ACT TWO
Scene 1
At curtain WALDHEIM discovered still sitting on sofa studying file. BROWNSTONE ENTERS from kitchen with fresh pot of coffee.
BROWNSTONE: Can I refill your cup?
WALDHEIM: Thank you.
BROWNSTONE: [Having situated herself behind desk.] Are you ready to resume?
WALDHEIM: I think so. Yes.
BROWNSTONE: If you have any novel insights to add on the European history of Jewish persecution that are relevant to the Balkan episode in your life now is the time to express them.
WALDHEIM: First it must be understood that there is one supreme factor above all others which has to be recognized in analyzing why common soldiers like Kurt Waldheim played the parts they did as innocent accomplices in Hitler’s genocidal masterplan. That factor is the history of European antiSemitism itself—a history in which the kind of systematic extermination of an entire ethnic entity practiced by the Third Reich is wholly without precedent. Thus the Jewhating rhetoric of fanatics like Goebbels and Streicher was never taken as a prophecy of what would actually happen if the Nazis took control of Germany. The horrors of Auschwitz were simply unthinkable before they became a factual reality. The argument can even be made that prior to 1942 Hitler himself did not dare to contemplate a crime of such magnitude could be accomplished in practical terms. The logistics alone of liquidating millions of people scattered from the Bay of Biscayne to the Volga seemed insurmountable. And, among a host of other problems, including transportation, administration and the technology required to exterminate such vast numbers of victims—we must add the enormous task of keeping the whole operation a complete secret: not only from the world at large, but from the German people themselves. Yes, above all else there was the need for absolute secrecy! A need that is proven beyond all doubt by the elaborate precautions taken by those who supervised the Final Solution of The Jewish Question, and by the indisputable fact that not a single order signed by Adolf Hitler relating to the extermination of European Jewry has ever been found! And, say what you will about Adolf Eichmann’s intellectual shortcomings and moral delinquency —but as a bureaucratic massmurderer he displayed a talent for obscuring his monumental crimes with a genius par excellence.
BROWNSTONE: Excuse me, Herr Waldheim, but what began as your brief opening statement is turning into a full blown speech. I must also take exception to your portrayal of Adolf Eichmann as some kind of technocratic superman.
WALDHEIM: The point I am trying to make is that anyone who studies the holocaust with any degree of objectivity cannot resist pondering the possibility of its biblical inscrutability.
BROWNSTONE: What is that supposed to mean? Are you saying the slaughter of 7 million innocent people was an act of divine providence!
WALDHEIM: How else is one to explain what, even now—when we know the truth about Auschwitz—is so difficult to accept as a reality? Is it possible that 2nd- and 3rdrate criminals like Eichmann, Himmler, and Kaltenbrunner could have masterminded such an apocalyptic catastrophe without the intervention of some superhuman agency? If not God, then the Devil himself must have masterminded the holocaust.
BROWNSTONE: That argument has been advanced in the past by several of the defendants at the Nuremburg trials—and before that it made its appearance in Streicher’s antiJewish editorials. It is in fact an ancient argument that was probably used to rationalize the earliest atrocities Europe committed against its Jews.
WALDHEIM: Maybe when there is so much metaphysical smoke there is bound to be at least a flicker of truth.
BROWNSTONE: Even if there is, what makes you think taking a "biblical" view of the holocaust will be advantageous in your case?
WALDHEIM: Putting such an emotionally charged crime into its proper historical perspective would diminish my responsibility for what happened to being that of an actor playing his part in a tragedy over which he had no moral control.
BROWNSTONE: But by using that theological loophole aren’t you jumping from the skillet of what is only a mortal sin into the hellfire of eternal damnation? After all, that is the same defense raised for centuries to explain the atrocious acts of Cain and Judas with results that are anything but exculpatory.
WALDHEIM: Comparing me to such arch villains is ludicrous! Any unbiased analysis of this record you yourself have compiled proves that Kurt Waldheim is the last man in the world to be held personally responsible for the atrocities committed by Nazi Germany against humanity! These documents contain the names of those whose guilt cannot be denied; the Reichsministers, Field Marshals and Generals who had the power to prevent the holocaust!
Hereafter WALDHEIM hands BROWNSTONE in rapid succession documents from file folder she had previously given him.
WALDHEIM: Here we have that famous Prussian military philosopher, Field Marshal Walther von Brauchitsch, turning Hitler’s directive of 13 May 1941 into his own "Maintenance of Discipline Order," where, in paragraph Roman Numeral II, he states that: "With regard to offenses committed against enemy civilians by members of the Wehrmacht, prosecution is not obligatory, even where the deed is at the same time a military crime." Then there is Field Marshal Keitel’s acquiescence in the celebrated Commissar Order of 6 June—a policy he later described as "schweinerei" because Soviet Commissars serving in the Red army were manifestly entitled to be treated like any other uniformed prisoners of war; but in 1941 he sang an entirely different tune about their Geneva Convention status!
This memorandum from Alfred Rosenberg to Albert Speer—two of the most "honorable" members of Hitler’s entourage —details the procedures to be used for supplying the Reich with slave laborers from occupied Russia.
Here is Professor Otto Ohlendorf’s affidavit describing the SD’s policy toward Soviet POWs with Jewish credentials. And in his directive of 31 July 1941 to Heydrich, Reichsmarshal Goering states: "I hereby commission you to carry out all preparations regarding a total solution of the Jewish question in those European territories under German influence."
The minutes of the Wansee Conference at which the extermination of European Jewry was officially declared a state policy by the highest officials of the Third Reich!
A letter from the venerable firm of I. A. Topf & Sons of Erfurt, manufacturers of "heating equipment," to the SS Construction Office at Auschwitz acknowledging receipt of an order for 5 triple furnaces, 2 electric elevators for raising corpses, 1 emergency corpse elevator, a coalstoker and an automatic ash transporter!
More correspondence from the equally venerable firm of Tesch & Stabenow, Hamburg concerning the supplies of Zyklon-B crystals needed for the new assemblyline-style gas chambers.
Testimony from Nuremburg by the eminently respectable president of the Reichsbank, Dr. Walther Funk, about the increasing quantities of dental gold arriving from the East for deposit into the "Max Heiliger" account.
And of course there is the letter written by the Chief of the Anatomical Institute of the University of Strasbourg, Doctor Professor August Hirt, outlining the procedures by which the undamaged heads of freshly liquidated Jews were to be forwarded to him in hermetically sealed tins for scientific research!
BROWNSTONE: No one is denying there were many people in high places who authorized the atrocities we are discussing.
WALDHEIM: Then why is Kurt Waldheim being singled out by the WJC for persecution!
BROWNSTONE: There are several reasons why the World Jewish Congress finds the Kurt Waldheim case so fascinating. First: as far as we can discover all of the major Nazi war criminals are dead. So by the simple process of elimination your name has risen to the top of our list. Second: having become Secretary General of the United Nations makes your high moral profile a perfect target for the righteous stonethrowing practiced by the WJC and similar Nazi- hunting agencies. And last but by no means least: by persistently depicting Kurt Waldheim as the most innocent of all those who were victimized by the Hitlerian plague you have singled yourself out for a microscopic investigation of your saintly credentials—
WALDHEIM: That is a malicious lie! I have never described myself as a saint! But even if I had, the only issue here is the narrow one of whether, during the years 1942-45, I ever had the luxury, as a German soldier, of choosing not to obey the orders which filtered their way down to me at the very bottom of a command chain originating from the loftiest levels of a thoroughly totalitarianized society! I ask you: How could a humble Austrian Second Lieutenant drafted into the German army have prevented Hitler’s Final Solution To The Jewish Question?
BROWNSTONE: I think you have just put your finger on what it is about Kurt Waldheim’s war record that most disturbs his critics.
WALDHEIM: If obedience is the only "crime" Kurt Waldheim is being accused of committing, his acquittal is a foregone conclusion! [Returns folder from which he has been producing documents to BROWNSTONE.]
BROWNSTONE: We will see about that. I notice there are still some documents left in this file I gave you. Is there some reason why you chose to ignore them?
WALDHEIM: For the most part they consist of selfserving statements by the German General Staff about their heroic opposition to Nazism—opposition which invariably evaporated when the time came to put their pious preaching about Germany’s noble military tradition into practice.
BROWNSTONE: You’re not including Schlabrendorff and Stauffenberg in that category—or all those others who were martyred in the aftermath of the failed coup attempt of 20 July—are you?
WALDHEIM: Why shouldn’t I? If either Schlabrendorff or Stauffenberg had thrown their bombs at Hitler instead of leaving them behind to explode on a remote control basis—the war would have ended in the summer of ’44, and the lives of millions of innocent people could have been saved.
BROWNSTONE: Some of whom were liquidated by Army Group E.
WALDHEIM: Yes.
BROWNSTONE: For which you hold men like Schlabrendorff and Stauffenberg responsible?
