H. Adler - Panorama

Just past the visitors room you reach another door that is sometimes closed, though if you go through it you end up in The Box itself, a long hallway stretching ahead, with a large window to the right that looks out onto the courtyard, while to the left are heavy wooden doors, each with a thick brown window installed in it with a pane that serves as a peephole through which one can look into the classroom if you have the key that opens this pane. At certain times these rooms are closed, each one labeled I through IX in Roman numerals, though Room V is always open, and usually you have to go through this room to get to the other rooms. Across from Room V is the main stairwell, which leads down to the courtyard and farther into the cellar, where the baths are located and the furnace room for the central heating, The Box being equipped with all the latest achievements of modern times, the coal bins also located below, as well as the pantry and other rooms unknown to the pupils. If you climb back up the stairs to the hallway you’ll find toilets to the left and right, as well as on the second and third floors in the same location, these specially installed for The Box, with urinals like any other, though the stalls with the toilet bowls are white wooden cages that boast an open set of peepholes for both eyes, so that no one can hide in the stalls. Near the end of the passage, across from Classroom IX, a side stairwell leads to the laundry room, where each week you bring your dirty linens and pick up clean ones, while upstairs is the music room, where pupils practice while learning to play the violin or the piano. Down below, next to this set of stairs, is a little room where the pupils who are not doing well in school spend time each evening in order to study with The Paster, which is what they call Herr Pastor, The Paster looking over their assignments during study hall between three and five o’clock each day, except on Saturdays, The Paster walking back and forth across the classroom in order to keep an eye on his cadets, though each pupil can ask The Paster for help, which he receives straight off.

At the end of the hall is a door that opens into the dining hall, which is very big, all of the two hundred and fifty pupils wolfing down the main meal here together, before which a loud bell sounds, electronic bells that ring at every occasion being everywhere in The Box, the pupils knowing already what each one means, since here they are so well trained that everything runs like clockwork. Before the meal they all gather in a long hallway, each pupil having his own place that is labeled with a number from 1 to 250, the same number appearing on his clothes and everything else, Josef’s number being 33. Then they all stand up, the lowest number near Classroom I and onward up to Classroom IX, the even numbers on the right and the uneven on the left, and once everything is in order the door to the dining hall is opened, at which the highest number enters, all of them taking a spot at the long tables on each side, a light-gray tablecloth spread out upon each table, and all the pupils having to remain standing until the hall is full, the door is closed, and a designated student from the highest class says the prayer:

Come, Lord Jesus, be our guest ,

Let thy gifts to us be blessed .

Then the pupils shove back their chairs, causing a great scraping sound, as they all sit down, followed by the Sprites, which is what the servant girls at The Box are called who bring the grub, which is what the food is called, four pupils always forming a group around each bowl, the oldest of them designated as the commander of the bowl who orders the others around and takes the first helping for himself, the youngest taking the last, though all the portions are divided equally beforehand.

During the meal loud talking is forbidden, indeed anyone who jabbers away too loudly receives a smack on the head in order to get his attention, the pupils never allowed to be alone anywhere or at any time, even in the toilets, where one can see whatever they’re doing because of the peepholes, while in the dining hall there is always an inspector standing by. There are four inspectors, who are called Herr Inspector, one having recently died, the living ones being Schuster, who is the best and whose group Josef belongs to, followed by Bemmchen, the one who in fact is dead, and whose pupils have been divided among the remaining inspectors, followed by Faber and, last, Löschhorn, all of them older men, Faber the oldest, Löschhorn not so old, and Schuster in between the two. Two of them are always on duty, but since the death of Bemmchen there is often only one, though sometimes all of them show up together. There are supposed to be two in the dining hall, but now there is often only one, who walks between the tables in order to keep an eye on things, while at least for lunch some teachers sit at the end of the tables, eating the same grub as the pupils, though they get more, the Sprites bringing them their own bowls and utensils. Once the grub is finished, everyone has to stand up, the prayer of thanks is said, after which everyone leaves the hall again together, beginning with the lowest, followed by the higher numbers, though after the meal the pupils can scatter as they wish without having to march back down the hallway.

If you climb the main staircase to the second floor, you arrive in another hallway, but one that is shorter and ends abruptly to the right, while across from the stairs is a room called The Chapel, though there is no longer any chapel here, because it was dismantled after the war, not because of the revolution but because the space was needed, the stained-glass windows still reminding you that this once was a chapel, candles most often needed for light, as otherwise it is too dark. There are wash tables in The Chapel, just like those in the real laundry, that are made out of long iron frames on which rest black marble tops with holes that drain into washbasins made of tin, each basin resting under its number, and each pupil having a basin and his own spot. After washing, you turn over your basin and set it on the tin grate beneath the wash table, while during the washing up each morning the odd-numbered pupils come first, followed by the even-numbered ones. In the corners of the room are little chests that are full of drawers, though they cannot be taken out but only opened up with a key that the pupils have to keep on a key chain in order not to lose it, though indeed it is often lost or even stolen, and should one be found you have to give it to the inspector, who collects objects in a little glass box near the main staircase. The key is to keep your things locked up, each pupil’s drawer and cabinet having a lock that the key fits, but many other keys fit as well, which is a problem, for then things get stolen from the cabinets all the time, though if you lose your key you go to the office, where the secretary gives you a new one and writes it down on your account.

From the numbered drawer you take your toiletry box, which is also numbered, and go to your spot at the wash table and lay it down on the marble shelf that is above the marble countertop, each spot having its own faucet. You then take off you shirt and wash yourself just down to your belt, for you don’t take off your pants, but instead brush your teeth and wet your hair so that you comb your hair into a coif, which is what the barber calls it, almost everyone having a coif and proud of it. If you’re in the odd-numbered group you have to hurry, for soon the inspector whistles and calls out “Second group!” so that you have to finish fast. Otherwise the washroom is open only before the noon meal and the evening meal in order to wash your hands, though not everyone does that, and if it’s found out they get a smack on the head and have to head to the washroom. When the first group is busy washing up, the second group has to shine their shoes, which is why next to The Chapel there is a room especially for this, the pupils placing one foot at a time on a low bench, the tools for polishing also contained in a box similar to that for toiletries, though this one can’t be locked, since no one ever steals such things, each pupil having his designated spot in the shoeshine room as well. Once the first group is done washing up, they head off to shine their shoes, and it often happens that you get your hands dirty again with shoe polish, but by then there is no longer any more time to properly wash them, which is why you then quickly run into the toilet, where there are faucets attached to water lines. You can also get a drink of water there, otherwise water is available only in the dining hall in the evenings, the Sprites placing a bottle of water for each group on the table, though they place them along with the grub only for those eating, after which everything else must be set out.