Anton Groller mentioned that a branch of the Wittgenstein family was convinced that Hermann Wittgenstein was the illegitimate son of an Aryan prince, Drs. Gorlich and Schoene seized upon this information as a possible solution, giving the strong impression that they would do anything to help the family twist it that way. In point of fact they were adroitly playing an old game, pretending, on the one hand, to be sympathetic to the family plight while, on the other, threatening that if matters became too complicated they would have to pa.s.s the Wittgenstein file to the Gestapo. Gretl seems to have fallen for the ruse: "Our friends.h.i.+p with the Reichsbank began at that point," she told Hermine. After the meeting her pa.s.sport was returned to her and three days later she boarded the SS Was.h.i.+ngton Was.h.i.+ngton at Southampton bound for New York. at Southampton bound for New York.

n.a.z.iS ARRIVE IN AMERICA

Anton Groller had been employed by the Wittgensteins for most of his working life. While shocked by their recent treatment as Jews, he was much in favor of the Anschluss and Anschluss and a keen supporter of the NSDAP. Immediately after the meeting in Berlin he contacted Paul. "The Germans," he said, a keen supporter of the NSDAP. Immediately after the meeting in Berlin he contacted Paul. "The Germans," he said, have been very generous. They have made you a definitive offer. From your share of 3.4 million Swiss francs they are going to allow you to keep 2.1 SF, a great sacrifice, I know, but one I expect you to make. Furthermore they will permit you to travel freely in and out of Austria. They will not, however, guarantee any concession concerning the Aryan treatment of your sisters. In return, they require an immediate gesture of goodwill from the family. We suggest you release all the gold to them right away.

Paul's reaction was not enthusiastic. The offer of permission to travel in and out of Austria meant nothing to him, as the criminal charges against him had not been withdrawn and, in any case, he remained always a Jew, stripped of citizens.h.i.+p rights. If he returned to Vienna he would be seized by the Gestapo and forced to surrender even his 2.1 million Swiss francs. Nor was he happy about conceding the gold reserves to the Reichsbank with no guarantees about his sisters' treatment. Ji too was vehemently opposed to such a move and spoke in excitable, high-pitched tones to Paul of his promise to help protect his uncle's fortune from what he called the "prole n.a.z.is," of his resolution to give away as little as possible and to fight the Germans at every turn. Uncle and nephew were in complete agreement that whatever concessions had eventually to be made must be to the greatest possible advantage of Hermine and He-lene.

Gretl arrived in New York on May 12, 1939, exactly one week before the German s.h.i.+p SS Columbus Columbus with Drs. Schoene and Indra on board. Konrad Bloch, a Swiss lawyer representing the Wistag Trust, was also in America but, because his English was poor, he had instructed a bilingual New York solicitor to share his brief. This was Samuel Wachtell, a scrupulous, hard-working and honest attorney whose office had spent thousands of man-hours sorting, free of charge, the immigration papers of Jewish clients fleeing the Reich. with Drs. Schoene and Indra on board. Konrad Bloch, a Swiss lawyer representing the Wistag Trust, was also in America but, because his English was poor, he had instructed a bilingual New York solicitor to share his brief. This was Samuel Wachtell, a scrupulous, hard-working and honest attorney whose office had spent thousands of man-hours sorting, free of charge, the immigration papers of Jewish clients fleeing the Reich.

The first meeting of all parties took place on May 19 at the Gladstone Hotel on 52nd Street and Park Avenue. In the days before, Ji's adamantine resolve to prevent the Germans taking all the gold had already crumbled. Gretl had insisted that he sign it over--all 2.5 million SF worth--and she was a formidable woman, "a fighter who brooked no interference." Anton Groller meanwhile told Paul that the Germans would not allow him to keep any of his fortune if he too did not consent to handing over the gold. This he reluctantly did. "How unexpected," was Dr. Schoene's sarcastic reaction to the news that such a high advance had been conceded. "The Reichsbank would have been satisfied with far less than that." Gretl swept into the meeting without greeting Dr. Bloch and Dr. Wachtell. She had brought along her own New York attorney, Abraham Bienstock. Dr. Indra, who only a week earlier seemed to be representing her interests against the predations of the Reichsbank in Vienna, was now in New York as Dr. Schoene's understrapper, representing the Reichsbank. Paul had no idea who Indra was and simply remarked, "he never opened his mouth in my presence so that it was not at all clear whom he represented." At the outset Paul stated that he was willing to make sacrifices for his sisters in Vienna, but stressed also the danger that he was in: Since I came to America far too late, all available paid positions at conservatories have been taken. I cannot work other than as a piano teacher, for I am no use at anything else--What idiot would employ an impractical one-armed man, when the best-qualified men with two arms in their hundreds are wandering about jobless? Even if a well-paid job were offered me I would not be able to take it for as a "visitor" to the US I am under an obligation to earn no money.

Dr. Schoene's response was icy. Despite the family's goodwill payment of the gold he had now decided that 2.1 million SF was far too much for Paul. The Reichsbank, he said, might consent to 500,000, or maybe less. Paul, predictably, lost his temper and the meeting was adjourned.

Gretl and Ji departed immediately for Was.h.i.+ngton. Dr. Bloch took Paul to one side and told him that he mistrusted his sister as, on more than one occasion, she appeared to be siding with the n.a.z.is against him. This Paul dismissed. "It is only apparent," he replied. "My sister has not the slightest reason to favour the Reichsbank over me. We are not on good terms, but she is not capable of dishonourable conduct." At the next meeting, however, he changed his mind.

It was crucial that all parties on the Wittgenstein side should agree a common strategy against the Reichsbank, but during their absence in Was.h.i.+ngton Gretl and Ji neither could nor would allow themselves to be contacted. Dr. Bloch telephoned their lawyer only to be told that he had been instructed to speak to no one. On the day of the meeting Gretl rang to say that neither she nor her son would be able to come early but would instead be arriving at the same time as Indra and Schoene. Dr. Bloch sprang a surprise, so that when she entered the room she brusquely demanded: "Where are the Germans?" "We have canceled them," he said, "so that we may first decide what we are going to tell them." Gretl was visibly shaken but took her seat while Dr. Wachtell opened proceedings with a recapitulation of the case in a few short words. When he had finished Ji, adopting a ministerial tone, said: "I listened with considerable interest to your somewhat lengthened explanations, but I wish to say that there are people present who do not understand anything and I do not wish them to be here."