WALDHEIM: Yes! But not just them—I accuse all of those German General Staff types who had countless opportunities as early as 1939 to assassinate Hitler, and who only began their abortive plots when the fate of their precious fatherland was being threatened by the Fuehrer’s "misguided adventurism!" No. I have never shed any tears for Rommel, Witzleben, Hoepner, Stieff, Goerdeler and Schulenburg—or any of those other "good" Nazis whose grand gestures proved both futile and fatal. And neither should the WJC! Only when the war was lost did they do what they did; and then it was for Germany—not for Germany’s victims; among which you include 7 million Jews and I include a similar number of Austrians.
BROWNSTONE: Well, that disposes of everything except this booklet. Do you recall being issued one of these in the reserves—or when you were called up for active duty? [Hands him booklet.]
WALDHEIM: I believe every conscript is briefed on its contents—although when you are going through a traumatic experience like that it doesn’t leave a lasting impression.
BROWNSTONE: But you are not denying the fact Kurt Waldheim was issued a militaerstrafgesetzbuch?
WALDHEIM: No. Why should I? In this context it has no significance.
BROWNSTONE: Let me call your attention to page 99. Would you read what it says under section 1?
WALDHEIM: [Reading.] "If carrying out an order in the course of duty should violate a law, only the superior giving the order is responsible. However, the subordinate who obeys it is punishable as a participant: a) if he goes beyond the given order or, b) when he knows that the superior’s order would have the effect of leading to a military or other crime or violation." I see what you are driving at, Fraulein Bronstein—
BROWNSTONE: Oh?
WALDHEIM: You aren’t the first Nazi hunter to use this shining example of military doubletalk as a technical basis for making every soldier who wore a German uniform between 1939 and 1945 into a potential war criminal. And, like all those who have used it before, your "Soldier’s Handbook Of Military Justice Theory" will not, in the final analysis, hold any probative water.
BROWNSTONE: Why not?
WALDHEIM: In the first place the language of this seemingly simple clause is so obviously ambiguous as to be legally unenforceable. It requires every footsoldier to be his own War Crimes Tribunal—and we know from Nuremburg how some of the leading experts on military law disagreed over the battlefield implementation of a concept like the one you are advocating that gives every G.I. the right to decide which orders he will obey and which orders he will not obey.
Secondly: there is Keitel’s Maintenance of Discipline Order and many other policy statements emanating from OKW and OKH directly contradicting what this quaint little book says about one’s duty to disobey illegal commands.
Third: under actual wartime conditions every soldier in every army knows what the certain and immediate consequences of his disobedience will be.
BROWNSTONE: Which is what?
WALDHEIM: To be summarily executed by a firing squad!
BROWNSTONE: And that was your belief throughout the time you spent in the Balkans?
WALDHEIM: Yes.
BROWNSTONE: A belief based on what? Did you ever actually witness German soldiers being shot by German firing squads for disobeying orders?
WALDHEIM: That wasn’t necessary. One didn’t have to "actually witness" such things to know what the penalty was for refusing to do what one was ordered to do. Human life was extraordinarily cheap in those days—even the lives of Hitler’s "Aryan Supermen." And it must be remembered that Nazi firing squads were operating in Yugoslavia and Greece on a fulltime basis!
BROWNSTONE: Yes—executing partisans, captured Allied commandos, hostages and other assorted civilians—but I am asking you to cite a single case in which the target of those "full time" firing squads was a German—or an Austrian—soldier!
WALDHEIM: I’m sure such cases can be found by looking into those archives you are so fond of exploring, Fraulein Bronstein.
BROWNSTONE: I have already looked into them, Herr Waldheim.
WALDHEIM: And?
BROWNSTONE: At the very end of the war summary executions became common practice on the home front. But prior to the time we are talking about in connection with your Balkan activities there isn’t a single case in the Wehrmacht Military Justice files of such an execution. And what is even more interesting Herr Waldheim, are the SS files, in which there are several cases where members of that fanatically servile and antiSemitic organization were administratively reassigned upon their refusal to participate in Einsatzgruppe activities. [Offers WALDHEIM folder.] Some of these cases involve junior SS officers who refused to serve in concentration camps, and whose requests for transfer to frontline duty frankly describe their moral objections to what was happening inside Auschwitz, Treblinka and Sibibor. We have more than enough time if you would like to examine the evidence—
WALDHEIM: That won’t be necessary. I’m sure their stories would make interesting reading, but the fact is, of course, I had no way of knowing about such heroic exploits at the time—which is all that matters in respect to my criminal culpability.
BROWNSTONE: But as a lawyer and an intelligence officer shouldn’t you have deduced the rationale developed by the SS in formulating their policy towards those refusing to perform Einsatzgruppe duties—and even extended the application of that rationale to the Wehrmacht’s policy toward its own support of Einsatzgruppe actions?
WALDHEIM: What is this "rationale" are you talking about?
BROWNSTONE: The one stating that at all costs the SS had to prevent a disclosure of its genocidal raison d’etre in any court martial proceedings convened to hear the cases contained in this top secret file I am holding.
WALDHEIM: My answer to that is no! Of course not! Good God, do you think I had nothing better to do than sit around speculating on what was going on inside Heinrich Himmler’s warped mind? No, no, no, Fraulein Bronstein—this theory of yours about my omniscience in these matters borders on being persecutorial.
BROWNSTONE: Remember, Herr Waldheim, we are dealing with a worst case scenario—and one which you yourself helped to create with those romantic fictions about your Austrian heritage, your deeply held religious convictions, your love for knowledge and humanity; and all those "unknown soldiers in the war for peace" you celebrated so eloquently in your Stockholm speech!
Light begins fading on portion of apartment occupied by Waldheim and Brownstone, and to rise on formerly darkened portion which we begin to see now is the office of General Alexander Lohr, commanding Army Group E in Greece. It is June, 1944. SS-Obersturmbannfuehrer Adolf EICHMANN is alone in the office, pacing and chain smoking—a man who is obviously not used to being kept waiting.
BROWNSTONE: I think perhaps the time has come for us to set the stage for that scenario, do you agree?
WALDHEIM: —I—yes; I agree.
BROWNSTONE: The year is 1944. It is summer. The early part of June. The place is Arsakli, in northern Greece. Normandy has just been invaded by the Allies, who control North Africa and are advancing rapidly up the Italian boot. On the Eastern Front the Red Army is threatening to engulf Rumania. Bulgaria is on the brink of severing its Axis ties. The Greek partisans have become a definite, if not decisive, military factor. For Army Group E the Balkan Peninsula is starting to feel like a not-so-slowly sinking ship; all of which explains why an SS-Obersturmbannfuehrer named Karl Adolf Eichmann has journeyed from Budapest to General Lohr’s Headquarters in Skopje—
Scene 2
LOHR ENTERS in combat gear. His appearance and behavior indicate he is returning from a difficult combat operation. EICHMANN clicks his heels and salutes.
EICHMANN: Heil Hitler!
LOHR ignores salute, takes bottle of schnapps from desk or cabinet and drinks.
LOHR: Who the hell are you?
EICHMANN: [Saluting, clicking heels again.] SS-Obersturmbannfuehrer Eichmann, Herr General!
LOHR sits wearily, puts feet on desk. Pause while he takes map from inside coat pocket, unfolds it, has another drink.
LOHR: Well? Don’t just stand there gaping, Eichmann! State your business! I am a very busy and a very tired man. [He will continue to study map as EICHMANN responds.]
EICHMANN: I understand, Herr General. These are difficult times. I myself have been working day and night in Budapest on the solution to Hungary’s Jewish problem—which, I am happy to report, is well on the way to being successfully finalized. Before returning to Berlin with that good news, however, I decided on killing two birds with one stone by making a side trip to personally liaise with you on the final solution of your Jewish problem here in Greece.
LOHR: [Without looking up from map.] You have been misinformed, Eichmann. I have a Red Army problem, a Greek partisan problem, a British commando problem, and an American airforce problem—the only problem I don’t have is a "Jewish problem."
EICHMANN: Forgive me, Herr General; I understand what you are saying—but there are still some 20 or 30,000 Jews on the islands of Corfu, Crete and Rhodes who have yet to be fully processed. And, as you know, since the SD does not have an operational capability in these matters we are periodically required to obtain the Wehrmacht’s help—which, in the past, Army Group E has provided to an exemplary degree. I am sure, Herr General, you can spare the minimal human resources needed for what is only a mopping up operation. After all, we can’t permit these Balkan Jews to slip through our fingers in the 11th hour, can we!
LOHR: [Rising with map to use it for updating map mounted on wall behind desk.] It’s out of the question. I can’t spare a single man for nonmilitary functions. The troops at my disposal have been reduced to garrison level by the more "urgent" needs of our forces in Normandy, East Prussia and Italy. Helping you solve your Jewish Problem is a luxury I can no longer afford, Eichmann.
