Passenger to Frankfurt

by Agatha Christie

'There should and could be a super race. Adolf Hitler

  had the right idea,' said Charlotte. 'A man of no impor.

  tance in himself, but he had artistic elements in his character.

  . And undoubtedly he had the power of leadership.' |r 'Ah yes. Leadership, that is what we need.'

  ;|' 'You had the wrong allies in the last war, my dear. If fe England and Germany now had arrayed themselves side

  I;.. by side, if they had had the same ideals, of youth, strength,

  I'.two Aryan nations with the right ideals. Think where your

  g|country and mine might have arrived today? Yet perhaps

  ven that is too narrow a view to take. In some ways the

  ommunists and the others have taught us a lesson. Workers if the world unite? But that is to set one's sights too low.

  Vorkers are only our material. It is "Leaders of the world

  unite!" Young men with the gift of leadership, of good

  139

  blood. And we must start, not with the middle-aged men set in their ways, repeating themselves like a gramophone

  record that has stuck. We must seek among the student

  population, the young men with brave hearts, with great

  ideas, willing to march, willing to be killed but willing also

  to kill. To till without any compunction--because it is

  certain that without aggressiveness, without violence, without

  attack--there can be no victory. I must show you something--'

  With somewhat of a struggle she succeeded in rising to

  her feet. Lady Matilda followed suit, underlining a little her

  difficulty, whish was not quite as much as she was making

  out.

  'It was in May 1940,' said Charlotte, 'when Hitler Youth

  went on to its second stage. When Himmler obtained from

  Hitler a charter. The charter of the famous SS. It was

  formed for the destruction of the eastern peoples, the slaves,

  the appointed slaves of the world. It would make room for

  the German master race. The SS executive instrument came

  into being.' Her voice dropped a little. It held for a moment

  a kind of religious awe.

  Lady Matilda nearly crossed herself by mistake.

  The Order of the Death's Head,' said Big Charlotte.

  She walked slowly and painfully down the room and

  pointed to where on the wall hung, framed in gilt and surmounted

  with a skull, the Order of the Death's Head.

  'See, it is my most cherished possession. It hangs here

  on my wall. My golden youth band, when they come here,

  salute it. And in our archives in the castle here are folios

  of its chronicles. Some of them are only reading for strong

  stomachs, but one must learn to accept these things. The

  deaths in gas chambers, the torture cells, the trials at Nuremberg

  speak venomously of all those things. But it was a

  great tradition. Strength through pain. They were trained

  young, the boys, so that they should not falter or turn back or

  suffer from any kind of softness. Even Lenin, preaching his

  Marxist doctrine, declared "Away with softness!" It was

  one of his first rules for creating a perfect State. But we

  were too narrow. We wished to confine our great dream only

  to the German master race. But there are other races. They

  too can attain masterhood through suffering and violence

  and through the considered practice of anarchy. We must

  pull down, pull down all the soft institutions. Pull down

  the more humiliating forms of religion. There is a religion of strength, the old religion of the Viking people. And we have

  140

  a leader, young as yet, gaining in power every day. What did

  some great man say? Give me the tools and I will do the job.

  Something like that. Our leader has already the tools. He

  will have more tools. He will have the planes, the bombs,

  the means of chemical warfare. He will have the men to

  fight. He will have the transport. He will have shipping and

  oil. He will have what one might call the Aladdin's creation

  of genie. You rub the lamp and the genie appears. It is

  all in your hands. The means of production, the means of

  wealth and our young leader, a leader by birth as well as

  by character. He has all this.'

  She wheezed and coughed.

  'Let me help you.'

  Lady Matilda supported her back to her seat. Charlotte

  gasped a little as she sat down.

  It's sad to be old, but I shall last long enough. Long

  enough to see the triumph of a new world, a new creation.

  That is what you want for your nephew. I will see to it.

  Power in his own country, that is what he wants, is ,it

  not? You would be ready to encourage the spearhead there?'

  'I had influence once. But now�' Lady Matilda shook

  her head sadly. 'All that is gone.'

  'It will come again, dear,' said her friend. 'You were

  right to come to me. I have a certain influence.'

  'It is a great cause,' said Lady Matilda. She sighed and

  murmured, "The Young Siegfried.'

