Ernst Haffner - Blood Brothers

Willi scoots up to Ludwig: “You know, when I get out, then you can make a break for it again. We’ve got money. We’ll meet up in Berlin, and stick together. We won’t let them break us up.” “But if I do run away, Willi, the first place they’ll come looking for me is wherever you are. You’ll have proper papers, you’ll be registered. They’ll find me right away,” Ludwig mutters, discouraged. “Okay, so I won’t register. We’ll live somewhere, the way we lived in Ziethenstrasse. What’s the worst thing that can happen? If they work out that I’m not registered, I’ll get a fine, and we’ll move somewhere else. If they catch you, then you just break out again. But we’ll carry on with our business. Here, Ludwig, shake my hand, we won’t let them grind us down. We won’t go back to the gang, we’ve done all right with the shoes.” “It would be nice if we were able to stick together, Willi. If I have a mate like you, then I won’t worry about having to go back to Jonny’s mob in the end.”

Early in the morning, the van takes them to Alexanderplatz. Once again, Ludwig finds himself in the pen. It’s Willi’s first time in police detention. They are each taken to single cells. They’ve discussed everything anyway. The day after, Willi is brought before the investigating magistrate. “There’s a case against you for assault on the educator Friedrich. Then there’s a demand from the institution at H. for your return. So you will be taken back there. A substantial sum of money — one hundred and fifty marks — was found on you. According to your statement, you came by it honestly. Tell me about it.” Willi tells him. He says nothing about past contacts with the gang. The magistrate takes notes, and Willi is taken away again.

Ludwig’s statement tallies with Willi’s. “In all probability you will be found to have broken the terms of your parole, and will have to serve the balance of your sentence. Running away isn’t usually thought of as compatible with probation.”

A few days go by. Ludwig and Willi are only able to see each other from a distance, during exercise in the prison yard. They are unable to communicate. One afternoon, Ludwig is again taken before the magistrate. “We have made enquiries with your landlady on Ziethenstrasse. The woman has given you a glowing report. As a consequence, the juvenile court is prepared to find that you are not in breach of the terms of your probation. You will be taken back to H. tomorrow, with your associate Willi Kludas. But don’t do any more stupid stunts, or attempt to run away. If you do, you’ll have to serve the balance of your punishment.” Willi is told he is being taken back to the institution, and will then face charges of common assault.

The next morning, they see each other in the pen again. A police car takes them and their transporters to the railway station. As the train pulls out, Willi and Ludwig glance at each other: in six months’ time we’ll be back in Berlin.

LATE IN THE EVENING,the two escorts and their charges, Willi and Ludwig, arrive at the local train station. This is where, four months before, Willi crawled into the wood wool that was on its way to Cologne. At the station they are met by a vehicle from the institution, and they drive down the avenue along which Willi had run to freedom once: one, two, three, four … one, two, three, four … don’t let up, Willi! Slowly, the wagon trundles back to the institution.

The inmates are already in their dormitories; Willi and Ludwig are taken in to see the director right away. The potentate first looks at the returned boys in silence. He seems to have it in for Willi in particular, since it was Willi who had given Herr Friedrich his beating. He lights a cigar, and addresses Willi: “You know, Kludas, that there’s a case pending against you for assault?” “Director, sir, you are not entitled to call me ‘ Du. ’ I will only give you a reply if you address me appropriately. In six months’ time I will be twenty-one,” Willi says with all the restraint he can muster, but the undertone of his speech is unmistakable. “Well, there’s a thing, the little lad here wants to be called ‘ Sie ’! My two layabouts!” Furiously the director shoots up out of his chair, and bangs his cigar down into the ashtray. “What were you up to in Berlin? Don’t tell me, you were thieving and whoring. And I’m to call you ‘Sie’ for that? Would you mind telling me what you lived on, without papers? You, Ludwig, have been gone for almost two years, and you over four months.”

“Look in our files if you want to know. It’s all in there, sir. We worked honestly. And Willi even put by a hundred and fifty marks!” Ludwig pouts. Willi won’t say anything, but the corner of his mouth is twitching menacingly. The director will have seen what’s going on with him. “I’ll read the report from Berlin, everything else will be decided in the morning.” He rings the bell. The teacher Friedrich appears. “Herr Friedrich, your special friend Kludas here is to go in dorm one, and Ludwig in dorm two.”

Dormitory one is apparently fast asleep. No sooner has the sound of Friedrich’s footfall echoed away, though, than things get going: “Willi, Willi! They managed to nab you! Willi, when are you going to do a bunk next? Willi, I reckon Friedrich is due for another going over, will you help?” The questions hail down on Willi. White nightshirts cluster round his bed; four perch on the right side of his bed, four more on the left, two stand by the head, and another four at the foot. “Willi, where did you go? Tell us all about it! What’s Berlin like? Were there girls? Have you got a smoke? Go on, Willi, spill the beans! Where’d you get that silk scarf from? Look at that, Fritz, the fine gent’s suiting, and the overcoat.” And Willi talks. He talks about his escape. How, instead of waking up in Berlin, he found himself just outside Cologne. He recalls Franz, his good friend the tramp, and describes the death ride under the express train.

The boys listen with bated breath. They are with him every step of the way. They are fighting at his side, fighting for their freedom. How Willi finally arrived in Berlin, the terrible first few days that followed. Then the meeting with Ludwig. He doesn’t mention the Brothers. How he and Ludwig got lucky, and started making a bit of money. Till an unknown party denounced them to the police. He must have been a real bastard, they are all agreed on that. “Well, six more months. Then I’m out of here,” Willi ends his account. Of course he doesn’t say anything about his compact with Ludwig either. There are spies everywhere, like Blaustein. He asks after Blaustein. “Blaustein? They let him go. He was the governor’s pet canary, after all.” That night, not much sleeping gets done in dormitory one. The boys lie awake in their beds, and relive Willi’s adventures for themselves.

“That’s why I’d like to ask you to leave Kludas relatively unscathed, gentlemen. I’d really prefer not to have to go through crisis after crisis during the few months the lout is still with us. He’s completely out of control, I could tell that right away yesterday. Why go to such lengths over such antisocial elements? He’ll be up before the court soon enough in connection with the Friedrich case. Let’s hope he gets put away for a few months, and then we’ll hardly have him here at all. At any rate, I intend to give him such a character witness as to exclude any possibility of probation. That’s it, gentlemen.” The director calls the meeting to a close.

At first, Willi and Ludwig don’t get much chance to talk undisturbed. A teacher always breaks them up immediately: “What are you two conspiring about?” Four weeks pass of the usual constant trot. Any stirrings of individuality are brutally crushed. There are no exceptions, everyone has to do as the institution says. Why treat them as individuals? When they leave, all they’ll do is go on the state anyway.