THE BEST LAID PLANS...

THE BEST LAID PLANS...

The two men watched as the bus approached in the darkness. The only passenger to alight walked slowly, head down, towards his home, a modest, single storey house. One of the car’s occupants snapped away with his camera as the bespectacled man, unaware of being observed, entered his dwelling.

An hour later, at another house closer to the city, four men and a woman gathered to inspect the photographs they had developed. Along with those taken on that suburban thoroughfare, were several others captured by other members of this team as the same, bespectacled man had exited his place of work and had stood at a bus stop awaiting his lift home.

“How many more photographs do we need? It’s clearly him.”

It was the woman who had spoken but she was swiftly silenced by a disapproving look from the team’s leader, Avi.

“Sarah, we have to be sure. You know that”.

“Sarah’s right, Avi. It’s him. He has hardly aged, facially. I say we move quickly”.

Avi looked at Ruben, the youngest member of this team.

“I say when we move”.

“I’m with Ruben and Sarah. We’ve been here for six weeks now. Five of us, coming and going at all hours. Somebody is sure to report us sooner or later. I say we grab the bastard and get it over and done with”.

Avi, surprised at this outburst from Samuel, the oldest of the five and somebody he looked up to, considered for a moment before answering.

“ I was strictly ordered to be absolutely certain that our information was accurate before acting. Any error could leave our country open to serious consequences, politically...”

“Avi, we all understand the burden placed on your shoulders as team leader and we have been patient but, now, it’s time for action”.

The others murmured their agreement with these words coming, as they did, from Joseph who, if experience in the field meant anything, was the one agent among them most qualified and, by rights, should have been the person in charge of this covert operation. Avi could see that he was losing this argument.

“Okay, perhaps I have been over cautious. Tomorrow, we move.”

That night, Avi went over everything in his mind. Of all of them, here in Buenos Aires, Joseph had lost the most family members as a result of Nazi persecution. In the fifteen years since the end of the conflict, Joseph had devoted himself to hunting down those fugitives who had played a role in the Holocaust and, in his quest for revenge, had unearthed many Nazis in hiding. It had been rumoured that those discovered had been summarily executed and this had only served to elevate Joseph’s fearsome reputation within the ranks of the Israeli intelligence services. This time, however, it had been decided that a show trial was necessary so that the whole world could see that Israel would never again allow Jews to be treated in such a manner and, for this reason, Joseph had been denied the leadership of this task force; the fear too great that he would deal with their target in the same way he had dealt with others.

The following day, the team split. Samuel and Ruben would clean out this house thoroughly before moving to another safe house in Las Canitas and prepare everything for the arrival of the prisoner.

Sarah and Joseph, under Avi’s command would form the abduction team.

That night, they watched as the man shuffled along in the moonlight to his front gate. Moving swiftly and silently, all wearing gloves, they followed. Avi withdrew a pistol and rapped on the door. They had anticipated that the hunted would have a plethora of security locks but, to everybody’s surprise, the door opened almost immediately and Avi found himself face to face with his prey.

“Si? Can I help you?”

Avi hesitated momentarily before pressing the man back into the hallway of the bungalow. The others followed.

“No tengo dinero. I have nothing of value”, the man protested as he was shoved along the corridor and into a large kitchen, clearly under the impression that he was being robbed. Has he no fear that, after all these years, he must face retribution? Avi wondered.

“Stop talking in Spanish”, Avi demanded. “Your native tongue only”.

Upon hearing this, realisation seemed to slowly dawn on the face of the former Nazi and he turned deathly pale. As Joseph and Sarah, guns drawn, searched the rest of the house, Avi gestured for the man to sit at the dining table.

“Adolf Rachmann, I formally arrest you on behalf of the State of Israel on charges of atrocities against the Jewish people. You are to be transported to Tel Aviv where you will face trial and punishment for your crimes”.

The bespectacled man simply nodded.

Sarah and Joseph returned.

“Let’s move”, Sarah urged.

Joseph counselled otherwise.

“It’s strange that he opened the door so willingly. It’s as if he was expecting somebody to knock. Even after fifteen years on the run, these fotzen never relax; they’re always on high alert”.

Just then, as if to prove Joseph right, there was a knock at the front door. Avi gestured to Sarah to take the back exit and circle around while Joseph crept silently along the hallway and crouched behind the door awaiting Sarah’s voice.

“Hande hoch!”

Immediately, Joseph threw open the door and a woman, pushed at gunpoint by Sarah, tumbled into the corridor. She was of Spanish appearance and looked absolutely terrified as she was hustled into the back room.

Avi gave his teammates a look of concern. This was not in their plans.

“Who are you?”Avi asked.

It was Rachmann who answered.

“She is my friend, Ana. She can do you no harm. Please, let her go”.

“Your friend? We have been watching this house for six weeks and we have never seen her before”.

‘Please, she has been away for the summer, visiting her family in Tucuman. Today is her first day back. I was expecting her this evening”.

