H. Adler - The Wall

“Don’t be unreasonable. It’s not at all certain that you’ll even get compensation. It is seldom agreed to, and who knows when it’s ever paid out.”

“The paintings! I’m not talking about compensation!”

“If your complaint is acknowledged, but the paintings are not returned, they will be photographed for you at the museum’s cost. If you are turned down, we’ll still work with you and let you have the paintings photographed at your cost, if you wish. Copies can also be made at your cost.”

“Am I in a den of thieves or a madhouse?” exclaimed Herr Lever.

He couldn’t understand Schnabelberger’s suggestions, for they seemed to him unbelievable, Frau Lever also having gotten worked up over them. The two of them were indignant as they passed on somewhat unflattering words about what they thought to be the scandalous conditions in the museum, as well as commenting on the appearance of Mrs. Mackintosh.

“I believe, my good people,” Schnabelberger interrupted, “the situation with the lady has nothing to do with this. I handled her along with Herr Dr. Landau, as she deserved, even though her husband is a big shot in the embassy and also in England and is supposed to be a famous critic and writer. Let’s please concentrate on your situation, for we must soon close.”

“Well, then, as for the Office for Enemy Goods … Or what’s that place called?” Herr Lever began.

“The Office for the Recovery of Enemy Goods,” offered Herr Schnabelberger.

“Well, I’ll go there straight off. Can you give me the address?”

“But of course, my pleasure.”

Herr Schnabelberger wrote out the address on a sheet with a pencil and handed it to Herr Lever.

“How long do you think it will take for such an inquiry to be answered?”

Herr Schnabelberger shrugged. “That’s hard to say. Perhaps a year.”

“What, a year!”

“They have a lot of inquiries to deal with there. If it goes quickly, it still might take nine months.”

“By then we’ll be back in Johannesburg again. We want to stay no more than a month.”

Herr Schnabelberger said that he fully understood and advised turning the case over to a good lawyer, which is what he would recommend anyway, since paintings could not be taken out of the country without permission.

“Is there no justice at work in this country! It’s simply outrageous! How much everything has changed here!”

“That’s right, Guido, that’s what I warned you about. Without a lawyer, nothing happens. You’ll have to get one!”

“They’re crooks, Mitzi, but what can I do? Could you be so good as to recommend one? A specialist for the restoration of property?”

“Dr. Blecha!” I blurted out. “He can do it.”

“Really. Is he your lawyer?”

“No, I don’t have one. He represents a friend.”

“Guido, take down the address!”

Quickly I wrote it down on Herr Lever’s sheet, on which the address for the Office for the Recovery of Enemy Goods was written. Now the South African had had enough and got up.

“Come, Mitzi! Those paintings hung for decades on the wall of my parents’ apartment, and then Eugene had them on the wall of his salon.”

He tenderly stroked the edges of the wounded frames.

“Gentlemen, no offense, but I have to say, it’s a scandal. To the devil with you!”

His wife had also stood up. Herr Schnabelberger and I accompanied the incensed couple for a few steps. At the door, the Johannesburgers departed from the chief without saying a word, as he waved to me to walk the visitors to the stairs. Outside, Herr Lever turned to me, incensed.

“I won’t give anything to this museum! Don’t even ask me! Let’s just call that justice!”

I didn’t say anything in return, but I didn’t turn back from the stairs as I had intended to but accompanied the couple down the stairway. Herr Lever didn’t seem at all interested anymore, but his wife still paid careful attention to the paintings on the walls.

“Herr Doctor, are all of them stolen?” she asked bitterly.

To that I didn’t say anything, either. Herr Geschlieder heard us and came out of his custodian’s apartment. I was pleased to turn the couple over to him.

“Please, could you see these good people out?”

I excused myself and wished them a pleasant stay in their old hometown. Frau Lever had already turned away from me, but her husband stood there for a moment and looked at me gravely while quietly shaking his head.

“The city of a hundred golden towers — that’s what we learned as children. It seems to me that nothing goes the way it should here anymore. Everything has changed.”

“You could be right.”

He reached out his hand to me.

“So, you say Dr. Blecha?”

“You can give him a try.”

Herr Lever followed after his wife. I had spent over two hours with the South Africans, as well as with Mrs. Mackintosh. I had no desire to work anymore that day, for Anna had said she wanted to see me that night. We had only seen each other in passing since our journey to the mountain woods, which had happened more than two weeks earlier. She would be picking me up at the museum in less than an hour. I was pleased about that, and therefore had no desire to start in on something else. Slowly I climbed the three floors, cleared my desk, and opened the large cabinet stuffed from top to bottom with retrieved items. There was a lovely little dark-red leather purse that I had thought of; I wanted to take it with me and surprise Anna. I rarely opened the cabinet, because I hated cramming things into it, but I tried to think just what I would have to latch on to in order to pull out the little purse. Yet I was mistaken, for I couldn’t find it. I would have given up the search if I weren’t already bent on it. So I had to take a bunch of things out of the cabinet which I laid on a chair or spread out before me on the floor. The place looked like a junk shop; a painted porcelain vase slipped from my hands and broke into pieces, which I quickly swept up and dumped into the wastebasket. But my efforts were met with success, for finally I had the purse. I was in the process of putting everything back in order when there was a light knock on the door and, before I could say anything, Frau Dr. Kulka was standing next to me. She noticed the embarrassing mess around me with pleasure.

“So this is your work here!” she said, mocking me.

“I was looking for something, madam.”

“Listen, Dr. Landau, let me be clear. Despite this strange business, I have no doubt of your diligence. I know what you have done for us. I also know that your nerves have suffered through much more than we have. But what goes too far goes too far. What is all of this stuff here?”

“Private things. They’re not mine. I was given them, whether I wanted them or not. Wherever I went, I had to take them. Eventually I stopped picking up anything, and I got rid of some things in between.”

“And all of it was brought here, right? In essence, a nice little private Landau Museum of Family Mementos.”

“Please, don’t say that so reproachfully. It’s not at all true.”

“Is that true? Why did you schlepp all this stuff here? You didn’t ask anyone for permission and just stashed it all away here. That’s not at all permissible. Nowhere in any museum would that be tolerated.”

“Ah, madam, there’s a lot that goes on here that would be unthinkable in any museum in the world. This stuff isn’t in anyone’s way, and I don’t know what else to do with it.”

“You have to get these things out of the museum! How could you think of bringing it all here!”

“I’m slowly getting rid of it. I don’t have room for it anywhere else. I’m sorting through the things. Though I never do it during working hours. Today is an exception, because I was looking for something. This little purse! I wanted to give it to someone.”