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sturdy lad, full of life. For two years she had concealed their love, but
after finishing her studies, she came home and said, "Father, I am leaving
the house."
"Why?"
"I'm going to get married."
In vain he tried to part them. For hours he sat and talked to her.
What didn't he say to her during those hours? Once, in great despair, he
had said, "The Jews are few, but they are noble, the sons of kings, who
have been entrusted with a noble mission."
"Noble?" Donia had wondered, as though casting doubt not only
on his beliefs but also on his paternity.
All of his arguments fell on deaf ears. She was in love and resolved
to convert and be married in the church. Her mother, Johanna, accepted
the news with a silly smile, as though her daughter had succeeded in do–
ing something she had not managed to do. The expression on her face
drove him mad, and he shouted, "You're no better than she is." He shut
himself up in his office.
When he came out of his office he was no longer the familiar Rabbi
Kurt Hoch, but rather a withdrawn and closed man. After that they
quarreled about everything. Once Johanna had burst out and shouted at
him, "You've repressed me all these years. In whose name, in the name
of what did you do it to me? In the name of an old-fashioned faith, in
the name of moldy laws, in the name of your sick selfishness. People
want freedom and not prohibitions. People want to read, not to inter–
pret. I hate interpretations. Interpretations are boring."
From then on, whenever he said anything, she would shout, "Those
interpretations are stupidity. It's no wonder the young people flee to the
church. The church is more beautiful, more enlightened."
Thus mother and daughter formed an alliance. After the daughter's
marriage began prolonged divorce proceedings that lasted about a year
and took place far away from Mansdorf in a small city named Hohn–
heim, before an old rabbi who demanded concessions and compromises
from him. Johanna stood like a fortress and conceded to nothing. Not
only that, she called him selfish and stingy. Kurt did not hold back ei–
ther. But his arguments were weaker, and the way he phrased them was
awkward. Here, too, she won. He was forced to give her most of his
savmgs.
His shame was great, and the wound bled. He spent most of the day
with the elderly men in the old people's home or in his office, shunning
the streets, the cafes, and the theater. He made his way from his house to
the old people's home through strands of trees and vacant lots, so as not
to be seen. Daylight became his greatest enemy. Without Hirzl, without
