that you of all people, as a doctor, a surgeon, are speaking in favour of the arms race –’
‘Just a minute. I’m speaking in favour of humanity. And I’m wondering what is the best way of getting out of an inhuman system. These systems have their own laws … Once they’ve been set up and are firmly established, the principles of common sense are turned upside down in them! You don’t get rid of dictators by sucking up to or evenhobnobbing with them. For that kind of person there is only one law: the law of force, my friend.’
‘But, I repeat, increasing the stocks of armaments only increases the danger of war breaking out, and where the
danger
of war is increased, then the danger of something actually happening is increased, you surely won’t deny that … A rocket heading in our direction will put an end to all discussion! Is that what you want – as a doctor?’
Richard was getting worked up. ‘As a man who thinks about politics, my dear brother-in-law! And one who doesn’t switch off his common sense and his observations when he puts on a white coat.’
‘What worries me,’ Ulrich interjected – he was sitting beside Christian and was presumably trying to calm things down a little – ‘is what Chernenko and Andropov said more or less in the middle of their speeches. One can’t beg peace from the imperialists, only defend it by relying on the strong power –’
‘Invincible,’ Niklas broke in raising his ice-cream spoon, ‘invincible power! I underlined it in the
Tageblatt
.’
‘Right, then. By relying on the invincible power of the Soviet forces. Sounds pretty bellicose. That worries me.’
‘You see. So there you are,’ the triumphant look Richard gave Meno seemed to say. His dish was empty, even though he’d had a large helping of ice cream and spent more time speaking than concentrating on eating it. Christian suspected that in the heat of debate his father hadn’t noticed what he was eating. Richard waved his spoon. ‘And what that means is crystal clear. That Moscow intends to continue to keep us on a short leash and that there will be no relaxation, quite the contrary. I read both speeches very closely. Anyway, Meno, it’s not true that they didn’t say Andropov had been head of the secret service. They did say that, only between the lines. Chernenko said … let me think a moment … yes: Yuri Vladimirovich had experience from his varied activity in domestic and foreign affairs in the field of ideology. In the field of ideology, I ask you, what’s that supposed to mean? Domesticand foreign affairs, if you put the two together I can see three fat Cyrillic letters shining: K, G and B … Moreover Chernenko says that Andropov has done great work in the consolidation of the socialist community and in the maintenance of the security – as a man sensitive to language, Meno, what do you think of the repeated genitives? – of the security of our state. And where do you think he performed that service, certainly not on a collective farm … This Andropov will not deviate one millimetre from official dogma, I can tell you. And Chernenko!’
‘He says that all the members of the Politburo are of the opinion that Yuri Vladimirovich has mastered Brezhnev’s style of leadership well,’ Christian replied. The adults looked at him in astonishment. ‘We went through the article at school, in civics. However,’ he added with a smile, ‘not with your deductions.’
‘We keep those to ourselves, Christian, d’you hear?’ Anne warned him in a low voice.
‘Yes, exactly. Mastered well, that’s what it said. In a word: a hard line! And when I read what else this Andropov said, what was it now, oh yes, something like: “Each one of us knows what an invaluable contribution Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev made to the creation” – to the creation, oh dear me, these abstract nouns always seem to crop up in the rubbish they write, sometimes you get the impression they do it deliberately to
‘Just a minute. I’m speaking in favour of humanity. And I’m wondering what is the best way of getting out of an inhuman system. These systems have their own laws … Once they’ve been set up and are firmly established, the principles of common sense are turned upside down in them! You don’t get rid of dictators by sucking up to or evenhobnobbing with them. For that kind of person there is only one law: the law of force, my friend.’
‘But, I repeat, increasing the stocks of armaments only increases the danger of war breaking out, and where the
danger
of war is increased, then the danger of something actually happening is increased, you surely won’t deny that … A rocket heading in our direction will put an end to all discussion! Is that what you want – as a doctor?’
Richard was getting worked up. ‘As a man who thinks about politics, my dear brother-in-law! And one who doesn’t switch off his common sense and his observations when he puts on a white coat.’
‘What worries me,’ Ulrich interjected – he was sitting beside Christian and was presumably trying to calm things down a little – ‘is what Chernenko and Andropov said more or less in the middle of their speeches. One can’t beg peace from the imperialists, only defend it by relying on the strong power –’
‘Invincible,’ Niklas broke in raising his ice-cream spoon, ‘invincible power! I underlined it in the
Tageblatt
.’
‘Right, then. By relying on the invincible power of the Soviet forces. Sounds pretty bellicose. That worries me.’
‘You see. So there you are,’ the triumphant look Richard gave Meno seemed to say. His dish was empty, even though he’d had a large helping of ice cream and spent more time speaking than concentrating on eating it. Christian suspected that in the heat of debate his father hadn’t noticed what he was eating. Richard waved his spoon. ‘And what that means is crystal clear. That Moscow intends to continue to keep us on a short leash and that there will be no relaxation, quite the contrary. I read both speeches very closely. Anyway, Meno, it’s not true that they didn’t say Andropov had been head of the secret service. They did say that, only between the lines. Chernenko said … let me think a moment … yes: Yuri Vladimirovich had experience from his varied activity in domestic and foreign affairs in the field of ideology. In the field of ideology, I ask you, what’s that supposed to mean? Domesticand foreign affairs, if you put the two together I can see three fat Cyrillic letters shining: K, G and B … Moreover Chernenko says that Andropov has done great work in the consolidation of the socialist community and in the maintenance of the security – as a man sensitive to language, Meno, what do you think of the repeated genitives? – of the security of our state. And where do you think he performed that service, certainly not on a collective farm … This Andropov will not deviate one millimetre from official dogma, I can tell you. And Chernenko!’
‘He says that all the members of the Politburo are of the opinion that Yuri Vladimirovich has mastered Brezhnev’s style of leadership well,’ Christian replied. The adults looked at him in astonishment. ‘We went through the article at school, in civics. However,’ he added with a smile, ‘not with your deductions.’
‘We keep those to ourselves, Christian, d’you hear?’ Anne warned him in a low voice.
‘Yes, exactly. Mastered well, that’s what it said. In a word: a hard line! And when I read what else this Andropov said, what was it now, oh yes, something like: “Each one of us knows what an invaluable contribution Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev made to the creation” – to the creation, oh dear me, these abstract nouns always seem to crop up in the rubbish they write, sometimes you get the impression they do it deliberately to
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