The Generals

by Per Wahlöö

  Lieutenant Bratianu: May I borrow that letter?

  Tadeusz Haller: Certainly.

  Lieutenant Bratianu: What happened then?

  Tadeusz Haller: A few weeks later, Aranca Peterson brought the matter up at a Council meeting. General Oswald, myself, Janos Edner and Joakim Ludolf were present. Velder was there too, at first, but he left when he saw that his own case was to be discussed. Aranca Peterson wanted to register this extremely bigamous marriage at once and Janos Edner agreed with her, though not quite so enthusiastically. Joakim Ludolf seemed cautious—the General was categorically opposed. I myself pointed out where this precedent could lead. Aranca Peterson said that people in our country were such that even if there did happen to be men who wanted a harem, there were certainly no women who wanted to inhabit it. The most apocryphal remark was made by Joakim Ludolf, who said that in his view Velder wasn’t living with two women, but with one who was divided into two guises. The General clarified the moral aspects and refused to be drawn into this mindless discussion, as he expressed it.

  Commander Kampenmann: What did you say yourself, Mr Haller?

  Tadeusz Haller: Very little. The General’s attitude was just as clear as my own and we both trusted Joakim Ludolf’s good sense. At the time, we did not realise the extent of the conspiracy.

  Lieutenant Bratianu: How did the meeting end?

  Tadeusz Haller: A vote was taken for the very first time, requested by me, by the way. General Oswald and I voted against, of course, but Edner, Aranca Peterson and Ludolf voted for. In this way, the traitor element pushed through a decision which I personally, despite what had happened before and what happened later, consider was the most degrading in the history of the nation. Velder’s bigamous marriage was registered. From that moment on, however, both General Oswald and myself were aware of the traitors’ intrigues and of the abyss into which they were thinking of casting the nation.

  Lieutenant Bratianu: Thank you. The defence’s witness.

  Captain Endicott: Do you consider that this decision can be regarded as judicially valid?

  Tadeusz Haller: Of course not. To avoid retroactive legislation, the case would have to be placed before a military court. Velder was a soldier.

  Captain Endicott: No more questions.

  Colonel Orbal: Is all that in the book?

  Lieutenant Bratianu: Yes, sir. Volume Three of the preliminary investigation, page five hundred and twenty-three.

  Colonel Orbal: Give me that part, Carl. This must be looked into.

  Lieutenant Bratianu: I request to call Corporal Erwin Velder as witness.

  Major von Peters: Granted.

  Lieutenant Bratianu: Yes, you can get up, Velder. Naturally, you’re still on oath. I have some questions for you. Are you prepared to answer them?

  Velder: I don’t know, sir.

  Lieutenant Bratianu: Well, we’ll just have to try, won’t we? How long had this obscenity been going on when the traitor Janos Edner visited you?

  Velder: I’d lived with my wives for four years, sir.

  Lieutenant Bratianu: You call these women your wives and yet you won’t admit that you have committed criminal bigamy.

  Velder: No, sir.

  Lieutenant Bratianu: So you deny it?

  Velder: Yes, sir.

  Lieutenant Bratianu: Has the Defending Officer any comments on the attitude of the accused?

  Captain Endicott: Velder denies that his bigamy was criminal. He asserts even in the preliminary investigation that he contracted a marriage with these two women that was authorised by the authorities of the day.

  Lieutenant Bratianu: Well, Velder, wasn’t it with one of these two women that you committed the innumerable sexual offences which earlier in the session you admitted.

  Velder: Yes, sir.

  Lieutenant Bratianu: Or perhaps with yet another?

  Velder: I never deceived them, sir.

  Lieutenant Bratianu: Who was it, for instance, you fornicated with on the beach, when you should have been on guard?

  Velder: Doris, sir.

  Lieutenant Bratianu: So it was the elder of the sisters, then? Who were you with when you desecrated the church?

  Velder: That was Doris, too, sir.

  Lieutenant Bratianu: Was this Doris always the one who made herself available in the church. It seems to have happened several times.

  Velder: Yes, sir.

  Lieutenant Bratianu: And in the guard-post and the ammunition depôt, was that also Doris?

  Velder: Yes, sir.

  Lieutenant Bratianu: But the other one, then, whatever her name is, let’s see, Carla. Weren’t you having intimate relations with her during the same period?

  Velder: Yes, sir.

  Lieutenant Bratianu: Where? And when?

  Lieutenant Bratianu: Why don’t you answer?

  Velder: This has nothing to do with my criminal activities.

  Lieutenant Bratianu: So you refuse to answer?

  Velder: Yes, sir.

  Lieutenant Bratianu: So … that’s how things are, then. The preliminary investigation does not offer any information on this point either. I will leave the matter now and go over to a later point in time. Will you as thoroughly as possible account for the criminal circumstances in your house while you were living with these two tarts.

  Velder: No, sir. Anyhow, I must protest at your choice of words.

