Jonathan Littell - The Kindly Ones

The investigation confirmed what the villagers had said about the death of Leutnant Dr. Voss. In the house where the tragedy occurred they found his notebook, bloodstained and filled with Kabard consonants and grammatical notations. The girl’s mother, hysterical, swore she had not seen her husband again since the incident; according to her neighbors, he had probably fled into the mountains with the murder weapon, an old hunting rifle, to turn abrek , as they say in the Caucasus, or to join a band of partisans. A few days later, a delegation of elders from the village came to see General von Mackensen: they solemnly presented their apologies in the name of the aul , reaffirmed their profound friendship for the German army, and set down a pile of carpets, sheepskins, and jewelry, which they offered to the dead man’s family. They swore they would find the murderer themselves and kill him or hand him over; the few able-bodied men remaining in the aul , they asserted, had left to search the mountains. They feared reprisals: von Mackensen reassured them, promising there would be no collective punishment. I knew that Shadov had talked about this with Köstring. The army burned down the guilty man’s house, and promulgated a new general order reiterating the prohibitions of fraternizing with mountain women, then promptly closed the case.

The Wehrmacht commission had finished its study of the Bergjuden , and Köstring wanted to hold a conference in Nalchik about it. This was becoming all the more urgent since the Kabardo-Balkar National Council was being set up and the OKHG wanted to settle the affair before the formation of the autonomous district, planned for December 18, the day of Kurban Bairam. Weseloh had finished her work and was writing her report; Bierkamp summoned us to Voroshilovsk to examine our position. After a few relatively mild days, during which it had once again snowed, the temperature had plummeted to some twenty degrees below; I had finally received my shuba and my boots; they were cumbersome, but they kept me warm. I made the trip with Weseloh; from Voroshilovsk, she would leave directly for Berlin. At the Gruppenstab, I found Persterer and Reinholz, whom Bierkamp had also summoned; Leetsch, Prill, and Sturmbannführer Holste, the Leiter IV/V of the Group, also attended the meeting. “According to my information,” Bierkamp began, “the Wehrmacht and this Dr. Bräutigam want to exempt the Bergjuden from anti-Jewish measures so as not to harm good relations with the Kabards and the Balkars. So they’re going to try to claim that they’re not really Jews, to protect themselves from criticism from Berlin. For us, that would be a serious mistake. As Jews and Fremdkörper among the surrounding peoples, this population will remain a permanent source of danger for our forces: a nest of spies and saboteurs and a breeding ground for partisans. There is no room for doubt about the necessity for radical measures. But we must have solid proof to face the Wehrmacht’s hairsplitting.”—“Oberführer, I think it won’t be difficult to demonstrate the soundness of our position,” Weseloh asserted in her reedy little voice. “I will be sorry not to be able to do it myself, but I’ll leave a complete report before I go, with all the important points. That will allow you to respond to all the Wehrmacht’s or the Ostministerium ’s objections.”—“Perfect. For the scientific arguments, you’ll go over all that with Hauptsturmführer Aue, who will present that part. I myself will present the concrete position of the Sicherheitspolizei from the security standpoint.” As he was speaking, I was quickly going over the list of citations drawn up by Weseloh aiming at establishing a purely Jewish and very ancient origin of the Bergjuden . “If you don’t mind, Oberführer, I would like to make a remark about the report drawn up by Dr. Weseloh. It’s excellent work, but she has simply left out all the citations that contradict our point of view. The Wehrmacht and Ostministerium experts will not fail to use these as objections against us. So I think the scientific basis of our position is rather weak.”—“Hauptsturmführer Aue,” Prill interrupted, “you must have spent too much time talking with your friend Leutnant Voss. It seems he has influenced your judgment.” I shot him an exasperated look: so that’s what he was plotting with Turek. “You are mistaken, Hauptsturmführer. I was simply trying to point out that the scientific documentation presented here is inconclusive, and that basing our position on it would be a mistake.”—“This Voss was killed, is that right?” Leetsch asked.—“Yes,” Bierkamp replied. “By some partisans, maybe even by these very Jews. It is of course a shame. But I have reason to believe that he was actively working against us. Hauptsturmführer Aue, I understand your doubts; but you should stick to the main point and not the petty details. Here the interests of the SP and the SS are clear, and that’s what counts.”—“In any case,” said Weseloh, “their Jewish character is as plain as day. Their manners are insinuating, and they even tried to corrupt us.”—“Absolutely,” Persterer confirmed. “They’ve come many times to the Kommando to bring us fur coats, blankets, cooking utensils. They say it’s to help our troops, but they have also given us carpets, fine knives, and jewelry.”—“We shouldn’t be taken in,” threw in Holste, who looked bored.—“Yes,” said Prill, “but remember they did the same thing with the Wehrmacht.” The discussion lasted for some time. Bierkamp concluded: “Brigadeführer Korsemann will come in person to the conference in Nalchik. I don’t think, if we present the thing well, that the Army Group will dare to contradict us openly. After all, it’s their security too that’s at stake. Sturmbannführer Persterer, I’m counting on you to manage all the preparations for a rapid and effective Aktion . Once we have the green light, we have to act quickly. I want everything to be finished by Christmas, so I can include the numbers in my year-end report.”

After the meeting, I went to say goodbye to Weseloh. She shook my hand warmly. “Hauptsturmführer Aue, I can’t begin to tell you how happy I was to be able to carry out this mission. For you, here in the East, the war is an everyday affair; but in Berlin, in the offices, you soon forget the mortal danger the Heimat is in, and the difficulties and sufferings of the front. Coming here has allowed me to understand all that in a profound way. I will carry back the memory of all of you as a precious thing. Good luck, good luck. Heil Hitler!” Her face was shining, she was in the grip of a surprising exaltation. I returned her salute and left her.

Jünger was still in Voroshilovsk, and I had heard that he was receiving admirers who sought him out; he had to leave soon to inspect Ruoff’s divisions in front of Tuapse. But I had lost all desire to meet Jünger. I went back to Pyatigorsk thinking about Prill. Obviously he was trying to harm me; I didn’t really understand why: I had never tried to pick a quarrel with him; but he had chosen to take Turek’s side. He was in continual contact with Bierkamp and Leetsch, and it would not be hard, by dint of little insinuations, to set them against me. This matter of the Bergjuden risked putting me in a bad position: I had no bias, I just wanted to respect a certain intellectual honesty, and I had trouble understanding Bierkamp’s insistence on wanting to liquidate them at all costs; was he sincerely convinced of their Jewish racial origins? For me, that didn’t emerge clearly from the documentation; as to their appearance and behavior, they didn’t at all resemble the Jews we knew; seeing them at home, they seemed in every point like the Kabards, the Balkars, or the Karachai. They too offered us sumptuous gifts, it was a tradition, you didn’t have to see that as corruption. But I had to watch out: indecisiveness could be interpreted as weakness, and Prill and Turek would take advantage of the slightest misstep.