by Per Wahlöö
Major von Peters: Yes, yes, yes. Even Kampenmann knows what headquarters looked like.
Velder: The officer showed us into a bare room where there was nothing but a table and two chairs. He was still very friendly. Then he left, leaving two guards on the door. We sat on the chairs and said nothing. A quarter of an hour later, the officer came back. He looked in a troubled way from one to the other of us, then turned to Ludolf and said courteously: ‘You’re to be executed shortly. Do you want to express a last wish?’ Ludolf said at once: ‘I want to see Oswald.’ The officer was somewhat taken aback and said: ‘The Chief of State? General Oswald? That’s out of the question, of course.’ Ludolf said: ‘A little whisky, please.’ The officer said: ‘Unfortunately spirits have been strictly forbidden in the country for over a year.’ Ludolf shrugged his shoulders and said: ‘Then give me a cigarette.’ The officer said: ‘Of course.’ He took out his case at once and politely offered it. Then he lit the cigarette. Ludolf puffed at it twice, looked at the cigarette and then threw it away. I know why. We’d quite simply got used to not smoking and found it unpleasant. The officer was sitting perched on the edge of the table, swinging one leg back and forth, as if he were troubled and didn’t know what to say, or as if he were waiting for someone. He was wearing shiny black leather boots. After a while, the door opened and a soldier in linen uniform and low black shoes came in. He pointed at me with his pistol and said: ‘Follow me.’ I glanced at Ludolf, but he was looking in another direction at that moment. The guard walked behind me, across a yard and into another building. It appeared to be a back way. There was a corridor with several doors. He opened one of them and pushed me inside. Then he followed me in and stood with his back to the door, his pistol cocked.
Commander Kampenmann: Well? What happened?
Velder: Oswald was in there. The room was obviously his private office and was very large. The steel blinds were down so it was rather murky. Oswald was wearing a general’s uniform, but he’d unbuttoned his shirt and loosened his tie. His boots were standing by the door and he was padding back and forth in his stockinged feet. His false teeth were in a glass on the desk. When I came in, he stopped and looked at me. ‘Good-day, Erwin,’ he said. ‘Hi,’ I said. ‘Where’s Edner and what’s he thinking of doing?’ he said. ‘I don’t know,’ I said. ‘You’re lying,’ he said. ‘Of course you know.’ I said: ‘No, I don’t.’ Then he gave me a long look and said: ‘That’s a pity, Erwin. Otherwise I’d have been able to offer you a swift and relatively painless end. Like this. Look.’ He went over to the window and beckoned me to follow. Then he manipulated the blinds a little so that you could see through the slats. They had led Ludolf out into the yard in front of the building and placed him against a heap of sandbags only ten or fifteen yards from the window. He was standing quite still, looking tired more than anything else. The tall officer set up the execution squad and ordered them to fire. The salvo struck low and it almost looked as if Ludolf were still alive when the officer bent over him and shot him through the head with his pistol. Oswald took two steps into the room and stood there with his head lowered, as he usually did when there was something special occupying his thoughts. I heard him say to himself: ‘That’s one of them. But the other bastard’s alive. What the hell is he thinking of doing?’ He repeated the last sentence several times. Then he made an impatient gesture towards me and said to the guard: ‘Take him away.’ I was very weak by then, from loss of blood, I imagine, and they took me straight to the military hospital.
Major von Peters: Are you satisfied now, Kampenmann? Do you think the Chief of State will be pleased to hear that you’ve let a murderer and deserter stand and shout out all those lies about him?
Colonel Orbal: Ach, do we have to have that summing-up today? It’ll soon be dark.
Colonel Pigafetta: They say it’ll soon be got through. And I also heard from Justice Haller that the Chief of State is expecting it to be done today.
Colonel Orbal: O.K. Let’s go up and have a beer, shall we? The session is adjourned for thirty minutes.
* * *
Colonel Orbal: And Pigafetta’s late as usual. Peculiar person.
Commander Kampenmann: By the way, how long did the remaining forts hold out?
Major von Peters: We blew the last one up on the seventeenth of May, if I remember rightly. Anyhow, why did you insist on hearing all that about Ludolf’s execution?
Commander Kampenmann: I didn’t in fact know about it.
Colonel Orbal: You’re so fearfully inquisitive, Kampenmann. That’s dangerous. And you’re soft. That’s dangerous, too. Watch yourself.
Major von Peters: Here’s Pigafetta. And he’s got Haller with him.
Tadeusz Haller: I’m sorry I haven’t been able to come until now. But I hear that the session has advanced swiftly. The Chief of State seemed quite satisfied when I spoke to him.
Colonel Orbal: Though it’ll be late today. And the air in here is worse than ever.
Tadeusz Haller: It shouldn’t need to be lengthy. I’ve spoken to the parties and instructed them to make their final summings-up as lucid as possible.
Major von Peters: Good. Call in the parties, Brown.
Lieutenant Brown: Is this extra-ordinary court martial prepared to proceed to the parties’ final summing-up in the case of the Armed Forces versus Erwin Velder?