  'I hope you enjoyed meeting your old friend,' said Amy

  as they drove back to the Gasthaus.

  If you could have heard all the nonsense I talked, you

  wouldn't believe it,' said Lady Matilda Cleckheaton.

  Chapter 16

  PIKEAWAY TALKS

  The news from France is very bad,' said Colonel Pikeaway,

  brushing a cloud of cigar ash off his coat. 'I heard Winston

  Churchill say that in the last war. There was a man who

  could speak in plain words and no more than needed. It

  was very impressive. It told us what we needed to know.

  Well, it's a long time since then, but I say it again today,

  The news from France is very bad.'

  141

  He coughed, wheezed and brushed a little more ash off

  himself.

  "The news from Italy is very bad,' he said. "The news

  from Russia, I imagine, could be very bad if they let much

  out about it. They've got trouble there too. Marching bands

  of students in the street, shop windows smashed. Embassies

  attacked. News from Egypt is very bad. News from Jerusalem

  is very bad. News from Syria is very bad. That's all

  more or less normal, so we needn't worry too much. News

  |j|| from Argentine is what I'd call peculiar. Very peculiar indeed.

  Argentine, Brazil, Cuba, they've all got together. Call themselves

  the Golden Youth Federated States, or something

  like that. It's got an army, too. Properly drilled, properly

  armed, properly commanded. They've got planes, they've got

  bombs, they've got God-knows-what. And most of them

  seem to know what to do with them, which makes it worse.

  There's a singing crowd as well, apparently. Pop songs, old

  local folk songs, and bygone battle hymns. They go along

  rather like the Salvation Army used to do--no blasphemy

  intended--I'm not crabbing the Salvation Army. Jolly good

  work they did always. And the girls--pretty as Punch in then bonnets.'

  He went on:

  'I've heard that something's going on in that line in the

  civilized countries, starting with us. Some of us can be

  called civilized still, I suppose? One of our politicians the

  other day, I remember, said we were a splendid nation,

 
chiefly because we were permissive, we had demonstrations,

  we smashed things, we beat up anyone if we hadn't anything

  better to do, we got rid of our high spirits by showing violence,

  and our moral purity by taking most of our clothes

  off. I don't know what he thought he was talking about--

  politicians seldom do--but they can make it sound all right.

  That's why they are politicians.'

  He paused and looked across at the man he was talking ti..'.

  'Distressing--sadly distressing,' said Sir George Packhan;.

  'One can hardly believe--one worries--if one could on- --Is that all the news you've got?' he asked plaintively

  'Isn't it enough? You're hard to satisfy. World an ;;'

  well on its way--that's what we've got. A bit wobbly ! '

  not fully established yet, but very near to it--very cs-"'" indeed.'

  'But action can surely be taken against all this?'

  'Not so easy as you think. Tear gas puts a stop to r.~ tn & for a while and gives the police a break. And natu'aly

  142

  we've got plenty of germ warfare and nuclear bombs and

  all the other pretty bags of tricks--What do you think

  would happen if we started using those? Mass massacre of

  aU the marching girls and boys, and the housewife's shopping

  circle, and the old age pensioners at home, and a good quota

  of our pompous politicians as they tell us we've never had it

  so good, and in addition you and me--Ha, ha!

  'And anyway,' added Colonel Pikeaway, 'if it's only news

  you're after, I understand you've got some hot news of

  your own arriving today. Top secret from Germany, Herr

  Heinrich Spiess himself.'

  'How on earth did you hear that? It's supposed to be

  strictly--'

  'We know everything here,' said Colonel Pikeaway, using

  his pet phrase--that's what we're for.

  'Bringing some tame doctor, too, I understand--' he added.

  'Yes, a Dr Reichardt, a top scientist, I presume--'

  'No. Medical doctor--Loony-bins--'

  'Oh dear--a psychologist?'

  'Probably. The ones that run loony-bins are mostly that.

