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He strutted away from the table like a toy soldier Greta put her hand on s too seriously," she said "He cannot relax He feels he has been given a mission to perform for Germany, but he does not knohat it is, and it eats at him and drives hi his part"
"Perhaps he wants to do more than his part He did not show this to you, but he is very proud that Heinz Moll sent you to him, that he is able to be of assistance to you It is ireat deal of trouble over the years, you know Not only since the war Even during it, ere a part of Germany I was not even born then, but I have heard talk It was very hard for hiht not forgiveto him"
"Please don’t You see, Papa was a ue even before the annexation Long before the annexation And they teased him then His theories about race"
"Why?"
"His… well, his physique He is short, you know And he is dark, both his hair and his complexion And his eyes, I don’t know if you noticed, but his eyes are brown"
"Not exactly the Nordic ideal"
"No, not at all And his foot, you know Poor Papa" She lowered her eyes "Ma the war You know of Hitler’s policies for i the race? People ere found to be… uh… defective-"
"I know"
"I would never question the wisdoly myself But they cannot be applied to everyone Not to the leading supporters of the Fatherland"
"There are exceptions to every rule," I said
"Exactly In any case, certain persons had to be eliiants, cripples, dwarfs" She shuddered violently "Papa was aline? He is short, but you couldn’t call hied solely by height Fortunately he wore a pair of special shoes for the examination, and the doctor – he was an old Party friend – listed his height at 4’7" They were transporting those under 4’6" So he passed But you can iine his humiliation"
I nodded
"And then his foot, his poor foot It was a birth defect, not a genetic trouble at all, but soht to be sterilized for the good of the race It ed to perform an important personal favor for a Party official and the orders for his sterilization were destroyed" She lowered her eyes again "He was frightened when I was born I was born during the last h he did not know then that it was that close to ending He did not believe Germany could be beaten He did not realize that the Jeould e to stab us in the back just as they did in 1918, and that ould be beaten by their betrayal And he was desperately afraid that I ht be very short, and dark, and perhaps even la to worry about"
"No" She shtened the room "It is fortunate, isn’t it? That I turned out as I did?"
"Very fortunate"
"He feels I ae He says that he is of a special class of Gerrew dark But pure Aryan nevertheless"
"It is the obvious answer"
"I’ room with Neumann Greta was upstairs "One favor I have to ask of you," he said
"Ask it"
"You must be very careful of Greta"
"I don’t understand"
He turned aside, sucked pensively on his colorful teeth "This Kotacek, what do we know of him? He works for the Reich, true But he is a Slovak, also true And blood will tell"
"You are concerned that he-"
"Yes" His eyes probed mine "She is only a child, Tanner Only a child And you knohat old ood Gerth of character, he is able to resist teainst him, you understand I do not know the man Still…"
"Of course"
"You will make sure that no harm comes to her?"
"Yes"
And a few minutes later, when Greta joined us, he went over what he had learned in the streets "The trial will begin in four days That gives you ti held in Hradecy Castle Do you know it?"