Colonel Orbal: Of course, Brown. Why do you ask that?
Captain Schmidt: I request to be allowed to hand over to the Assistant Prosecuting Officer, Lieutenant Mihail Bratianu.
Major von Peters: Oh, so you’re doing the final summing-up, Bratianu. Excellent. Go ahead.
Lieutenant Bratianu: Would you mind pushing the accused forward, Captain Endicott. And turn him so that I can look him straight in the eye. That’s right. Thank you.
Colonel Orbal: Just don’t go on for too long, Bratianu.
Lieutenant Bratianu: I shall be quite brief, sir. Mr President, members of the presidium, honoured court martial! To use a mild expression, I should like to say that the person we see before us is the most odious criminal that has ever been before any court in this country. There is nothing to say in his defence. For even if a perverted régime created the circumstances which facilitated and occasionally directly invited criminal activities, Erwin Velder is in himself a monster of depravity and distorted thinking. In the preliminary investigation, and during the proceedings of this extraordinary court martial, it has been described in detail how during the last decade of his life, the accused sank deeper and deeper into the slough of immorality and crime. As we see him now before us here—scarcely human—through his own person he constitutes a living proof not only of his own guilt but also of how far an individual can sink into the slough I have just mentioned. Erwin Velder’s crimes are so terrible that they cannot be expiated, anyhow not by death, nor by any other form of punishment that I know of. That Velder might be made into an object for correction to some extent, I find absolutely out of the question. But undeniably there is a possibility, and even a person of such deficient moral quality as he could have been channelled into another way of life—if from the beginning of his criminal activities he had become the object of social care. It is from this aspect that the verdicts against Velder are of interest. By their precedential character, they will form the basis for legislation which is not only intended to protect and help our nation and to maintain its dignity and independence, but will also in future offer us the opportunity at an early stage, perhaps as early as during youth, to correct people with criminal tendencies. Therefore in the name of this court martial and of the whole nation, I demand that for every one of the one hundred and twenty-eight crimes he has been accused of, Velder shall be considered liable for irrevocable punishment. The accused has beyond all doubt been proved guilty not only of the one hundred and twenty-six crimes he has pleaded guilty to, but also in both cases in which even before this court martial he has been presumptuous enough to deny criminality, namely the question of bigamy and cowardice in
face of the enemy.
The sentences pronounced and the verdicts cited are thus of vital interest to the future of the nation, On the other hand, the accused personally is of no interest whatsoever. Nevertheless, the question must be asked, pro forma: What shall the armed forces and the nation do with Erwin Velder?
Nowadays we have the advantage of living in a well-ordered country in which the security and welfare of our citizens rest on the three fundamental concepts of religion, morality and dignity. Another corner-stone in this our society, created by the Chief of State, General Paul Oswald, is humanity and respect for human rights. Despite the fact that Velder as a being has long stood below that of swine, despite his horrible crimes and animal behaviour patterns, we should in accordance with our accepted norms treat him with a certain leniency. For that is what our way of life teaches us. Therefore I submit quite simply that Corporal Erwin Velder be stripped of his national citizenship and his military rank, be dismissed from the Army and declared to have forfeited any right to his military distinctions. And that after that he be executed.
Lieutenant Brown: We have heard the final summing-up from the Prosecuting Officer. I now hand over to the Defending Officer.
Captain Endicott: Honoured presidium. In my capacity as the Defending Officer of Velder, I consider it my duty to request a lenient sentence.
Colonel Orbal: What? Is that all?
Captain Endicott: Yes, sir.
Major von Peters: Bravo, Endicott. That was the best thing you’ve done during this whole session.
Colonel Orbal: Uhuh, then that would be all for today.
Tadeusz Haller: For technical reasons, I find it appropriate that the session is adjourned until next Tuesday. Then the work of the Joint Commission will be completed, which gives this court martial the opportunity of pronouncing judgement and then closing the case.
Colonel Orbal: Oh, yes. That gives us a long weekend, too. The session is adjourned until Tuesday the twentieth of April at eleven o’clock.
Sixteenth Day
Lieutenant Brown: Those present: Colonel Mateo Orbal, Army, also Chairman of the Presidium of this Extra-ordinary Court Martial; Major Carl von Peters, Army, and Commander Arnold Kampenmann, Navy. The officer presenting the case is Lieutenant Arie Brown, Air Force. Colonel Nicola Pigafetta has reported that he will be a few minutes late and Justice Tadeusz Haller is on his way here from the Ministry of Justice. The accused has been told to wait in the hall with Roger … I beg your pardon, Captain Roger Endicott, Air Force, and Captain Wilfred Schmidt, Navy.
Major von Peters: Pigafetta must be pretty long in the face today. It’s been widely rumoured that Bloch’s appointment is fixed and down on paper.
Colonel Orbal: Yes, I heard that too. Doesn’t make much difference. Numbskull or numbskull.
Major von Peters: It must make a difference to Pigafetta. Here’s Haller, anyhow.
Colonel Orbal: What’s that colossal tome?
