SHORT STORY 13/2019 x/2017 SpotlightSpotlight 7171
Maxwell looked out of the window down at the
Spree, wondering how far one would drop into the
water. In the first years after the war, the Soviets used
to throw people out of moving trains on Reichsbahn
routes within their zone. And Berlin’s waterways had
always been famous as a final resting place for the
city’s undesirables, long before the Soviets got here.
The microfilm Reinhardt had given him came
via Reinhardt’s wife, who worked as a secretary to
General Borodin at the Soviet Military Administra-
tion in Karlshorst. She was able to photograph a list
of people working for them in the West. Jeremy had
made this the condition for their exfiltration: get us
that list, we’ll check it and, if it’s the real thing, we’ll
get the Reinhardts out. So now, there it was, in the
hollowed-out Ostmark coin in Maxwell’s pocket.
He felt the train starting up and pulling slowly
across the bridge.
Later, back at his apartment in Charlottenburg,
he opened the two halves of the coin and examined
the film. He found what he was looking for: his code
name on the list. Oh, Jeremy, my boy, if only you
knew, he thought — but I’ll make sure you never do.
He replaced the film with the one that Borodin had
given him and put it carefully inside the Ostmark.
That evening, he took his usual walk along the
Spree. Checking that no one was watching, he took
a small stone out of his pocket, a dummy stone for
drops, into which he had inserted Frau Reinhardt’s
microfilm. Satisfied with himself, if not with the
world, he watched the arc it took as he threw it into
the depths of Berlin’s dirty waters.
affinity [E(fInEti]
, Neigung
appreciate [E(pri:SieIt]
, schätzen
approach [E(prEUtS]
, ansprechen
arc [A:k]
, Bogen
arouse [əˈraʊz]
, erwecken, erregen
carriage [ˈkærɪdʒ]
, Personenwagen, Eisenbahn-
wagen
cover [(kVvE]
, Ta r n u n g
defector [di(fektE]
, Überläufer(in)
dummy [(dVmi]
, unecht
exfiltration [)eksfIl(treIS&n]
, Ausschleusung
handkerchief [(hÄNkEtSIf]
, Ta s c h e n t u c h
hollowed-out [)hQlEUd (aUt]
, ausgehöhlt
in limbo [In (lImbEU]
, in Schwebe, in der Luft
hängend
marble [(mA:b&l]
, Marmor
pass [pA:s]
, Annäherungsversuch
rose bush [(rEUz bUS]
, Rosenstock
scholar [(skQlE]
, Gelehrte(r), Wissenschaft-
ler(in)
secretive [(si:krEtIv]
, geheimniskrämerisch
suspicion [sE(spIS&n]
, Ve rd a c h t
treasure [(treZE]
, Schatz
undesirable [)Vndi(zaIErEb&l]
, hier: unerwünschte Person
visiting professor
[)vIzItIN prE(fesE]
, Gastprofessor(in)
whiff [wIf]
, HauchBOOK REVIEWS
BOOK | ANTHOLOGYI’ve been interested in the Clintons
since the 1990s, which is also when I
came to know about Eleanor Roosevelt.
To Hillary, she was a shining example of
a woman, politician and First Lady.
Eleanor (1884–1962) was, in fact, the
first modern First Lady in the White
House: well educated, emancipated
and the equal of her husband, President
Franklin D. Roosevelt. FDR had a lot of
confidence in his wife and often asked
her to attend conferences or meetings
when he was ill — he had contracted
polio at the age of 39.
Active in women’s rights, Eleanor helped to lay the groundwork
for the rise of the women’s movement. In 1945, she became pres-
ident of the UN Human Rights Commission. She was in favour
of equality for African Americans — which provoked threats from
the Ku Klux Klan — and supported Native Americans and Jewish
Americans.
Right from her early days in the White House (1933–45),
Roosevelt engaged directly with people — through personal
appearances, radio programmes and lecture tours. She asked Amer-
icans to write to her and received about 130,000 letters a year. Many
contained questions, which she answered, and some of them ap-
peared in popular women’s magazines in the 1940s, 1950s and
1960s. A newly edited collection of those letters and answers —
If You Ask Me — is divided into topics we are still grappling with to-
day, such as civil rights, social problems, healthcare and ageing. They
also deal with issues we now handle differently (religion, etiquette,
manners, etc.). Her observations on human nature and values are
timeless.
The book is quite easy to understand, with vocabulary from all
areas of life — and a lot of American history behind the questions.
Here’s a good example of the advice she gave:
Q: Should we discourage children from playing war games?
A: We might wish to discourage them, but it would be utterly
useless at the present time, so we might as well give in graceful-
ly and try to see that when war games are played, they teach the
lessons which we wish our children to learn: fair play, magnanimity
in victory, courage in defeat and no hatred of peoples.
Atria Books, €6.75. Review by ELVIRA KORFcontract polio
[kEn)trÄkt (pEUliEU]
, an Kinderlähmung
erkranken
defeat [di(fi:t]
, Niederlage
discourage [dIs(kVrIdZ]
, abhalten, überreden,
etw. nicht zu tunengage: ~ with sb.
[In(geIdZ]
, auf jmdn. zugehen
gracefully [(greIsf&li]
, höflich; hier: kontrolliert
grapple with sth.
[(grÄp&l wID]
, sich mit etw. aus-
einandersetzenlecture tour [(lektSE tUE]
, Vo r t r a g s re i s e
magnanimity
[)mÄgnE(nImEti]
, Großmut, Seelengröße
utterly [(VtEli]
, gänzlich, völlig