Dog Years

by Günter Grass

  In the course of the ensuing staff conference—report confirmed: enemy armored spearheads have advanced south of Cottbus and entered Calau—“Operation Wolftrap” is set up and all plans for the defense of the capital are co-ordinated with it. The Fourth Armored Corps postpones counterattack south of Spremberg indefinitely and secures Spremberg-Senftenburg highway against deserting Führerdog. Similarly the Steiner Group transforms the deployment zone for the relief offensive scheduled to move southward from the Eberswalde sector, into a deeply echeloned dogcapture zone. The operation proceeds according to plan. All available planes of the Sixth Air Fleet fly ground reconnaissance missions for the purpose of determining Führerdogescaperoute. Pursuant to “Wolftrap,” the main battle line is pulled back behind the Havel. Führerdogsearchgroups are set up from combat reserves. They receive orders to maintain walkie-talkie contact with Führerdogcapturegroups consisting of motorcycle and bicycle companies. The Holste Corps digs in. But the Twelfth Army under General Wenck launches a relief escaperoute, for presumably Führerdog is planning to desert to Westenemy. To make Operation Wolftrap viable, the Seventh Army has to disengage itself from the Ninth and First American Armies and seal off the Western front between Elbe and Mulde. On the Jüterbog-Torgau line, projected antitank trenches are replaced by Führerdogtraptrenches. The Twelfth Army, the Blumentritt Army Group, the Thirty-eighth Armored Corps are placed under the direct orders of the Army High Command, which as of now is transferred from Zossen to Wannsee, where under General Burgdorf it sets up a “Wolftrap Command Staff”—WCS.

  But despite all this vigorous regrouping the only dispatches to come in are the usual situation reports—Soviet spearheads reach Treuenbrietzen Königswusterhausen line—and no information about Führerdogescaperoute. At one nine four 0 hours, during the evening situation report, Field Marshal Keitel has a telephone conversation with Chief of Staff Steiner: “As per Führerorder, 25th Armored Infantry Division will close frontline gap at Cottbus and secure area against Führerdogbreakthrough.”

  Reply of Hq. Steiner Group: “As per instructions date one seven four, 25th Armored Infantry Division withdrawn Bautzen area and attached Twelfth Army. Available remaining units alerted against Führerdogbreakthrough.”

  Finally, in the early morning hours of April 20, not far from the bitterly contested Fürstenwalde-Strausberg-Bernau line, shots are fired at a black shepherd, who, however, when brought to the Führer’s Headquarters and carefully examined by Dr. Morell, proves to be an impostor.

  Thereupon, as per WCS instructions, all units in the Greater Berlin area are briefed on Führerdogdimensions.

  The concentration between Lübben and Baruth receives support from Soviet armored spearheads pursuing identical aim. Forest fires spread despite drizzle and constitute natural dog-barrier.

  On April 22 enemy armor pushes across the Lichtenberg-Niederschönhausen-Frohnau line and enters outer defenses of the capital. Two reports of dogcapture in the Königswusterhausen area prove inaccurate, since neither captured object can be identified as a male.

  Dessau and Bitterfeld are lost. American armored force attempts Elbe crossing near Wittenberge.

  On April 23, Dr. Goebbels, gauleiter and Reich Defense Commissioner, issues the following statement: “The Führer is at his post in the capital and has assumed supreme command of all forces engaged in finishfight. As of now, Führerdogsearchgroups will obey only Führerinstructions.”

  WCS communiqué: “Köpenick railroad station retaken in counterattack. Enemy infiltration blocked by Tenth Führerdogcapturegroup, guarding area bordering Prenzlauer Alee. Two Soviet dogcapture appliances captured, proving that East-enemy has intelligence of Operation Wolftrap.” Due to sensation-mongering misrepresentation of Führerdogloss by enemy radio and press, WCS, as of April 25, transmits Führer instructions in new, pre-established code—minuted by Dr. Herrgesell: “To what is the manifestness of the studdog Prinz attuned?”

  “The original manifestness of the Führerdog is attuned to distantiality.”

  “What is the Führerdog attuned to distantiality acknowledged as?”

  “The Führerdog attuned to distantiality is acknowledged as the Nothing.”

  Thereupon exlocution to all: “What is the Nothing attuned to distantiality acknowledged as?”

  To which Hq. Sterner Group replies from combat position in Liebenwerda: “The Nothing attuned to distantiality is acknowledged as the Nothing in Steiner Group sector.”

