the Kärntnerstrasse, all chromium and glass. No one I knew was there so I went on to the Künstler, the Landtmann and the Arcaden near the University. The Künstler and the Landtmann were trying to pretend nothing had happened but at the Arcaden a group of Brownshirts were sitting where the students used to gather.
‘I stopped because they were singing. The Germans love to sing. “ Heute gehört uns Deutschland , Morgen schon die ganze Welt ” – “Today Germany belongs to us, tomorrow we’ll own the whole world”. Before I knew what was happening, one of the brutes seized me. I told him I was English and a journalist but they did not seem to care. I thought I was going to be raped. Instead, they took me to the Rossauerlaender police station – since the previous day the headquarters of the Vienna Gestapo.
‘I was questioned by the most frightening man I have ever seen. He said his name was Eichmann – Adolf Eichmann. He was quite polite to begin with but icy cold. He said I was a known Communist and Jew-lover. I said I was an accredited journalist and I demanded to talk to someone at the British Embassy. I mentioned the names of everyone I could think of who might protect me. In the end, I was so desperate I said that I was a friend of Adam von Trott. Eichmann said I was a notorious liar, an incompetent journalist and in the pay of Moscow and that I would be hanged.
‘They put me in a cell with half a dozen Jews waiting to be shipped off to God-knows-where – to their death probably.’
‘ In carcere et vinculis !’ Edward exclaimed.
‘Just when I had given up all hope, I was called by one of the guards and saw . . . the face of an angel – a plump, middle-aged, balding angel but an angel for all that. He turned out to be Mr Barker from the Embassy. He was almost as nervous as I was. Anyway, he said I was to go with him. I was to be deported and he was charged with seeing that I left the country. You can only half-imagine what it felt like to be out in the street again. I had the awful feeling that, even if I could have saved the lives of all the Jews in my cell by staying behind, I would still have gone with Mr Barker. I was plain terrified.’
‘And that night you were in Switzerland?’
‘Yes, but I’m going back,’ Verity said fiercely. ‘They can’t get rid of me that easily. Joe Weaver says he can get me new accreditation papers. He’s spoken to Ribbentrop. The Germans are still keen to keep the British press sympathetic to their cause so they don’t want a noisy quarrel with the New Gazette . Oh, Edward, I can’t describe what it was like to be in that awful place. I knew it was a prison from which people never escape. But somehow I had. And yet part of me is still there in that ante-room of hell. Never tell me that the Nazis are people whom one can make treaties with or talk to as though they were human beings. They are evil incarnate.’
‘What do you mean, you’re going back? You can’t go back. I won’t allow it.’
‘I’ve got to. It’s what I need to do. I need to bear witness. Does that sound insufferably pompous?’
‘But they know you will report what you see. They’re never going to allow that.’
‘Joe told Ribbentrop that his newspaper would kick up a fuss if I wasn’t allowed back. He told him the New Gazette would do everything possible to rouse the British people to the threat Hitler poses if they treated his journalists like criminals.’
Edward grinned. ‘I can just imagine Joe blowing his top but, seriously, wouldn’t it do more good if the treatment you received in Vienna convinced him to do what he threatens and turn against appeasement?’
Verity shook her head. ‘He told me that, in reality, he could not do it while the Prime Minister still thinks he can negotiate a peace. Apparently, Chamberlain believes that Hitler is a sated beast and, now he has Austria, he will digest his new empire at leisure.’
‘But he won’t.’
‘No, of course he
‘I stopped because they were singing. The Germans love to sing. “ Heute gehört uns Deutschland , Morgen schon die ganze Welt ” – “Today Germany belongs to us, tomorrow we’ll own the whole world”. Before I knew what was happening, one of the brutes seized me. I told him I was English and a journalist but they did not seem to care. I thought I was going to be raped. Instead, they took me to the Rossauerlaender police station – since the previous day the headquarters of the Vienna Gestapo.
‘I was questioned by the most frightening man I have ever seen. He said his name was Eichmann – Adolf Eichmann. He was quite polite to begin with but icy cold. He said I was a known Communist and Jew-lover. I said I was an accredited journalist and I demanded to talk to someone at the British Embassy. I mentioned the names of everyone I could think of who might protect me. In the end, I was so desperate I said that I was a friend of Adam von Trott. Eichmann said I was a notorious liar, an incompetent journalist and in the pay of Moscow and that I would be hanged.
‘They put me in a cell with half a dozen Jews waiting to be shipped off to God-knows-where – to their death probably.’
‘ In carcere et vinculis !’ Edward exclaimed.
‘Just when I had given up all hope, I was called by one of the guards and saw . . . the face of an angel – a plump, middle-aged, balding angel but an angel for all that. He turned out to be Mr Barker from the Embassy. He was almost as nervous as I was. Anyway, he said I was to go with him. I was to be deported and he was charged with seeing that I left the country. You can only half-imagine what it felt like to be out in the street again. I had the awful feeling that, even if I could have saved the lives of all the Jews in my cell by staying behind, I would still have gone with Mr Barker. I was plain terrified.’
‘And that night you were in Switzerland?’
‘Yes, but I’m going back,’ Verity said fiercely. ‘They can’t get rid of me that easily. Joe Weaver says he can get me new accreditation papers. He’s spoken to Ribbentrop. The Germans are still keen to keep the British press sympathetic to their cause so they don’t want a noisy quarrel with the New Gazette . Oh, Edward, I can’t describe what it was like to be in that awful place. I knew it was a prison from which people never escape. But somehow I had. And yet part of me is still there in that ante-room of hell. Never tell me that the Nazis are people whom one can make treaties with or talk to as though they were human beings. They are evil incarnate.’
‘What do you mean, you’re going back? You can’t go back. I won’t allow it.’
‘I’ve got to. It’s what I need to do. I need to bear witness. Does that sound insufferably pompous?’
‘But they know you will report what you see. They’re never going to allow that.’
‘Joe told Ribbentrop that his newspaper would kick up a fuss if I wasn’t allowed back. He told him the New Gazette would do everything possible to rouse the British people to the threat Hitler poses if they treated his journalists like criminals.’
Edward grinned. ‘I can just imagine Joe blowing his top but, seriously, wouldn’t it do more good if the treatment you received in Vienna convinced him to do what he threatens and turn against appeasement?’
Verity shook her head. ‘He told me that, in reality, he could not do it while the Prime Minister still thinks he can negotiate a peace. Apparently, Chamberlain believes that Hitler is a sated beast and, now he has Austria, he will digest his new empire at leisure.’
‘But he won’t.’
‘No, of course he
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