Mendelssohn is on the Roof Read Free Page B

then he fell silent. They were both silent, Schlesinger with his hands nicely at his hips at attention and Krug at his desk with one leg crossed over the other.
    Dear Jesus, dear Mother of God, maybe it won’t turn out so badly, since Krug hasn’t had him sent away immediately.He could simply have dialled a number, given the order, and they would have been here in a minute. But Krug is silent. He’s in trouble, too. Of course, he’s responsible to Giesse, and Giesse to Frank, and Frank to Heydrich, and if the order isn’t carried out, Heydrich and Frank will have them all arrested. Well, maybe not Giesse, he’d just get some punishment and stay at liberty, because Heydrich needs Giesse. But Krug would certainly get it. His prewar good deeds won’t help him now, or his activities in the Polish campaign.
    Finally Krug said mildly, ‘The order must be carried out. The General won’t stand for any excuses.’ (He purposely used Heydrich’s military title, to emphasise the meaning of the order.) ‘So what do you propose to do now?’
    Schlesinger’s head was whirling. He had to think up something fast, to gain time. But he couldn’t come up with anything. To ask Giesse, the next time he telephoned? That meant admitting that the order hadn’t been carried out. And besides, Giesse wouldn’t know what the statue looked like anyway. Only Heydrich would know that. In a minute Krug would start screaming again. He was scared, too, and he’d want to save himself at any cost. The telephone was on the table in front of him. In one more minute he’d pick up the receiver.
    ‘I think,’ Schlesinger suggested, ‘that we should ask for help at the SS barracks. They’re near the concert hall. They’ll be able to find an expert there. We’ve got our order directly from the Acting Reich Protector, so they’ll have to help us.’
    Krug thought it over: Schlesinger was an idiot, but this wasn’t such a bad idea. It might be easier to turn to the Gestapo. They had experts on everything there. You couldeven find musicians. On the other hand, it was always dangerous to get tangled up with the Gestapo. They’d send a report to the Protectorate, and even before the statue went down, Heydrich would hear that Krug had screwed up. And then Krug would never escape punishment , because Heydrich knew no mercy. At the SS, however , they wouldn’t make a big deal out of it. They were used to carrying out orders without asking any questions. They wouldn’t ask at the Protectorate. It would be enough for them to hear that Krug was a Scharführer and Schlesinger an Anwarter.
    ‘Try it, then,’ he said graciously, ‘and send me a report.’
    The telephone rang. Giesse, thought Schlesinger.
    Krug answered. ‘Not yet, but definitely today. A small delay, technical problems … yes, I understand, an order from the highest level … it will be carried out … you can rely on me.’
    Krug hung up and angrily snapped at Schlesinger, ‘Get going, and don’t let me see you again until that statue is gone. Do you understand?’
    Schlesinger clicked his heels and left with the required salute. Krug didn’t bother to respond.

TWO
    T HE LAST NOTES of the overture to
Don Giovanni
faded away. The hall thundered with applause. It wasn’t exactly his kind of music – Mozart was too sweet, too delicate, too restful. But Mozart was connected with Prague, and no other music would do for the opening of the Rudolfinum. Mozart’s music had first rung out in this city while it still slept under the chaotic rule of the Austrian Empire. It was sleeping again, this time the sleep of a corpse under the conqueror’s heel. But one day it would awaken as a German city, and then a different kind of music would be heard here. Once, in his youth in Halle, he had loved Mozart. Then they played Mozart at home in their household string quartet, and he was assigned second violin. Second fiddle, that would never happen again, he thought with a frown.
Don