126 THE OPPERMANNS 22 O n the 30t h of January, the President of the Republic ap- pointed the author of the book entitled My Bastle to the post of German Chancellor.

1300k Two: Today "Tlte Germans are to "Iame /or tlte Jisease wltiCh is the most Jangerous to culture and also /or the greatest abSl-irJity ex- tant, namely Nationalism, iltis 'ncvrose natio1tale'jrom wlticlt Europe is su/fering; tltey Itave ro/'/'eJ Europe 0/ reason anJ intelligence. ,~ - NIETZSCHE.

TODAY GUSTAV QpPERMANN was on his way to Gertraudten Strasse to attend a meeting in the directors' office at the Stores. Martin had urged hirn, with unaccustomed importunity, to be present on this occasion, at a11 costs, It was a few days after the appointment of the Leader to the post of Chancellor. The streets swarmed with people. Everywhere the brown shirts of the Nationalist mercenaries, and the Nationalist swastika, were to be seen. Gustav's car, driven fast and expertly by Schlüter, could not make very rapid progress. Still another traffic light. That American expression, IITh« lights are against me]' was an excellent one, Gustav thought. But he had no time to indulge his reflections. The persistent cries of an old woman selling dolIs disturbed hirn. The dolls were likenesses of the Leader. The old wornan held one of them to the window of the car. If you pressed the doll's stom- ach, it stretched out its right arm with open palm, a gesture which the Italian Fascisti had borrowed from ancient Rome and the German Fascists frorn the Italians. The old woman, caressing the doll, cried: "You sufferer, you hero, you fought, you suffered, you won." Gustav turned his eyes away from the grotesque spectacle. He too, as weIl as the whole country, had been surprised by the sudden appointment of the Leader to the post of Chan- cellor. He had not been so surprised as the Leader himself, but he, too, was unabie to understand the course of events. Why was it just now, when the Nationalist movement was on 129