50
PARTISAN REVIEW
corner of hi s mouth . " I made a list. Since it had to be do ne." In truth he
did have a list, a long sheet of paper, with names on it, wriuen in ink
from Urinstein 's pen. No body made a comment. No r did an yone
a ttempt to hold him back. Freely, he handed th e document to the
Volksdeutscher. The latter read th e first name out loud.
"One Ferdinand Phil osoff. "
" Present," answered the waiter. His beard hung down
111
long
separa te strands, as if he were hav ing a mea l of noodl es.
" Ferdinand Phil osoff," Wohlta t repea ted.
"Al so present. "
And then , befo re anyone had grasped wha t h ad h appened, the
head of the Civilian Authority began to giggle, then to guffaw. H e
pointed at the list of names.
" Ph ilasa// !"
he roared . " It says
Philasa// !"
It
turned out th at the wa iter, a ft er startin g with hi s own name, had
set it down aga in, fo rty-nine times. " Wh at's so funn y?" he as ked-no t
onl y of Wohlta t, but of hi s coll eagues, who were tiuerin g, too. " Who
else could I write down ?"
Wohlta t was taking liul e steps, wipin g the tears from hi s eyes .
':H a! H a ! My good spirits have return ed. I will do everythin g tha t you
ask. You-" he pointed at Schou er: " Fetch the ra bbis . All the ethi cal
scholars. H a! H a! H a! He put hi s own name down ! H e wants to be a
farmer! H a! H a! Sit down , J ews! Ta lk it over! Seek ad vice! You now
have until sundown, exactl y sundown , to write the names."
The J ews did sit down-l ess Schou er, who, a step ahead of the
Other, darted through the Judenrat door.
T wo fli es had come in when the two men went out. T hey hopped
from one di sh of herri ng to ano th er. T hey wa lked skillfull y around the
rims of the glasses of wine. One fl ew up and perfo rmed the letter Z
severa l times before Popower's nose. T he o ther cl un g to Fri ed Ri eve–
saltes' cuff. Neither man no ti ced . T he whole membershi p sa t sil entl y,
like nappers, with their chins on their chests. At las t Mo rdecha i Kl een ,
who had turned recentl y fo rty, spo ke a sentence o r two a loud.
"At first I thought I would pl ay the flute. With th a t instrument the
brea th passes over and no t in to the mouthpi ece, so the soun d it makes
is tha t of brea thing, of life. Neverth eless I took up the o boe."
Baggelman , the orches tra conducto r, spoke aft er ano ther sho rt
pause. " In 1885, when I was a boy aged el even , my famil y moved from
our vill age to the grea t city of Vi enna. Here th ere was much to see: the
fountains, the garden s, the men and women a t tabl es, si pping red and
green drinks. Once on the street I saw a man wearing a turban . T h at
