AUTHOR'S NOTE Not one of the characters in this book existed as an actual in- dividual within the boundaries of the German Reich during the period of 1932-1933; however, they did exist collectively. In order to attain an accurate picture of the type, the author had to forgo any photographic representation of the individual. The novel T he Oppermanns does not describe actual but his- toric people. The material for the descriptions of the views, customs, and methods of the Nationalists in Germany can be found in Adolf Hitler's book My Battle, in the reports of those who es- caped from Concentration Camps, and, particularly, in the of- ficial notices appearing in the 1933 series of the German Reichsan zeiger. The author chose the name "Opperrnann" because it brings to mind similar, generally Jewish, names such as Wassermann, Friedmann, Goldmann, Silbermann, etc.•• . and at the same time has a German sound. A parallel instance occurs in the name Hitler, which is borne by a Jewish family in Moravia as weIl as by the Chancellor of the Reich. After the type of this volume had already been set, a family by the name of Oppermann advised the publisher that Opper- mann is a strictly Christian name and that they would, there- fore, like to have it avoided that bearers of the name Opper- mann be branded before the general public as belonging to a Jewish family. In view of the existing circumstances, the pub- lisher readily understands this attitude on the part of the Op- permann family and herewith advises the readers of this novel of the facts which the Oppermann family wishes to have defi- nitely understood. L.F. November 1933.

CONTENTS BOOK I: YESTERDAY I B00KII:TODAY127 B00KIII:TOM0RR0W245

[he DPPER MAN NS

1300k One: )Jesterday "Tkere is nothing tlte Ta"f,le /eilT more titan /lttell/gellce. /1 tltey u11JerstooJ what is truly terrifying, tltey woulJ /ea, I, ~~ glloTa1tCe. - GOETHE.

YESTERDAY W H EN Dr. Gustav Oppermann awoke on the sixteenth of November, which marked his fiftieth birthday, it was lang before sunrise. That was annoying. The day would be a strenuous one and he had intended to sleep late. From his bed he could distinguish a few bare tree tops and a bit of sky. The sky looked distant and clear, there was no sign of the fog that is so common in November. He stretched and yawned. Then, resolutely, now that he was weIl awake, he threw back the clothes from the broad, low bed, swung both his feet lightly to the floor, emerging from the warmth of the sheets and blankets into the cold morning, and went out on the balcony. Below, his little garden sloped, in three terraces, down to the woods; to right and left wooded knolls rose, and beyond the more distant tree-covered area further hills and woodlands ap- peared. A pleasantly cool breeze ascended from the little lake, which layout of sight to the left, and fro m the pines of Grune- wald. In the profound silence that precedes daybreak, he breathed the forest air deeply and with enjoyment. The strokes of an axe carne faintly frorn the distance; he liked the sound; the rhythmic blows emphasized the stillness. Gustav Oppermann, as he did every rnorning, rejoiced in his house. No one, if he were suddenly transported here without warning, could suspect that he was less than three miles fram the Memorial Church, the centre of the West End of Berlin. Really, he had chosen the prettiest spot in Berlin for his house. 3