“Don’t talk nonsense. Why would you want to hoodwink your old Findler? Besides they’ll take whatever money you have at the border. For you I’d even chip in a few marks more than what the joint’s worth to me, but to pay extra just so it winds up in the state treasury—I have no interest in that.”

“For the moment I don’t have any intention of leaving Germany.”

“Well, children, do as you like. I really wish something better for you than the current circumstances. It’s Jewish blood that’s bringing the German people together. And I fail to see why my friend Silbermann of all people should wind up as glue. Running for your life, on the other hand—that I understand completely.”

“Don’t you think what’s happening to the Jews is a horrible crime?” asked Frau Silbermann, who was horror-stricken by Findler’s proclamation that “it’s Jewish blood that’s bringing the German people together,” and who still hadn’t given up searching for some moral in the events of the times.

“Of course,” Findler said dryly. “A lot of bad things happen in the world. And some good things as well. Today it’s this person, tomorrow that one. One person’s consumptive, another’s a Jew, and if they’re really unlucky they’re both at once. That’s the way it is. How much bad luck do you think I’ve had in my life? There’s nothing you can do about it.”

“I knew that you aren’t exactly the most tactful person, Herr Findler,” said Frau Silbermann, indignant, “but that you’re so cold inside and so…”—here she swallowed the word “brutal”—“indifferent, that is something new to me.”

Findler smiled, unmoved. “I love my wife and my little daughter. As far as the rest of humanity goes, everything is strictly business. There you have my entire relationship to my surroundings. I don’t love the Jews, I don’t hate the Jews. I am indifferent to them, though as capable businessmen I admire them. If an injustice is being done to them, I’m sorry, but it doesn’t surprise me, either. That’s the way of the world. When the time comes, some fail and go bankrupt while others prosper.”

“And if you were a Jew yourself?”

“But I’m not! I’ve given up racking my brain about what might be. I have enough to deal with what actually is.”

“So do you always think only about yourself? Are you incapable of sympathizing with the tragic plights of other people?”

“Who the devil worries about me when I have bad luck? Theo Findler doesn’t have anyone but Theo Findler. And those two have to stick together thick as thieves. Ha ha.”

“Yet you claim to love your wife and daughter.” Frau Silbermann was becoming more and more agitated. “I can’t believe that someone who’s so … bestially indifferent is capable of…”

“Hey, listen, that’s going too far. I have pretty thick skin and can stand a lot of joking, but I don’t like being insulted!”