46
PARTISAN REVIEW
"Then," said Wohltat, "we'll do it."
Mordechai Kleen pounded his fist on the Council table. "Tne
Minister of Provisions and Supply, Miss Kleinweiss, has the right idea.
It's a scandal for Jews to put down the names of Jews! "
"Hear! Hear!" cried Margolies, whose eyes were set only milime–
ters apart, on either side of his nose. "How do we know they're going
to
a farm? Maybe they'll have to dig dikes, or ditches. We are in office
to
protect our people, not
to
send them away."
It
was amazing how brave the Jews became. One minute it was as
if someone had hit them on the head with an ax; the next thing they
were shaking their fists in the air. Baggelman, with his rounded,
conductor's shoulders, arose. "To send citizens out of their own
country in time of war is a violation of international law!"
The Volksdeutscher looked genuinely perplexed. "But we are the
winners," he said. "We make the law."
" I have written your words down on paper. Exactly as you have
said them. I shall thus record each of your statements. Now continue.
You were saying you wrote the law."
It
was the Hungarian, Urinstein.
He did have a green fountain pen.
Wohltat swung around. "Who is this person?"
Urinstein tipped his black silk hat: "Ministry of Vital Statistics."
Baggelman had more to say. "In the last Great War no one was
deported. The invaders behaved with honor toward the Jews. "
There was a drop of sweat on Wohltat's nose. Another formed on
his chin. "The Great War was a long time ago."
Gutfreind, of Education: "Wait a minute! He said sick people.
What good are sick people on a farm? Or old people either? What kind
of farm is that?"
"No list! No list!" cried the Judenrat members.
It
was a moment of
courage and heroism. "Why should we give you a list when you can ' t
enter Kiev?"
The Volksdeutscher replaced his hat. "Because it's either you or
the Death's Head troops, that's why! Do you want them to make up the
quota? Do you know what that will be like? They grab the first person
they see. No matter who. The more important, the better.
It
cou ld even
be a Judenrat official -or a member's wife, or a member's child. They
do the job with rifles and fists. And no one's counting, either! Take
everyone you can! By the neck! By the throat! Get a good grip on their
hair! Take two hundred, or three hundred! Watch them squirm!"
Wohltat was like a different person. He was panting. His eyes were
rapidly blinking. A button had come loose at his collar.