"If you are referring to me," Dr. Wachtell answered, "you are mistaken. I have fought similar disputes with the Germans and I know how to treat the matter."

"I am not referring to you."

"Then to whom do you refer?" Paul asked, bridling at what he later termed the "loutish impudence of my stinking louse of a nephew."

"I allude to my uncle Paul and Dr. Bloch," Ji said. "I have no time to hear them and in any case everything must be settled in thirty minutes as I have a train to catch."

"I don't give a d.a.m.n about your train!" shouted Paul, infuriated by the suggestion that a million-dollar fortune should be negotiated according to a railway timetable.

"And I don't give a d.a.m.n about your money!" screamed Ji, slamming the table with his fist.

Gretl immediately summoned her brother into an adjacent room where she told him: "You have no right to defend your money. You would not be here at all if it were not for me."

When they returned the quarrel flared up again and just as Paul was on the point of conceding his whole fortune in a temper to the n.a.z.is, a high-decibel shriek brought the a.s.sembly to sudden silence. "STOP!!" Samuel Wachtell, the Wistag attorney, seeing the danger that Paul was in was calling for an immediate adjournment. Ji and Gretl rushed off angrily to the station. The next day Paul received a letter from his nephew enclosing a bill for his and his mother's travel expenses to Was.h.i.+ngton. "It would have been better," he wrote, "if we could have come to some understanding." Paul sent a telegram by return: PERSONALLY SHALL TAKE NO MORE PART IN PROCEEDINGS. ADVISE YOU TO GET IN TOUCH WITH MY LAWYER DR WACHTELL."

"Back then," Paul later recorded, "Wachtell literally saved me from starvation. If he had not yelled 'STOP' I would have left this meeting a beggar--a beggar who does not even know in which country he is allowed to beg!" From that day Paul never spoke to Gretl again, nor did he have any further dealings with his "louse" of a nephew.

THE s...o...b..ROUGHS' MOTIVATION

Why were Gretl and Ji apparently so anxious that Paul should hand the whole of his fortune to the Reichsbank? Konrad Bloch believed that the reason was connected to Ji's prospects of inheritance as he was an heir to Hermine and she would receive Paul's fortune, which even at the Reichs-bank's rate of exchange would be worth something in years to come. Paul had other suspicions. He sensed that the s...o...b..roughs were trying to bring about the liberation of their art treasures in Gmunden and in the Kundmannga.s.se. "That is only a suspicion--I explicitly emphasise that," he wrote. "Nevertheless I consider it to be very likely that Schoene, for whom, as a representative of the Reichsbank, no means would be too base, held out this prospect to them."

There is another possibility. The evidence shows that the Germans used the threat of Hermine's imprisonment and confiscation of all her Austrian property to exert pressure on the family--and in particular on Paul--to relinquish its entire interest in the Wistag Trust to the Reichsbank for conversion into Reichsmarks. While Gretl was in America she was safe from criminal prosecution, but her extensive Austrian properties were vulnerable. Gretl and Hermine may have been threatened that if Paul did not agree to the Reichsbank's demand for the total sum of the Wistag Trust, the Germans would pursue them for the shortfall, seizing both their properties and imprisoning Hermine for failure to comply with foreign currency laws. This may explain a throwaway remark in Hermine's memoirs. Referring to the Reichsbank meeting in Berlin at the beginning of May 1939 she wrote, "Finally it was decided to allow Paul a sum of foreign currency that seemed to me rather high." Why, when his share in the fund was worth 3.5 million SF, did she consider 2.1 million "rather high"? What difference did it make to her how much of his own fortune her brother was allowed to retain? Unless, of course, she believed that she and Gretl would have to make good the difference.

One wonders at the role played by Dr. Indra, "the fixer," in New York. When he came to America, apparently as a legal representative of the Reichsbank, he was, unbeknown to Paul, simultaneously acting as Gretl's solicitor in dealings with the Reichsbank in Austria. So whose interests was he really there to serve? The Reichsbank's? Gretl's? Or both? When Paul's solicitor discovered that Dr. Indra had found out secret information about the Wistag Trust, it was a.s.sumed that Dr. Groller was guilty of the leak.

Back in New York Indra remained intent on luring Paul back to Germany and proposed that since it was not German policy to negotiate on foreign soil, a top official from Berlin should be sent to conduct meetings with him on board a German s.h.i.+p. Paul's lawyers warned that this would be "extremely dangerous." At the same meeting Gretl burst out: "That Paul does not give his money to the Reichsbank is shabby and unaccountable. Every d.a.m.ned thing my brother owns he owes to his family ... He has no right to defend his fortune since it is only through me that he is here!" Dr. Schoene, when he heard this, was unable to suppress a satisfied grin, but Dr. Wachtell wryly asked: "Do you want to be paid for that, Madam?" It was comments such as this that inspired Ji to describe Wachtell as "a real s.h.i.+t."

An intercepted report from Dr. Schoene to his bosses in Berlin explained that he had been frustrated in his efforts to seize the Wistag fortune for Germany "by the Jewish lawyers, Wachtell and Bloch, who are ill disposed towards the Reich." Wachtell, Schoene complained, "is obstinately resting his case upon an una.s.sailable legal standpoint," but, he reported, John s...o...b..rough is demonstrating "an altogether fair att.i.tude towards Germany's interests." Part of this "fair att.i.tude" consisted in Ji's doing exactly what the Germans told him to do. "Alfred Indra dictated a letter to me in the middle of Wall Street," he later admitted, and "Dr. Schoene also told me what to say, write, maintain ... in the end I consented to sign this or that complicated doc.u.ment." His explanation (unlikely in the extreme) was that Schoene and Indra were both " double-agents" working secretly for the s...o...b..roughs against the Reichsbank in order to secure a Mischling Mischling solution for Hermine and Helene. solution for Hermine and Helene.

