Get Lenin Read online

  Get Lenin

  Robert Craven

  Robert Craven

  Get Lenin

  Chapter 1

  September 1938 — Munich

  The early-hours sounds of the city drifted up through the hotel window — trams, cars and music. Spotlights fanned the still summer night, casting swooping shadows around the room.

  Eva Molenaar pulled a robe about her, slipped from the bed and reached into her handbag to retrieve her cigarette case and lighter. Her head swam with vodka, but she still felt in control. Tapping the cigarette four times against the case before lighting up, she sat on the window sill and viewed Munich. Every building was draped with red swastikas, giving the street the look of a theatre proscenium.

  She looked back at the Soviet Attache snoring in the bed, his big, shaven head resembling a bulb. The Russian had been an inexhaustible seam of information. Whatever the outcome of the conference, her homeland was finished.

  Her next thoughts were of her family and her handler. The cigarette case was a gift from him. It was silver, slim and anonymous.

  She dressed quietly. She had been careful as to where she had put her clothes. She switched the bathroom light on and the snoring from the room beyond increased as if in response. Her hair she could do nothing about, but she made an effort to control it. Splashing cold water onto her face and applying make-up, she stepped back to review herself, turned out the light and slipped out of the room.

  In the corridor raucous singing and the sound of a phonograph boomed from the suite where the Italian delegation was staying. Street girls flitted from room to room, one or two giving her a sisterly look as she passed them. At the end of the corridor, a two-man SS security detail checked her papers. At 3 a.m. and with so many girls in constant motion, they paid little heed to her, waving her through.

  Eva crossed the foyer. The night-staff were so bored they didn't even look up to see a pretty girl passing them by. Journalists, writers and Pathe news teams sat smoking and drinking. Some were shouting into lobby phones to editorial departments across the world's time zones. German songs bellowed from the residents' bar.

  At the second check point she came under greater scrutiny, encountering more plain clothes Gestapo. Her papers, issued via the Dutch Embassy, were gallantly handed back with a suave smile. The Fraulein should not be travelling the city at night alone — one of them strode out of the foyer onto the street and hailed a passing taxi. Eva beamed thanks to them, flashing her thigh as she slipped into the car.

  As the taxi made its way through the city, an almost New Year’s Eve feeling filled the night.

  ‘What do you think of Neville Chamberlain flying in tomorrow? The eyes of the world will be on Munich!’ announced the driver, cheerfully breaking the silence.

  ‘Let’s hope it’s the last conference,’ agreed Eva nonchalantly, making it a point to stare out of the window,

  ‘Good for business, though!’ He raised a smile but noted the pretty girl seemed lost in her thoughts. Undeterred, he kept the conversation going but ensured it was small talk. It killed the time.

  Eva’s German was fluent but her accent still had traces of her native Polish. She replied occasionally to the driver who was extolling the joys of the city before she interrupted him asking him to drop her off. Despite his protests, she insisted she was suffering from car sickness and would rather walk the last block to clear her head. She tipped him and waved sweetly, insisting she was ok as he sped back to the hotel.

  Dawn was breaking over the skyline. A young couple passed her hand-in-hand, wishing her a good morning, the young man dressed in crisp Wehrmacht uniform, the girl in a beautiful cocktail dress, revellers from one of the many embassy balls. They both couldn’t have been more than nineteen years old. As Eva stepped into the hotel where she was staying, a pair of Messerschmitt fighters tore across the dawn skyline, glinting like knives. Ascending smoothly to escort the in-coming diplomatic flights, they banked up into the vanilla coloured clouds and disappeared. The street became silent again. Eva collected her key, using the name De Witte.

  In her room, Eva did one thing before retiring to bed. Opening her wardrobe, she took out her long blue raincoat. She had placed a half-full packet of cigarettes in the pocket. She took them out, intent on transferring them into the silver cigarette case. Sliding her thumbnail along the glued edge, she opened out the carton. She reached for the cigarette case. It was fitted on the inside with two strips of metal that swung out on a hinge. Each strip was fitted with buttons equidistant on both sides. Placing the carton's thin edge between the two strips of metal, she pressed them together, the points under the tab pushing out the cardboard. They were a combination of dots, visible to the eye only when angled into the light, but to her handler a simple code in fine-point Braille.