Leaving Sarah to watch over the two, Avi and Joseph retreated to the living room of the house.

“This is why I wanted to keep an eye on things for just a little longer. What do we do now?”

Calmly, Joseph answered.

“Like it or not, she is implicated now. We can’t let her go. I say we finish them both, here and now”.

“Are you mad? We can’t kill them. We are supposed to interrogate them, back at the safe house, before he has time to gather his thoughts. We can’t do that now, can we? There is no room in that little car for five people”.

“Well then, interrogate him, now”.

Sarah and Avi sat at the table opposite the two captives, Avi, now feeling pressurised by the presence of Joseph standing behind him, decided to commence his preliminary interrogation.

“Adolf Rachmann, do you admit that this is your true name?’

Gravely, the man nodded.

“Do you further agree that you were present at a conference known as the Wannsee Conference on 20th January 1942, presided over by one, Reinhard Heydrich, at which the administrative heads of various governmental departments met to discuss the implementation of a programme known as the Final Solution?”

Once again, the man nodded, making no attempt at denial.

Avi rose and, once more, drew Joseph aside.

“What now. He has admitted to the questions I was asked to pose”.

“Let me question him further, Avi. You are going by the book yet he is a monster. Let me at him”.

Avi considered the situation carefully.

“Very well, but I warn you, Joseph, no violence”.

Returning to the back room, the two men changed places. Rachmann looked apprehensive as he watched this Jewish man with the eyes of a fanatic take a seat across from him.

“You seem very calm, Herr Rachmann, for a man facing imminent death. Why is that?”

“I have done nothing wrong. I mistook you for armed robbers but, now, I know you for what you truly are, I am confident that I can prove my innocence”.

“Do you know who I am?”

The German shook his head, no.

“I am sure that you will recognise the names of Hans Sauerbrach, Jans Himmel, Adolf Schellenberg, former associates or, should I say, accomplices of yours in the Schutzstaffel, do you not?”

Rachmann’s eyes displayed surprise at the mention of these former comrades, all of whom, he knew, had met a violent death at the hands of an unknown assassin in recent years while, like himself, attempting to hide from the world in this South American country.

“You?”

Joseph nodded slowly, ominously.

Swallowing deeply, the former SS man cleared his throat and addressed Joseph directly.

“Please, of what am I accused? Allow me to respond?”

“Accused? You are responsible for the obliteration of my entire family”, Joseph struck the table forcefully as he spoke, startling his comrades as well as the two prisoners. “My entire family, you, you devil. My mother, my father, my brother, my cousins. I have lost every one. You dare sit in front of me and ask of what you are accused? I have hunted you for fifteen years”.

“I have heard of you. You are the golem they speak of. I am truly sorry for your loss but you are wrong about my role in what happened. Believe me, I did everything within my limited power to prevent such persecution. I...”

“Shut your filthy mouth, do you hear?”

Joseph raised his gun and, lurching across the table, pressed it into the mouth of the German. Avi, reacting swiftly, levelled his own gun and pressed it to the back of Joseph’s head.

“Joseph, lower your gun. I mean it. Lower your gun and remove your finger from the trigger. I warn you. I will not hesitate to shoot”.

The tension within this back room was unbearable for the thirty seconds or so it took before Joseph sat back finally and buried his face in his arms, sobbing loudly.

Avi and Sarah were visibly moved by Joseph’s reaction but, to their amazement, so were their two prisoners. Ana reached across the table and stroked Joseph’s hand.

“If you would allow me to explain, I can show you that I had nothing whatsoever to do with that I am accused of”, Rachmann pleaded.

Avi stared at the German, incredulously, before gesturing for him to continue.

“It’s true that I was a part of the administration in the Sicherheitdienst under my boss, Reinhard Heydrich and I was present at the villa at Lake Wannsee at the time you state. However, I was strongly opposed to any persecution of the Jewish people . I joined the National Socialists, firstly, for a pay check and, secondly, to combat the rise of socialism. I had an organisational ability that allowed me to rise within the party but only in an administrative way. It was Heydrich who recognised my abilities and brought me to Berlin and put me in charge of the Jewish office. I met with many leading Rabbis; they became my friends”.

“You expect us to believe you?, Sarah interjected, furiously.

“No, of course not. You have been led to believe otherwise but, if you can kindly bear with me, I can prove everything I say”.

Avi nodded. “Go on”.

“I strongly opposed the concentration camps. Also the decision to cancel their German citizenship. Each time, I put my opposition in writing and I proposed the alternative of a Jewish state such as the island of Madagascar in East Africa and persuaded Heydrich that this was a viable solution to ridding the Fatherland of Jews without expending great amounts of money and resources. I planned to move four million. Hitler, himself, approved it. Throughout the summer of 1940, I worked tirelessly to bring this to fruition”.

“Then why didn’t it happen?”, Sarah snapped.

“I was devastated when the scheme was abandoned. Mainly, the British sea blockade made any transports impossible and the idea was shelved”.