By July 1939 the matter was still unresolved and the Reichsbank was resorting to heavier tactics in order to force Paul to capitulate. In Vienna Hermine, Herr Groller and all the Salzers were advised that they would be severely punished if the money was not forthcoming and that delays over the negotiations for Mischling Mischling status in New York were the cause. Together they sent a telegram: DO NOT INSIST ON HALF-BREED STATUS. OTHERWISE ACUTE IMPENDING DANGER TO UNDERSIGNED PERSONS. By striking terror into the relatives in Austria, Dr. Schoene was hoping to force Paul's hand, but Gretl, knowing full well it was bluff and that no one in Austria would be harmed so long as negotiations were ongoing in New York, continued with her unflinching demands for status in New York were the cause. Together they sent a telegram: DO NOT INSIST ON HALF-BREED STATUS. OTHERWISE ACUTE IMPENDING DANGER TO UNDERSIGNED PERSONS. By striking terror into the relatives in Austria, Dr. Schoene was hoping to force Paul's hand, but Gretl, knowing full well it was bluff and that no one in Austria would be harmed so long as negotiations were ongoing in New York, continued with her unflinching demands for Mischling Mischling status, while insisting that Paul surrender his whole fortune. status, while insisting that Paul surrender his whole fortune.

On July 12, Ludwig, Anton Groller and Freda Marie Schoene (Dr. Schoene's wife) sailed together on the Queen Mary Queen Mary for New York. Ji cabled his uncle Ludwig, "DON'T GIVE IN OR AUNT IMPRISONED." Dr. Wachtell, aware of the escalating burden on his client, had already taken countermeasures to save Paul from the new wave of pressure. "I would like you to take some time off," he said to him. "Go on vacation without leaving your address. I value your presence at all times, but in this negotiation I could do very well without it." To Ludwig on the for New York. Ji cabled his uncle Ludwig, "DON'T GIVE IN OR AUNT IMPRISONED." Dr. Wachtell, aware of the escalating burden on his client, had already taken countermeasures to save Paul from the new wave of pressure. "I would like you to take some time off," he said to him. "Go on vacation without leaving your address. I value your presence at all times, but in this negotiation I could do very well without it." To Ludwig on the Queen Mary Queen Mary, he sent the following: Dear Professor Wittgenstein:... The announcement of your trip to America was the latest of a series of efforts, which had been made in order to exert pressure on your brother to yield to the demands of the Reichsbank. No doubt as a result of threats and intimidation, your sisters in Vienna have not merely supported these demands pa.s.sively, but sent, through Dr Schoene, letters and cablegrams urging compliance and intimating serious and impending dangers otherwise. I have no means of measuring the degree of pressure applied against the sisters in Vienna and through them transmitted to you and Mrs. s...o...b..rough. But I am in a position to measure the pressure applied from all directions on Paul Wittgenstein. applied against the sisters in Vienna and through them transmitted to you and Mrs. s...o...b..rough. But I am in a position to measure the pressure applied from all directions on Paul Wittgenstein.That pressure has been unrelenting in spite of the fact that Paul has made offers of compromise which are more than fair and which I am certain would have been acceptable to the Reichsbank had the latter not found it so easy to induce the sisters in Vienna to permit themselves to be used as the instruments in the application of a pressure which has defeated itself by its own lack of moderation and sensible restraint.

The letter went on to explain that Paul would be happy to meet his brother in New York but only if Ludwig would agree to seeing Dr. Wachtell first so that "when you and Paul meet both of you may be saved any possible annoyances and disagreeable differences due to lack of knowledge on your part of the facts involved."

Ludwig went, as advised, to see Samuel Wachtell and although he had marked the 22nd in his pocket diary as the day he intended to meet Paul, he did not in the event either see or speak to his brother during his week-long visit to America. He did however send a letter to him (now lost) from which Paul later quoted: "the s...o...b..roughs' behaviour was certainly rash and stupid."

The American visit had exhausted Ludwig and he achieved very little before returning, in flattened spirit, to Cambridge. He seems to have partic.i.p.ated joylessly in the application of pressure on Paul to give up his fortune and many years later admitted with sadness and seriousness in his voice: "Had I realised then how insane Paul was, I would never have treated him so harshly." Paul and Ludwig's meeting in Zurich eight months earlier in November 1938 turned out to be their last. The two brothers never met, spoke or corresponded with one another again.

THE THREAT OF WAR

Hitler's avaricious foreign policies continued to rouse indignation abroad, but the last thing he wanted was an all-out war with Russia, France, England or Italy. His stated plan was to unite, as peacefully as possible, all of German-speaking Europe into one German Reich under his leaders.h.i.+p, but, on the principle of the end justifying the means, he lied, reneged, pushed beyond his stated intentions and exhibited too often a contemptuous disregard for the conventions of international diplomacy. Even he had been surprised at how smoothly the Anschluss Anschluss with Austria in March 1938 had pa.s.sed off. Foreign countries had voiced their disapproval but in the end they had all found a way to acknowledge the new expanded Reich without loss of face. The annexation of the Czech Sudetenland in October had been far riskier for Hitler, and war was only narrowly avoided by his repeated a.s.surances that he had no further territorial claims in Europe and by his soliciting the prior agreement of Neville Chamberlain, Edouard Daladier and Benito Mussolini. When, on March 15, 1939, he ordered the Wehrmacht into Czech-speaking Prague the international community unanimously condemned his action. Prime Minister Chamberlain responded with over 100 measures indicating Britain's preparation for war, and four months later, as the Germans were poised to s.n.a.t.c.h the free port of Danzig, he vowed that Britain would come to Poland's military aid in the event of a conflict with Germany. with Austria in March 1938 had pa.s.sed off. Foreign countries had voiced their disapproval but in the end they had all found a way to acknowledge the new expanded Reich without loss of face. The annexation of the Czech Sudetenland in October had been far riskier for Hitler, and war was only narrowly avoided by his repeated a.s.surances that he had no further territorial claims in Europe and by his soliciting the prior agreement of Neville Chamberlain, Edouard Daladier and Benito Mussolini. When, on March 15, 1939, he ordered the Wehrmacht into Czech-speaking Prague the international community unanimously condemned his action. Prime Minister Chamberlain responded with over 100 measures indicating Britain's preparation for war, and four months later, as the Germans were poised to s.n.a.t.c.h the free port of Danzig, he vowed that Britain would come to Poland's military aid in the event of a conflict with Germany.