  She paused before the next sequence. Should Germany invade the Soviet Union, Lenin's body would be a priority evacuation. The attache had snorted in derision through the shot glass as he spoke those words. She input the message. Using one of her hairpins, she fastened the carton together, placing three cigarettes back. She then stowed the cigarette packet back in her coat pocket.

  Removing the Braille strips, she released the hinge holding the plates together. With the Gestapo being so diligent during the conference she couldn't afford to have these strips discovered. She put one plate along the hemline of her overcoat for its return to British Intelligence and, stepping out into the corridor, she went over to the open-grilled elevator and slipped the other plate through the gap between the lift door and the floor. It dropped from sight without a sound.

  She lay on the bed, pulled the top cover around her, and replayed the banquet where she had met the Russian.

  The first recollection was of the room filled with the smell of pomade, cigars and aftershave. She had committed to memory the faces and names around her to the medley the orchestra was playing — Oswald and Diana Mosley, Unity Mitford, Von Ribbentrop, Molotov, Daladier, and a tall American businessman named Donald T Kincaid. She had met dozens of his ilk in her time and this one was no different. He was about fifty, rich in a vulgar fashion and accompanied by a young platinum blonde. He regarded Eva and most of her Eastern European counterparts with barely disguised contempt. Still, he had leered at her through the thick lenses of his glasses whenever the blonde he was escorting was engaged elsewhere in conversation.

  Eva spotted the Russian Attache in an ill-fitting uniform from the photograph memorised earlier. He was looking at her as she had hoped, his small eyes glinting with lust. Breaking from a group of publishers and freelance reporters, she struck up a conversation in Russian. In no time he had moved past clumsy flirting to doe-eyed adoration. Closing her eyes, she shuddered for what might happen during the remainder of the evening, but in fact nothing did as the drunken Russian passed out struggling to get his boots off.

  Kincaid made her nervous, though. With his sort of money she would be easy to find should he decide to take up the chase. On several occasions he had jettisoned the blonde to make small talk, ignoring the Russian’s ire.

  The dawn light glinting through the heavy curtains woke her. It was 8am. Eva showered quickly, slipped into a formal skirt and jacket, and took out her perfume. Spraying some into the air, she stepped into the fine mist and out again. She took the overcoat from the wardrobe and spilled the remainder of the perfume onto it. Draping it over her arm, she took the stairs down to the lobby where she singled out a waitress serving coffee to some English journalists looking lost amid their luggage. The waitress was thin and angular- faced, with her fair hair pulled back severely.

  ‘Pardon me, Fraulein, could you ensure this is cleaned? I must leave for Stuttgart this afternoon.’ Touching the waitress on the arm with a pre-arranged signal, she handed her the
coat.

  Eva smiled faux-shyly at the journalists, apologising for the interruption. The waitress smiled back, giving a slight nod in recognition of the signal and of the codeword ‘Stuttgart’. She told Eva that it would take an hour to clean and directed her to the breakfast room.

  Eva took a seat furthest from the door and ordered a coffee and pastry from a gaunt-looking waiter. Lighting a cigarette, she exhaled slowly as she glanced around the room. Satisfied no-one was paying attention to her, she began to relax.

  A group of Americans commandeered the table beside her, their banter and relaxed manner adding to the ambience. They all appeared well-groomed and well-dressed, unlike their British counterparts in the foyer outside. Two smiled over at her, inviting her to join them. She demurred with a smile.

  ‘Can’t wait to hear what these guys have to say,’ said the one with leading man looks. He lit up a pipe, drawing on it in measured puffs.

  ‘We’re after all talking about a bunch of book burners and their appeasers,’ agreed his companion. His eyes kept drifting over to Eva as he spoke. Like his friend, he was handsome and appeared erudite.

  ‘Editorial’s gonna have a field day. I wonder if they still burn books over here.' The conversation stopped once their orders arrived accompanied by a large pot of coffee.