  Lieutenant Bratianu: So you refuse to answer again?

  Velder: Yes, sir.

  Lieutenant Bratianu: And you deny that you are guilty of criminal bigamy and an endless series of obscene activities in what you call your home?

  Velder: Yes, sir.

  Colonel Orbal: I must say Bratianu, this interrogation is going off the rails a bit. Velder, now I’m going to ask you a few things. For instance, that question the Edner fellow was too cowardly to ask. Did you have a communal bedroom with those women?

  Velder: I cannot answer that question, sir.

  Colonel Orbal: What? What’s this nonsense? Did you have a communal bedroom or didn’t you?

  Velder: With all due respect to this court martial …

  Major von Peters: Endicott, what’s the matter with the man? Has he gone crazy?

  Colonel Orbal: In that letter it said that you babbled something about small physical traits which you couldn’t bear to live without. What were they?

  Lieutenant Bratianu: Aren’t you going to answer, Velder?

  Captain Endicott: The accused considers that he is not bound to answer questions which in his view have no connection with his criminal activities.

  Lieutenant Bratianu: Is that correct, Velder?

  Velder: Yes, sir. And the respect I felt and still do feel for my wives makes …

  Colonel Orbal: What’s all this crap? Respect for a couple of tarts, which you clearly simultaneously fucked for several years!

  Major von Peters: Mateo, do cool off a bit.

  Colonel Orbal: This circus must be brought to an end. Velder, account for everything on this point. Immediately and in a loud and clear voice.

  Lieutenant Bratianu: Velder! The President of the court martial has asked you a question! I order you to answer!

  Velder: I’m sorry, sir, but I’ve nothing to say. If I’m to be sentenced on this charge, then it will be against my own denial.

  Lieutenant Bratianu: So that’s it. The defence’s witness.

  Captain Endicott: No questions.

  Colonel Orbal: Are we really supposed to rest content with that?

  Lieutenant Bratianu: The preliminary investigation does not say much on this charge. Nonetheless, I consider this section of the case important. Does the presidium agree with me?

  Major von Peters: Naturally. What’s the matter, Bratianu? Have you lost heart?

  Lieutenant Bratianu: I request five minutes’ adjournment, while the prosecution gathers more complete evidence.

  Major von Peters: We needn’t adjourn just for that. The parties can leave the room. Five minutes break.

>   Colonel Orbal: I don’t understand a thing. In the middle of this extremely interesting bit, Bratianu is suddenly as if transformed. He didn’t even raise his voice more than once at the end.

  Major von Peters: He’s probably got something up his sleeve.

  Tadeusz Haller: Certainly.

  Colonel Orbal: What happened to the sisters?

  Tadeusz Haller: One of them is dead, they know that. The other one probably fled the country.

  Lieutenant Brown: The Prosecuting Officer has returned now.

  Major von Peters: Call in the parties.

  Commander Kampenmann: Velder, just one question. What happened to your children?

  Velder: I don’t know, sir.

  Captain Endicott: I can partially answer that question. One is dead and one is still here in the protective care of the authorities. The third disappeared, presumably with Janos Edner and his people.

  Major von Peters: Pack would be a better word, Endicott.

  Lieutenant Bratianu: May I have the presidium’s attention. Sir, honoured members of the presidium. The extremely important part of this case we are now dealing with has unavoidably landed in a cul-de-sac. The accused evades all questioning with a series of denials and lies which make the matter impossible to survey. The reason for this is obvious. The preliminary investigation in this section, that is, charge seventy-seven, is incomplete, in fact positively inadequate. To enable me to complete the case in a satisfactory manner, it is necessary that the prosecution be granted a certain time to gather up more complete evidence.

  Colonel Pigafetta: How long?

  Lieutenant Bratianu: With reference to court martial regulations, paragraph eleven, part two, I request a month’s postponement to carry out further preliminary investigations.

  Major von Peters: Damn it, that’d be first rate.

  Colonel Pigafetta: Would it?

  Colonel Orbal: A month, what can one say about that?

  Lieutenant Bratianu: Allow me to point out that the regulation is unmistakable and absolutely definite on this point.

  Commander Kampenmann: You’re a lawyer, Mr Haller. What do you think?

  Tadeusz Haller: Lieutenant Bratianu is no doubt right.

  Major von Peters: So there’s nothing we can do except grant a postponement?

  Tadeusz Haller: Not as far as I can see.

  Major von Peters: Mateo, grant a postponement.

  Colonel Orbal: Granted.

  Lieutenant Bratianu: I request further, with reference to paragraph fourteen in the regulations, that the accused is ordered to be at the disposal of the prosecution during renewed preliminary investigations. Also that the accused is transferred to the Investigation Bureau of the Security Service for further interrogations.

  Colonel Orbal: Yes, yes. Granted.

