Clara by Kurt Palka Read Free Book Online Page B

they took the Daimler to a Nazi meeting at a house in the outskirts of Vienna. Theo had guaranteed that there would be no police, and that he could get them in. It was a special meeting. Very interesting, he said. A woman speaker from Germany.
    Grim-faced security men stood at both ends of the street, and more patted them down for concealed weapons before they were allowed in.
    The meeting took place in the living room and adjoining dining room of a large home. People stood on the stairsand on the landing and craned their necks to see. A slight young woman in a long black skirt and white blouse was in charge. On her blouse, like a brooch, she wore the round party pin with the swastika. She stood against a glassfronted bookcase, and she gave a report on the economic and social progress across the border in Germany.
    While in Austria the government was unable to do anything other than cling to power with force, she told them, the jobs created in Germany were in the millions now; in road construction, in hydro-electric power generation, in home construction, in agriculture, in cars and machinery, and in armaments.
    Especially now, with the Communists there defeated, she said, the economy would be improving ever more rapidly. She spoke of a new pride to wipe out the insult of Versailles. And she spoke of a new and important role for women to help form a kinder society. A society where family values came first, where social insurance and health care were available to all. She spoke of hope and dignity; of change, and of a fair distribution of resources and work among men and women; and of financial well-being.
    “You are outlawed here in this country because your government is afraid of you. Its politicians and supporters want to cling to power and privilege,” she said. “You may have been forced underground for now, but in a way that only makes you stronger. Now you can grow and prepare, away from public scrutiny. We are ready to help you. Have no doubt; you will be forming the next government.”
    She spoke well, in clear and measured sentences, for half an hour. Then she introduced a man by the name of Seyss-Inquart as the new leader of the Austrian National Socialist Party. It would be his job to prepare the takeover, she said.
    Back outside Koren was subdued. He admitted that their platform sounded good. “Too good,” he said. “Afterwards, when they’re in power they can do whatever they want. I should have stood up and asked her if the Jews are next, now that the Communists are defeated.”
    “We wouldn’t have to adopt all their policies,” said Erika. “Just the ones we want.”
    Koren put his arm around her shoulder. “Really?”
    “Well, we wouldn’t. In any case I don’t think they’ll get in. And if they do and then don’t deliver, we’ll just throw them out at the next election.”
    At the Daimler Theo wiped snow off the windshield, unlocked the vehicle, and leaned across to open the passenger door.
    “But I did like that young woman,” Clara said. She moved over in the backseat to make room for Albert. “A woman spokesman. Nobody else has an agenda that includes women.”
    “She was good,” admitted Koren. “I’m glad we came. I can write about that. A moody setting. All those people and that blond little slip of a woman holding their attention.”
    “And did you hear what she said about Versailles?” said Theo. “Why don’t we stand up and do something too?”
    “Because we signed an armistice agreement,” said Albert. “Breaking it would amount to an act of war.”
    “Maybe that’s what it takes.” Theodor started the engine. “The politicians aren’t the ones who are hurting. Without an opposition they can just take whatever they want. It’s a dictatorship.”
    “It is,” said Albert. “Just about. But you’re not hurting too much, Theo. Are you?”
    “You know what I mean.”
    Looking at Theodor from behind and to the side, Clara could see the angry tilt to his head,