  Whereupon Führerexlocution to all: “Is the Nothing attuned to distantiality an object or more generally an essent?” Immediate reply from Command Staff Wenck Group: “The Nothing attuned to distantiality is a hole. The Nothing is a hole in the Twelfth Army. The Nothing is a black hole that just ran by. The Nothing is a black running hole in the Twelfth Army.”

  Whereupon Führerexlocution to all: “The Nothing attuned to distantiality runs. The Nothing is a hole attuned to distantiality. It is acknowledged and can be investigated. A black running hole attuned to distantiality manifests the Nothing in its original manifestness.”

  Whereupon supplementary WCS exlocutions: “First and foremost, modes of encounter between Nothing attuned to distantiality and Twelfth Army will be investigated for their encounter-structure. Primarily and a priori, penetration areas in Königswusterhausen sector will be investigated for their what-content. Manipulation-utilization of relation-inducing Wolftrap I equipment and supplementary Wolfpoint equipment will unconceal Nothing attuned to distantiality. The digressiveness of the not-at-hand will provisionally be passed over with a view to establishing authentic at-handness of bitches in heat, since the Nothing attuned to distantiality is fundamentally and at all times coexistence-oriented.”

  An urgent dispatch from contested Neubabelsberg-Zehlendorf-Neukölln line—“The Nothing is coming-to-be between enemy armor and our own spearheads. The Nothing is running on four legs”—is immediately followed by Führerexlocution: “The Nothing will be after-accomplished on the double. Each and every activity of the Nothing attuned to distantiality will be substantivized in view of final victory so that later, sculptured in marble or shell-lime, it may be at-hand in a state of to-be-viewedness.”

  Not until April 25 did General Wenck, Twelfth Army, reply from the Nauen-Ketzin sector: “Nothing being after-accomplished on double and substantivized. The Nothing at tuned to distantiality discloses dread in every sector of the front. Dread is-there. We are speechless with dread. Out.”

  After the accomplishment reports of the Holster and Steiner combat teams have disclosed similar dread, a WCS exlocution of April 26 goes out, as per Führerinstructions, to all: “Dread impedes apprehension of the Nothing. As of now, dread will be surmounted by speeches or singing. Negation of Nothing attuned to distantiality prohibited. Never must the Reichcapital in its locus-wholeness be infirmed by dread.”

  When accomplishment reports of all combat teams continue to show openness-to-dread, a supplement to Führer-instructions of April 26 goes out to all: “Twelfth Army will manifest counter-tonality to fusty atonality of Reichcapital. Unburdenings of Being in Steglitz and southern edge of Tempelhof Airfield will project advanced selfpoint. The final struggle of the German people will be conducted with regard to the Nothing attuned to distantiality.”

  In response to additional instructions from Burgdorf WCS staff to Air Fleet 6—“Between Tegel and Siemensstadt elucidate running Nothing in advance of enemy armored spear heads”—Air Fleet 6 reports after the all-clear: “Running Nothing sighted between Silesian and Gorlitz stations. The Nothing is neither an object nor any essent, hence also no dog.”

  Thereupon, in accordance with Führerinstructions with new key, a direct exlocution signed Colonel von Below goes out to Air Fleet 6: “Jutting out into the Nothing, the dog has surpassed the essent and will as of now be referred to as Transcendence.”

  On the twenty-seventh Brandenburg falls. The Twelfth Army reaches Beelitz. After numerous dispatches from all sectors have reported increasing negation o
f the fugitive Führerdog Prinz and his code names “Nothing” and “Transcendence,” a Führerorder to all goes out at one four one two hours: “Negative attitude toward running Transcendence will as of now be considered a court-martial offense.”

  When no accomplishment reports come in and openness-to-dread is registered even in the government quarter, drastic measures are taken, followed by an exlocution: “The prevailing negative attitude toward Transcendence attuned to distantiality is manifested primarily and decisively by the having-beenness of the following officers.” (Names and ranks follow.) Only now, after repeated Führerinquiry—“Where are Wenck’s spearheads? Where are Wenck’s spearheads? Where is Wenck?”—command staff Wenck, Twelfth Army, replies on April 28: “Bogged down south Lake Schwielow. Joint missions with Air Fleet 6 reveal weather conditions bar visibility Transcendence. Out.”

  Nihilating reports come in from Halle Gate, from the Silesian Station, and from the Tempelhof Airfield. Space is split up into loci. Alexanderplatz dogcapturepost claims to have investigated twelve-legged Transcendence in advance of enemy armored spearheads. A conflicting dispatch reports three-headed Transcendence sighted in Prenzlau area. At the same time a message Twelfth Army is received at Führer-headquarters: “Slightly wounded armored infantryman claims to have seen and fed dog untranscendent in garden of villa on Lake Schwielow, and to have addressed him by the name of Prinz.”