  Lieutenant Bratianu: My plea then is concluded. The prosecution anticipates a return to normal order when the session is resumed. Colonel Orbal! Major von Peters! Colonel Pigafetta! Commander Kampenmann!

  Major von Peters: Damned fine conduct. Let the parties go now, Mateo.

  Colonel Orbal: The parties may leave

  Major von Peters: Well, I didn’t think that’d happen. But I’ve nothing against it. I’ll get my trip now.

  Colonel Orbal: Yes, indeed. An unexpected turn of events.

  Tadeusz Haller: Not really.

  Commander Kampenmann: Was this what you thought might happen, Mr Haller?

  Tadeusz Haller: Exactly. Lieutenant Bratianu wished to force a postponement and a new investigation at any price. So he chose several sections which he tried with every means to get Velder to deny. As soon as he saw that he wasn’t going to succeed, he rushed through the charges to get through to charge number seventy-seven before Captain Schmidt returned.

  Commander Kampenmann: Because he knew that that was the only one Velder would be certain to deny?

  Tadeusz Haller: Naturally. He also pressed the accused very mildly during the later questioning. Tactically and judicially, it was very skilfully done.

  Commander Kampenmann: But why?

  Tadeusz Haller: Unfortunately, it was probably for purely personal reasons.

  Major von Peters: Personal reasons? What do you mean?

  Tadeusz Haller: It seems as if I know more about your officers than you do yourself, Major von Peters. Perhaps that’s not all that peculiar. I have in fact taken the trouble to study Lieutenant Bratianu’s dossier.

  Major von Peters: And so?

  Tadeusz Haller: Before Lieutenant Bratianu became an army officer on the active list, he served in the Investigation Bureau of the Security Service. He handled the Velder case over three years ago, while Velder was still in military hospital. Lieutenant Bratianu clearly failed almost completely at the time, despite the fact that he used various forms of force. Velder was handed over to the Special Department of the Military Police and that meant, in fact, the end of Bratianu’s career within the Security Service.

  Commander Kampenmann: Do you mean his motive was quite simply a desire for revenge?

  Tadeusz Haller: Well, perhaps more of a wish to get his own back … on the Security Service, too, for that matter. The Special Department of the Military Police and the Investigation Bureau of the Security Service have different views on various matters.

  Colonel Orbal: I’ve been listening, in fact. And so he saw to it that he got the prisoner to himself again. He’s a smart boy, I must say. He’ll make a good officer. What are you dreaming about, Pigafetta?

  Colonel Pigafetta: Whatever I may do, it certainly isn’t dreaming.

  Lieutenant Brown: Allow me to point out that the session has still not yet been officially adjourned.

  Colonel Orbal: No, nor it has. This extra-ordinary court martial is hereby adjourned until Monday the fifth of April at eleven o’clock.

  Eighth Day

  Lieutenant Brown: Those present: Colonel Orbal, Colonel Pigafetta, Major von Peters, Commander Kampenmann and Justice Tadeusz Haller. Officer presenting the case, Lieutenant Brown.

  Colonel Orbal: Welcome, gentlemen. Ghastly hot in here, Pigafetta.

  Colonel Pigafetta: In that case, I must blame the fine weather. And Army engineers presumably played no part?

  Colonel Orbal: Isn’t there any ventilation?

  Colonel Pigafetta: Naturally. Switch on the fans, Brown.

  Tadeusz Haller: Well, Major von Peters, was your trip to your satisfaction?

  Major von Peters: Yes, in every respect. Excellent, quite simply. A lot of news over there. Good to be away from home, actually. All those strikes and miseries.

  Tadeusz Haller: They’re all over now.

  Colonel Orbal: The Army cleared the whole business up in twenty-four hours.

  Major von Peters: It’s an old truth. A régime which has the support of the Army has nothing to worry about.

  Colonel Orbal: Those fans are powerful. Hellish draughty.

  Colonel Pigafetta: Shall I get Brown to switch them off again?

  Colonel Orbal: So we’ve either got to suffocate or be blown out of our seats, have we? Aren’t there any half-measures?

  Lieutenant Brown: Unfortunately not.

  Colonel Orbal: This fan business and Carl here, who’s been away from his old woman for more than three weeks, made me think of Swift Slim and Speedy Gonzales. Swift Slim was a tremendously fast worker, both on horseback and at laying other men’s wives. Speedy Gonzales was also tremendously fast. When Speedy Gonzales heard that Swift Slim was in the neighbourhood, he took safety precautions and got into firing position on his verandah with his ’45 in his right hand and his left thumb in his old woman. He just sat there. Suddenly he saw a cloud of dust on the horizon and at that moment a fly came and settled on his nose. It was, as General Winckelman used to say, a difficult and very technical decision. Speedy Gonzales didn’t want to let the ’45 go, so swatted, yes, just swatted away the mosquito with his left hand. A tenth of a second later, he was sticking his thumb into Swift Slim’s arse.