"Your Excellency, there has been a cable from the Foreign Ministry vis-a-vis the Duarte remains," Gradny-Sawz began. "I thought Oberst Gr?ner should be brought into this as soon as possible."
"That's the Argentinean boy who was killed at Stalingrad?" von Lutzenberger asked.
"Yes. His remains are to be placed aboard the General Belgrano of the Lineas Maritimos de Argentina y Europa at Lisbon. They are being accompanied by a Hauptmann von Wachtstein of the Luftwaffe. The Belgrano is scheduled to sail from Lisbon for Buenos Aires at 0700, Lisbon time, November 8."
"Have you a first name on von Wachtstein?"
"I have it here somewhere," Gradny-Sawz said, and began to search in his pockets for a notebook.
"I don't have his first name at hand, Sir," Gr?ner said. "But he is the son of Generalmajor Graf von Wachtstein."
"How did you come by that information?"
"In a cable informing me that he is being assigned to me as my Deputy for Air," Gr?ner said.
"Hans-Peter are his Christian names, Your Excellency," Gradny-Sawz announced, reading from his leather-bound notebook. He has been awarded, personally, from the hands of the F?hrer, the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross."
"How interesting," the ambassador said. "I'm sure there is a reason why it was impossible to consult with meor, for that matter, you, Gr?nerbefore this gentleman was assigned to us."
Both Gr?ner and Gradny-Sawz smiled uneasily, but said nothing. Ambassador von Lutzenberger frequently complained that the Foreign Ministry did not consult with him as often as was necessary.
Well, they swallowed that whole,von Lutzenberger thought, a trifle smugly. I asked who von Wachtstein was; when told, I was annoyed that no one informed me about his assignment here. Therefore, they don't have any idea that his father and I are connected.
"There is a question of protocol, Your Excellency, that I thought you should resolve," Gradny-Sawz said.
"Which is?"
"On the one hand, Hauptmann Duarte was the only son of Humberto Valdez Duarte, the banker. Under those circumstances, one would think that as First Secretary, I would deal with the family, as I did when we learned of Captain Duarte's tragic death. On the other hand, Captain Jorge Duarte's motherBeatrice Frade de Duarteis the sister of Oberst Jorge Guillermo Frade; I think it reasonable to presume he was named for him. Under those circumstances, considering Frade's importance, perhaps Gr?ner would be the man to handle things."
Ambassador von Lutzenberger focused on Gradny-Sawz's motives in raising the question, rather than on the question itself, the answer to which seemed self-evident. The more important an indigenous official was, the more senior the Embassy official should be. In the diplomatic hierarchy, a first secretary was far senior to a military attache1.
And Gradny-Sawz certainly knew this.
So why was he raising the question? In terms of real power, so far as von Lutzenberger was concerned, the two were about equal, and thus equally dangerous. In addition to being his man in Argentina, Gr?ner was a close personal friend of Admiral Wilhelm Canaris, the head of the Abwehr. One did not cross Canaris, or his friends, without good reason.
Gradny-Sawz's influence, above and beyond that which went with his rank in the Foreign Ministry, came from his early and close ties to the inner circle of the Nazi party. The National Socialists had been desperate early on for the support of the aristocracy. It lent them, they believed, a respectability they would otherwise not have had. Gradny-Sawz's early support of the Nazis had been a clever career move. He had nothing, really, to lose by announcing his conviction that Adolf Hitler and his National Socialists were the one hope of das deutsche Volk, and that Austria should "return" to the German fatherland.
He could have been discharged from the Austrian Foreign Ministry, of courseand certainly should have beenfor bad judgment, or disloyalty. But he was only a minor functionary at the time, and he didn't need a job. The Gradny-Sawz estates in Hungary were extensive; and in those days he had dual citizenship; he might even have been able to buy his way into the Hungarian Foreign Service.
But he bet on the right horse. The National Socialists came to power; and in 1938 Austria became Ostmark. And the Nazis rewarded their friends: Gradny-Sawz was "absorbed" into the German Foreign Ministry and assigned to the Embassy in Paris as Third Secretary for Commercial Affairs. In 1941, he was assigned to Buenos Aires as First Secretary.
A colleague in the Foreign Ministry took von Lutzenberger aside during a visit to Buenos Aires and warned him that Gradny-Sawz had friends at the highest levels in the Sicherheitsdienst the German Secret Serviceand it could be presumed that he was reporting to them whenever Embassy personnelthe Ambassador includedstrayed from his notion of the correct National Socialist path.
Gradny-Sawz reveled in high-level social intercourse.
Ordinarily, Die grosse Wienerwurst would be doing whatever he could to make sure Gr?ner did not usurp this privilege. He would not be asking me whether I think Gr?ner should be brought into the matter. The question then becomes, why?
Because he is afraid that something is going to go wrong. What, I have no idea, for what can possibly go wrong with a funeral, however grotesquely medieval it will be here in Catholic Argentina?
Perhaps he is concerned that he will somehow offend Colonel Frade. Or a member of his family. And he wants to see that Gr?ner is the one who will be in hot water if it does. Or else he wants to be able to say, if something goes wrong, that I ordered him to deal with the Duartes and/or Colonel Frade.
Gradny-Sawz, I know, belongs to the School of Diplomatic Practice that holds that one cannot endanger one's diplomatic career if one avoids any situation of conflict, however unimportant.
"Quite right, Gradny-Sawz," the ambassador said. "It is a delicate matter. Give me the details, and I will contact Frade myself. Have him to lunch, perhaps. And then I will decide which of you should carry out our role in Hauptmann Duarte's funeral."
He could tell from the look on Gradny-Sawz's face that that was not the response he was looking for.
What did you want me to say? What are you after?
"While I have you both here," Ambassador von Lutzenberger said. "It seems that three American NorthAmericannationals, employed by the Radio Corporation of America, have disappeared. This has been reported to the Argentinean authorities, specifically to the police commander of the Distrito Federal."
(The Federal District, somewhat similar in character to the District of Columbia, lies within the Province of Buenos Aires, and includes the city of Buenos Aires.)
"Oh, really?" Gradny-Sawz said, somewhat smugly. "It is being bandied about that certain individuals connected with our embassy have knowledge of this matter. These allegations have also come to the attention of the Federal Police."
"I heard the same story," Gradny-Sawz said. "In fact, I have the feeling that the Americans will not be heard from again." "Tell me what rumors you have heard," the Ambassador said. "Your Excellency will understand that these are only rumors," Gradny-Sawz said, visibly enjoying himself, "for I, of course, have no personal information about this incident."
"What did you hear, Anton?" the Ambassador pursued, hoping that neither impatience nor disgust was evident in his voice.
"I heard, Your Excellency, that these three Yankees were suspected of certain activities involving neutral shipping"