ALL MEN ARE
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center of town. The residence of the factory owner occupied the
grounds alongside this factory. It was a fine house, humped all over
with gables and with a steeple in front. The supporting beams were
painted black and the rest of the construction was whitewashed
plaster. A three story mansion that would have been fit for a
suburban millionaire back in the States. Set in a fine garden, the
place looked like home. The lieutenant, of course, selected the house
as the billet for our platoon CPo He told us that we might stay in
this town for several days. There was some talk of the Russians be–
ing close at hand. In fact, from the edge of the town we could see
the chimneys of Chemnitz, a sizeable city that would have been a
treasure to loot. Chemnitz was reserved for the Russians.
The factory owner was an old man-so his daughter told us–
and wasn't fit to negotiate for their place. She was to represent
him.
She was an educated girl, spoke decent English. "Honey," the lieu–
tenant told her, "the negotiations are all over. We finished nego–
tiating. I'll see that your belongings aren't disturbed. You can take
what stuff you need after my boys check you out. But don't trouble
yourself with negotiations."
She asked about the factory. She said many workers in town
were dependent on their employment.
"Well," he said sweetly-she was clean, a little stout, but had
fine manners and much courage-"I guess your people are going
to have to wait on the war. You see, we're some of us unemployed
ourselves. And right now we got to be a little selfish. You'd under–
stand about that, wouldn't you, honey?"
She stuck right with it, even though the lieutenant had the
power to be nasty and was inclined to be. She said that the lieutenant
couldn't let the people starve. And what were they to do if the
factory shut down?
"Starve, I suppose. It might be a little hard on you krauts. You
had a real tough war. But suppose you starve a little longer and get
a good feel for the thing." Lt. Blue was a burly, ruddy man. He
had become very irritable, even though he had once been a genial
grocer from Marion, Ohio.
"You cannot tell people to starve, lieutenant."
"I'll tell you what you goddam krauts can do!" the lieutenant
yelled. And he gave her the obscene directions. "You look at these
slave laborers you got on your farms. We already seen them. One