  The waitress who had taken Eva’s coat came into the restaurant looking for her. When she spotted her, she came over and offered her a newspaper to read. Eva thanked her with a smile and, after skimming the pages, found the crossword. Reaching into her bag she withdrew a pen and began to fill in the clues with coded messages. She folded the paper into her bag and prepared to hand it back to the waitress when her coat was ready.

  All around her was laughter, the clatter of cutlery and the German waitresses flirting with the Americans. It almost seemed the human species was staring into annihilation and keen to breed as compensation.

  The coffee arrived and Eva noted how bad the waiter’s skin was. She summoned a smile to thank him, hoping it wouldn’t encourage him to hover.

  The coffee was fresh and strong. Her hangover was abating and the pastry was warm from the kitchen. Now all she had to do for the next two hours was stay alive, her thoughts drifting with the cigarette smoke.

  Do they still burn books over here?

  Chapter 2

  May 10th 1933 — Berlin

  The ceremonial pyre raged on the Opernplatz, sending sparks and ashes into the cooling twilight, captured on film by the Ministry or Propaganda. Encircling it, a cordon of Ernst Rohm's SA stood holding flambeaus in rigid attention. Curious onlookers watched as the books were hurled into the flames, fluttering upwards like broken doves before falling into the inferno. Nationalistic songs were shouted with gusto by the SA and Hitler Youth, followed by fire-oath chants with straight-arm salutes as the fire was fed.

  Across Weimar Germany this scene was repeating itself, the nation’s intelligentsia being singled out for ‘enlightenment’ in National Socialism by Adolf Hitler and Joseph Goebbels. Manuscripts, paintings and etchings marked as ‘un-German’ were being incinerated in an orgy of destruction. Student leaders wearing swastika armbands directed more groups of SA to rooms and lecture halls that had been under surveillance for months. The libraries were stripped of their contents and precious tomes were earmarked for destruction in a clinical manner, impelled by the day long radio broadcasts and posters plastered up all over the city.

  Across from the platz where the inferno raged, in the basement theatre space of Humboldt University, Eva Molenaar put her dog-eared script down. She could hear the roar of the crowd drifting into the room. In the small rehearsal space she stood with her fiance and fellow actor, Jonas Zamoyski, and the director, Herr Gruber.

  ‘I hear they’re burning books by Jack London and H.G. Wells,’ she said uneasily.

  ‘And Thomas Mann,’ added Jonas, glancing toward the door. Another roar from the platz drifted in and the chants seemed to come in waves.

  Instinctively she moved closer to Jonas. Gruber leaned toward them. 'It seems wolves and Martians have unsettled Doctor Goebbels. Now pay attention you two. Ignore those pyromaniacs and their goons over at the platz.'

  Eva noted the script was shaking slightly in the director’s hands. The noise outside swelled momentarily. Gruber glanced up toward the door, then turned to the couple, clearing his throat quietly. 'They are in love, yes, your characters?'

  Eva and Jonas exchanged a glance. Jonas' eyes twinkled and Eva dimpled back. They nodded. With a gesture, Gruber had Eva sitting on the edge of the bed and moved Jonas upstage, then stepped back. Satisfied with their positioning, he continued, 'Now think, what would they be doing? It's the morning. This scene, Jonas, is like Romeo and Juliet, Act 3, Scene 3. The lovers are about to part after their first night together; the sowing of the first doubts, of love and loss. He's leaving her chamber as they talk. What action could he be doing?' Gruber was inspired, moving around in his out-sized suit. He looks wonderfully crumpled, thought Eva.

  'Getting dressed,' grinned Jonas, tipping a wink to her.

  'Excellent. Yes! Getting dressed.'

  Eva blushed deeply. Gruber noted it swept down to her collar bone. Gruber clapped his hands. 'Now again!'

  They were preparing a short two-hander that Jonas had written and performed with Eva at Warsaw’s summer theatre. As a result they both had been invited to Berlin to perform for the student body studying Polish drama, notably the works of Leon Schiller. Herr Gruber, a disciple of Brecht, wanted to add a more nihilistic slant to the work. They were discussing the piece further when the door to the rehearsal room was kicked in.

