The Odessa File
The man he confronted was nervous, ill-at-ease.
‘You must understand I have only agreed to see you as a result of your persistent inquiries,’ he began.
‘That’s nice of you all the same,’ said Miller ingratiatingly. ‘I want to inquire about a man whom I assume your department must have under permanent investigation, called Eduard Roschmann.’
‘Roschmann?’ said the lawyer.
‘Roschmann,’ repeated Miller. ‘Captain of the SS. Commandant of Riga ghetto from 1941 to 1944. I want to know if he’s alive; if not, where he’s buried. If you have found him, if he has ever been arrested and if he has ever been on trial. If not, where he is now.’
The lawyer was shaken.
‘Good Lord, I can’t tell you that,’ he said.
‘Why not? It’s a matter of public interest. Enormous public interest.’
The lawyer had recovered his poise.
‘I hardly think so,’ he said smoothly. ‘Otherwise we would be receiving constant inquiries of this nature. Actually so far as I can recall yours is the first inquiry we’ve ever had from … a member of the public.’
‘Actually, I’m a member of the Press,’ said Mi
ller.
‘Yes, that may be. But I’m afraid as regards this kind of information that only means you are entitled to as much as one would give a member of the public.’
‘How much is that?’ asked Miller.
‘I’m afraid we are not empowered to give information regarding the progress of our inquiries.’
‘Well that’s not right to start with,’ said Miller.
‘Oh, come now, Herr Miller, you would hardly expect the police to give you information about the progress of their inquiries in a criminal case.’
‘I would. In fact that’s just what I do. The police are customarily very helpful in issuing bulletins on whether an early arrest may be expected. Certainly they’d tell a press inquiry if their main suspect was to their knowledge alive or dead. It helps their relations with the public.’
The lawyer smiled thinly.
‘I’m sure you perform a very valuable function in that regard,’ he said. ‘But from this department no information may be issued of the state of progress of our work.’ He seemed to hit on a point of argument. ‘Let’s face it, if wanted criminals knew how close we were to completing the case against them, they’d disappear.’
‘That may be so,’ riposted Miller. ‘But the records show your department has only put on trial three privates who were guards in Riga. And that was in 1950, so the men were probably in pre-trial detention when the British handed over to your department. So the wanted criminals don’t seem to be in much danger of being forced to disappear.’
‘Really, that’s a most unwarranted suggestion.’
‘All right. So your inquiries are progressing. It still wouldn’t harm your case if you were to tell me quite simply whether Eduard Roschmann is under investigation, and where he now is.’
‘All I can say is that all matters concerning the area of responsibility of my department are under constant inquiry. I repeat, constant inquiry. And now I really think, Herr Miller, there is nothing more I can do to help you.’
He rose, and Miller followed suit.
‘Don’t bust a gut,’ he said as he walked out.
It was another week before Miller was ready to move. He spent it mainly at home, reading six books concerned in whole or in part with the war along the Eastern Front and things that had been done in the camps in the occupied eastern territories. It was the librarian at his local reading library who mentioned the Z-Commission.
‘It’s in Ludwigsburg,’ he told Miller. ‘I read about it in a magazine. Its full name is the Central Federal Agency for the Elucidation of Crimes of Violence committed during the Nazi Era. That’s a bit of a mouthful, so people call it the Zentrale Stelle for short. Even shorter, the Z-Commission. It’s the only organisation in the country that hunts Nazis on a nation-wide, even an international level.’
‘Thanks,’ said Miller as he left. ‘I’ll see if they can help me.’
Miller went to his bank the next morning, made out a cheque to his landlord for three months’ rent to cover January – March and drew the rest of his bank balance in cash, leaving a ten-mark note to keep the account open.