Avi, listening intently, unsure what to believe, looked again at Joseph but his head was still down. He turned to Sarah who shrugged noncommittally.

“Do you have proof of this?”

“Yes, I do. I have known, for fifteen years, that a day of judgement would come. If you will permit, Ana can show you ...”

Avi signalled to Sarah to accompany the woman and the two left the room. Joseph raised his head finally, his eyes bloodshot.

“Don’t tell me you are actually believing a word he says...”

“It won’t hurt to see what he has, Joseph”.

The two women returned, Ana carrying a shoe box.

Removing the lid, the German withdrew several type written letters and handed them to Avi. They were all in German. The agent studied them closely.

“These all appear to be letters from you to Heydrich pleading the case for Jewish people. Some relate to Madagascar, some to the revocation of German citizenship...”

“He could have typed them all years ago and kept them for a day such as this. It doesn’t prove that he actually sent them”, Joseph growled, snatching the correspondence from Avi’s hands and looking closely at them himself.

“Your friend is right, of course, but I believe these will prove my case”.

Rachmann withdrew a further batch of official letters and passed them to Avi.

They were replies, from Heydrich to Rachmann, all officially stamped and dated with the eagle emblem adopted by the Nazi party. After scanning these, Avi passed them to Joseph who began comparing the dates of both batches.

“The dates match”.

Still unsure, Avi looked at Rachmann.

“What else do you have in your box?”

“My travel documents from Evian and my correspondence between the various representatives”.

“Evian? What representatives?”

“You don’t know? In 1938, a conference was held in Evian between the representatives of various countries. The Jewish elders were permitted to attend to plead the Jewish case for emigration quotas to be expanded. I accompanied them. At the last minute, I received orders from Berlin that the elders were not to address the conference; a shattering blow. I spoke and argued for their cause instead”.

Rachmann produced several travel documents and a passport, clearly supporting his story.

“Unfortunately, not a single country was prepared to raise their quota by even a single digit...”

“Surely... there must have been one country, at least...”

“Not a single one, I’m afraid. For two days after the conference, I went from one envoy to another, pleading but to no avail”.

Rachmann took four more letters from his box and passed them to Avi.

“America, England, France, Switzerland -all refusing you your request for reconsideration. It’s unbelievable. The Jews of Germany and Eastern Europe could all have been saved if...”

“Unfortunately, by this time, word of my activities had reached Berlin and I was recalled”.

“What happened to you?’

“Demoted; sent to one of the concentration camps as a second in command”.

Rachmann produced four more letters, the last documents. They were testaments to Rachmann’s character written by elders of the Jewish faith, exclaiming gratitude for his kindness and genuine attempts to help at all times. Avi read them transfixed. It appeared that a serious misjudgement had been passed on this friend to the Jewish people. He passed these witness attestations to Joseph and turned to Rachmann.

“Tell me, how did you come to be at Wannsee, four years later, at the time of the Final Solution conference?”

“I was recalled by Heydrich but I was a mere clerk”.

Joseph was finishing the final testament from one of the elders and noted the location of the camp.

“Auschwitz Birkenau? That’s where my parents were shipped. Did you know them?”

“There were many people that passed through those gates. It’s possible but unlikely. There were over forty sub-camps. Unless...”

“Unless what?”

“Well, unless they held a position of some authority...such as a...”

“A what? Speak, Goddammit!”

“What was your father’s name?”

“Levy. Abraham Levy. And my brother, too, my cousins...”

“The Levys? Joshua?” Rachmann gasped.

“Yes, yes, my brother, Joshua”.

“Isaac and Benjamin...”

“Yes! My cousins, Isaac and Benjamin”.

Rachmann seemed loathe to comment further but Joseph was insisting. Avi did not like the way things were turning and, now, on top of everything, Joseph was becoming manic.

“Come on, you fotze, tell me”.

Joseph was standing over Rachmann threateningly.

“Tell me, or I swear to God, I will beat it out of you”.

Rachmann looked to Avi appealingly. For the first time since they had revealed the reason for their intrusion, the German seemed genuinely scared.

“Joseph, leave it. He doesn’t know anything. We have seen enough to know that he is not guilty of the things we were led to believe”.

Avi placed a hand on Joseph’s shoulder but the experienced Mossad man turned on him viciously.

“Fuck off, Avi, you wimp. He may not be guilty of some things but he sure as hell knows something about my family and I’m going to beat it out of him”.

Rachmann burst out:

“Your family...they were all kapos...”

Everybody looked at Rachmann askance. The German continued.

“It’s true. The Levys. There were four of them and they worked as a team. They were the most feared of all the kapos in the camp. They...they treated their fellow Jews worse than any of the German or Ukrainian guards. In return, they got treated better...for a while. In the end, not even they could avoid the ovens but...”

Too late, Avi saw Joseph raise his pistol and fire it point blank in Rachmann’s face, killing him instantly. Avi and Sarah, both horrified, lunged at Joseph but the Israeli, his eyes aflame, his brain maddened by this latest revelation, held his gun to the side of his head and fired.