  With any luck he'll have been brought over so that he

  can examine the heads of some of our young firebrands. Stuffed full they are of German philosophy, Black Power

  philosophy, dead French writers' philosophy, and so on

  and so forth. Possibly they'll let him examine some of the

  heads of our legal lights who preside over our -judicial courts

  here saying we must be very careful not to do anything

  to damage a young man's ego because he might have to

  earn his living. We'd be a lot safer if they sent them all

  round to get plenty of National Assistance to live on and

  then they could go back to their rooms, not do any work, and enJoy themselves reading more philosophy. However,

  I'm out of date. I know that. You needn't tell me so.'

  'One has to take into account the new modes of thought,'

  said Sir George Packham. 'One feels, I mean one hopes-- well it's difficult to say--'

  'Must be very worrying for you,' said Colonel Pikeaway.

  'Finding things so difficult to say.'

  His telephone rang. He listened, then handed it to Sir

  George.

  'Yes?' said Sir George. 'Yes? Oh yes. Yes. I agree. I "uprose--No--no--not the Home Office. No. Privately, you

  mean. Well, I suppose we'd better use--er--' Sir George looked round him cautiously.

  This place isn't bugged,' said Colonel Pikeaway amiably,

  143

  'Code word Blue Danube,' said Sir George Packham in

  a loud, hoarse whisper. 'Yes, yes. I'll bring Pikeaway along

  with me. Oh yes, of course. Yes, yes. Get on ,to him. Yes,

  say you particularly want him to come, but to remember

  our meeting has got to be strictly private.'

  'We can't take my car then,' said Pikeaway. 'It's too well

  known.'

  'Henry Horsham's coming to fetch us in the Volkswagen.'

  'Fine,' said Colonel Pikeaway. 'Interesting, you know, all

  this.'

  'You don't think--' said Sir George and hesitated-

  I don't think what?'

  'I mean just really--well, I--mean, if you wouldn't mind

  my suggesting--a clothes brush?'

  'Oh, this.' Colonel Pikeaway hit himself lightly on the

  shoulder and a cloud of cigar ash flew up and made Sir

  George choke.

  'Nanny,' Colonel Pikeaway shouted. He banged a buzzer

  on his desk.

  A middle-aged woman came in with a clothes brush, appearing

  with the suddenness of a genie summoned by

  Aladdin's lamp.

  'Hold your breath, please. Sir George,' she said. "This

  may be a little pungent.'

  She held the door open for him and he retired outside

  while she brushed Colonel Pikeaway, who coughed and

  complained:

  'Damned nuisance these people are. Always wanting you

  to get fixed up like a barber's dummy.'

  'I should not describe your appearance as quite like that,

  Colonel Pikeaway. You ought to be used to my cleaning

  you up nowadays. And you know the Home Secretary suffers

  from asthma.'

  'Well, that's his fault. Not taking proper care to have

  pollution removed from the streets of London.

  'Come on. Sir George, let's hear what our German frier 'has

  come over to say. Sounds as though it's a matter ci some urgency.'

  Chapter 17 HERR HEINRICH SPIESS

  Herr Heinrich Spiess was a worried man. He did not seek

  to conceal the fact. He acknowledged, indeed, without concealment,

  that the situation which these five men had come

  together to discuss was a serious situation. At the same

  time, he brought with him that sense of reassurance which

  had been his principal asset in dealing with the recently

  difficult political life in Germany. He was a solid man, a

  thoughtful man, a man who could bring common sense to

  any assemblies he attended. He gave no sense of being a

  brilliant man,'and that in itself was reassuring. Brilliant politicians

  had been responsible for about two-thirds of the

  national states of crisis in more countries than one. The other

  third of trouble had been caused by those politicians who were

  unable to conceal the fact that although duly elected by

  democratic governments, they had been unable to conceal

  their remarkably poor powers of judgment, common sense

  and, in fact, any noticeable brainy qualities.

  'This is not in any sense an official visit, you understand,'

  said the Chancellor.

  'Oh quite, quite.'

  'A certain piece of knowledge has come to me which I

  thought is essential we should share. It throws a rather interesting

  light on certain happenings which have puzzled as well

  as distressed us. This is Dr Reichardt.'

  Introductions were made. Dr Reichardt was a large and comfortable-looking man with the habit of saying 'Ach, so'

  from time to time.

  'Dr Reichardt is in charge of a large establishment in

  the neighbourhood of Karlsruhe. He treats there mental

  patients. I think I am correct in saying that you treat there

  between five and six hundred patients, am I not right?'

