Page 29 of The Righteous
“Where are you two lovely ladies headed?” he said.
“We’re going out to find a pub. It’s Saint Paddy’s Day, you know. Any suggestions?”
“Vernon’s Kocsma. They have a great selection of beers, including Irish beers, and the food ain’t bad either. It’s about six blocks from here.”
”Have you eaten lunch?” Julia asked.”Would you care to join us?”
The three were seated in a booth in the crowded pub. Julia bemoaned the lack of genuine Irish food on the menu, but settled for süt?kolbász és hurka , which was a plate of roasted sausages with mustard and vegetables. “Close enough,” she said.
Theresa ordered rántott hús , or schnitzel, which was a traditional breaded veal cutlet, served with potato noodles. Martin had the closest thing he could find to fish and chips, hai krumpli . Of the greatest importance, the waitress brought them three steins of Guinness draft.
“How long have you been working with Carl Lutz?” Theresa asked. “He is a terrific guy.”
Martin concurred. “He’s the best. I met him in 1935. I was a young man with the Swiss foreign service, and I was assigned to the Swiss consulate in Jaffa. Carl was appointed as chancellor of the consulate.”
Julia looked confused. “Where is Jaffa?”
“It’s the major port city in what is now called British Mandatory Palestine.
Over the past ten years, there has been a large influx of European refugees.
At the consulate, we tried to serve a broad mixture of refugees, immigrants, and permanent residents.
That included twenty-five hundred German residents, along with eighty thousand Jewish refugees who fled Nazi Germany. ”
“We saw the same thing in Amsterdam, but not that many,” Julia said.
“Thousands of Jews were fleeing Nazi Germany, and there were also German emigrants who weren’t Jewish but wanted to get out of Germany anyway.
They wanted to live in Amsterdam. It’s a pretty nice place.
” Julia paused, then added, “Or it was. We listened to their stories, and they were rough.”
“So did we,” Martin said. “It was during the mid-thirties that Carl became immersed in the cause of the persecuted Jews. He has been a strong advocate ever since. When war broke out in 1939, Germany asked Switzerland to represent its interests in Mandatory Palestine. Carl Lutz was assigned this task, which he was glad to undertake, because he would be honest and fair. I was his assistant, and it was a damn hard assignment. How do you balance the two conflicting interests between German residents who chose to live in Palestine and German refugees who were fleeing their German persecutors? We finished our tour of duty in Jaffa in 1941, and we were transferred to the Swiss office in Berlin, but only for six weeks. That was at the request of the Yugoslavian government. We were transferred to other offices, and just a few months ago, we were transferred to Budapest.”
“Lucky for us,” Theresa said. “All that packing and moving must have been a lot of work for you and Carl.”
“Carl left most of that to Gertrud, his wife. If you haven’t met her, you should. She’s a lovely lady and a good manager.”
After another round of Guinness, Theresa said, “Did you notice the number of men walking around in uniform this morning? They all appear to be Germans.”
Julia didn’t seem alarmed. “They weren’t in formation. It was just groups of soldiers walking casually down the street. That’s not so unusual, is it? They were probably looking to get a beer, just like us.”
“Many of them look like officers,” Theresa said.
“I don’t find that unusual either,” Julia said. “We’ve seen German soldiers walking down the streets in Budapest before. After all, they are Hungary’s allies. What do you think, Martin?”
Martin shook his head. “Theresa’s right; it is unusual.
These Germans weren’t wearing army uniforms, Julia.
They were wearing Waffen SS uniforms. Those men are the military branch of the Schutzstaffel, the secret police.
They’re dangerous. The question is, why are there so many more walking around in Budapest now? ”
“Do you think it has something to do with the troops that are gathered on Hungary’s borders?”
“I hope not, but I’m not discounting it.”
Julia looked at her watch. It was one PM , which meant it was seven AM in Washington. “We should return to the embassy,” she said. “I have to call John Pehle first thing in the morning, Washington time. I promised to keep him informed, and it has been a couple of days since we last spoke.”
“Okay,” Theresa said, “but don’t forget Anya is making a big family dinner. As far as I know, everyone is coming.”
“Then we should invite Martin,” Julia said. “Are you doing anything for dinner tonight, Martin?”
Martin smiled. “I thank you for thinking of me, but I have a meeting scheduled tonight. I would have to decline.”
“Well, maybe next time,” Julia said.