Hitler's efforts to discourage all countries from warring against him were carried on in earnest, even as his troops were rudely annexing Germany's neighbors. In order not to ruffle the feathers of the American administration it was decided (among many other things) that Ji s...o...b..rough should be handled with care. n.a.z.i diplomats in America had reported to Berlin that he was a man of importance. His job t.i.tle-Commissioner of Conciliation in the Department of Labor--was nervously interpreted in Berlin as something far more powerful than it actually was. In point of fact Ji's daily routine consisted in little more than writing gray reports on American industrial disputes. In Berlin it was known that he was well connected in political circles in Was.h.i.+ngton. His name was frequently appearing in the gossip columns of the Was.h.i.+ngton press as an invitee at high-society c.o.c.ktail parties. His friend James Houghteling was married to a cousin of President Roosevelt and the Germans believed (wrongly) that Ji might have the ear of the President. It was further a.s.sumed in Berlin that his frequent trips between Vienna and Was.h.i.+ngton were exploited by the U.S. administration to gain intelligence about n.a.z.i Germany, and it was for this reason, primarily, that the Germans wished to fill Ji's youthful head with favorable impressions of their dynamic new Reich. This unofficial protection was known to the s...o...b..roughs and used by Gretl in her negotiations with the Reichsbank over the distribution of the Wistag funds.

By August 1939 the Wistag-Reichsbank dispute was still not settled. Paul had withdrawn entirely from the proceedings, leaving his attorney to fight his corner. The next round, it was decided, should take place in Switzerland. Paul stayed in America, sending Dr. Wachtell written instructions: You have my entire confidence to act and conclude in Zurich in my name ... My honour (which would be the target of all calumny should anything happen in Vienna) is at stake, as is my own conscience and peace of mind ... Do what you think is right, but remember, a moral claim can never be waived.

The Zurich negotiations proved no easier than those that had taken place in New York the previous month. Ludwig came and left early without achieving anything. Gretl and Ji refused to talk to Samuel Wachtell for he, as far as they were concerned, was still the enemy. Dr. Indra tried, but failed, to make Wachtell sign a false memorandum, while Anton Groller tried to appeal to his conscience. He told him that he knew Paul far better than Dr. Wachtell did, that although Paul had said he had no intention of returning to Vienna, his heart truly belonged there and that if he did not pay up, the Palais to which he was so deeply attached would be confiscated and never returned.

All the while the a.s.sembled company was waiting anxiously for official news from Berlin about Mischling Mischling status. Kurt Mayer, whom Paul and Gretl had met at the Reich Agency for Genealogical Research, had refused to accept the flimsy evidence that Hermann Christian Wittgenstein was the son of an Aryan prince, but the head of the Reichsbank had succeeded in sidelining Mayer and placing the Wittgenstein file in the hands of higher authority. Now the family was hoping, not for genealogical proof of Aryan descent, but for some sort of "pardon." This would need the Fuhrer's consent. The first that Dr. Wachtell knew of Hitler's possible involvement was from Dr. Indra. At a meeting at the Hotel Dolder in Zurich, Wachtell had voiced his concerns that the Germans, having awarded status. Kurt Mayer, whom Paul and Gretl had met at the Reich Agency for Genealogical Research, had refused to accept the flimsy evidence that Hermann Christian Wittgenstein was the son of an Aryan prince, but the head of the Reichsbank had succeeded in sidelining Mayer and placing the Wittgenstein file in the hands of higher authority. Now the family was hoping, not for genealogical proof of Aryan descent, but for some sort of "pardon." This would need the Fuhrer's consent. The first that Dr. Wachtell knew of Hitler's possible involvement was from Dr. Indra. At a meeting at the Hotel Dolder in Zurich, Wachtell had voiced his concerns that the Germans, having awarded Mischling Mischling status, might later revoke it in order to force Paul to pay more. Dr. Wachtell's memorandum of the meeting continues: status, might later revoke it in order to force Paul to pay more. Dr. Wachtell's memorandum of the meeting continues: Dr Indra said that no one would dare do that in view of the high standing of the official who would sign the Mischling Mischling decree. I remained unconvinced. But Dr Indra insisted that that was so since the one who would sign such a decree, if it were granted, would be the Fuhrer himself. I thought this was a fantastic expectation and told Indra so, but Indra a.s.sured me that that was entirely likely. decree. I remained unconvinced. But Dr Indra insisted that that was so since the one who would sign such a decree, if it were granted, would be the Fuhrer himself. I thought this was a fantastic expectation and told Indra so, but Indra a.s.sured me that that was entirely likely.

