The Generals (17 page)

Captain Schmidt
: There’s a contemporary description of him among the appendices, written by a foreign journalist. A small man whose hands tremble. He has a brown beard and protruding eyes which are restless. He is not especially clean and tidy, nor at all impressive, but he seems stubborn and was given an impression of steadfastness.

Commander Kampenmann
: Who was this Stoloff?

Major von Peters
: A demon in human form.

Tadeusz Haller
: That’s true. And he was Joakim Ludolf’s closest friend and confidant. He was in on it all from the beginning and functioned as a construction and planning technologist. In his particular field, he was a genius. He organised all supplies and building in the country. He was also a fortifications expert.

Major von Peters
: We know that, thank you.

Colonel Orbal
: Yes, by God, we do.

Captain Schmidt
: I call Corporal Erwin Velder as witness.

Colonel Orbal
: Yes, what? What is it, Endicott? Can’t you speak so that we can hear? Yes, of course he can remain seated if he can’t stand up. Push him forward into the middle of the floor. That’s right.

Lieutenant Brown
: May I remind you of the significance of the oath, Velder.

Velder
: Yes, I know.

Captain Schmidt
: After the bizarre events which were dealt with in the seventy-seventh charge, you continued to serve as the General’s bodyguard and you were also present at Council meetings.

Velder
: Yes, that is true.

Colonel Orbal
: For Christ’s sake, Velder, you sound like an old steam engine. Speak like a soldier, man.

Captain Endicott
: The accused has an injury to his larynx, sir, which prevents him from speaking normally. A week ago, he could not speak at all.

Colonel Orbal
: Oh, hell.

Captain Schmidt
: Describe briefly the events which led to your desertion from the Army.

Velder
: As the General’s bodyguard …

Colonel Pigafetta
: Why did General Oswald keep you near to him?

Velder
: We always got on well together. I imagine that the General trusted me.

Colonel Pigafetta
: Highly remarkable.

Captain Schmidt
: Well, Velder. Go on.

Velder
: As the General’s bodyguard, I noticed a number of things. After the Council meeting concerned with my circumstances, the General didn’t actually show aversion to me, but the tone of the meetings grew more tense. There weren’t any votes taken, of course.

Captain Schmidt
: We are primarily interested in what happened to you personally.

Velder
: The General began to take certain measures which he didn’t bother to tell the others about. In two months, the strength of the militia was doubled and stores replenished. They were placed at three new depôts too, near Oswaldsburg, Marbella and Ludolfsport. Otherwise everything was as usual. The General often used to talk to me, of course, and he said he was worried about our vulnerability and our poor defences. Discipline within the militia was improved and training became more systematic. A lot of new officers were found; I remember that both Colonel Orbal and Major von Peters came with the first contingent. At the same juncture, the militia was reorganised into a regular army. That was when I became a corporal.

Captain Schmidt
: Were you already planning high treason then?

Velder
: Yes, but not consciously. I didn’t realise what was happening. I didn’t really begin to think seriously about it until after the Council meeting on the thirteenth of November.

Captain Schmidt
: Describe in your own words what happened there.

Velder
: It was very rowdy—the rowdiest I’ve been present at at any time.

Captain Schmidt
: Who was rowdy?

Velder
: Janos Edner mostly. He had discovered that there were several religious sects in the country, both in Oswaldsburg and Ludolfsport. They had already been in existence for a long time and were holding regular services in private houses. Janos Edner was
furious. He behaved in a very unbalanced manner, swearing and cursing.

Captain Schmidt
: What was he so agitated about? That there were people who believed in God?

Velder
: He said he didn’t care a bloody fig about that. But he was livid over the secrecy, he said. He seemed fearfully disappointed. Aranca Peterson agreed with him, as usual. The others didn’t say anything. He also quarrelled with the General, who he considered must have known about the matter. Especially as so many of the members were from the militia. The General was very calm. When Edner had come to an end, the General brought up his suggestion.

Major von Peters
: Can’t you speak up a bit, man?

Captain Schmidt
: One moment. I will interrupt Velder’s testimony here and call Justice Tadeusz Haller instead.

Lieutenant Brown
: Mr Haller, may I remind you of the significance of the oath.

Tadeusz Haller
: I realise the significance of the oath.

Captain Schmidt
: You were present at this meeting. What happened then?

Tadeusz Haller
: The General was—just as Velder said—very calm. He didn’t reply to the accusation at all. But when Janos Edner had finished, he got up and said: ‘Isn’t this evidence of something I’ve long suspected? That we’ve got to review the question of the country’s method of government and administration.’ Aranca Peterson at once asked how this reviewing was to be done and the General replied that it should happen by public vote. The others stared at him as if they’d seen a ghost. Naturally, I supported the General and pointed out that it was possible that the country had got to the point when its leadership should be entrusted to a president and a democratically chosen government. Aranca Peterson and Janos Edner laughed at me and asked who was going to be the president. Naturally, I answered that the president should be whoever the people chose. The whole thing culminated in a discussion which went on all night and a good way into the next morning. The General’s decisive behaviour, perhaps to some extent my own too, made a certain impression on the others. They felt that the very foundations of their ridiculous doctrines were collapsing.

Commander Kampenmann
: Weren’t you yourself from the start
one of the supporters of these doctrines?

Tadeusz Haller
: Never seriously. I saw them only as a means of swiftly carrying out national liberation.

Captain Schmidt
: Was Velder present all through that meeting?

Tadeusz Haller
: I think so. In the end, when it was almost lunch time, we arrived at a compromise. This was that the matter should be settled by a referendum. The people should be allowed to choose between two alternatives; the first to keep the old form of government, the second to choose a president at a later election and form a conventional government. The voting was to be carried out four weeks later. The timing was especially suitable, as winter had just begun and the number of foreign tourists wasn’t so great.

