Germania: A Novel

PrologueBackstage, Admiralspalast, Berlin, 1933Gustav Loerber was a large man. His vast belly hung down from his chest like a barley sack, his jowls were fleshy saddlebags casually slung between his nose and ears, and his neck a shapeless, jiggling extension of his chin. Old Gustav was horrendously, obscenely fat. Yet nobody who looked at Gustav Loerber ever quite thought of him that way. It might have been the exquisite cut of his Italian silk suits, or his commanding smile, or his poised, impresario's way of carrying himself. It might have been something else. Gustav Loerber was, after all, a magician. But in either case, whoever looked at old Gustav thought only one thing: Magnificent!Of course, it hadn't always been that way. Once, thirty years earlier, when Gustav Loerber was just another hungry young acrobat making his way in the world, he had been every bit as slim and wiry as his four sons were now. His sons; his celebrated sons; Manni, Franzi, Ziggy, and Sebastian; known to Berlin and the world as the Flying Magical Loerber Brothers. At any other time, Gustav Loerber would have told you they were his pride and joy, except at this moment three of them were screaming at him over his latest business decision.He'd just come into their dressing room, waving the telegram sent by Adolf Hitler himself, inviting them all to perform at the upcoming Nazi Party gala celebrating his recent ascent to chancellor of Germany. Naturally Gustav agreed. But when he had gone to tell his sons, he found to his astonishment that they were anything but pleased."Father, how could you?" cried Manni Loerber. "We can't work for them!""But I thought you despised the Nazis, Father," shouted Franzi. "You've been saying it for years."This was true. Gustav Loerber had never made much secret of his low opinion of the thugs and gutter politicians who made up the Nazi Party's ranks. But Hitler? Well, it turned out Hitler was a different story altogether. Old Gustav had secretly gone to a party rally or two, more for research than anything else, and seeing the Fuhrer in action before those crowds, Gustav immediately recognized Hitler as a genius like himself: a fellow showman whose sense of spectacle and presentation nearly equaled his own. And now it turned out Hitler saw old Gustav the same way, and was inviting him and his sons to "add your magic to the New Germany.""But Father, the man's evil," said Franzi."That's simply a matter of opinion," shot back Gustav."He's a psychopath," said Manni."Oh, come on! They always say that about visionaries. Boys, listen to me: we're on the ground floor of something really big.""No!""We mustn't, Father."Gustav fumed. That his own sons would do this to him. After all he'd done, couldn't they obey him just once? He should have known there would be trouble coming when Manni and Franzi started hanging around with those left-wing types."Father?" asked Ziggy, desperately waving his hand to be allowed to speak. The good thing about Ziggy was that he wasn't argumentative and didn't get into constant trouble like Manni and Franzi.Gustav nodded. "Yes, son?""But Father," said Ziggy, "we're Jews, remember?"Gustav Loerber shut his eyes and tried counting to ten. Why was the kid so bloody obtuse?"Do you have to keep bringing that up?" Gustav groaned. "It was all such a long time ago and it never meant anything in the first place."Eyes still closed, Gustav shook his head. What was with his sons? After all he'd done for them, this was how they rewarded him!Devils though they may be, Franzi and Manni were unmistakably Gustav's sons. But Ziggy and Sebastian? The way they acted, they might as well have been someone else's. They really shouldn't be his. They were both far too odd.Gustav wondered what Ziggy's problem was. To begin with, he seemed to possess no imagination whatsoever. He was a literalist wMcNally, Brendan is the author of 'Germania: A Novel' with ISBN 9781416558828 and ISBN 1416558829.