Hitler was on the brink of invading Poland and thus, if Chamberlain's a.s.surances were to be trusted, on the brink also of war. And yet it seems that he found the time to sign the order allowing the Wittgensteins to be accorded half-breed status. His ruling that Hermann Christian be considered of Aryan descent was pa.s.sed to Wilhelm Frick, Minister of the Interior, who on August 29 sent instructions to Kurt Mayer at the Agency for Genealogical Research in Berlin. The next day Mayer was forced to issue Mischling Mischling certificates to all relevant descendants. This volte-face aroused the suspicion of the district office for Genealogical Research in Vienna, whose director wrote to Berlin demanding an explanation. Kurt Mayer's reply survives in the Vienna archives: certificates to all relevant descendants. This volte-face aroused the suspicion of the district office for Genealogical Research in Vienna, whose director wrote to Berlin demanding an explanation. Kurt Mayer's reply survives in the Vienna archives: In the matter of the origins of the Wittgenstein family and its descendants, I came to my decision in accordance with the directive issued on 29 August 39 by the Interior Minister, a directive which rests in turn upon an order issued by the Fuhrer. Given these facts, the family origins and circ.u.mstances were not independently scrutinised in any closer detail by this office. The decision of the Fuhrer applies immediately and without restriction to Hermann Wittgenstein (born Korbach 12/'9/1802) who should be regarded as the German blood ancestor of all the descendants... In the meantime family origin certificates have been issued to the numerous descendants of Hermann Wittgenstein so that their racial cla.s.sification within the meaning of the Reich Citizens.h.i.+p Act should present no more difficulties. If necessary in cases of doubt, relevant family origin certificates can be requested from the Reich Agency for Genealogical Research. Signed Dr Kurt Mayer within the meaning of the Reich Citizens.h.i.+p Act should present no more difficulties. If necessary in cases of doubt, relevant family origin certificates can be requested from the Reich Agency for Genealogical Research. Signed Dr Kurt Mayer Of course none of this would have come to pa.s.s if Paul had not finally been persuaded to waive his rights to a substantial portion of his fortune. Dr. Wachtell's persistence on his behalf had resulted in the Reichsbank's agreeing to his keeping 1.8 million Swiss francs. A further 300,000 SF from Paul's share was paid to the lawyers Bloch, Wachtell and Bienstock of which Paul recouped 200,000 from Ji as well as a further 300,000, being slightly less than his share in the capital of the Wistag holding company. All in all then Paul succeeded in retaining 2.3 million SF of his foreign a.s.sets at a cost of just over 1.2 million SF. All of his cash and real estate in Germany including his half-share in the great palace and his third share of the Neuwaldegg estate were transferred for no consideration to his sisters Hermine and Helene. On an Internal Revenue Service tax form for August 1945 Paul estimated the value of his a.s.sets in the U.S., as of December 31, 1944, at $924,821. Using calculations based on the Consumer Price Index this amount in 1944 can be said to have had a value in the year 2000 equivalent to $9,066,875--a substantial sum of money by most people's standards but nothing compared to Paul's real worth if the n.a.z.is had not intervened.

No sooner had Paul's money been taken into German hands than all departments fell upon it like a pack of hungry hyenas and a great bureaucratic confusion ensued between the Reichsbank, the Central Office for the Protection of Historical Monuments, the a.s.sets Control Office, the Reich Emigration Tax Office and the Gestapo. The Reichsbank had signed an agreement with Paul that he could remove all his non-fixed a.s.sets, at least those that were not subject to export control. Everything was packed and ready to go when the Central Office for the Protection of Historical Monuments stepped in and overruled the Reichsbank. On his 1944 IRS return Paul had declared: "I have no knowledge as to whether personal belongings in Austria are still intact and what they are worth. These included at one time at least valuable works of art, ma.n.u.scripts and furniture."

Part of the agreement with his sisters had stated that his emigration tax should be paid out of the cash he had transferred to them, and when the a.s.sets Control Office revalued Paul's domestic fortune at 6.4 million Reichsmarks the Reich Emigration Tax Office immediately demanded 25 percent or 1.6 million RM of it. Hermine and Helene hired the services of Dr. Indra, who had so recently succeeded in wrestling the money from Paul, to protect their new found fortune from the tax man.

VALUABLE Ma.n.u.sCRIPTS

Two days after the Wittgenstein family had received its certification of Mischling Mischling status, at 5:35 a.m. on the morning of September 1, 1939, some 1.25 million officers and men ma.s.sed along the German border with Poland in East Prussia were given orders to advance. status, at 5:35 a.m. on the morning of September 1, 1939, some 1.25 million officers and men ma.s.sed along the German border with Poland in East Prussia were given orders to advance. "Achtung! Panzer, marsch!" "Achtung! Panzer, marsch!" The roar of airplanes, motorcycles, armored cars, tanks and supply trucks smashed the silence of the clean morning air and within minutes the sound of explosives and gunfire was added to the din. The huge cavalcade advanced at extraordinary speed toward Warsaw and within eight days the German Blitzkrieg was over. Poland was transformed into yet another province of Hitler's expanding Reich. On September 3, before the fighting was concluded, the British and French Prime Ministers declared war on Germany. The roar of airplanes, motorcycles, armored cars, tanks and supply trucks smashed the silence of the clean morning air and within minutes the sound of explosives and gunfire was added to the din. The huge cavalcade advanced at extraordinary speed toward Warsaw and within eight days the German Blitzkrieg was over. Poland was transformed into yet another province of Hitler's expanding Reich. On September 3, before the fighting was concluded, the British and French Prime Ministers declared war on Germany.

Ji was still in Vienna when the news came through. As an American citizen he was in no immediate danger, but he and his mother were desperate to smuggle as much valuable property out of the country as they could before things got any worse. On September 10 he packed his suitcase in preparation for his return to Was.h.i.+ngton, stuffing furtively, under a pile of pants and socks, a significant number of original musical ma.n.u.scripts: the Scherzo of Beethoven's Quartet Opus 130; the song "Lied aus der Ferne;" nineteen Beethoven holograph letters; Brahms's Handel Variations and two versions of the D minor Piano Concerto; Mozart's Serenade (K 361) and the String Quintet in C (K 515); six songs by Schubert, including the famous "Die Forelle" (The Trout); a piano duet sonata; and a collection of sketches by Wagner for Die Walkure. Die Walkure.

Karl and Leopoldine had been avid collectors of musical ma.n.u.scripts. Gretl inherited some of them and expanded her collection with new acquisitions after her father's death. In the 1920s, before Jerome had disgraced himself in the Wall Street Crash, she had charged him with the task of buying musical ma.n.u.scripts, as well as French paintings and Oriental and Egyptian art. These were to be seen as long-term investments bought with her money using his apparently expert eye. In this way Jerome ama.s.sed several significant collections. Many of the ma.n.u.scripts that were in Vienna in June 1938 were hidden from the n.a.z.i inspectors and not listed on Gretl's declaration of a.s.sets. At the time of the pa.s.sport trial some were discovered and placed by the authorities in the vaults of the Austrian National Library, but there were others still hidden away. It was these that Ji pushed into his suitcase, in the hope of slipping them out of Austria.

