In the Garden of Beasts

A small group from Mildred’s salon heads north from Berlin to visit author Rudolf Ditzen, better known by his pseudonym, Hans Fallada. Boris drives; they enjoy the springtime countryside and stop at a small farm where Fallada, his wife, and small child reside. Fallada is one of a group of writers who, instead of leaving, elect to stay in Nazi Germany in a form of “inner emigration,” keeping their heads down and quietly writing.

Fallada’s new book contains an introduction ingratiating to the Nazis, in the hopes they won’t censor it. Questioned about this by the visitors, Fallada becomes testy. Martha later writes, “I saw the stamp of naked fear on a writer’s face for the first time" (273). In later years, Fallada will give in to the Nazi’s editorial demands, changing his books to suit them.

Between censorship, the beating of Jews, the “heartbreaking system of terror," and other Nazi policies, Martha shifts from her early enthusiasm for their revolution to “a deepening revulsion" (274). Dodd notes that the ongoing persecution of Jews has become more subtle and less likely to evoke comment from the international community. 

On Friday and Saturday, June 8 and 9, the Dodds notice a change at the nearby army headquarters: “Soldiers stood on the roofs of headquarters buildings. Heavily armed patrols moved along the sidewalks" (277). On Sunday, they’re gone. 

In June 1934, Göring invites several dignitaries to his large estate outside Berlin, where forests, lakes, and swamps are meant to evoke Medieval Germany. Göring leads a lengthy tour of the grounds, including a bison exhibit, huge hunting lodge residence, and an elaborate tomb, soon to hold the body of his deceased wife. The guests dine outdoors; some of them titter quietly at the silliness of it all. Dodd, “weary of the curious display" (281), says his goodbyes and makes his escape. 

A last-ditch attempt to derail Hitler takes the form of a speech delivered by Vice-Chancellor Papen on June 17. Papen’s aids write the speech, publish it, then give it to him, forcing his hand. He reads the speech as written; the words condemn “the selfishness, the lack of principle, the insincerity, the unchivalrous behavior, the arrogance which is on the increase under the guise of the German revolution” (284), and that the German people must be respected, not suppressed.

Hitler responds in a speech the same day. He belittles Papen, calling him a “pygmy,” and warns that it is “the fist of the nation that is clenched and will smash down anyone who dares to undertake even the slightest attempt at sabotage” (285). Goebbels suppresses dissemination of the speech, but copies reach foreign dignitaries.

On June 20, Göring’s wife’s body arrives by train at his estate, where, in an elaborate ceremony attended by Hitler, the funeral party lays her remains to rest: “Soldiers carried torches. At the tomb there were great bowls filled with flame. In an eerie, carefully orchestrated touch, the mournful cry of hunters’ horns rose from the forest beyond the fire glow” (288).

Himmler, in attendance, takes Hitler aside and claims that someone, probably at the urging of Röhm, has tried to kill him. Damage to his car’s windshield may be due to a stone thrown up by a car, but Hitler buys the story.

Hitler visits Hindenburg, who can remove him from office; the president tells him he approves of the speech. 

Papen’s speech writer, Edgar Jung, fears for his life. Vandals ransack his house; on his bathroom medicine chest he writes “Gestapo.” His maid later finds the message, Jung seemingly dead or kidnapped. Diels, meanwhile, is becoming the Cologne regional commissioner. Göring arrives for the ceremony and takes Diels aside: “Watch yourself in the next few days” (291). Diels takes the warning seriously and “left the city for a sojourn in the nearby Eifel Mountains" (291). 

Martha, disenchanted with the Nazis, plans a July trip to Russia to see Boris’s native land. Lately struggling from economic hardship, famine, and the disappearance of millions of dissidents, the Soviet Union won’t be at its best, but Martha is resolute.

On a sweltering June 29, Dodd holds a lunch at home for several dignitaries, including Papen, who seems in good spirits. The Italian ambassador’s wife, Elisabetta Cerruti, attends, wrapped up in worry, telling Dodd that “something terrible is going to happen in Germany. I feel it in the air" (295). 

Papen plans to visit Hindenburg and ask him to oust Hitler. An uprising against Hitler by Röhm seems imminent. The chancellor consults with Goebbels and makes his decision. Hitler flies to Munich with a squad of SS men, where he learns that “some three thousand Storm Troopers had raged through Munich’s streets" (300). The troopers, loyal to Hitler, fear an attack by the regular army, but Hitler misinterprets the act as a threat against him. He sends Göring a code word: “Kolibri”—Hummingbird.