of it! Look at America. For all their bluster about equality, the
Americans have seen abuses as bad as those anywhere. In South Africa,
Frau Apfel, prejudice does not wear a mask.
And no one will forgive us for that. Because South Africa admits
something that the rest of the world would prefer to hide, the world
hates us.'
'Do you think that's an excuse?'
'We're not looking for excuses,' Smuts muttered.
'Simply an observation,' Horn said, glaring at Smuts.
'Isn't this bloody marvelous,' Lord Granville crowed.
'Two Germans and a bloody Afrikaner debating the finer points of race
relations! It's really too much.' He poured himself a second brandy
from a bottle he had claimed as his own.
'You think England's any better?'-, Smuts snapped. 'All you've ever
seen of it is public schools and polo fields, you@' 'Pieter,' Horn cut
in. He turned to Ilse. 'Herr Smuts is what the Americans call a
self-made man, my dear. He views the aristocracy as something of an
obsolete class.'
'That's one view I sympathize with.'
The Afrikaner inclined his head respectfully, his smoking gaze still on
the Englishman.
'Actually,' said Horn, 'even the South Africans shrink from truly
effective measures in the race question.'
'Effective measures?'
'State-sponsored sterilization, my dear. It's the only answer.
We can't expect kaffirs or Mohammedan savages to regulate their own.
breeding habits. One might as well expect the same of cattle.
No, the government health services should simply sterilize each black
female after the birth of her first child. An entire spectrum of
problems would disappear within a single generation.'
While Ilse stared in astonishment; Horn signaled to the stone-faced
Linah, who brought him a thick Upmann cigar, clipped and ready to light.
He did so without asking if anyone minded, took several puffs, then
exhaled the smoke in deep blue clouds that wafted gently above the
table.
'Well,' he said finally, 'I'm sure you have many questions. I'll try to
answer what I can.'
Ilse had not even touched her salad. Now she set her quivering hands
flat on the table and took a deep breath. 'Why am I here?' she asked
softly.
'Quite simply,' Horn replied, 'because of your husband.
I'm afraid your Hans stumbled upon a document that belonged to a man I
knew well-a document he should have turned over to the proper
authorities, but did not. Pieter decided that the most expeditious
method of recovering the property was through you. That is why you are
here. As soon as your husband arrives, the matter will be resolved.'
Ilse felt a flutter of hope. 'Hans is coming here?'
Horn glanced at his watch. 'He should be on his way now.'
'Does he know I'm safe?'
Smuts answered. 'He heard the tape you made.'
Ilse shivered, recalling the gun held to her head by the wild-eyed
Lieutenant Luhr.
Horn blew a smoke ring. 'I assure you that such unpleasantness will not
be repeated. The man who drugged you on the plane is now in a cell a
hundred meters beneath your feet.' Horn smiled. 'Now, if I may, I'd
like to ask your opinion of the document your husband discovered in
Spandau Prison.'
Ilse studied her hands. 'What about it? It looked like a hoax to me.
Things like that have come up a dozen times since the war@' 'Please,'
Horn interrupted, his tone harder, 'do not try my patience.
Your discussion with Prefect Funk indicated that you well understood the
importance of the papers.'
'I only thought that they might be dangerous! I knew that because Hans
found them in Spandau they'd probably been written by a war criminal.
Because of that-'
'Excuse me, Frau Apfel.' Horn's gingle eye settled on Ilse's face. 'How
would you define that term-war criminal?
I'm curious.'
Ilse swallowed. 'Well ... I suppose it means someone who has departed
from the laws of morality so radically that it shocks the civilized
world, even in time of war.'
Horn smiled sadly. 'Very articulate, my dear, but completely incorrect.
A war criminal is merely a powerful man on the side that Was Caesar a
war criminal? By your definition, By mine? No. Was Alexander? Was
Stalin? In 1944, arshal Zhukov's Red Army raped, murdered, and looted
its way across Germany. Was Zhukov a war criminal? No. But Hitler? Of
course! The Anti-Christ! You see?
The label means nothing in absolute terms. It's simply a relative
description.'
'That's not true. What the Nazis did in the concentration camps-'
'Maintained the German war economy and furthered medical science for the
entire world!' Horn finished. 'Of course there were excesses-that's
human nature. But does anyone ever mention the advances that were
made?'
'You don't believe that. Nothing justifies such cruelty.'
Horn shook his head. 'I can see that the Zionists have kept a firm grip
on our country's schools since the war. DeNazification,' he snorted.
'My God, you sound just like an Israeli schoolchild. Can you be so
blind? In 1945 the Allied Air Forces attacked Dresden-an open city-and
killed 135,000 German civilians, mostly women and children.
President Truman obliterated two Japanese cities. That is not
criminal?'
'Then why is hiding the Spandau diary so important to you?' Ilse
challenged. 'Why not let it be known and publicly argue your case,
whatever it is?'
Horn looked at the table. 'Because some chapters of history are best
left closed. The case of Rudolf Hess has had a startling long-lived
effect on relations between England, Germany, and Russia.
It's in the best interest of all concerned to let sleeping dogs lie.'
