Stealing the Future Read Online Free Page B
Author: Max Hertzberg
protocols of government.
I sat down in the chair opposite her, the desk between us. Frau Demnitz fiddled with some papers, peering through the horn-rimmed glasses perched on the end of her nose. Finally she looked up and addressed me.
“Herr Grobe, I understand that you have been receiving information from the police officer responsible for the Maier investigation in Dresden. I can only assume that you requested this information while you were in personal and contiguous contact with the Comrade Unterleutnant yesterday, but I am certain that I need not remind you that the Minister has explicitly stated that there is no need for any further involvement on your part. The Minister has in fact asked me to inform you,” and here she looked at her notes, presumably in an effort to get what she was about to say exactly right, “that the investigation is in hand.” Demnitz paused before starting her next sentence. “Additionally, the Minister wishes to instruct you to take over the liaison between this Ministry and the Four Powers. In its wisdom the Central Round Table,” and here Demnitz broke off to give what I’m sure was a disparaging sniff, “has advised that such a task should be carried out by this Ministry. Your instructions are to provide the formal framework for contact between the German Democratic Republic and the military missions of the Soviet Union, the Republic of France, the United States of America and the United Kingdom. You will begin this afternoon. A meeting has been agreed in principle with Major Sokolovski of the Soviet Army Western Group of Troops in Karlshorst. I would be obliged if you could contact his office to confirm the time and communicate the details of your appointment with this office.”
Frau Demnitz handed a file to me, and I gave her my report in return. She held out her hand, and I took it as I got up, but before I’d made it to the door I was called back.
“Herr Grobe,” and this time it was definitely a sniff, “while I am sure we appreciate the fact that you have prepared this report in a remarkably short frame of time, I would like to ask you to provide us with a more comprehensive account. If you would be so kind?”
11:58
Coming through the door to the offices I could see that Bärbel was not there, and that the post had been delivered. It was in a pile on the secretary’s desk. I shuffled through the letters and parcels. There was only one for me: a fat letter from Dresden, LdVP Sachsen stamped in the top left corner. It was from the Saxon police. Perhaps this was the information from Dresden that Demnitz had been getting so excited about? It did make me wonder how she’d known about the letter even before it arrived, but I suppose it just meant that Schadowski had been on the phone with someone from the Ministry.
I went into my office, tearing open the envelope and poking my hand into it. The cover letter included an inventory identifying the contents of Maier’s pockets when his body was found. None of it looked familiar, even though I had probably looked at it all when I was down there. But at the time I must have asked for the list to be sent to me at the office, because otherwise it would have bypassed me and gone straight to the Ministry.
A second sheet informed me that fingerprints had been taken from some scraps of paper (copies enclosed) found in Maier’s pockets. These fingerprints had been identified as belonging to Chris Fremdiswalde, DOB: 17.09.1973, place of birth: Löbau. Currently registered as living in Thaerstrasse in Berlin-Friedrichshain. He had been arrested in 1987 for theft at his school in Hoyerswerda, and a photo of Chris at the time of his arrest had been included. There was no explanation of why the police had bothered to compare his fingerprints with those on the papers in Maier’s pockets—there must be some close connection with Maier, otherwise they couldn’t have come up with the fingerprint match so quickly.
The other items in
I sat down in the chair opposite her, the desk between us. Frau Demnitz fiddled with some papers, peering through the horn-rimmed glasses perched on the end of her nose. Finally she looked up and addressed me.
“Herr Grobe, I understand that you have been receiving information from the police officer responsible for the Maier investigation in Dresden. I can only assume that you requested this information while you were in personal and contiguous contact with the Comrade Unterleutnant yesterday, but I am certain that I need not remind you that the Minister has explicitly stated that there is no need for any further involvement on your part. The Minister has in fact asked me to inform you,” and here she looked at her notes, presumably in an effort to get what she was about to say exactly right, “that the investigation is in hand.” Demnitz paused before starting her next sentence. “Additionally, the Minister wishes to instruct you to take over the liaison between this Ministry and the Four Powers. In its wisdom the Central Round Table,” and here Demnitz broke off to give what I’m sure was a disparaging sniff, “has advised that such a task should be carried out by this Ministry. Your instructions are to provide the formal framework for contact between the German Democratic Republic and the military missions of the Soviet Union, the Republic of France, the United States of America and the United Kingdom. You will begin this afternoon. A meeting has been agreed in principle with Major Sokolovski of the Soviet Army Western Group of Troops in Karlshorst. I would be obliged if you could contact his office to confirm the time and communicate the details of your appointment with this office.”
Frau Demnitz handed a file to me, and I gave her my report in return. She held out her hand, and I took it as I got up, but before I’d made it to the door I was called back.
“Herr Grobe,” and this time it was definitely a sniff, “while I am sure we appreciate the fact that you have prepared this report in a remarkably short frame of time, I would like to ask you to provide us with a more comprehensive account. If you would be so kind?”
11:58
Coming through the door to the offices I could see that Bärbel was not there, and that the post had been delivered. It was in a pile on the secretary’s desk. I shuffled through the letters and parcels. There was only one for me: a fat letter from Dresden, LdVP Sachsen stamped in the top left corner. It was from the Saxon police. Perhaps this was the information from Dresden that Demnitz had been getting so excited about? It did make me wonder how she’d known about the letter even before it arrived, but I suppose it just meant that Schadowski had been on the phone with someone from the Ministry.
I went into my office, tearing open the envelope and poking my hand into it. The cover letter included an inventory identifying the contents of Maier’s pockets when his body was found. None of it looked familiar, even though I had probably looked at it all when I was down there. But at the time I must have asked for the list to be sent to me at the office, because otherwise it would have bypassed me and gone straight to the Ministry.
A second sheet informed me that fingerprints had been taken from some scraps of paper (copies enclosed) found in Maier’s pockets. These fingerprints had been identified as belonging to Chris Fremdiswalde, DOB: 17.09.1973, place of birth: Löbau. Currently registered as living in Thaerstrasse in Berlin-Friedrichshain. He had been arrested in 1987 for theft at his school in Hoyerswerda, and a photo of Chris at the time of his arrest had been included. There was no explanation of why the police had bothered to compare his fingerprints with those on the papers in Maier’s pockets—there must be some close connection with Maier, otherwise they couldn’t have come up with the fingerprint match so quickly.
The other items in
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