EICHMANN: The Jews are not my problem, Herr General! Their elimination is a matter of the highest state policy. The Fuehrer himself said so only last week!
LOHR: Oh? You must forgive me, Obersturmbannfuehrer—I had no idea your relationship with our Glorious Leader was such an intimate one!
EICHMANN: It isn’t, Herr General—but through my close association with Reichsminister Himmler I do have access to some of the Fuehrer’s innermost thoughts.
LOHR: From what I hear through the grapevine Himmler is having serious second thoughts about our Jewish policy, now that the war has clearly become a losing proposition.
EICHMANN: I can assure you that is not the case, Herr General!
LOHR: [Turning to face EICHMANN for the first time.] Do you have anything in writing from Himmler on this "mopping up" operation of yours?
EICHMANN: You know that written orders are never used in these matters.
LOHR: [Turning his back to EICHMANN, resuming work on wall map.] In that case there is nothing I can do for you, Eichmann—except to give you some friendly advice. Are you a family man?
EICHMANN: Yes.
LOHR: Well, if you have any postwar plans of living a normal life with them you’d better spend these twilight hours of the Third Reich burning your Einsatzgruppe bridges like Himmler seems to be doing.
EICHMANN: [Picking up framed photo from Lohr’s desk.] And what about you, General—do your postwar plans include spending some time with the people in this photograph? If so, I offer you some friendly advice concerning the fate of all those who frustrate the Fuehrer’s will—and the fate of their nearest and dearest!
LOHR: [Facing EICHMANN.] Are you threatening my family?
EICHMANN: Of course I am! [LOHR snatches picture from EICHMANN.] We in the SS will do whatever is needed to carry out the Fuehrer’s orders! From a military point of view this war may seem lost to you, Herr General—but from a National Socialist perspective we will have won if, in the end, not a single Jew remains alive in what was once the Greater Third Reich!
LOHR: I will have to discuss this with my staff. You will be notified of our decision in due course.
EICHMANN: You have until 1600 hours, Herr General! [EXIT.]
Lights fade on Lohr as he slumps in chair behind desk gazing at picture of his family.
Scene 3
Lights rise slowly on what was Brownstone study and now serves as a Wehrmacht Officers’ lounge. Lt. Col. WARNSTORFF and Majors KRAUS & HESS discovered sleeping off effects of recent frontline action. A radio is playing popular music. LOHR ENTERS and switches radio off, causing WARNSTORFF to awaken with a start.
WARNSTORFF: What’s happening?
LOHR: Wake up gentlemen—we have a problem!
WARNSTORFF: Have the English landed on Crete?
KRAUS: The partisans are counterattacking—
HESS: Rumania has capitulated to the Soviets—
LOHR: Nothing quite so dramatic, gentlemen. Our problem is more political than military—although that doesn’t necessarily make it less difficult. If anything, its non military nature is the cause for what should be our profound concern. A certain SS-Obersturmbannfuehrer Eichmann has just paid me a visit, the object of which was to procure our assistance in collecting what remains of the Jews under Army Group E’s control for "resettlement" in areas where their fate can be systematically "managed" in accordance with official Reich "racial policies." In the past, of course, we have cooperated with the SS in such operations; albeit reluctantly, and only after receiving special instructions from the highest military authorities in Berlin. Nevertheless, in the present strategic and tactical circumstances—as I explained to Eichmann—that cooperation is a luxury we can no longer afford.
WARNSTORFF: And we shouldn’t ignore the postwar ramifications of engaging in questionable activities now that will probably undergo the most intense ethical scrutiny by our victorious enemies.
HESS: According to some reports the Allies have already designated Nuremburg as the site for their trial of Germany’s major war criminals—
WARNSTORFF: And who knows by what standards they will distinguish between "major" and "minor" acts of criminality?
KRAUS: I think we can prudently assume that anyone participating in the procedures by which another 20,000 Jews are sent to their certain death will find himself in the "major" category.
WARNSTORFF: No doubt the Jews themselves concocted this preposterous Nuremburg business! Who else would invent a doctrine of military guilt for policies that were created by a democratically elected civilian government!
HESS: Can we blame them for rewriting rules we ourselves bent to the breaking point?
WARNSTORFF: Goddammit Hess—I’m sick and tired of your "literary" attitude toward what is becoming a life and death situation! We are not "characters" in a novel whose fictitious fates are governed by "artistic" principles!
HESS: Maybe none of us would be in this fix if we did indeed live our lives in accordance with artistic ideals! As a practical matter it can be argued that: Those who fail to appreciate "fictitious" works like All Quiet On The Western Front or Crime and Punishment are condemned to repeat the mistakes made by the "characters" in those "literary" tragedies!
WARNSTORFF: And being a novelist I suppose you exclude yourself from having made such "tragic mistakes!"
LOHR: Gentlemen! We are not on trial in Nuremburg yet!
HESS: Maybe not, Herr General, but we will be if we do what this Eichmann wants us to do and are "fortunate" enough to be alive at the end of the war.
LOHR: I agree. But refusing him is easier said than done. That’s why I called this meeting—to benefit from your advice. Eichmann has already threatened reprisals against my family if his "request" is denied.
WARNSTORFF: You see? These SS sonsofbitches will stop at nothing! How can we be held responsible for committing "war crimes" when our loved ones are being held hostage by those who force us to do their National Socialist dirty work?
LOHR: Unfortunately, Warnstorff, our families are probably no longer the deciding factor. It will be a miracle if they survive the vast pincer movement taking shape in Normandy and on the Russian front. Germany’s heartland will be slowly squeezed in a vice of Allied steel until it bursts in a catastrophic blood bath. But even if their survival did depend on us, that fact cannot justify the enormous atrocity we are being pressurized into perpetrating. Morality aside—as a purely mathematical proposition, one simply can’t equate the survival of one’s own family with that of 20,000 other perfectly innocent people. I only mentioned Eichmann’s blackmail threat to illustrate one of the complexities we are facing. A far more sinister matter is this: now that Hitler has lost his war we must consider the future of Germany and the Wehrmacht; both of which will suffer damage potentially fatal to their continued existence if we do nothing to upset the genocidal applecart of lunatics like Eichmann.
KRAUS: Maybe we should be grateful to Eichmann for giving us an opportunity of atoning for our previous sins—
HESS: Or has he been delivered unto us as an act of divine mercy—a deus ex machina—by which we might improvise an optimistic, if not completely happy, ending to this most wretched chapter of German history?
LOHR: Whatever the reasons for Eichmann’s appearance on the scene—and regardless of what motivates each of us to spoil his plans—it seems we are all agreed that Army Group E must avoid any further complicity in the deportation of Greek Jews. The issue is no longer what to do, gentlemen, but how to do it.
KRAUS: Technically, of course, the SS does have jurisdiction over the civilians in our rear area; but they lack the operational means of exercising those jurisdictional prerogatives. In strictly legal terms they are powerless to compel our cooperation.
LOHR: But in practical terms?
HESS: As a practical matter we know the SS is capable of pulling some very high powered political strings in Berlin. Under Keitel the OKW has been puppetized to a point where its rationale for being is all but kaput.
LOHR: True. But we also know that cracks have started to appear in the hitherto monolithic ideology of Nazi antiSemitism; at least to the extent that people like Eichmann must use the utmost discretion in pursuing their murderous objectives.
WARNSTORFF: According to the latest rumors there are some signs Himmler himself is starting to burn his extermination camp bridges.
LOHR: During my conversation with Eichmann I formed the impression his "mopping up operation" might be more along the lines of an exercise in bureaucratic megalomania than an authorized act of state policy. If in fact Himmler has decided to phase out the Einsatz program Eichmann will lose his administrative raison d’etre—which would explain the urgency he attaches to liquidating our Greek Jews.
KRAUS: If we assume Eichmann is a loose SS canon, his bluff could be called by merely ignoring his unauthorized "request" for our services—
WARNSTORFF: Or we could give the bastard a dose of his own medicine by exterminating him!
LOHR: Whether he’s a rogue elephant or not, eliminating him might prove to be counterproductive. The SS has its own esprit de corps, and Herr Himmler might not appreciate the "favor" we would be doing him. No. We must find some way of turning Eichmann’s fanatical antiSemitism to our advantage. With an ally like him the SS doesn’t need us for an enemy. As for stonewalling him by calling his bluff, we run the risk of finding ourselves replaced by a team of desk jockeys from Athens who will gladly oblige any eager beaver with a Berlin address. And yet time is what we desperately need—time for the General Staff to seriously ponder the ethical issue of the Wehrmacht’s role in supplying any more victims for Nazi death camps—and if our assumption about Himmler’s present ambiguity over extermination as the only answer to Germany’s Jewish question are correct—time for Eichmann’s Greek escapade to unravel by reason of the Final Solution policy tensions building within the SS itself. With that in mind, Kraus, let me run the following scenario past you as our resident legal expert. What would happen if we did agree in principle to comply with Eichmann’s deportation scheme, but the junior officer we order to execute that scheme refuses to do so on the grounds of its illegality under the Hague and Geneva conventions—and this section of the German Soldier’s Handbook of Military Justice—[Produces small handbook from which he reads.] "If carrying out an order in the course of duty should violate a law, only the superior who gives the order is responsible. However, the subordinate who obeys is punishable as a participant: a) if he goes beyond the given order, or b) when he knows that the superior’s order would have the effect of leading to a military or other crime or violation."
