“I was never so glad to see a prison,” I said, looking out the car window at a grim, castellated gray brick building that was shrouded with palm trees. I lit a Karelia from a packet I’d bought and tried to compose myself.
But Garlopis was looking serious.
“I’m sorry, sir, but I’m afraid I won’t be going in there. You see, there’s something I need to tell you. You’re not the only one with a past. I mean, a past I’d rather not be reminded of.”
“Don’t tell me, you were a cop, too.”
“No, but during the war I was a translator for the Occupation Force, just like Arthur Meissner. First for the Italians and then the Germans. So far I’ve managed to conceal this fact. And for obvious reasons you’re the one person with whom I feel I can share this information now. I certainly wouldn’t tell anyone Greek. Meissner worked in Thessaloniki while I was based here in Athens but he and I met several times at the Gestapo building in Merlin Street. And I’d much prefer it if we didn’t meet again. He might try to blackmail me, to share the blame, if you like. I certainly didn’t murder or rob anyone, which is what he’s accused of doing by no less a figure than Archimedes Argyropoulos; he’s a general and a Greek military hero, so his evidence has been very damaging to Meissner’s case. No, all I did was to be part of a pool of translators. I even tried to ameliorate some of the general’s orders. Nevertheless, in Greek eyes this makes me a collaborator.”
“Collaborator is just another word for survivor,” I said. “In a war staying alive is a bit like playing tennis. It looks a lot easier when you’ve never had to play yourself. Take it from one who can boast a pretty useful backhand.”
“That’s kind of you to say. Unfortunately there are plenty of Greeks who would like to see a rat like me disqualified. Permanently.”
“Forget it. I think you’re a pretty nice guy—for a rat.”
“You’re too kind, sir.”
“I don’t mean to be. Tell me, when you were working for the Third Reich did you ever meet this SD Captain Brunner that Lieutenant Leventis has decided to make his life’s personal Jean Valjean?”
“On one of the few occasions I met Meissner he was accompanied by some SD officers and perhaps one of them might have been Brunner, but I really don’t know for sure. There were so many. And men in uniform all look alike to me. Frankly I’d never even heard the name Brunner until Leventis mentioned him in his office.” Garlopis shook his head. “What I did know was to stay away from Thessaloniki. You have to understand that things were much harder there because the SD were in charge. There it was all about persecuting the Jews. Here, in Athens, things were easier. Besides, Brunner was a mere captain. Mostly I worked for the military governor, a Luftwaffe general called Wilhelm Speidel who Lieutenant Leventis mentioned to you when we were in his office. This is the real reason I try to encourage people not to stay at the Grande Bretagne Hotel, sir. During the war it was taken over by the German general staff. Speidel’s headquarters were in a suite on the top floor. Hitler once stayed at the GB; Himmler, and Göring, too. I actually saw Hermann Göring drinking champagne with Rommel in the hotel bar. I was often in and out of the place to meet with General Speidel and I don’t like to go back there in case I’m ever recognized.
“Then, in April 1944, Speidel was transferred back to Germany and I went to stay with a cousin of mine in Rhodes, until I judged it safe to come back to Athens. When Leventis mentioned Speidel and the massacre in Kalavryta, you could have knocked me sideways. Frankly I had no idea he’d ever had a hand in such a thing. I always found him to be very kind, very thoughtful, and a real gentleman. When he left Greece he even gave me a nice fountain pen. His own Pelikan.”
“That’s something you learn about life. Sometimes the nicest folk do the most horrible things. Especially in Germany. Along with the Japs we virtually own the monopoly on very kind, very thoughtful mass murderers. People are always surprised that we also like Mozart and small children.”
“I just wanted you to know the truth.”
“It’s a tough world for honest men. But don’t tell any of them.”
“No, indeed. I shall wait for you here, sir. I shall close my eyes and get some beauty sleep.”
“Try a coma. Then it might actually work.”
Leaving Garlopis to his nap I stepped out of the car and walked toward the gate wondering just how much of
