Read Online The Far Side of the Sky by Daniel Kalla - Free Book Online Page B

“You must have enjoyed our conversation yesterday more than I did.”
    “Obersturmführer, I believe I have secured the correct paperwork to prove departure for my family.”
    “Is that so?” Eichmann leaned back in his chair. “And where does the good doctor and his family intend to go?”
    “Shanghai, Obersturmführer.”
    “Shanghai?” Eichmann let out a small laugh. “I should have guessed. The only place accepting Jews without visas. Which, I’m afraid, is about as welcoming as the world gets for your kind.” He sighed. “Still, so many Jews scuttling like rats off to that poor city. It’s doomed to become a Chinese Jerusalem. Or worse, another New York.”
    Franz knew better than to reply. Eichmann flicked his fingers impatiently. “I do not have all day. Show me your passport and proof of passage.”
    Hand steady but heart racing, Franz withdrew the handwritten boarding passes along with the passports. He passed them to the lieutenant, who scrutinized each ticket.
    Eichmann finally lowered the tickets to his desk. “Hannah is the Jew child, yes?”
    Franz nodded.
    Eichmann looked around the room theatrically. “And where are Jakob and Esther Adler?”
    “At home, Obersturmführer. I didn’t realize they also needed to attend.”
    “You clearly didn’t get legal advice from your brother, did you?” Eichmann’s malicious grin told Franz that he knew exactly what had happened to Karl. “Then again, I suppose I have no shortage of your kind to face in person.”
    Franz looked away, afraid his expression would betray his feelings. “Thank you, sir,” he mumbled.
    Eichmann grabbed another sheet of paper off his desk and slowly filled in the blanks. He picked it up and waved it in front of Franz. “You will sign this declaration on behalf of yourself and the others in your family. In it, you renounce claim to all property, assets and citizenship in the Reich, and you swear that you will never again return.”
    Eichmann slid the sheet across the desk to Franz. Without hesitation, or even reading the page, Franz signed his name and dated it beside the two places marked with an
X.
Eichmann laughed. “You people really would sell your own mothers to save yourselves, wouldn’t you?”
    Eichmann snatched back the declaration and reached for another form that Franz recognized as the Führungszeugnis, or certificate of good conduct, which any person emigrating from Germany also required. The lieutenant signed and stamped it in red with the official eagle-clutching-a-swastika seal. He then stamped the passports and boarding passes. He bundled the documents together and held them out. Before Franz could take hold of them, Eichmann yanked his hand back. “Tell me something, Adler. Do you really think you can outrun destiny?”
    “No, Obersturmführer.” Then, without thinking, he blurted, “I don’t believe anyone can.”
    Eichmann glared at him. “I would be careful with your tongue, Jew,” he said quietly. “My destiny—like all good Germans—is to bask in the glory of the Third Reich. Your destiny, like that of your entire miserable race, is annihilation.” He tossed the passport, boarding passes and the exit visa over the desk and onto the floor at Franz’s feet.
    Franz dropped to his knees and scooped up the documents. He stuffed them in his pocket, turned and hurried out of the office without a word. He raced past Schmidt and the line of terrified faces behind the desk.
    Out in the moist air, Franz almost laughed with relief. But as he walked the two miles from the Prinz Eugen Strasse to his father’s home on Robert-Hamerling Strasse, a new thought darkened his mood.
Father. How will I possibly persuade him to accompany us?
    Franz walked up the steps of the brownstone to the main floor suite. He knocked on Jakob’s door, gently enough so as not to alarm him into thinking it might be the authorities.
    His father’s appearance stunned Franz. Normally, Jakob lived in a suit and tie, even on