The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1933-05-25

$50 attacked by the police.
the barricade.
The most important position of the
workers had thus been lost without
resistance through this cunning man
oeuvre.
Kurt felt his way through the dark
passage to the stairs. Suddenly his
hand came in contact with the warm
soft face of girl shrinking from his
touch. The unexpected contact af-
fected them both with curious hos
tile sensation. In the midst of this
cold solitude there was suddenly the
warm closeneSs of human body
body, generalized, without individual
ity-it did not matter whose it was
but for the fraction Of a second this
sensation begot a fleeting sadness,
which at the same time Weakened the
senses.
At this moment, Kurt saw the
coming events of tomorrow for the
first time calmly and relentlessly He
had been too much in the middle of
the fighting to have any other desire
than that of machine-gun and an
unending bullet belt. He had entirely
forgotten the significance of the po-
litical starting point of these events
But now everything returned-and
with unacceptable clarity.
Ulc,. n r,,,o Of ~
had been at standstin. The alley
outside was silent and deserted and
in darkness. Not a footstep was to
be heard, not door creaked. Silent
and invisible faces gazed everywhere
into the darkness; on landings and
stairs the people stood-and waited.
1t was as if human being suddenly
holds his breath for fear of not hear
ing something. But all was quiet, I'M
bearably ffuiet. If only they would
begin shooting again.
"They won't return before day
break" the girl said calmly as she
leaned back against the wall.
"Of course they will"
Kurt was still standing in front of
her without either being able to see
the other. 1t was soothing to hear
this calm somewhat deep voice. For
a moment he had almost believed
that it was Anna he had touched.
Who could tell where she was at this
moment? 1t was extraordinary how
little he was concerned about it now.
Perhaps he would have been more
anxious if she had stayed in the al
ley. For those outside everything was
finished-one way or the other. The
girls voice was vaguely familiar. He
was too tired to think more about
it. It was Of no Importance.
On the landing above them door
opened and subdued voices were
heard. Then slow, careful steps
moved down the stairs as if they we're
carrying someone.
THAT will be Otto" the girl said.
His mother does not know anything
yet. She was told he had been sent
out as a courier"
A torchlight flashed through the
passage and shortly afterwards
stretcher was carried round the cor
ner. AS they crossed the yard to-
wards the back door leading to the
Panke, a window was opened. Some
one leaned out and then closed it
again, since it was too dark to see
anything. The bearers of the wound
ed disappeared noiselessly through
the baek-yards. Stretcher- bearing
had gone on all night.
See that you get away yourself
somewhere through the back-yards
there" Kurt said to the girl. He got
no answer-she had gone. Curious.
He did not even know whom he had
spoken to.
D A w N
Bergen, why haven't those reports
arrived yet?" ut is only ten minutes
to SIX, sir" AS he answered the DO
lice president, the official was trying
with difficulty to sit straight in his
chair A number of telephones were
standing in front of him. They were
directly connected with the police
headquarters on the Alexanderplatz.
The LARGE comfortably furnished
room, in which the president con-
tinued his uneasy pacing up and
down the carpet, was filled with the
strange atmosphere of a sleepless
night, intensified to an unbearable
extent by the tension of helpless,
isolated uncertainty. He had paused
at the door and listened
to subdued voices of the guards who
had been stationed for the last few
days in his villa in zehlendorf. He
would have loved to put on the wire
less or play the gramophone If
only to have some noise to break the
silence and to shorten
the night.
The official in the armchair was
asleep again.
ITO BE CONTINUED