“Which government are you talking about?”
“Good question. So then ask yourself why the Greeks have never before tried to extradite anyone from Germany for war crimes committed in this country.”
“All right, I’ll play. Why?”
“Until recently it was quite simple: The Greek government wanted the German government to pay reparations for its war crimes. They proposed an amnesty on all war crimes committed in Greece in return for half a billion dollars. An important part of those reparations was that gold stolen from the Jews of Salonika. But the government in Bonn refused. Called it blackmail. Which it was. And which is why Arthur Meissner was put on trial, as a very small and unimportant example of what might follow if Germany continued to drag its feet on this issue. After all, Greece is a NATO member state and it would be embarrassing if Greece started applying for the extradition of German nationals on the soil of other NATO members, as well they might.”
“Max Merten is hardly small,” I objected. “He’s the real deal, I tell you. A genuine war criminal. Maybe he didn’t summarily execute any hostages. But he extorted hundreds of millions of dollars in gold from your people and then abandoned them to their fate.”
“Oh, certainly. I didn’t tell you before but it’s always been our belief that the vast majority of this gold was actually sent to Germany aboard a special SS train in 1943 and currently remains on deposit in a Swiss bank; that the West German government is well aware of this fact; and that only a tiny percentage of the total amount was ever put on a boat privately owned by the likes of Merten and Brunner for their own nefarious use.
“In spite of what you may have been told by Merten and Meissner, there is no vast hoard in a sunken ship off the Peloponnesian coast. Indeed, it’s my own suspicion that all the time he has been here in Greece Max Merten has been the secret agent of the West German government, witting or unwitting. That this whole scheme was cooked up by someone in the German intelligence service—most probably Hans Globke—to persuade the Greek government that Germany doesn’t have any of the gold looted from Greece back in ’43. I think you have been played, my friend. Played by your bosses in Munich, who were themselves doing the bidding of others in the West German government. My prediction is that Max Merten will be back home in Munich within the year, where he will find himself very well compensated for his trouble.”
“I don’t believe that. Look, what you say doesn’t make any sense, Rahel, if that is your real name. Frankly, what you’re suggesting—it’s much too far-fetched. Merten financed this expedition by the commission of another crime in Munich. Why would he have to do that if the West German government was backing him?”
“You’re talking about General Heinrich Heinkel, aren’t you? An old Nazi who was once of interest to us in the Institute. It so happens that your German BND wanted the Stasi man bankrolling General Heinkel removed, permanently. And having removed him, they decided that the money could be used to bankroll Merten instead. Christian Schramma worked, occasionally, for the BND. As an ex-policeman surely you understand that’s how these things operate. One covert operation is often wrapped into another for the sake of convenience. And state intelligence agencies usually employ a lot of criminals, like Schramma, at a lower level for the sake of deniability, so that they can carry out undercover work without revealing their true hands.”
“Is that how you got the job with Ha’Mossad?”
The bandit queen smiled patiently. More patiently than previous acquaintance might have led me to expect. “Formerly I was a colonel in Amman. Our military intelligence section. I’m telling you this because I want you to take me seriously since I have a favor to ask of you, Christof. If that’s your real name.”
“You haven’t finished telling me why I’m being naïve about Max Merten. Why would Merten go along with a scheme like the one you’re suggesting? Why would he risk going to prison for the rest of his life?”
“He may be in on the conspiracy, or not. I’m still unsure of how far his complicity in the scheme goes. But there’s certainly no risk of him spending the rest of his life behind bars. If you were a real insurance man you’d price that risk at next to zero. And my explanation would once have been simple enough for anyone to understand. But nothing about this whole affair is simple anymore. Not since the Treaty of Rome was signed.”
“You’ll have to explain how the EEC is the least bit relevant, Rahel.”
“Would it surprise you to learn that the person who signed the Treaty of Rome with Konrad Adenauer was Professor Walter Hallstein?”
“That name rings a bell. I seem to remember Schramma mentioning him back in Munich.”
“Hallstein was a member of several Nazi organizations and, after the war, a close business associate of Max Merten. Walter Hallstein will be the first president of the commission of the European Economic Community.”
“I still don’t see how this is relevant.”
Rahel Eskenazi smiled. “I told you this was complicated. Sometimes I’m not even sure I understand it all myself. And I haven’t even started. You see, Greece has already applied to join the new EEC. However, my German sources tell me that Adenauer and Hallstein will certainly veto Greece’s application