Captain Schmidt
: Did everyone agree to this?

Tadeusz Haller
: Everyone except Joakim Ludolf. He was quite adamant and on this occasion showed his true nature for the first time.

Captain Schmidt
: Thank you, Mr Haller. I will now return to questioning Erwin Velder. Was it at this moment in time that you definitely decided to turn against the General?

Velder
: I wasn’t really certain until I’d heard his big speech two weeks later, on the twenty-seventh of November.

Captain Schmidt
: The speech Velder refers to was the first of a series by General Oswald which went out to the whole country on radio and television. The text of the speech is contained in Appendix V IV/50. If you don’t mind, Lieutenant Brown.

Lieutenant Brown
: Appendix V IV/50. Speech by General Oswald, held at Radio Headquarters, Oswaldsburg, twenty-seventh of November at seven o’clock in the evening. The text is as follows:

Citizens! As I turn directly to you for the first time, it is after lengthy hesitation and consideration. As you all know, I personally was in the vanguard of the action which liberated this country from the tyranny and oppression of colonialism.

Since then, not a single general election or referendum has been held in the country. Despite this, the nation is faced every day with questions of critical importance, questions which concern the lives and welfare of all of us. Now, for the first time, we have an election ahead of us, or a referendum, if you so wish. Two alternatives are before us—but the most important thing is not the choosing of one
form of government or the other. Fundamentally, the election is between keeping watch over our freedom and dignity on the one hand, and on the other hand continuing on the route already embarked on towards chaos and self-degradation.

With increasing anxiety, I have watched recent developments. Our international reputation has fallen a long way below par. Hundreds of millions of people now already regard our island as a spot of shame upon the map of the world. Worst is that none of us can hold our heads up and maintain that our accusers are wrong. We are developing into a chaotic and spineless nation, we have deliberately torn down what would have held us up, the three cornerstones of human existence, contained in the concepts of Religion, Morality and Dignity.

Our way of life has also created external enemies, far too many of them and far too strong to enable any of us to sleep soundly at night. I know that many of you do so—but that is due to ignorance and laxity.

Are you secure in your own homes? Can we even guarantee the lives of our children and our loved ones? The answer is no. As the person ultimately responsible for the internal and external security of the nation, I am forced to say that we lack the means to repel the annihilating attack from outside which any day, indeed any minute, could become a nightmare reality. In our blind faith in naïve doctrines, we have neglected to take the most elementary safety precautions. Many people covet our land and our lives, and we have robbed ourselves of the means of defending ourselves.

At root, all this is the result of our laxity and moral decay, of our retreat from the only true God, and our contempt for the rules of personal human behaviour. Yet these rules have been formed over the centuries and it is impossible to live without them. The developments here are definite and conclusive evidence of this. We gained our independence and founded this state in order to live in freedom. But what does that freedom look like today? Is it possible to speak of freedom in a country in which people to whom religion is a vital condition of life are forced to meet in secret places, like thieves in the night, to pray to their Creator? A country led by irresponsible people whose idea of freedom is chaos?

What is freedom worth in a state during whose whole existence
its citizens have had no opportunity to have their say in free elections? Not until now, as our beautiful and flourishing island is on the way to being transformed into an Augean stables, stinking of excrement and immorality, as we lie defenceless, helplessly exposed to the first attacker—not until this moment of remorse and anxiety in face of the future, have I succeeded in convincing my opponents that a referendum is necessary.

Citizens, our old form of government has always been dubious, and now it has finally outlived itself. Its role is for ever and irretrievably played out. What we need today is a firm republican organisation, a president and a government which has the courage and strength to return the country to a tolerable and acceptable existence. A system in which freedom isn’t just a meaningless phrase. We need an army, a force that can defend us against external aggressors. We must recover all the spiritual values that have already been dragged through the mud and which will soon be irretrievably lost.

Perhaps you are asking: who today has sufficient courage and sufficient spirit of sacrifice to lead the way? My answer is: if you, citizens, offer me this onerous task, I am prepared to accept it.

In the referendum in two weeks’ time you will be given two alternatives—to vote yes or no, that is, for or against the subversive system which has brought us to the piteous state of vegetation we are now forced to endure. But it is not yet too late to stem the avalanche. You must vote no. Every no-vote is also, if you so wish it, a vote for me personally. Listen to me! Listen to me! Listen to God’s truth! He who votes no is helping to sweep away immorality and corrupt administration. He who votes no is choosing freedom and security for himself and his kin. He who votes no professes himself an adherent to the triumvirate Religion—Morality—Dignity. That is all, citizens. The decision is yours.

Colonel Orbal
: Extremely good speech.

Major von Peters
: Magnificent. What’s wrong with Velder? Has he fallen asleep?

Captain Endicott
: Exhaustion, sir.

Colonel Orbal
: Take the wretch out and shake some life into him. Try cold water if nothing else helps. Anyhow, I must have a cold
beer before I get heat-stroke. The session is adjourned for one hour.

*   *   *

Colonel Orbal
: Get the parties called in now, Brown.

Lieutenant Brown
: There’s only Captain Endicott out there now, sir.

Colonel Orbal
: What? Why’s that?

Major von Peters
: Call him in then, Brown. And don’t stand there staring. This is a court martial, not an agricultural show.

Colonel Orbal
: Well, Endicott, what’s the matter?

Captain Endicott
: The guards did not succeed in rousing the accused from unconsciousness. Perhaps their methods were … somewhat primitive, if I may use that expression.

Major von Peters
: Are you standing there insinuating that Bratianu’s men don’t know their job?