Tadeusz Haller: The fruits of the labours of this extra-ordinary court martial, gentlemen. Verdicts and sentences in the case against Velder.
Colonel Orbal: For God’s sake, you’re not going to make us read all that, are you?
Major von Peters: Or have Brown read it out? I won’t agree to that.
Tadeusz Haller: Oh, that probably won’t be necessary. Here is a stencilled summary of the actual judgements. It should suffice as a basis for discussion at the internal deliberations. Would you please hand these round, Lieutenant Brown.
Major von Peters: Ah, look, here’s Pigafetta. Good morning, Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force. How are you today?
Colonel Pigafetta: Excellent, thank you. I apologise for the delay.
Tadeusz Haller: Is everyone here? Then perhaps we can take a look at this for a few minutes. Before the private deliberations begin, I must return to the chancery.
Colonel Pigafetta: I didn’t see Lieutenant Bratianu in the hall. Isn’t he going to be present when judgement is pronounced?
Major von Peters: No, we’ll have to make do with Schmidt. Bratianu has had a posting.
Colonel Pigafetta: Where to?
Major von Peters: I don’t know. Why are you so interested in Bratianu all of a sudden?
Colonel Pigafetta: Oh, no special reason. I just wondered.
Colonel Orbal: This looks good. Nicely and neatly set out.
Tadeusz Haller: Well, as you can see from the summary you have before you, the Joint Commission from the Ministry of Justice and the Judicial Department of the General Staff recommend the following: first are ten different crimes, namely high treason, desertion, cowardice in face of the enemy, participation in rebellion, murder, accessory to murder, terrorism, sabotage, mass murder and subversive activities. For these Velder is sentenced, according to military law, in each case to execution by firing-squad, with no right of appeal elsewhere. For four of these crimes, which may become subject to civilian court proceedings as well, he is sentenced to death by hanging, with the right to appeal to the High Court. In that event, the judgement is confirmed even where he has the opportunity of appealing for mercy from the Chief of State.
Colonel Orbal: I’m afraid I’m not really with you yet.
Tadeusz Haller: That doesn’t really matter. Let us continue.
Colonel Orbal: Not so much hurry. If he’s first shot and then hanged, how the hell can he then …
Colonel Pigafetta: We can talk about that later, Orbal.
Colonel Orbal: What a scramble!
Tadeusz Haller: Thirty-four crimes ranged under twelve different headings are referred to in the category of disciplinary offences and may be subject to court martial proceedings. Here terms of imprisonment of varying lengths are recommended. The shortest is fourteen days for indiscretion on duty and the longest five years for dereliction of duty. You will see the detailed summary on page two.
Colonel Pigafetta: Yes, that’s fine.
Tadeusz Haller: Then we have thirty-two more crimes gathered under ten different headings, which may be subject to both military and civil judgement. These concern, for instance, fornication, drunkenness, theft, carelessness and abuse of rank. Imprisonment is also recommended here, imprisonment in military or civil prison, i.e. hard labour. The length of sentence in the different cases varies from one week to six months. Right?
Colonel Pigafetta: Yes, go on.
Tadeusz Haller: In the next group, ten specified crimes of the blasphemy and atheism type should also incur imprisonment, the Commission thinks. The shortest sentence is a month’s imprisonment for blasphemy and the longest three years for spreading heresy. The corresponding sentences apply to military administration of law, though here too the court martial shall sentence to imprisonment instead of hard labour. Generally, of course, criminals sentenced to longer terms of imprisonment are handed over to civil authorities, at which military imprisonment is changed to civil.
Colonel Pigafetta: We understand.
Colonel Orbal: Do we?
Tadeusz Haller: Further, it is suggested that Velder is sentenced to life imprisonment for illegal intelligence activities, ten years for bigamy, and ten years for Communism, and eight years for furthering the flight from the country of enemies of the people. Shorter sentences are recommended for a number of other charges, for instance, three months for criminal promiscuity and fourteen days for incitement. As you will see on page three, sexual offences are set up in a number of different special cases. There, three months is meted out for oral intercourse, four months for fornication in a public place and so on.
Major von Peters: Why do you keep looking at your watch, Pigafetta?
Colonel Orbal: Perhaps it’s stopped.
Tadeusz Haller: To summarise, it can be said that Velder has been found guilty of one hundred and twenty-seven of the prosecution’s one hundred and twenty-eight charges. The case was extended by one charge during the session, by Lieutenant Bratianu. On one charge, he has been found not guilty. That is charge number one hundred and two, that of rape. The case for
the prosecution here has not been approved and has been struck from the record.
Commander Kampenmann: Why?
Tadeusz Haller: Velder was at that particular moment still a corporal in the National Freedom Army and the person he is said to have raped belonged to the revolutionary guerilla forces. Field service conditions prevailed, and a soldier cannot possibly be blamed for taking similar measures, especially when the same action at a later stage of the disturbances is in fact recommended as a military means of correction of Communist guerilla members of the female sex. Yes, that’s what it says.
Colonel Orbal: My God, how confusing it all seems.