  'Ach, so,' said Dr Reichardt.

 
'I take it that you have several different forms of mental

  illness?'

  'Ach, so. I have different forms of mental illness, but

  nevertheless, I have a special interest in, and treat almost

  exclusively one particular type of mental trouble.' He branched

  off into German and Herr Spiess presently rendered a brief ^nslation in case some of his English colleagues should ^t understand. This was both necessary and tactful. Two

  145

  of them did in part, one of them definitely did not, and the

  two others were truly puzzled.

  'Dr Reichardt has had,' explained Herr Spiess, 'the greatest

  success in his treatment of what as a layman I describe

  as megalomania. The belief that you are someone other

  than you are. Ideas of being more important than you are.

  Ideas that if you have persecution mania--'

  'Ach, no!' said Dr Reichardt. 'Persecution mania, no, that

  I do not treat. There is no persecution mania in my clinic.

  Not among the group with whom I am specially interested.

  On the contrary, they hold the delusions that they do because

  they wish to be happy. And they are happy, and I can keep

  them happy. But if I cure them, see you, they will not be

  happy. So I have to find a cure that will restore sanity to

  them, and yet they will be happy just the same. We call this

  particular state of mind--'

  He uttered a long and ferociously sounding German word

  of at least eight syllables.

  'For the purposes of our English friends, I shall still use

  my term of megalomania, though I know,' continued Herr

  Spiess, rather quickly, 'that that is not the term you use

  nowadays, Dr Reichardt. So, as I say, you have in your

  clinic six hundred patients.'

  'And at one time, the time to which I am about to refer,

  I had eight hundred.'

  'Eight hundred!'

  'It was interesting--most interesting.'

  'You have such persons--to start at the beginning--'

  'We have God Almighty,' explained Dr Reichardt. 'You comprehend?'

  Mr Lazenby looked slightly taken aback.

  *0h--er--yes--er--yes. Very interesting, I am sure.*

  There are one or two young men, of course, who think

  they are Jesus Christ. But that is not so popular as the

  Almighty. And then there are the others. I had at the

  time I am about to mention twenty-four Adolf Hitlers

  This you must understand was at the time when Hitler

  was alive. Yes, twenty-four or twenty-five Adolf Hitlers--'

  he consulted a small notebook which he took from his

  pocket--'I have made some notes here, yes. Fifteen Napoleons

  Napoleon, he is always popular, ten Mussolinis, five reincarnations

  of Julius Caesar, and many other cases, very curiol and very interesting. But that I will not weary you with ;

  this moment. Not being specially qualified in the medical sens'-

  it would not be of any interest to you. We will come to the

  incident that matters.'

  Dr Reichardt spoke again at rather shorter length, and

  Hen- Spiess continued to translate.

  There came to him one day a government official. Highly

  thought of at that time--this was during the war, mind you--

  by the ruling government. I will call him for the moment

  Martin B. You will know who I mean. He brought with him

  his chief. In fact he brought with him--well, we will not beat

  about the bush--he brought the Fiihrer himself.'

  'Aoh, so,' said Dr Reichardt.

  'It was a great honour, you understand, that he should come to inspect,' went on the doctor. 'He was gracious, mein Fiihrer. He told me that he had heard very good reports

  of my successes. He said that there had been trouble lately.

  Cases from the army. There, more than once there had been

  men believing they were Napoleon, sometimes believing they

  were some of Napoleon's Marshals and sometimes, you

  comprehend, behaving accordingly, giving out military orders

  and causing therefore military difficulties. I would have been

  happy to have given him any professional knowledge that

  might be useful to him, but Martin B. who accompanied him

  said that that would not be necessary. Our great Fiihrer,

  however,' said Dr Reichardt, looking at Herr Spiess slightly

  uneasily, 'did not want to be bothered with such details. He

  said that no doubt it would be better if medically qualified

  men with some experience as neurologists should come and

  have a consultation. What he wanted was to--ach, well, he

  wanted to see round, and I soon found what he was really

  interested to see. It should not have surprised me. Oh no,

  because you see, it was a symptom that one recognizes.

  The strain of his life was already beginning to tell on the