KRAUS: In my opinion such a scenario would automatically trigger court martial proceedings against that junior officer.
LOHR: Proceedings that would: a) take time to unfold; b) expose the deportation issue to judicial scrutiny, and; c) force OKW’s involvement as the ultimate reviewing authority on any appeal.
KRAUS: Yes—in theory. The only flaw I can see in your "court martial scenario" is—
LOHR: Finding a junior officer who will play the starring role in what could be his first and last performance.
KRAUS: Exactly, Herr General. If your scenario is to succeed it must avoid the slightest hint of being a scenario.
HESS: Hence the defendant must either be a consummate actor, or someone so genuinely motivated by a code of personal honor his potential martyrdom is a non factor. Needless to say, such individuals are rare.
KRAUS: And our pool of candidates is woefully small.
LOHR: What about Lieutenant Waldheim? He seems to be an exceptionally sensitive and idealistic junior staff officer.
WARNSTORFF: Waldheim is exceptional in many respects, Herr General. In addition to being devoutly religious and antiNazi he was recently awarded a doctorate of law from Vienna University. From the few casual conversations I have had with him it would seem there isn’t an antiSemitic bone in his body. In fact, on a number of occasions, he has expressed his disapproval of our hostage policy, our treatment of the Italian POWs and the part we have played in deporting civilians for slave labor purposes. Such moral reservations notwithstanding, however, the performance of his duties as an intelligence officer and a member of the German Army has never been less than exemplary. To be absolutely candid, Waldheim’s only fault in connection with your disobedience scenario could be his unswerving obedience to authority! He has never refused to execute any of my orders—even when they involved him with matters that rubbed his conscience the wrong way.
LOHR: But none of the orders you gave him were operational in nature were they?
WARNSTORFF: That’s true. Waldheim’s duties have been confined exclusively to the gathering and dissemination of information. Nevertheless, he is keenly aware of the argument that is sometimes made about the crucial role military intelligence plays in making possible those "delicate" operations he finds so morally and intellectually objectionable.
LOHR: There’s nothing unusual about that, is there? As a patriotic Austrian I should think he finds putting his German uniform on every morning morally and intellectually objectionable! The fact remains that Lieutenant Waldheim has never been ordered to actually commit any of these atrocities he complains about in his capacity as a staff officer.
WARNSTORFF: That is true, Herr General.
LOHR: So, while his courage remains unproven, at least we know he has the kind of convictions we need for our scenario. And, unless there are any other candidates who should be considered, I propose we send for Waldheim immediately and put his principles to the acid test.
KRAUS: I can’t think of anyone else.
HESS: Nor I.
WARNSTORFF: No. Waldheim is our one and only hope.
LOHR: Alright, Warnstorff—tell him he’s wanted; but not a word about why.
EXIT WARNSTORFF.
KRAUS: How much information are you going to give Waldheim before he makes his fatal decision?
LOHR: I’ll simply tell him he’s being ordered to take personal command of collecting all the Jews on Crete, Rhodes and Corfu for their delivery to a place designated by Eichmann—from where they will be conveyed to a destination that is officially unknown, but which we have every reason to believe is the SS-run extermination camp at Auschwitz.
HESS: What about his options? Will you inform him his refusal to obey your order will result in a court martial?
LOHR: Since Waldheim is a lawyer he should know what his options are under the Code of Military Justice, shouldn’t he?
KRAUS: Perhaps. But the popular perception in the ranks is that disobedience to orders is summarily punishable by firing squad.
LOHR: Well the ranks are mistaken! Under my command no German soldier has been executed with or without due process. And, correct me if I am wrong Kraus, but I don’t believe there has been a single case in this war of any Wehrmacht victims of Wehrmacht firing squads.
KRAUS: That is so, Herr General; but the myth persists—
HESS: And without it much of what is done in the name of "military necessity" would not be done; including, among other things, the "special handling" given to those captured Allied commandos we routinely hand over to the SD.
KRAUS: If a court martial was guaranteed to every conscientious objector in the Wehrmacht the wheels would have come off Hitler’s bandwagon in 1939.
LOHR: What are you suggesting—that I give such a guarantee to Waldheim beforehand?
KRAUS: Yes. But it must be given to him in such a way that you don’t appear to be giving it—
HESS: For Waldheim’s sake, and for ours, the impression must be avoided that we are deliberately creating a cause celebre—
KRAUS: The Judge Advocate General takes a very dim view indeed of "test cases" like the one we are cooking up.
LOHR: And just how do I tell him without telling him?
HESS: You can let him know in subtle ways—
KRAUS: By the tone of your voice—
HESS: With body language.
KRAUS: Lieutenant Waldheim is a very clever fellow, Herr General—
HESS: He will tune in to any nonverbal signals we send him.
KRAUS: Naturally, should he ask you directly about the consequences of disobeying your order you can disclose the court martial scenario to him.
HESS: If Waldheim is as smart as we think he is he will ask you just such a question—
KRAUS: But only if he is as morally disposed to challenge your authority as we are assuming him to be.
LOHR: Yes. The lack of Waldheim’s moral fiber could turn out to be the fundamental flaw in this plot of mine to save what remains of the Wehrmacht’s honor!
HESS: Not to mention the lives of 20,000 Greek Jews!
ENTER WARNSTORFF with WALDHEIM, whose clean uniform contrasts with those worn by his battlestained superiors.
WALDHEIM: [Saluting.] You sent for me Herr General?
LOHR: Yes, Waldheim—I have a special project to discuss with you. Come, sit down—make yourself comfortable. Would you like some schnapps? Cigarette? Cigar?
WALDHEIM: I don’t smoke—or drink.
LOHR: Coffee, then; unless you find caffeine objectionable as well.
WALDHEIM: No. A cup of coffee would be fine.
With a nod from LOHR, WARNSTORFF pours coffee and serves it to WALDHEIM.
LOHR: Hess, you had better keep a record of what transpires. [HESS obtains wire recording device.] There is nothing to be alarmed about Lieutenant; it’s just that one never knows when a need might arise for an accurate transcript of this chat we are about to have. Do you understand what I am saying?
WALDHEIM: I believe so.
LOHR: Fine.
HESS: We are recording, Herr General.
LOHR: Tell me, Waldheim, are you familiar with the history of our deportation of the Jews from Greece?
WALDHEIM: Yes, I think I am; if by "our" you mean Army Group E’s periodic delivery of Greek Jews to the SD for special processing—
LOHR: Let’s get one thing straight Waldheim: I want you to be completely candid with me. Euphemisms like "special handling" aren’t very helpful as to the state of your knowledge on this subject.
WALDHEIM: I understand.
LOHR: Do you or don’t you know what ultimately becomes of the Jews we deliver to the SD?
WALDHEIM: All I know for certain is that they are loaded into cattle cars and shipped to a destination known only by the SS.
LOHR: That is the extent of your knowledge?
WALDHEIM: Yes. That is the extent of my personal knowledge.
LOHR: You have personally witnessed Jews being loaded into cattle cars by the SS?
WALDHEIM: Yes.
LOHR: Based on that experience, and any other information you might have acquired in the course of your intelligence gathering duties, have you formed a conclusion about the "unknown destination" and purpose of these Jewish deportations?
WALDHEIM: Yes, I have analyzed the deportation problem on a worst case basis.
LOHR: Well, let’s have the result of this "worst case" analysis of yours!
WALDHEIM: According to the official SS explanation ablebodied deportees are sent for work assignments in Norway, while the others are evacuated for their own safety and concentrated in camps far beyond any expected hostilities. This explanation, however, is unpersuasive for several reasons. First: The vast majority of deportees consists of old people, women and children; none of whom have a labor potential equal to the expenditure of precious logistic resources needed for transporting them to the Arctic Circle. Second: There is probably no area in German-occupied Europe safer for the Jewish population of Greece than the one from which they are being deported. Third: The very manner by which they are herded into their overcrowded cattle cars suggests the SD has already written off the Jews’ value as viable human beings. All of which tends to support the circumstantial hypothesis that there can be but one destination for all of the Jews we deliver to the SS.
LOHR: And that is?
WALDHEIM: The extermination camp at Auschwitz.
LOHR: What makes you so sure Auschwitz is an extermination camp?