  Two SA troopers in their late-teens stood red-faced, sweating drunk, with batons in their hands.

  Gruber strode forward, demanding the reason for the intrusion. He was beaten repeatedly then stamped on. He fell to the ground. Eva screamed. Jonas placed himself in front of her as the two SA troopers strutted in. They ignored Jonas’ shouts of protest as they were drawn to the beautiful young girl. No more than seventeen, her auburn hair sat shoulder-length, framing a heart-shaped face and grey Nordic eyes.

  ‘Well, well, well what do we have here?’ the taller of the two troopers said, ogling Eva. The smaller one with porcine eyes snatched away her script.

  ‘A play is it?’ he slurred, looking back at Gruber’s body. Gruber lay still with blood now pooling around him. The trooper tried to read the print. When he couldn’t, he proceeded to tear the script slowly and deliberately.

  ‘Looks like degenerate Jewish literature,’ he sneered.

  ‘Wir sind nicht judisch,’ countered Jonas slowly.

  ‘Any nudity?’ rasped the other one, his eyes never leaving Eva.

  Eva drew closer to Jonas. Her mind was frozen in terror. The two Brownshirts moved in and out of the minimal overhead lighting. The smell of smoke, sweat and Scotch whisky assailed her. One of them unsheathed a knife from his jack boot and sidled toward her, grinning.

  ‘Yep, nudity alright.’

  Jonas lunged at him. ‘Run!’ he shouted at Eva.

  She bolted for the door as the three men struggled. The smaller one grabbed her by her hair, pulling a clump of it out. Leaping over Gruber's prone body, her forward momentum drove her into the corridor. Her neck was wet and she was bleeding. Pressing the palm of her hand against the wound, she sprinted for the courtyard.

  Jonas floored the first attacker with a punch to the jaw. The smaller one ducked under the follow through and slashed him across the arm with his knife. The blade cut deep into the muscles of Jonas’ forearm. With his free hand he smacked the man down onto the floor, the knife clattering away from them. Bleeding heavily, Jonas bolted for the door.

  He paused deliberately to lure the men away from Eva, hoping their bloodlust was sated and they would ignore her. Their stumbling footfalls and whooping cat-calls told him they were behind him. Pausing for another beat, he watched Eva running for the courtyard. He spied a stairwell to the upper corridors and bounded
up the steps two at a time, his wound leaving a spotted trail.

  Eva sprinted toward the university’s square. In it stood two furniture removal vans with their engines idling, the back doors open. A line of SA and Nazi sympathisers were loading hundreds of books onto them. They were surrounded by angry students and lecturers pushing, shoving and throwing punches. The SA in turn retaliated with batons and kicks. More SA arrived in trucks. The campus was fast becoming a battlefield.

  A disturbance overhead made Eva look up. She screamed.

  Jonas was pitched over the third floor balcony onto the cobbles below by the two troopers, where he was set upon by more SA, throwing books aside and sprinting over to him. They started stamping, kicking and swinging their batons onto his unprotected head.

  Eva tried to run to him. Ellen Eidelstein, a girl Eva and Jonas had been rooming with, ran toward her from the student protest around the van.

  Eva was shrieking and struggling to get to Jonas. Ellen pulled her away, removing her scarf and putting it over Eva’s head in case her attackers could see her below. The two men on the balcony were scanning the square, their faces contorted in a drunken rage. Ellen dragged Eva into the mass of protesting students who started running after the vans toward the inferno. The two women ran past it into the unforgiving night filled with the songs of German might and the fluttering ashes of literature.

  After an hour of skirting side streets and avoiding crowds, they made it back to Ellen's modest student digs under the cover of night. Sleep wouldn’t come. Eva rocked in the bed as Ellen hugged her and tried to soothe her. Eva sat up rigid and stared, the light through the window framing her in stark light; her eye sockets pitch black like a skull.

  Next morning, after the mob had dispersed, Ellen went back to the university to try to collect Eva’s belongings. Mindful of her own striking Semitic looks, she bundled herself into bulky clothes and covered her lush black hair with a plain brown scarf.