  Whereupon inquiry direct from Führer: “Name of the armored infantryman?”

  Twelfth Army: “Armored infantryman Harry Liebenau, slightly wounded on chowline.”

  Führer direct: “Armored infantryman Liebenau’s present whereabouts?”

  Twelfth Army: “Armored infantryman Liebenau in need of hospitalization removed westward.”

  Führer direct: “Terminate removal. Fly armored infantryman to garden area Reichchancellery per Air Fleet 6.”

  Whereupon General Wenck, Twelfth Army, to Führer direct: “Escape-permitting relegation to sinking locus-wholeness Greater Berlin to the point of finite transcending utilization lays bare end structure.”

  The following Führerexlocution—“The question of the dog is a metaphysical question, calling the entire German nation into question”—is followed by the famous Führerdeclaration: “Berlin is still German. Vienna will be German. And never will the dog be negated.”

  Whereupon an urgent report comes in: “Enemy armor entering Malchin.” Followed by radio message, uncoded, to Reichchancellery: “Enemy radio reports dog sighted east bank Elbe.”

  Whereupon Soviet leaflets, secured in the contested Kreuzberg and Schoneberg sectors, announce that fugitive Führerdog has been captured by Eastenemy.

  Situation report on April 29: “In the course of bitter house-to-house battle on Potsdamer Strasse and Belle-Alliance-Platz, Führerdogsearchgroups disbanding without orders. Morale increasingly impaired by Soviet loudspeakeraction with genuine amplified dogbarking. Beelitz retaken by enemy. No news of Ninth Army. Twelfth Army still trying to exert pressure on Potsdam, consequent to rumors of dogdeath on historical site. Reports of English dogcapture positions near Elbe bridgehead in Lauenburg and of American dogcapture in Fichtel Mountains unconfirmed.” In the light of which, final Führerinstructions to all, with new code: “The dog itself—as such—was-there, is-there, and will remain-there.”

  Whereupon General Krebs to Colonel General Jodl: “Request prospective orientation on Führersuccession eventuality death.”

  Whereupon, in accordance with the situation report of April 30, command staff Operation Wolftrap is disbanded. Dogcapture operations in Transcendence and on historical site having met with no success, the Army High Command withdraws the Twelfth Army from the Potsdam-Beelitz area. Whereupon radio message signed Bormann to Grand Admiral Dönitz: “The Führer appoints you successor former Reichmarshal Göring. Written appointment and pedigree Führerdog on way.”

  Whereupon Führerdesign presentifies overclimb. Where upon unofficial Swedish report to effect that Führerdog has been sent to Argentine by submarine is not denied. The Soviet announcement—“Tattered fur of twelve-legged black dog found in destroyed ballet storeroom”—is contradicted by accomplishment report of the Bavarian Liberation Committee on the Erding radio: “Black dogcorpse secured outside Feldherrnhalle, Munich.” Simultaneously, reports come in to the effect that Führerdog corpses have been washed ashore: first, in the Gulf of Bothnia; second, on the east coast of Ireland; third, on the Atlantic coast of Spain. Ultimate Führerintimations, recorded by General Burgdorf and in Führertestament: “Dog Prinz will try to reach Vatican City. If Pacelli raises claims, protest immediately and invoke codicil to will.”

  Thereupon world twilight. Over the ruins of the artifact-world climbs world-time. Situation report May 1: “In the center of the Reichcapital the brave garrison is fighting in narrowed space, reinforced by disbanded Führerdogsearchgroups.”

  Thereupon at-handness takes its leave in the not-noticeableness of the inutilizable, giving rise to top secret message, Reichsleiter Bormann to Grand Admiral Dönitz: “Führer passed away yesterday one five three 0 hours. Testament in force and on way. As per instructions April 29, Führer’s favorite dog Prinz, black, short-haired shepherd, is Führer’s gift to the German people. Acknowledge receipt.”

  Whereupon the last radio stations play Götterdämmerung. Grounded on him. Whereupon there is no time for a minute of silence grounded on him. Whereupon the remnants of the Vistula Army Group, the remnants of the Twelfth and Ninth Armies, the remnants of the Holste and Steiner combat teams, try to reach English- and American-held territory west of the Dömitz-Wismar line.

  Whereupon radio silence settles over the government quarter of the Reichcapital. Locus-wholeness, nihilation, open-to-dread, and togetherpieceable. Greatness. Entirety. The madeness of Berlin. Made finite. The end.

  But the heavens did not darken over the structure of the end.

  There was once a dog;

  he belonged to the Führer and Chancellor and was his favorite dog. One day this dog ran away from the Führer. Why would he run away?

