Despite the recent bombing, the Ku-damm still managed to look comparatively normal, with people getting ready for Christmas as if they hadn’t a care in the world. To look at them, carrying Christmas trees and gazing in shop windows, a war might be happening somewhere other than in Berlin on a Thursday morning in mid-December. Schellenberg parked his car on Unter den Linden, where a cold wind was worrying the Nazi flag on the facade of the Ministry of the Interior, saluted to the two guards on duty outside the front door, and went inside.
He found Himmler in a businesslike mood and, to his surprise, the Reichsfuhrer showed no immediate inclination to issue his subordinate with any kind of reprimand. Instead he eyed the report on Schellenberg’s lap and with an uncharacteristic casualness invited the SD general to summarize what it contained.
“Most of the Friedenthal Section were killed or captured, of course,” said Schellenberg. “Very likely they were betrayed to the Soviets by one of the Kashgai tribesmen, for money.”
“Very likely,” agreed Himmler, who saw no reason to tell Schellenberg that it was he himself who had betrayed the Operation Long Jump team to the NKVD.
“It was always the main risk in Operation Long Jump-the reliability of those tribesmen,” Schellenberg continued. “But we think that those who did evade capture, at least in the short term, were probably responsible for some sort of bomb that was placed on the grounds of the British embassy in Teheran. Our sources indicate that there was a large explosion about a hundred yards away from the embassy at just after twenty-one hundred hours on Tuesday, November thirtieth. Churchill was hosting his birthday party at the time, and it seems that earlier that same day, the bomb, of considerable size, had been concealed in a water cart and positioned close to the banqueting room. But the bomb was discovered, very likely by the same man who was killed moving it to a place of safety. An American, named Willard Mayer.”
“You don’t say,” said Himmler, who sounded genuinely surprised to hear this.
“Willard Mayer was a member of the American OSS, and was Roosevelt’s German translator during the conference. He was also a philosopher of some note and before the war had studied in Vienna. And in Berlin, I believe. I looked at one of his books. It’s really quite profound.”
“Willard Mayer was also the Jew who saved the Fuhrer’s life,” said Himmler.
“Then he seems to have been quite a hero, doesn’t he?” Schellenberg observed. “Saving the Fuhrer and then the Big Three. A little more than one expects from your average philosopher.”
“Do you really think that bomb would have killed them?”
“By all accounts, the explosion was immense. The American’s body was never found.”
“Of course, with him gone there’s one less witness to what really happened,” said Himmler. “In that respect at least, they’re fortunate. Almost as fortunate as you, Schellenberg.”
Schellenberg acknowledged the rebuke with a curt nod of the head. He waited a moment.
“Well, go on,” urged Himmler. “Go on.”
“Yes, Herr Reichsfuhrer. I was merely going to add that as far as the Americans are concerned, the process of rewriting the record has already begun. To read the British and American newspapers after the conference was over, it’s hard to believe the Fuhrer could ever have been there. Remarkable, really. It’s as if none of this ever happened.”
“Not quite,” said Himmler.
Schellenberg braced himself. This was it. Himmler was going to demote him after all.
“That Jew-lover, Roosevelt, must now take the consequences for his refusal to agree to the Fuhrer’s terms.”
Schellenberg smiled with a mixture of relief and amusement. It seemed as though he would be remaining in his position. And it looked as if it wasn’t just the Allies who were busy rewriting history. The first time Himmler had told him of the Fuhrer’s secret trip to Teheran he had added that Hitler’s departure had been precipitated by the discovery that he could not deal with an enemy as cruel and perfidious as Stalin after all.
“What consequences are those, Herr Reichsfuhrer?”
“The war against the Allies may be impossible to win, Schellenberg,” said Himmler. “I think we both know that’s true. But there is still the war against the Jews. The Fuhrer has ordered that the final solution of the Jewish problem is to be given the utmost priority in the coming year. New deportations have already begun in Hungary and Scandinavia, and special camps have been given instructions to increase their turnover.”
Himmler stood up and, clasping his hands behind his back, walked to the window and looked out.
“The work will be difficult, of course. Unpleasant, even. Personally speaking, I myself find this order especially abhorrent. As you know, I have always struggled to find a just peace for Hitler and for Germany.” He glanced back at Schellenberg and shrugged. “But it was not to be. We did our very best. And now…” He walked carefully back to his desk and, sitting down, picked up his fountain pen with its infamous green ink. “Now we must do our very worst.”
Schellenberg breathed a sigh of relief. He was safe after all.
“Yes, Herr Reichsfuhrer.”
EXCERPTS FROM THE WORKS OF WILLARD MAYER
“To be content is to have arrived at the furthest limits of human reason and experience; and there is more satisfaction to be had in the acceptance of what cannot logically be said than in all the moral philosophy ever studied by men. Reason is as inert as a noble gas and functions empirically, by its relation to real existence and matters of fact. And what cannot be tested empirically and is incapable of being proved true or false can never be an object of our reason. To be empirical is to be guided by experience, not by sophists, charlatans, priests, and demagogues.” from On Being Empirical
“All the objects of which we are aware are either impressions we take from the data of sensation, or ideas, which may only be gathered from an impression if that idea is to be logical. In looking to find the meaning of things, we must be empirical concerning matters of fact, or analytical concerning the relation of ideas. But matters of fact are what they are and need reveal no logical relation to each other: that facts are facts is always logically true regardless of rational inspection. Since, however, ideas may also exist as ideas regardless of rational inspection, it will be understood how it is only here, at the level of mere understanding, that there can exist the possibility of philosophy and establishing scientifically what may or may not logically be said. By the same token, since the opposite of any fact can exist as an idea, however illogical, it will be seen as a paradox how any philosophical demonstration of a fact becomes impossible.” from On Being Empirical
“A man need only be convinced of two principles of philosophy in order to find himself liberated from all vulgar creeds, no matter how charismatic these might seem to be: first, that considered in itself, there is nothing in an object that enables us to say anything beyond that object; and, second, that nothing enables us to say anything about an object beyond those observations of which we have direct experience. I say again, let any man take the time to be persuaded of these two philosophical principles, and live his life accordingly, which we might describe as being empirical, and it will be perceived how all the bonds of common ignorance will be broken. In this way does modern philosophy shine the sublime light of science in even the darkest places in Man’s psyche.” from
On Being Empirical
“We read a great deal about organized book burnings by Nazi stormtroopers. But in fact it was the Christians who first organized book burnings as a means of promoting their faith (see Acts of the Apostles 19:19--20). One of my students at the University asked me today if I thought it could ever be right to burn a book, quoting Heine’s ‘Almansor’ in support of his argument that it could not. I told him that any volume of philosophy should be consigned to the flames if it contains any experimental or abstract reasoning regarding matters of fact, human existence, and mathematics, for such a book can contain nothing but lies and specious reasoning. His eyes widened fearfully as he whispered to me he assumed I was referring to Hitler’s Mein Kampf and that I should be careful what I said. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that actually I had been referring to the Holy Bible.” from