WALDHEIM: Once again we have the hard evidence of how the SS treats those who are sent there like so much livestock; or worse than livestock, because their arrival on the hoof is at best a very dubious proposition. There are also persistent rumors emanating from the vicinity of Auschwitz about a constant stench and pall of smoke in the air which lends credence to the stories that the camp is indeed a vast "death factory." Furthermore, if we extrapolate from Army Group E’s statistics to arrive at a total number of European Jews deported with the Wehrmacht’s cooperation we can conservatively estimate the population of Auschwitz at some 2,500,000—a figure which the physical parameters of the camp itself make impossible by a factor of 7 or 8,000 percent. Accordingly, by the application of standard intelligence analysis principles, it can be reasonably stated that Auschwitz is in all probability an extermination camp, and all those who are sent there will perish.
LOHR: So, there is no doubt in your mind about what would become of the Jews remaining in Greece if they too were delivered by us to the SD?
WALDHEIM: None.
LOHR: In addition to being a military intelligence expert, I understand you are also a lawyer Waldheim.
WALDHEIM: That is true, Herr General.
LOHR: Do you have any opinion on the legality of this deportation business as it applies to Army Group E’s possible complicity in war crimes perpetrated by the SS? By that I mean technically we are only performing a logistic function by delivering these Jews to points of departure designated by the agency with operational responsibility, isn’t that so? And, in this case, the SD does have a legitimate jurisdictional claim on the Jews in our rear area, does it not?
WALDHEIM: My field is civil law, Herr General—although it doesn’t take much of an expert in military justice to conclude that the practices we are discussing violate the Hague and Geneva Conventions as they apply to deporting civilians from occupied territory for any reason other than their own safety; a situation which is hardly the case here. And even on the narrow technical point of who has jurisdiction over the Greek Jews, it appears to me that, pursuant to Field Marshal Keitel’s Directive of 13 March, the Wehrmacht lacks operational authority to handle the Jewish affairs in its rear areas.
LOHR: Even if we are ordered to do so by an organization having that authority?
WALDHEIM: A situation of that kind requires a command decision, rather than a judicial one.
LOHR: In other words, if I receive another Jewish deportation order from the SS, in theory it would be entirely up to me whether I comply with it or not—is that what you are saying?
WALDHEIM: Hypothetically, yes.
LOHR: Well the fact of the matter is: I have already been given this "hypothetical" order we are speculating about!
WALDHEIM: I see.
LOHR: And there is also the fact that my family will suffer the consequences if I fail to oblige the SS.
WALDHEIM: All hypotheses are, to a greater or lesser degree, subject to the situational variables of actuality, Herr General.
LOHR: Then you would understand why a man in my "situation" might obey an order he knows for certain to be immoral, and could probably be refused on the technical basis of its apparent illegality?
WALDHEIM: Yes, I would understand.
LOHR: Good. Because that is exactly what I have decided to do. And now the hypothetical ball is in your court; because I have also decided to put you in charge of this project. Yes, Waldheim—I am ordering you to collect all of the Jews still left in Greece and deliver them to SS-Obersturmbannfuehrer Eichmann at a time and place of his choosing. Do you understand that, Lieutenant?
WALDHEIM: Yes.
LOHR: And will you execute that order?
WALDHEIM: I—
LOHR: What’s wrong, Lieutenant—have your analytical powers suddenly vanished now that you are sitting on the hot seat of your first operational assignment? Or is that staff officer mentality of yours working overtime to review your options?
WALDHEIM: What options do I have, Herr General? The punishment for disobedience is death by firing squad, is it not?
LOHR: Yes. But only after you are convicted by a court martial.
WALDHEIM: A summary court martial.
LOHR: That depends, doesn’t it Kraus, on the nature of the charges?
KRAUS: In capital cases a general court martial is mandatory.
LOHR: And that is inescapably the sentence in these circumstances?
KRAUS: I would think so, Herr General. In addition to the standard policy regarding disobedience by an officer, there are some special factors involved here—not the least of which would be the concern of our SS colleagues.
LOHR: I’m afraid Major Kraus is right, Lieutenant. The issues of your case include policy matters of the highest priority. According to SS-Obersturmbannfuehrer Eichmann, the Fuehrer himself, our commander-in-chief, is personally concerned about the final solution of Army Group E’s Jewish question! Therefore you can count on a general court martial as a definite option in your analysis of this problem I have created for you. Beyond that I can make no promises. The outcome of such a "hypothetical" trial depends, of course, on the kind of "circumstantial variables" which are, even in the best court martial scenarios, always unpredictable—and in a worst case scenario like yours are made moreso by political factors in Berlin that have never been particularly scrutable. Well, with all of that in mind, Lieutenant, what have you decided?
WALDHEIM: Herr General, I must respectfully decline to execute your order on the grounds that: a) It is in conflict with the Hague and Geneva Conventions outlawing the deportation of civilians; b) As a member of the Wehrmacht I am dutybound not to obey any order whose effect is the commission of a military or civil crime, which I have reason to believe is precisely the effect of deporting Greek Jews to Auschwitz; c) The order itself lacks authority under the jurisdictional guidelines established by OKW for the administration of areas in the army’s rear, and; d) With respect to any oath of unconditional obedience I have previously sworn to the Fuehrer, Adolf Hitler: (1) Said oath was sworn under duress; (2) There is nothing to indicate the Fuehrer has authorized or ratified, either orally or in writing, the actual extermination of Jews or any other ethnic minority; (3) There is a higher law which governs the conduct of soldiers who have sworn an oath of obedience to their commander-in-chief—and that is the law by which my case will ultimately be adjudicated.
LOHR: [Not without irony.] Is that all you have to say?
WALDHEIM: At this time, yes.
Stage lighting begins to fade.
LOHR: Let the record show that Lieutenant Waldheim is hereby relieved of all duties and confined to quarters pending the outcome of his general court martial for disobeying a lawful order issued by his commanding officer. Major Kraus, you will notify the appropriate authorities immediately; including The Supreme Commander For Southeast Europe, OKH and OKW. Berlin will no doubt appoint their own prosecutor. As for Waldheim’s defense: given his legal training he may be tempted to conduct it himself—despite the axiom that a lawyer who defends himself has a fool for a client. In any event the resources of Army Group E, such as they are, will be placed at his disposal. [Checking watch and rising.] And now, gentlemen, I have an appointment with SS-Obersturmbannfuehrer Eichmann. [EXIT as scene goes dark.]
Scene 4
Gen. Lohr’s office. EICHMANN seated at desk writing or typing document. ENTER LOHR.
EICHMANN: [Rising with document in hand.] My apologies for using your desk, Herr General. I was just filling in the spaces of this standard deportation order. [Offers document to LOHR.]
LOHR: There isn’t going to be any deportation.
EICHMANN: Are you out of your mind! [Indicating picture on desk.] Have you forgotten what I said about them?
LOHR: No, I haven’t forgotten. But the matter has been taken out of my hands—
EICHMANN: What are you talking about! You’re still the commanding officer of Army Group E, aren’t you?
LOHR: Yes. And in that capacity I did order a certain Lieutenant Waldheim to organize your deportation scheme.
EICHMANN: And?
LOHR: He refused to obey the order; claiming, among other things, it was illegal.
EICHMANN: He can "claim" whatever he wants! You should have that smartassed sonofabitch Waldheim shot and order one of your other officers to collect my Jews! There is nothing like the sight of some junior officer being martyred by a firing squad for his "convictions" to persuade all those other "courageous" captains and majors that, when it comes to their proJewish sentiments, discretion is indeed the better part of valor!
LOHR: This isn’t the SS—or one of your concentration camps, Eichmann. In the Wehrmacht a summary execution is only authorized for acts of cowardice or disobedience under enemy fire. Collecting unarmed civilians; most of whom, from what I’ve been told, are old men, women and children—scarcely qualifies as a combat situation.
EICHMANN: [Thrusting document at LOHR.] Well, Herr General, if you can’t find anyone else under your command to execute this order, I suggest you do it personally!
LOHR: There are two reasons why I am not in a position to do that. First, there is my fundamental mission to defend this sector of German-occupied Europe from all threats of a military nature to the Third Reich. I myself could be courtmartialed if, during these perilous days, I devoted my time and energies to chasing some harmless Jews into your dragnet.
EICHMANN: There is no debate on the priority of our National Socialist racial policy, Herr General! Wasn’t it that famous militarist Clausewitz who said: War is nothing but an extension of politics? The only reason we conquered Europe was to free it from the pestilence of Judaism! Once Greece has been completely deJewified, believe me, its strategic value to the Fuehrer will cease to exist!
LOHR: Maybe so, but the Greek peninsula still forms a crucial part of Germany’s defensive perimeter, and as such I have a higher duty to preserve and protect the Fatherland than I have to helping Hitler fulfill his dreams of racial purification. But there is no purpose in arguing over these profundities Eichmann, when there is a purely technical point which makes such a debate meaningless—
EICHMANN: Ah, now we are coming to the second of your two reasons!
