Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1941-07-15


learned in San Quentin when
emerged as the second best
in a group of II students. and
even received honorable men
ton in the bourgeois press Of
Bremen. ! was presented with
a document which gave me
the right 10 serve as navigator
on ships of any tonnage on
any ocean.
l looked long at my navi-
gators certificate. "You scrap
of paper l thought. "to me
YOU are of no greater worth
than a share I'm rubber planta-
tons on the moon" Was L
not on the blacklist Of every
shipowner in the land?
The next three weeks / was
immersed in a crusade among
the waterfront workers along
the Rhine. Firelei had gone
through a course in a Party
school, and was now attached
10 the publicity department of
Weltfilm in Hamburg, a COM
pany dealing in Soviet motion
pictures. On my return trip
] found a letter inviting me
10 call at the headquarters of
the North German Lloyd.
/ was ushered into the office
of Captain Won Thuelen, chief
of the nautical division. He
explained to me that his COM
pany, one of the largest and
oldest shipping concerns in
the world. was always on the
lookout for talented young
men to join the officer corps
Of the fleet. Gruffiy he de-
plored my alliance with Com
munism, advised me TO break
with radical politics, and
offered me a job as junior
officer on one of the Far East
linersl
Won Thuelen was joined by
Capt. Paul koenig. the man
who had navigated the German
freight submarine Deutsch-
land from Bremen TO Balti-
more and back during the
World War. Both of these
powerful old seadogs promised
me a fine career on condition
that l sever all connections
with the Communist Party.
This was an opportunity
which did not come twice in
the course of a lifetime. And
/ knew it. A good, respectable
Job, security, and the prospect
Of an honorable career were
within my grasp. l had to
choose between the realiZa-
ton of my boyhood dream and
the perilous uncertainties of
the life of a professional
revolutionist. For severa
minutes feHght-a-SfeieHt-
inner battle.
In the end. l declined.
Bourgeois honor was not my
honor. / was bound up with
the Comintern, and live and
die with the Comintern
would. l thanked the master
mariners for their kindness.
They could not grasp why any
young seaman would reject
such an offer. To them,
was an utter, unredeemable
fool.
Like blind man / stumbled
down the thickly carpeted
Stairways of the North Ger
man Lloyd building. out on
the street, needless of the
stares of passersby, l wept
like an unhappy child, over
whelmed by a wave of help
less. terrible anger at myself.
/ had burned behind nae the
last bridge TO the world of
normal duty and normal
pleasure.
F'irelei was pale and silent
when | told her what had hap
pened. Must IL he so?" her
: a dnesS seemed TO say
Everything for the cause
and nothing for ourselves
LEARNS OF LICENSE
The Party got wind of the
fact that / had an officers
ticket. At the end of May |
was called 10 Berlin, and the
girl courier who met me at
the station led me straight
10 a conference in Ernst
Thaelmann's office in the Karl
Liebknecht House. Fritz
Hcckert and Dlmitrov were
present.
Dimitrov. strongly perfumed
as always, grinned from ear
10 ear. You're the first
ships officer who II also a
member of the Communist
Party" he said
Fritz Hcckert, Stroking his
flahby abdomen, came 10 the
point you must now get
about among the officers and
engineers of the merchant
marine. Ia build up revolution
AIRY cells in that group"
| did not tell the comrades
that / had been offered an
officers berth. They took IT
as a matter of course that, AZ
q known agitator. my name
was on the blackliSts in every
Shipowners office b etw een
KoenisSberg and Emden.
But HeCkert and Dimltrov