His plan was to pa.s.s by train over the Buchs border into Liechtenstein and Switzerland. From Zurich he would send the ma.n.u.scripts by diplomatic courier to Was.h.i.+ngton before proceeding via Paris to the port of Le Verdon in western France, where he hoped to board the SS Manhattan Manhattan bound for New York. But, on the Austrian side of the border in Vo-rarlberg, his train was brought to a halt. Enthusiastic Gestapo and Grepo (border police) ran up and down the carriages searching through all the pa.s.sengers' bags. When they found the ma.n.u.scripts at the bottom of Ji's suitcase he was hauled off the train and was still being interrogated as it pulled out of the station without him. In an account of this exploit penned many years later Ji recalled: bound for New York. But, on the Austrian side of the border in Vo-rarlberg, his train was brought to a halt. Enthusiastic Gestapo and Grepo (border police) ran up and down the carriages searching through all the pa.s.sengers' bags. When they found the ma.n.u.scripts at the bottom of Ji's suitcase he was hauled off the train and was still being interrogated as it pulled out of the station without him. In an account of this exploit penned many years later Ji recalled: I was bright enough to a.s.sert loud and clear that only idiots would try and remove such valuable ma.n.u.scripts from the Reich and that each one was a neat and beautiful modern copy. The G.o.ds of Olympus kept their hands over me and the dolts believed me and allowed me, ungraciously, as an American of importance, to take the next train in 6 hrs to Zurich.

If this is to be believed then the customs officers and border police really were the thickest of dolts, for they were trained in the very task of stopping valuables from being smuggled out of the Reich. They must have heard the "these-are-only-copies" excuse a thousand times and presumably had recourse to experts in case of doubt. That three or more of these men could have examined Ji's ma.n.u.scripts and agreed among themselves that they were no more than "beautiful modern copies" is unlikely; more probably is that the border police made some quick inquiries and discovered that, as far as Berlin was concerned, Ji s...o...b..rough was "an American of importance."

He was held at the border for six hours, during which time he was invited to take a walk with a man who had been pulled off the same train and who claimed to be a baker from St. Gallen, but whom Ji suspected of being a Swiss intelligence officer. On their long stroll together, Ji apparently told him nothing, but only talked about the weather. This, at least, was his version of events. If true, it was not typical of him, for in general he could not easily refrain from boasting. No sooner had he arrived safely back in America than the gossip columnist Dudley Harmon reported in her column for the Was.h.i.+ngton Post Was.h.i.+ngton Post that: "The liner that: "The liner Manhattan Manhattan, which docked at New York Sat.u.r.day positively bulging with pa.s.sengers, brought back several Was.h.i.+ngtonians, among them John s...o...b..rough who is fascinating his friends at c.o.c.ktail time with tales of the difficulties of getting out of Europe."

Whether Ji revealed anything to the Swiss baker is not known. The Grepo, however, turned out to be a little less doltish than he claimed, for no sooner had he pa.s.sed with his precious cargo over the border than his mother, still in Vienna, was visited by the Gestapo. This time they went through her inventories with a fine-tooth comb and, learning about the six ma.n.u.scripts that she had smuggled into England for Ludwig's safekeeping in June 1938, promptly threatened her with criminal prosecution for the illegal export of national treasures. Once again, with the aid of Dr. Indra, she was able to negotiate her way round the trouble. Indra recommended that she offer for sale to the state both her own and Ji's ma.n.u.scripts for a "reasonable price" in return for immunity from prosecution. These were the ma.n.u.scripts that had been confiscated from her home at the time of her arrest and placed in the National Library. They included Gretl's holographs of symphonies by Bruckner and Wagner, Ji's ma.n.u.scripts of Brahms's Piano Quintet and a quintet by Weber, other pieces by Brahms and Schubert and an autograph letter by Beethoven. Dr. Indra requested that, in return for selling these treasures to the library at a knockdown price, she be allowed to export just one of them--the ma.n.u.script of the Brahms Third Symphony (which had once belonged to the conductor Hans von Bulow and was now owned by her reprobate son Thomas)--free of tax.

It was this last suggestion that prompted the Austrian officer in charge of the case, Friedrich Plattner (head of the Department of Education, Culture and National Instruction at the Viennese Ministry for Internal and Cultural Affairs), to seek advice from higher authority in Berlin. On January 9, 1940, he wrote to the notorious head of the Reich Chancellery, Hans Heinrich Lammers, explaining how the "threat of prosecution" had inspired the widow s...o...b..rough to offer her own and her sons' ma.n.u.scripts to the National Library for just 50,000 RM. The letter continues: In order to lend particular weight to this offer, the s...o...b..rough family draws attention to the fact that, during the negotiations which are shortly to take place about how the remaining a.s.sets of roughly 1 million Swiss francs in Zurich are to be divided up, the family will be in a position either to bring about or to prevent the transfer of this sum in favour of the German Reich; further emphasis has recently been given to this fact by a representative of the Reichs bank through intervention in favour of the s...o...b..rough family on the part of the Central Heritage Protection Agency in Vienna. Also worth mentioning is the possibility that the s...o...b..rough family--Dr. John s...o...b..rough has an allegedly influential position in the Labor Department in Was.h.i.+ngton--might, possibly through diplomatic channels, be able to bring some pressure to bear for the Brahms symphony to be exported without anything being given in return.

Lammers, not unnaturally, refused permission for the last symphony autograph score by Brahms remaining in the Reich to be exported, and commanded Plattner to enforce the sale of the ma.n.u.scripts to the library and demand the million Swiss francs in return for Gretl's immunity from prosecution. This million was the same million that Ji had sworn to Paul would be held aside as an emergency fund for Hermine and Helene in the event of their needing to emigrate. That money would now have to be found elsewhere.