LOHR: Yes. Having started the proceedings for Waldheim’s general court martial the deportation issue has become sub judice—
EICHMANN: Sub judice! Of course! How stupid of me not to have perceived the implications of your general court martial scenario! And how clever of you to entangle me in a web of legal complexities! I can hardly wait to tell Reichsminister Himmler and the Fuehrer what a brilliant fellow you are!
LOHR: That won’t be necessary. By now Berlin has been informed of our court martial plans, and I’m sure that news will find its way into the ears of Himmler and Hitler by this time tomorrow.
EICHMANN: [Pausing to think while still holding document toward LOHR.] Maybe I have been just a bit confrontational, Herr General—[Withdrawing document.] I should compliment you for doing your homework! Yes, you have certainly thrown quite a handful of "dreck"—as our Jewish friends would say—into the whirling fanblades of Adolf Eichmann’s bureaucratic zeal! But then you always knew my threat of reprisals against your family was the crudest kind of bluff—which you have quite properly called. [Slowly tears up document, depositing pieces on Lohr’s desk.] Nevertheless, there isn’t any reason for either of us to risk our friendship and our careers over the fate of a few thousand yids. No, Herr General, I will do the civilized thing by returning to Budapest and organizing a special Waffen-SS task force to handle the deportation from start to finish.
LOHR: You can go to hell and organize an Einsatzgruppe for all I care, Eichmann—but nothing you do can derail this train of events Lieutenant Waldheim has set in motion.
EICHMANN: We will find out just how invincible a shield your "heroic" Lieutenant Waldheim turns out to be, General Lohr! You may have convinced some idealistic asshole to play the fallguy in your court martial scenario; but Adolf Eichmann is not the simpleminded civil servant some people seem to take him for! One has only to ask those Jew lawyers, judges and university professors who tried to outsmart me on their way to Treblinka and Theresienstadt—although very few of them are able now to provide you with living testimonials to my sagacity! And yet, Herr General, who knows—I might yet find a way for you to meet some of my former adversaries in person! [ EXIT.]
LOHR gathers pieces of document dropped on desk by Eichmann and deposits them in waste basket. Then, on second thought, he retrieves them and sets them out on the desk for reassembly.
LOHR: Sergeant Steiner!
STEINER: [Putting head through door.] Herr General?
LOHR: Fetch me some of that tape we use for mending documents, will you.
STEINER: Yes sir!
Fade to BLACK on LOHR engaged in reassembly of torn document.
Scene 5
WALDHEIM and KRAUS discovered stage right seated on same side of plain table upon which are piled documents, files, books and several cans of film comprising source material for Waldheim’s defense.
KRAUS: [While making notes from source material.] I must say Waldheim—at the outset of this case I was extremely pessimistic about your chances for acquittal; but the evidence we have assembled so far is, in my opinion, starting to look quite overwhelming in the way it confirms your worst suspicions about the secret purpose of the SD’s Jewish deportations. What’s even more surprising is the cooperative attitude of the nonWehrmacht authorities in Berlin. Apart from sending their ace prosecutor to Greece even the SS has acted on our requests for information concerning Eichmann’s Einsatz activities.
WALDHEIM: Yes. One must ask if there is some sinister reason for this mysterious lack of the usual interservice rivalry between the Wehrmacht and the SS. Can it be that by helping the defense of my court martial, Himmler might be providing himself with a future defense to his own trial as a Nazi war criminal?
KRAUS: It certainly looks as if he’s setting Eichmann up as the evil genius behind this entire Final Solution apparatus we have uncovered—
WALDHEIM: Or the fallguy in a deniability scenario that protects everyone from Himmler right on up to the Fuehrer.
KRAUS: That’s a possibility we don’t want to touch with a ten-foot pole, Waldheim. It isn’t necessary—and it would be extremely counterproductive—for us to force the court into choosing between you and the entire pantheon of the Third Reich. No. If Himmler or the Fuehrer is indeed delivering Eichmann’s head to us on a silver platter we couldn’t ask for a more villainous scapegoat!
WALDHEIM: So, your strategy is to put SS-Obersturmbannfuehrer Eichmann on trial.
KRAUS: Exactly!
WALDHEIM: Even though it is most unlikely Eichmann could have engineered such a vast empire of death on his own?
KRAUS: Goddammit Waldheim, I’m having enough trouble trying to save your idealistic skin without getting sentimental over a scumbag like Eichmann! Besides, based on this mountain of evidence it’s not inconceivable that a petty bureaucrat with Eichmann’s pathological hatred of Jews could indeed have covertly masterminded their extermination. In any event, the issue of who is ultimately responsible for the criminality of the order you refused to obey has no relevance in The Third Reich vs. First Lieutenant Kurt Waldheim. The only thing that matters is the absolute confirmation of your belief in the illegality of that order—and in this single can of film we have the most positive proof possible on that vital point.
KRAUS rises with film can held aloft and speaks as if to members of court martial, while light fades on this scene.
KRAUS: Members of the court: Until now the defense has offered you a mass of oral and written exhibits in the attempt to reasonably persuade you of Lieutenant Waldheim’s innocence. But no amount of conventional testimony or documentation can argue that issue more eloquently than these moving pictures you are about to see—and which will, I am absolutely certain, leave no doubt in your minds about who is innocent and who is guilty in the matter of Lieutenant Waldheim’s act of "disobedience"—or ever erase from your memories the sight of these crimes committed against all of humanity in the name of solving the socalled "Jewish question."
BLACKOUT. A 2- or 3-minute film is shown on screen lowered for that purpose. Film is comprised of documentary footage showing deportation, concentration and annihilation operations conducted by the SS—including technical details of administering death by asphyxiation, firing squads and gas; and various methods of corpse disposal (and the lack thereof at the end of the war) practiced in German death camps.
Scene 6
As film ends and projection screen is raised, stage is gradually lighted; revealing KRAUS and WALDHEIM seated behind table stage right facing audience. PROSECUTOR, wearing SS uniform, sits behind similar table stage left.
PROSECUTOR: [Rising to make final argument to audience, as if it were court.] Members of the court: Having heard with you just now my distinguished and capable colleague summarizing his case for the defense I must congratulate him for putting on, what I am sure you will agree with me was, an extremely persuasive performance! So persuasive, in fact, that after watching what must be the horror film to end all horror films he showed us I was tempted to confess my shame for this uniform I am wearing. Yes, gentlemen, although the Waffen-SS, to which I belong, has not been implicated in the genocidal activities of our SD comrades, these revelations concerning a branch of the Schutzstaffel are nothing less than profoundly demoralizing to anyone wearing this symbol of dedication to the loftiest principles of Nazism—the sacred death’s head insignia every SS soldier is taught to treasure more than life itself. [Pause as he contemplates his own SS insignia.]
Now all of that highminded Aryan idealism has been turned into trash by a massmurdering petty bureaucrat named Adolf Eichmann. Oh yes, members of the court —I accept the proof of Eichmann’s crimes against humanity; even if those crimes will forever stain the reputation of we who have served our Fatherland as bravely and as honorably as any who have ever worn a Wehrmacht uniform! My distinguished and capable colleague for the defense is absolutely right when he tells us we cannot fail to find SS-Obersturmbannfuehrer Adolf Eichmann guilty! The only fault one can possibly find with his analysis of the evidence he has offered in this case is that, technically of course, SS-Obersturmbannfuehrer Eichmann is not the defendant in these proceedings. [Taking document from table.] According to this charge sheet it is Lieutenant Waldheim who we are trying here. But, you will say: Even if Lieutenant Waldheim is on trial, how can we convict him for disobeying an order originating from an arch villain like Eichmann? The answer to which is indisputably this: That the order Waldheim is accused of disobeying did not come directly from Eichmann —a fact which, unfortunately, can also be classified as a mere "technicality." And who among us relishes the idea of deciding the fate of a courageous young man like Lieutenant Kurt Waldheim on the basis of technicalities—even when they begin to multiply, as they are beginning to do in this case? No, gentlemen, if ever there was a latterday Teutonic Knight in shining armor, it must be Lieutenant Kurt Waldheim—this tall and elegantly Quixotic figure who courageously fights for the cause of chivalry in the midst of this most unchivalrous of all wars! Hasn’t my distinguished and competent colleague asked you to not only acquit his client, but to "pin a medal on his heroic chest" for having helped to expose the cancer growing within an obscure organ of the National Socialist regime—a cancer that could eventually contaminate every healthy aspect of our Fuehrer’s revolutionary Reich?
And once again, gentlemen, I am compelled by the evidence to support my opposite number’s unorthodox proposition; with only this proviso—that, at the conclusion of this court martial, after having awarded him nothing less than a Knight’s cross studded with diamonds, you must find Lieutenant Waldheim guilty as charged, put him in front of a firing squad, and have him shot!
