H. Adler - The Wall

Not a week had passed before Herr Konirsch-Lenz contacted me. Johanna spoke with him on the phone and found him charming. All three of us were invited to tea on Sunday; his wife would be happy to welcome us. He would happily pick us up in his car, but, unfortunately, it had to be worked on over the weekend. Johanna asked if he had any news to pass on to me. At that he laughed and answered, “Rest assured, it will be good.” So we dressed up Michael, Johanna also spiffing herself up, and headed out while looking forward to a few lovely hours, as it was a bright warm summer’s day. We were welcomed warmly, like old friends, Herr Konirsch-Lenz playing delightfully with Michael, who was then handed over to his daughters, Patricia and Petula, the boy ecstatic. Soon both women were chatting away pleasantly with each other in a shaded part of the garden, while my host led me to a table in the middle of the lawn that was bathed in the bright July sun.

“I love the sun, Dr. Landau. I love most to sit in the blazing sun. I can’t get enough of it on my skin. Sit down and make yourself comfortable!”

Herr Konirsch-Lenz took off his shiny jacket and also his shirt, recommending that I do the same. But since I did not do well in the sun after those horrible years, I only took off my jacket and looked around to see if I could at least situate my chair in order to avoid the unrelenting glare. Herr Konirsch-Lenz laughed at me.

“I can see that you don’t care for the sun at all. It would do you good. That comes from living like a recluse.”

“It is an aftereffect,” I said, hoping that I would be understood. But he didn’t get what I was saying.

“Self-awareness is the first step toward betterment. Physical work would do you good. To dig around in the garden and such.”

“I love my little garden. I already dabble around in it. Though I’m no expert, that I can say.”

“Such a puny little garden, and you not an expert. One needs to really do it right, with hoes, spades, and shovels. But, as I can see, you shy away from physical work.”

“Not at all.”

“Show me your hands! There, I can see that you don’t do a thing! Anyone with such smooth hands has never picked up anything.”

“I’ve done a lot of physical work — a bit too much, in fact.”

“That cannot have been very much. I do it because I want to. How does it go in Latin? Mens sana in corpore sano . Not just the garden alone, and it’s certainly proper work that I do. Do you think I can afford a gardener? That certainly can be expensive, even if it was a laborer! I do it all myself. Everything right here at home. And I save a heap of money by doing so.”

I acknowledged that. Meanwhile, the sun was hurting me, so I asked if I might sit in the shade.

“Well, if you must, you shadow dweller. Grab hold of the table and let’s move it over there! No, not like that! Let me show you! Don’t you even know how to move a table? This is how you grab hold! The way you’re doing it, however, is damn clumsy. This way! There, finally! No, a little to the right and back. Not so far! Can’t you see which direction the sun is shining? I want to stay in the sun!”

Because I was not at all doing it right, in a huff Herr Konirsch-Lenz shoved me aside and pushed the table around himself, while I stood by feeling hot and my heart pounding. That I stood there in need did not occur to him, for I was told not to just stand there gawking but to please go get the chairs. That I did, but I only received more scorn, for I had no idea how to properly place a chair in a garden. Finally, we managed to arrange things such that my patron sat in the sun and I in the shade. Herr Konirsch-Lenz’s demeanor changed, and he looked at me with a different, albeit composed, expression of disapproval and began to lecture me.

“As you know, or should know, over twenty-five years ago I founded and headed the Lenz School, a boarding school for mildly criminal, at-risk, or otherwise difficult boys in Mecklenburg. I had some measure of success; my accomplishments were recognized. I devoted body and soul to it. I did that for almost ten years. Then came along the wretched developments that messed things up, which you well know, be it cultural Bolshevism, the pampering of criminals, etc. I can honestly say, without exaggeration, that I was an expert in this field and did an enormous amount of worthwhile social work. I also wrote something you should read sometime, and not just the lecture for that fool Kratzenstein. You will soon see that I know my way around such matters. It was indeed hard when all that cursed business came along and in one fell swoop, as you know, destroyed everything. I had to flee, stumbling away illegally over the border. What can I tell you? Particularly hard was the fact that through such work I had not managed to save anything. Whenever I had any money, it was sunk straight into the Lenz School. As an idealist, you can appreciate that. So I came here and had nothing, nor could I speak the language. I was completely finished. A school, social work, welfare for criminals? People just laughed at me.”

I learned how Herr Konirsch-Lenz, after several unfortunate attempts and miserably paid jobs as a laborer, had the idea to manufacture wallpaper. At the Lenz School the pupils were trained in various tasks, almost all of which Konirsch-Lenz could do himself. Then, out of grace and mercy, he was given a rundown hovel that was no longer being used, and there he began to manufacture wallpaper out of modest materials, all of it designed by him and produced on a hand press in modest amounts. He had only one helper, who was also a refugee, then a very smart salesman joined in, and again another refugee. They worked eighteen hours a day, though one couldn’t say they worked but, rather, slaved like animals, there hardly even being a Sunday free. Slowly they made progress, but there were also setbacks — a design didn’t sell at all and wasn’t to everyone’s taste, or the paper was terrible, the press acted up, while, especially in the first years of the war, it was tough, the colors nothing but smeared rubbish, though it got better and better, and out of the little hole a workshop emerged, and now it’s a lovely little factory with forty employees. The situation keeps on improving, as Kolex wallpaper has made a name for itself. You can ask for it in almost any appropriate shop. Soon the firm will be expanded by partnering with another such employer — a great idea — and new methods for doing multicolored prints will be developed.

Herr Konirsch-Lenz told it all in a lively manner; I could see very much how everything had thrived under his hands, causing me almost to feel amazed. It was obvious with what enthusiasm he wished to cover the walls of the metropolis with Kolex wallpaper, it being easy as pie, as it doesn’t wrinkle and is long-lasting and washable. I was happy for the success of Herr Konirsch-Lenz. Then he clapped me on the arm and said, “Don’t you see, I made it!” Then he shifted to say how the wealth he acquired gave him time to dedicate himself to pedagogical and sociological tasks, he being a consultant to some schools for difficult children, a visitor to a prison for youths, and many other things.

“When you work with youths who have lost their way, before they find it again, all those hoodlums and petty thieves who need as much love as they do strict rearing, then you also judge your situation. What are you but a man derailed, even if you are forty years old? You’ve never learned to conquer yourself and never had a real job. I’ve thought about that a lot. I’m offering that you can begin tomorrow as an apprentice in my factory in order to learn how to print wallpaper. I’ll pay you something, and we can talk about that. It will in any case be enough, and no doubt much less than what I’ll lose through the goods that will be ruined. That’s a radical offer, but I’m a radical person. Are we agreed?”