COLD WAR

In Switzerland Paul had occupied himself extensively with the case of Daniel Goldberg, a Viennese doctor who had looked after Hilde and the children in Vienna. He and his Aryan wife had fled to Paris in August where they were living in a squalid hotel on the outskirts of the city. When Paul discovered this he sent large sums of money and campaigned with friends in England and America to find the doctor a position. Gretl too made vigorous efforts to save old family friends from n.a.z.i anti-Semitism and succeeded in bringing two of them first to Cuba and later into America; but by 1940 she had played out all her cards and was decidedly persona non grata with the German authorities. As soon as her deal with the National Library was concluded she was required to leave the country. Of her two properties at Gmunden the National Socialists commandeered the larger and would soon occupy her Viennese mansion as well. Dr. Indra helped, in the hours before her emigration, to bury various of her treasures in the garden at Kundmannga.s.se. To him she entrusted full power of attorney during her absence and left, full of sorrow, for the port of Genoa. On February 8, 1940, she arrived in New York on board the SS Was.h.i.+ngton. Was.h.i.+ngton. This was her second, forced emigration from Austria and it left her, once again, feeling listless and depressed. To Ludwig she wrote: "There is no place I can find rest and I cannot be of any use to anyone. So G.o.d willing I will find a meaningful occupation." This was her second, forced emigration from Austria and it left her, once again, feeling listless and depressed. To Ludwig she wrote: "There is no place I can find rest and I cannot be of any use to anyone. So G.o.d willing I will find a meaningful occupation."

In the end she occupied these barren months by selling off her possessions. In October two ma.s.sive sales of furniture, paintings and Oriental artifacts, described as "The Property of the Estate of the Late Jerome s...o...b..rough," were held at the Parke-Bernet Galleries on 57th Street. Pi-ca.s.sos, Corots, Gauguins, Matisses, a twenty-foot coromandel lacquer Pekingese screen, ancient Roman statuary, Athenian vases, horses, jugs and bibelots from the days of Tang, Ming, Yuan and Sung. These treasures cannot have come from New York since Gretl had no fixed abode there. Extant pa.s.senger lists give Jerome's U.S. address in February 1937 as the Waldorf Astoria Hotel. A year later, Gretl gave hers as 44 Wall Street--the office of her son's stockbroker. The sale catalogue states that the items were all collected by Jerome in Paris. It is not known whether she succeeded in negotiating an export license for any of her artworks in Vienna. The manager at Parke-Bernet Galleries gave the s...o...b..roughs an estimate for the paintings of between $59,015 and $91,615. But the sale was a disappointment. The highest price for a single item was paid for Lot 71, Nature morte Nature morte by Henri Matisse, which went for $10,400. No more than $5,200 was paid for Toulouse-Lautrec's severe portrait by Henri Matisse, which went for $10,400. No more than $5,200 was paid for Toulouse-Lautrec's severe portrait of La Femme au noeud rose; of La Femme au noeud rose; $4,100 for Gauguin's $4,100 for Gauguin's Le Violoncelliste Le Violoncelliste and $3,800 for Pica.s.so's 1921 and $3,800 for Pica.s.so's 1921 Le Chien. Le Chien. Almost everything else went for under $2,000, including a splendid Modigliani portrait, Almost everything else went for under $2,000, including a splendid Modigliani portrait, La Femme au collier La Femme au collier, for $400, whose sister picture La Femme au collier vert was La Femme au collier vert was valued by Christie's, New York, in May 2007 at between $12 million and $16 million. The picture sale raised a total hammer price of $56,705. It was a bad time to sell. valued by Christie's, New York, in May 2007 at between $12 million and $16 million. The picture sale raised a total hammer price of $56,705. It was a bad time to sell.

Several months later Ji sold cheaply all the ma.n.u.scripts that he had smuggled through the border at Buchs to the Clarke-Whittall Collection at the Library of Congress in Was.h.i.+ngton. Some of the money was put into offsh.o.r.e accounts in Bermuda and some into an investment trust in the joint names of John s...o...b..rough and Abraham Bienstock.

Since Hermine and Helene's so-called emigration fund had been paid to the n.a.z.is Gretl and Ji resolved to make it up in other ways, both writing to Ludwig to ask him to release the ma.n.u.scripts deposited at Barclay's Bank in Cambridge, so that they too could be offered for sale in Was.h.i.+ngton. At least one of them (Mozart's Piano Concerto K 467) actually belonged to Paul. Ludwig wrote to Ji to dissuade him from selling at a time when the market was low, to which Ji responded with a "d.a.m.ned aggressive" letter in which he accused his uncle of "going off half-c.o.c.k." "I have done fairly well in the administration of 2 and a half fortunes since approx '39," he wrote, "and I am ent.i.tled to more regard for my opinions and decisions in financial matters than you have shown me."

A FAMILY REUNION

In Switzerland young Hilde's life was far from easy, for with time-limited visas she, the children and Fraulein Rolly were under imminent threat of extradition. At the beginning of March 1939 she received instructions from Paul's lawyer to pack everything and proceed to Genoa by overnight train. Tickets were booked on the Italian liner Rex Rex bound for New York. When they got there they found a riot of desperate people hoping to clamber aboard. Their luggage was loaded, only to be unloaded again when it was discovered that their immigration papers were not in order. bound for New York. When they got there they found a riot of desperate people hoping to clamber aboard. Their luggage was loaded, only to be unloaded again when it was discovered that their immigration papers were not in order.

For two and a half weeks they waited at Genoa before securing places on board a smaller boat bound for Panama and Valparaiso. The Virgilio Virgilio, built for no more than 640 pa.s.sengers, was packed with a needy, dispossessed rabble of over 1,100 people fleeing Hitler's Europe. Hilde, who had never been on board a s.h.i.+p before, was feeling sick with longing for Austria by the time she had reached the Straits of Gibraltar. The journey took them via the Canaries, Venezuela, the Isthmus of Panama and the twin cities of Cristobal and Colon (where they were caught in a dramatic fire that burned down half the city) and eventually to Havana, where they bought Cuban visas, took a house by the sea and waited, for a year and a half, for Paul to come and rescue them.

He could do nothing immediately, for by leaving America Paul risked not being allowed back in. Only when his visitors' visa had finally expired in August 1940 was he able to fly to Havana. For seven months he stayed in the Hotel Nacional de Cuba on the San Lazaro Cove visiting his mistress and his children at weekends. At every turn his attempts to secure both his and their permanent visas for the U.S. were thwarted and for a while he considered moving with his family to Argentina.