Why do I insist upon such a paradoxical finale to these proceedings? To answer that question, gentlemen, you must first solve the riddle of my mysterious strategy for winning this case. Why, for instance, has a man with my reputation as an "Ace Prosecutor" not called or cross examined a single witness—or offered any documents supporting the one attached to this original charge sheet; a transcript setting forth the verbatim conversation between General Lohr and Lieutenant Waldheim which has given rise to the monumental issues confronting us?
I can tell by the palpable sense of expectation in this courtroom that you are all waiting for me to pull one of my famous jurisprudential rabbits from this invisible lawyer’s hat I am wearing! Well, gentlemen—here it comes! I only hope you won’t be disappointed if that rabbit turns out to be yet one more of those "technicalities" I have been harping on. The reason I didn’t bother making a case for the prosecution is very simple: my distinguished and competent opposite number made it for me!
By convicting Adolf Eichmann of crimes against humanity in this forum, has not the counsel for the defense demonstrated conclusively that only through the formal procedure of a court martial like this one could anybody—including Kurt Waldheim —know to a judicial certainty what fate awaited those Jews at Auschwitz who were to be deported there from Greece. Prior to these proceedings the record clearly shows that, at the time he refused to execute General Lohr’s Jewish deportation order, Lieutenant Waldheim was not in possession of a single shred of hard evidence upon which his disobedience could be justified under Article 1(b) of the Militaerstrafgesetzbuch. [Holding up invisible object held between his thumb and forefinger.]
Well, gentlemen, what do you think of my "rabbit?" I admit it must seem like a very small creature indeed—not much larger than the head of one of those pins Jesuits use to make their divinely subtle calculations. A technicality par excellence. Or, to paraphrase our friend Winston Churchill: Some rabbit—some technicality!
But let us consider the implications of ignoring the message about military discipline written on the head of this pin. The result would be complete anarchy, gentlemen! By definition a soldier’s obedience to the orders of his superiors must be total, unconditional and, like Justice—blind.
It seems to me what we have here is one of those "worst case scenarios" by which all legal principles are put to the acid test of their universal application. And, in Third Reich v. Waldheim, we are probably dealing with the best of worst case scenarios! [Indicating Waldheim.] Here we have the flower of Germanic manhood—a veritable Siegfried standing alone against a force of evil darker than any dreamt of in Richard Wagner’s operatic weltanschauung! And yet, gentlemen, if you acquit him it will be a disaster for the Wehrmacht far exceeding that of Stalingrad! The rule resulting from Waldheim’s acquittal must be that henceforth every order given to every German soldier by every German officer will be subject to veto on the grounds of rumor, suspicion, gossip, conscience—and God knows how many other justifications for mutiny might evolve if Waldheim’s worst case scenario for disobedience is codified by this court!
No, gentlemen; there can be no exceptions. Even when all of our humanitarian instincts cry out for us to save him we must nail Kurt Waldheim to his savior’s cross not with the spikes of personal passion or prejudice, but with the pinpoint precision of legal analysis. Make no mistake about it, gentlemen: this was meant to be a tragedy from start to finish. And, just as the gods selected Waldheim to die a martyr’s death—so have they chosen you to play his Pilate, his Brutus and his Charlotte Corday.
Lights slowly fade as PROSECUTOR returns to his table.
Scene 7
Stage remains dark as following verdict is read (and possibly introduced and/or accompanied by rolling and beating of muffled drums for added dramatic effect).
PRESIDING OFFICER [Off.] : In the matter of: The Third Reich v. First Lieutenant Kurt Waldheim, being a General Court Martial duly convened under the authority of the commanding officer of Army Group E, and by the further special authorization of Oberkommando des Heeres and Oberkommando der Wehrmacht; It is the verdict of this court that, based upon a fair hearing of all the evidence and arguments presented at trial, First Lieutenant Waldheim has been found guilty as charged of disobeying a lawful order issued by his commanding officer. Accordingly, and as prescribed by law, First Lieutenant Waldheim is hereby sentenced to be executed by firing squad at a time and place designated by this court in the event his automatic appeal to the highest military authority fails and executive clemency is denied by the Fuehrer.
In regard to the issues of appeal and clemency: This court feels bound by its duty to both country and conscience to make the following recommendations, to wit: (1) Because of the narrow reasons compelling this lower court to find Waldheim technically guilty of disobedience we recommend the discretionary powers vested in the reviewing authorities should be applied in such a way as to ameliorate the death sentence this court was mandated to impose without altering the intent of our verdict; which is to condemn conduct of the kind practiced and advocated by Waldheim as being extremely prejudicial to maintaining discipline in the armed forces of Germany; (2) Should the reviewing military tribunals defer to the wishes of the supreme civilian authority, we respectfully recommend to the Fuehrer that Lieutenant Waldheim should receive executive clemency in recognition of the services he has performed for the Third Reich, albeit disobediently, by helping to expose the cancerous growth of certain bureaucratic entities threatening the honor, if not the very survival, of National Socialism as a viable alternative to a totally Bolshevized world.
Signed by: Lieutenant Colonel Herbert Warnstorff, Presiding Officer.
Scene 8
On dark stage WALDHEIM and FIRING SQUAD LEADER illuminated by spotlight. Waldheim has been bound to a post, and while he still wears officer’s uniform, it has been stripped of its Wehrmacht markings. FIRING SQUAD LEADER has pinned white disc over Waldheim’s heart. He offers Waldheim blindfold which WALDHEIM refuses by shaking his head.
FIRING SQUAD LEADER: You are entitled to make a brief final statement before your sentence is carried out—
Lighting gradually rises hereafter to reveal that this scene is being played in Brownstone’s apartment. BROWNSTONE is seated behind desk.
WALDHEIM: Well Miss Brownstone—what do you think? Now that your worst case scenario is all but over, is there any point in my making a speech?
FIRING SQUAD LEADER: Am I supposed to interpret that as meaning you would like to dictate a personal message to some female? [Takes out notebook, prepares to write.]
WALDHEIM: What’s the matter—has the cat got your tongue?
FIRING SQUAD LEADER: If that’s the message, I’m afraid it’s a bit too cryptic to make it past the censors—
WALDHEIM: Or are we waiting for my lastminute reprieve from the Fuehrer for services I rendered on behalf of that humanity his thousand year Reich was secretly dedicated to enriching by the globalization of German culture?
FIRING SQUAD LEADER: Didn’t your lawyer tell you, Waldheim? Bormann phoned last night to say you had gotten a "thumbs down" from the Fuehrer.
WALDHEIM: So much for your theory that I, or any other nonentity, could have turned the holocaust around! No, Miss Brownstone—there was nothing I could do to save a single one of those innocent millions who were slaughtered!
FIRING SQUAD LEADER: [Putting notebook away.] God knows what you are trying to say—and to whom you are trying to say it, Waldheim; but I think I will be doing you a favor by ending your misery as quickly as possible. [EXIT into wing or auditorium.]
WALDHEIM: The only "history" I could have altered in 1944 was to deprive the world of the subsequent contributions made by me to the cause of planetary peace—contributions you would now criticize as being the product of a guilty conscience! But, as your scenario itself proves, Kurt Waldheim has no need to atone for anything he did, or did not do, during the "Balkan chapter" of his life!
BROWNSTONE: Well for god’s sake, man—if that is the case why don’t you state it that way in your book!
FIRING SQUAD LEADER [Off.]: READY!
This last line is delivered via public address system, which will play an increasingly surrealistic role in amplifying the soundeffects indicated hereafter.
WALDHEIM: Because by so doing I would only be supplying ammunition to people like you who, motivated by their pathological hatred for the German race, would deliberately misconstrue all of Kurt Waldheim’s postwar accomplishments as evidence of his antiSemitic past! Oh yes Miss Brownstone—it is you and your Zionist coconspirators who are persecuting me!
FIRING SQUAD LEADER [Off via PA.]: AIM!
WALDHEIM: No. I’m afraid your arguments have only stiffened Kurt Waldheim’s resistance to all of those strategies employed by his enemies for seducing him into a suicidal orgy of selfcriticism! But if you insist on finalizing this farce, by all means let it end with that melodramatic salvo of hot lead by which all the fictitious heroes of your antiNazi mythology are dispatched to some imaginary Valhalla!
Pause as WALDHEIM waits for Firing Squad Leader’s command to ‘Fire!’.
WALDHEIM: Or are you planning to attenuate the denouement for dramatic purposes? If so, why don’t we use this pregnant pause to be brutally honest about the epilogue for your tragic tale of my hypothetical apotheosis?
BROWNSTONE: That sounds like a fine idea to me. Dramaturgically there is every reason to keep the trigger fingers of your firing squad squeezing until the very last one of our dialectical cows has come home.
WALDHEIM: Correct me if I’m wrong, but as I see it the epilogue should unfold along these lines: After his execution Kurt Waldheim’s bulletridden body is deposited into a ditch or some hole in the ground unmarked by any monument to his heroic act of selfsacrifice—
BROWNSTONE: I’ll buy that.
