Lilienfeld looked up. “Which is getting in the way of your own safety and security,” he said, as if to insist that Silbermann was more unfortunate than he himself.

“Security,” said Silbermann. “There’s no security without money.”

“But right now your money isn’t making you secure. On the contrary, it is putting you in danger.”

“There are always two sides to everything,” Silbermann admitted. Then he laughed. “I find it amusing how we’re both pitying each other and how each of us is trying to prove that the other is worse off, as though that were some kind of consolation.”

“I don’t pity you at all,” Lilienfeld contested. “Not in the least! You were always well off, but not me. I’ve been through a lot, but because of that it’s easier for me now!”

“Exactly,” said Silbermann, laughing. “It’s easier for you!”

“You don’t need to laugh about it. That’s just the way it is. I haven’t lost two hundred thousand marks, and I don’t need to sneak any money over the border. I’m happy as a clam!”

“You’re a nice person.” Silbermann grinned. “Really!”

“You’ve always had it pretty good, am I right?”

“That’s not a question for which there’s a simple answer. In one sense you’re right, but then again, I was in the war.”

“The war wasn’t good,” Lilienfeld admitted. “But it wasn’t all that bad, either. We were always just one of many, part of a group. And now we’re alone. There’s no longer someone giving commands, there’s no order you can stick to. You have to run and there’s no one telling you where to. The pressure’s a lot worse now than it was under the Prussian officers. The war wasn’t pleasant, by any means! But we were soldiers. Soldiers among soldiers. And now we’re filthy Jews and the others are Aryans! They’re living in peace, and we’re being hounded, only us. That’s the worst thing! The other carpenters are doing their business and getting on with their lives. While I have to get out, go away! That’s the thing! The war was also a unique situation, but not just for us, not just for me! There was a community. Everybody was affected.”

“Be glad you don’t belong to the new community! It’s hard to imagine one that’s worse or more stupid and brutal. A good minority is still better than a bad majority.”

“So you say! But I had to sit in my shop and watch them march past, with flags and music. At times I could practically scream, let me tell you. They were all people I knew. The veteran’s association, the skat club, the guild. All former friends, and suddenly you’re sitting there completely alone. No one wants to have anything more to do with you, and if they do happen to run into you, then you wind up being the one who looks away just so you don’t have to see them doing it. That’s why I didn’t dare set foot outside. I kept thinking: you’ll end up bumping into someone and then get worked up all over again. This person was in your class at school, that person trained alongside you or was one of the regulars at your table in the pub. And now? Now you’re just air, and bad air at that!”