Hilde, by nature, was religious. She had been brought up in the Catholic faith and longed for her relations.h.i.+p with the father of her children to be dignified by marriage. In the past few years she had suffered and sacrificed much, confronting each new difficulty with courage and fort.i.tude. She had persuaded Paul, despite his antipathy to the Catholic Church, to allow their daughters to be baptized in Vienna and now, on August 20, 1940, in Havana, Cuba, he and she became man and wife in a private, formal, Catholic ceremony.

In New York, Gretl and Paul had made no attempts to meet one another, but Gretl learned about her brother through information supplied by a shared acquaintance. "I would go to see him with joy if it would be of any use," she wrote to Ludwig, "but I know that I am the last person he could stand. I understand it so well." During the war she was forced to write to her youngest brother in English to avoid the suspicion of the censors. This she found uncomfortable, but it was the only way that Ludwig could obtain news of his brother: "Paul's friend (with her children) is now in Cuba & he will bring her here & marry her as soon as he can get the permission. In the old days I used to think of such a possibility as being about the greatest misfortune that could befall him, but now!--I look at you & we say: 'naturally' May his soul rest in peace."

BENJAMIN BRITTEN

In April 1934 Paul had performed Ravel's Concerto with Hermann Scherchen conducting at the ISCM Festival in Florence. In the audience sat the twenty-year-old English composer Benjamin Britten, who had come to hear his own Phantasy Quartet performed on the following evening. The Times The Times critic regarded Paul's performance as the best of the whole festival, but Britten was so taken by Scherchen's thirteen-year-old son Wulff (later the inspiration behind his music for "Young Apollo") that he may not have been concentrating especially hard. As a schoolboy in Norfolk he had heard Strauss's critic regarded Paul's performance as the best of the whole festival, but Britten was so taken by Scherchen's thirteen-year-old son Wulff (later the inspiration behind his music for "Young Apollo") that he may not have been concentrating especially hard. As a schoolboy in Norfolk he had heard Strauss's Parergon Parergon on the radio and had written in his diary: "In the afternoon after a lie down I listen to the wireless, a concert, orchestra and Paul Wittenstein (I think that's his name, the left handed pianist). Quite good, tho' I didn't like the programme very much." on the radio and had written in his diary: "In the afternoon after a lie down I listen to the wireless, a concert, orchestra and Paul Wittenstein (I think that's his name, the left handed pianist). Quite good, tho' I didn't like the programme very much."

In 1940 Britten was living in America where he had arrived shortly before the outbreak of war, having left England to escape his intricate entanglements with Wulff. Paul, unsure if he liked Britten's music, approached the matter of a commission gingerly. Britten's boyfriend Peter Pears recorded: "We went and had a long talk with him [Wittgenstein]. He was rather stupid, couldn't understand Ben's music(!), & Ben nearly nearly got terribly cross, but just managed to contain himself." A few days later Paul invited the young composer and his publisher, Hans Heinsheimer, to his apartment on Riverside Drive to discuss the possibility further. When they left the matter was still undecided. Eager for a firm commitment (the fee was $700) Heinsheimer rang him the next day and reported back to Britten: got terribly cross, but just managed to contain himself." A few days later Paul invited the young composer and his publisher, Hans Heinsheimer, to his apartment on Riverside Drive to discuss the possibility further. When they left the matter was still undecided. Eager for a firm commitment (the fee was $700) Heinsheimer rang him the next day and reported back to Britten: I called Mr. Wittgenstein once more this morning and asked him if he could please make up his mind quite clearly and sincerely. He said that this is exactly what he did yesterday and if it sometimes looked a little bit strange, the reason was that he wanted to be as sincere as possible. He didn't see this meeting as the proper occasion or the proper opportunity to pay nice compliments, but as a sort of meeting of a doctor and a patient, where the utmost sincerity should be applied. He apologises if he made the impression of being a little too persistent and he really thinks that your music would be the right thing for him. He highly appreciates your offer to show him parts of the work before the deal is completed ... I think I should encourage you to try it.

Within a matter of days Britten had completed his first sketches and took them to Paul for approval. After a good "Austrian" supper, he was able to report: "I pulled off the deal with Wittgenstein. I had dinner with him, which was much more pleasant than I'd feared. He's much easier to manage alone! I've even started the piece which I think may be quite nice." And to his sister Britten wrote, "I've been commissioned by a man called Wittgenstein ... he pays gold so I'll do it."

For a while relations between composer and patron ran smoothly. Britten finished the work in sketch form by August 12, just over a week after Paul had arrived in Havana. By October Paul was playing the piano part by heart and seemed pleased with it, but the two men were separated--Paul unable to enter the U.S. and Britten afraid of visiting Cuba lest he too be denied reentry to the States. This situation frustrated the pianist more than the composer. Britten arranged a private performance on two pianos for the distinguished conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Eugene Goossens, who was so impressed that he wrote immediately to Heinsheimer: "This is a truly amazing work and confirms again one's knowledge of the fact that Britten is the outstanding young man in the world of creative music today."

Paul (aged fifty-three) flew from Havana to Florida on February 10, 1941, leaving Hilde (twenty-five), his daughters Elizabeth (five) and Johanna (three) and Fraulein Rolly (fifty-five) to follow on by boat three days later. On the landing papers next to Hilde's name is scribbled in the rough hand of an immigration official: "Husband shows from statement that he has $200,000 but she a marked deficiency of vision almost to complete blindness." On arrival she and the girls moved to a comfortable house at Huntington, Long Island. "A nice place," Paul called it, "with a view to the bay and a charming garden where I shall plant some strawberries and redcurrants. Most important thing about it is that it is only ten minutes from the beach." For the rest of her married life Hilde lived with the children on Long Island while Paul stayed at his apartment on Manhattan's Riverside Drive, visiting them at weekends and for part of the school holidays.

At Huntington Hilde proudly announced that she was pregnant once again and Paul, who longed for a son, was delighted by the news. With Britten, however, his relations.h.i.+p was starting to become strained. As with Strauss, Korngold, Ravel and Schmidt, Paul once again accused t