  Ordinarily this dog cannot speak, but here, questioned as to the great why, he speaks and says why: “Sick of moving all over the place. No fixed dog-here, dog-there, dog-now. Bones buried everywhere and never found again. No allowed-to-run-loose. Always being-in-restricted-zone. Moving around for dog years, from operation to operation, and for every operation code names: Operation White goes on for eighteen days. While Weser maneuvers are in progress in the north, they have to start up Operation Hartmut to protect Weser maneuvers. Operation Yellow against neutral countries develops into Operation Red all the way to the Spanish border. And then Autumn Journey is arranged with a view to organizing Operation Sea Lion that will force perfidious Albion to its knees. It’s called off. Instead, Marita rolls up the Balkans. Oh, what poet has he in his pay? Who writes his poetry for him? Christmastree against the Swiss; nothing comes of it. Barbarossa and Silverfox against subhumans; plenty comes of them. Operation Siegfried leads from Kharkov to Stalingrad. Thunderbolt and Blizzard don’t help the Sixth Army one bit. A last try is made: Fridericus I and Fridericus II. Autumn Crocus soon fades. Land-bridge to Demnyansk collapses. Typhoon has to straighten out the fronts. Operation Buffalo degenerates into stampede back to the stable. Home sweet home! In such a situation even a dog is fed up, but waits, faithful as a dog, to see if the newly planned bastion near Kursk will hold out, and to see what comes of Knight’s-move against convoys headed for Murmansk. But alas! Gone are the happy days when Sunflower was transplanted to North Africa, when Mercury did business on Crete, when Mouse burrowed deep into the Caucasus. Nothing doing now but Spring Storm, Ball Lightning, and Poundcake against Tito’s partisans. Oaktree is supposed to put Il Duce back in the saddle. But West-enemies Gustav, Ludwig, and Marten II land and provoke Sunrise at Nettuno. Enemy flowers blossom in Normandy. Griffin, Autumn Mist, and Sentinel try in vain to pluck them in the Ardennes. Before that the bomb goes off in rabbitless Wolf’s Red
oubt. It doesn’t hurt the dog, but it blunts his enthusiasm: Fed up! Always being dragged this way and that way. Special trains. Special food, but no freedom, with juicy nature for miles around.

  “Oh dog of many travels! From Berghof to Felsennest. From the Zoppot Winter Garden to the Tannenburg. From the Black Forest to Wolfs Lair I. Never did get to see anything of France and in Berghof nothing but clouds. Northwest of Vinnitsa, in a little forest allegedly full of foxes, lies Werewolf Camp. Shuttling back and forth between Ukraine and East Prussia. From Wolf’s Redoubt propelled to Wolfs Lair II. One day’s stay in the Eyrie, then down into the hole for good. Down into the Führer’s air raid shelter. Day after day: nothing but air-raid shelters. After Eagle, Wolf, and again Wolf, air-raid shelters day in day out. After Cloudview and Crowsnest, after Tannenburg and the air of the Black Forest, nothing but a stuffy old air-raid shelter.

  When things come to such a pass, a dog has his belly full. After the failure of Dentist and the fumbling of Baseplate, he decides to migrate with the Visigoths. To escape. To be-in-space. To give up being-faithful-as-a-dog. When things come to such a pass, a dog, who ordinarily and as a rule cannot talk, says: “I disengage myself.”

  While the birthday preparations in the Führer’s shelter were going on, he slipped innocently across the inner court yard of the Chancellery. Just as the Reichmarshal was driving in, he passed the sentry post and, having gathered from the situation reports that there was a gap in the front near Cottbus, started off in a southwesterly direction; but wide and attractive as the gap seemed to be, the dog, sighting Soviet armored spearheads, reversed his direction east of Jüterbog, abandoned the route of the Ostrogoths, and hurried toward the Westenemy: over the ruins of the inner city, around the government quarter, close call on the Alexander-platz, guided through the Tiergarten by two bitches in heat, and damn near captured near the Zoological Gardens air raid shelter, where gigantic mousetraps were waiting for him, but he seven times circumambulated the Victory Column, shot down the Siegesallee, counseled by dog instinct, that wise old saw, joined a gang of civilian moving men, who were moving theater accessories from the exhibition pavilion by the radio tower to Nikolassee. But German loudspeakers as well as the far-carrying loudspeakers of the Eastenemy—alluring voices promising him rabbits—aroused his suspicion of residential suburbs like Wannsee and Nikolassee: not far enough west!—and he set himself a goal for the first leg of his journey: the Elbe bridge at Magdeburg-Burg.