WALDHEIM: The records of his sensational court martial will, of course, be destroyed by all those seeking to perpetuate the myth of their ignorance concerning the Third Reich’s genocidal raison d’etre.
BROWNSTONE: Naturally.
WALDHEIM: Waldheim’s family will be notified he fell on the field of battle for his adopted Fatherland—
BROWNSTONE: Putting out such misinformation was standard German procedure for salvaging something useful from all Wehrmacht fatalities—no matter how ignominious—for their positive propaganda value—like the soap that was manufactured from concentration camp corpses.
WALDHEIM: As for the 20,000 Jews of Corfu, Rhodes and Crete; they will in fact be delivered by Army Group E to the SD for their subsequent extermination at Auschwitz—
BROWNSTONE: There is nothing unreasonable in that assumption.
WALDHEIM: The result being that, like every one of the victims he was unable to save, Kurt Waldheim will have vanished from the earth’s face without leaving a trace of his noble but futile existence—another nameless statistic added to a number that needed no enlargement!
BROWNSTONE: What other fate is there for one of those "unknown soldiers whose anonymous acts of conscience and personal courage make them the true heroes in mankind’s unrelenting—and eventually victorious—war for peace"?
FIRING SQUAD LEADER [Off via PA.]: FIRE!
A fusillade is delivered with the sound of a quick thunderclap; a single rimshot whose cataclysmic resonance lingers in the snares of some celestial drum. WALDHEIM becomes suddenly lifeless as he is held erect by only the post to which his wrists have been tied. White disc over his heart turns red. After his corpse convulses several times from postmortem nervous trauma, BROWNSTONE stands at her desk and applauds.
BROWNSTONE: Bravo! Bravo! A magnificent performance! That dying scene was absolutely superb! Larry Olivier couldn’t have played it more convincingly! Step up to the footlights and take a bow, Herr Waldheim; you deserve at least 20 or 30 curtain calls! [Stops applauding.] What’s wrong, Herr Waldheim—did the sound of that salvo strike some profoundly wistful chord in your soul about what might have been? [Approaching WALDHEIM.] Can it be you are in the thrall of an imaginary ascent to that ersatz Valhalla you belittled a moment ago as existing only in my antiNazi mythology?
This last line could cue the muted entrance of some Wagnerian motif—Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde perhaps.
BROWNSTONE: Now the cat seems to have gotten a hold on your tongue, Herr Waldheim! Why is that? Why do you persist in sustaining this state of artificial death? Is it because my "worst case scenario" has in fact been lifted directly from the pages of your "storybook" childhood? I’ve heard it said that even actors see their lives passing before their eyes when they play a fake firing squad scene. Is that what happened to you in that moment of truth when those theatrical bullets were on their way to bursting your heart? Was it during that splitsecond you suddenly realized how perfect your life would have been had it ended in its 26th year? Are you thinking now how absurdly trivial all those headlines you made as Secretary General of the United Nations seem when they are compared to the unreported news you could have made tethered to a real post on some actual killing ground located in that nonimaginary Greek city called Arsakli?
Don’t look so glum, Herr Waldheim—all is not lost! The rules shaping the destinies of modern men are no longer those inexorably tragic ones favored by the pagan gods of ancient Greece and Germany. No, Herr Waldheim, having evolved from His Old Testamentstyle of theatrical totalitarianism, your contemporary God is enlightened, sophisticated, experimentally inclined and, above all, merciful. And it is He, Kurt Waldheim, who in His infinite wisdom and mysterious ways of moving has sent me unto you with this message—"Thou art being given yet another chance for apotheosis by confessing thy failure to attain that holiest state of grace upon thy first opportunity when thou didst turn thy back on My Chosen People whilst they were being delivered up into the hands of their slaughterers."
If possible, ‘message’ portion of previous line should be electronically amplified and resonated so as to emphasize its divine nature. Nevertheless, the line should be delivered with a satirical tinge to suggest that, while as a playwright she is always playing God, Brownstone tries not to take that role too seriously.
BROWNSTONE: And to make the "miracle" of your belated immortality that much easier; here are those missing pages concerning the gap in Kurt Waldheim’s memory for those "uneventful years" of 1942-45. If you open your eyes you will see that they constitute a full account of the indispensable part you played—no matter how passively—in helping to perpetrate a crime against humanity of such magnitude that only by this consummate act of public selfhumiliation can Kurt Waldheim at long last justify his existence; not as the patron saint for every other Austrian amnesiac, but as a shining symbol of their mortality to the people of all nations.
Well, what is it to be, Waldheim? The time has come when you must choose between the ultimately catastrophic strategy of perpetuating the lies about your "immaculate character"—or telling the truth now and accepting consequences which might someday include your legitimate canonization as one Austrian whose amnesia was cured by this exercise in memory refreshment you have been conducting with my imaginary help. Yes, Waldheim—my role as your "devil’s advocate has been fully played out; and, now that I have lost the reason for my phantom existence—the decision is yours to make—
Emphasized portion of this last line should be delivered with a subtle alteration of vocal character setting the stage for Brownstone’s metamorphosis hereafter into Waldheim’s wife, Cissy. This line also serves to cue soundeffect simulating vast crowd of Viennese who have gathered outside Waldheim’s residence to celebrate his election to Austrian Presidency. This effect begins with a murmured chant of "Waldheim! Waldheim! Waldheim!"—and gradually builds into a fullblown Nuremburg Rally kind of frenzy at play’s finale.
BROWNSTONE: [As Cissy Waldheim.] Did you hear me, Kurt? The decision is yours to make on which of these two speeches you will deliver as the President-elect of Austria to that crowd of wellwishers outside. [She divides manuscript Brownstone was holding throughout her dialogue with Waldheim, and offers them to her husband with her left and right hands.] Don’t you remember darling—you asked me to type them both on a contingency basis for your lastminute decision—although I can’t believe you would seriously consider making this one about those terrible years you spent in the Balkans—
WALDHEIM slowly raises head and begins to stand erect. It will be seen hereafter that he has been ‘tied’ to imaginary post from which he is now free to move.
BROWNSTONE: [As Cissy Waldheim.] My God, Kurt—you would be committing political suicide to publicly discuss that chapter of your life. And now that you’ve been completely vindicated by this election to Austria’s highest office, why give your enemies the satisfaction of knowing they played a part in motivating you to proclaim your remorse for crimes you could not have prevented? Yes, it is a fine speech, a noble speech—the kind of speech one might hear a character deliver from a stage at the climax of some epic tragedy on the nature of his much misunderstood heroism. But this is not theater, Kurt; it is the harshest kind of reality. And that mass of Austrian "humanity" beneath our balcony is not an audience comprised of sophisticated playgoers, literary critics, and theologians who might appreciate the nuances of your mea culpa. They are a mob—my saintly, but oh so foolish husband! Right now a friendly one, it’s true—but just the slightest change of circumstance could turn them into a Kurt Waldheim lynching party; especially if the memory of their own collective guilt is "refreshed" by your ingenious amnesia therapy! [Offering him the two speeches in her left and right hands.] Still, my beloved, it is you who must choose—and whether ‘tis the high road to oblivion [Indicating left hand.] or the low road to our continued, if somewhat haunted, happiness [Indicating right hand.] I will be with you all the way.
After brief pause WALDHEIM reaches for ‘low road’ speech held in wife’s right hand and, moving downstage, parts imaginary French windows opening onto balcony—causing sudden amplification of crowd noise, which now erupts into a volcanic release of adulation, within whose din we can, however, discern several motifs being repeated. Among them: "Long Live Austria!;" "Down With The Past!;" "Kill The Jews!" WALDHEIM comes to footlights, acknowledging crowd by raising arms—the speech clenched in his fist. A victory smile adorns his face—a face whose features become increasingly distorted by the orgiastic effect of the adulation he is receiving. Gradually crowd noise evolves into that of a theatrical audience enthusiastically applauding end of a play. Now there are cries of ‘Bravo!’ and ‘Author!’. Name of actor playing Waldheim is chanted, along with others from cast—with result that those actors join Waldheim for bows and curtain calls, which end when recorded applause finally fades away. ENTER ARTISTIC DIRECTOR after last curtain call is taken by actors and auditorium is silent.
ART DIRECTOR: That’s it, ladies and gentlemen—owing to the unorthodox structure of this play the cast has already received what it mistakenly believed was your applause and has taken its last curtain call—so I’m afraid you have been deprived of expressing your own appreciation for their performances. Beyond that, there’s nothing more left for me to say, except to once again express our profound gratitude for the part you all played in helping us to refresh the memory of at least one Austrian "amnesiac"—and to state what I am confident must be obvious to an audience of your sophistication; which is that: such cases of selective memory loss are, of course, not limited to the citizens of Austria! [EXIT through curtain or via wing.]
End of Play