it means i wasn't good enough to be a first violinist.
me? never. never.
i.  i know everyone now says they were never nazis but in my case it is absolutely one hundred per cent true. i am a catholic, it would have been totally against my conscience.
is it true you're going to interview dr. furtwngler today?
excuse me. did you know that he refused to give the nazi salute when hitler was present in the audience?
the problem was how could he avoid giving the devil's salute when satan was actually sitting there. and, i said, 'dr. furtwngler, why not enter with the baton in your right hand? hitler will be sitting in the front row. if you give the salute with the baton in your right hand it'll look like you're going to poke his eyes out.'
he was. he was really grateful to me for that. after the concert, i.  i stole that baton as a memento of a great act of courage. i still have it. i should have brought it to show you. i hope i'm not going too fast for you, fraulein?-
straube. any relation to colonel joachim straube?
i am deeply honoured to be in your presence, fraulein straube. your father was a true patriot, a man of god.
oh, we didn't play for his birthday, we played the evening before - it was the 19th of april not the 20th.
do i know hans hinkel?
do i know hans hinkel?
hans hinkel was in the ministry of culture; how could i know such a man? i
i hear the british have his.  his archive, files, records.
how could i know what's in the archive?
major.
guess what i am holding in my hand. you like guessing games?
it's dr. furtwngler's baton, which i stole.
yes, you remember.
show you?
not here, major, there are people, if anybody should see.  please, please, major.
exactly. replaces the baton, gives steve the case.
so. you wanted to see me.
you usually don't work on sunday, major?
what?
that bastard!
i was a member of the communist party. i was a communist. that's what hinkel had over me. he knew everything. he held that over me. that's how he made me co-operate.
you don't know what it's like to wake up every single morning of your life terrified, you don't know that -
i would never, in my wildest dreams, have ever been a second violinist in the berlin philharmonic. when they got rid of the.  the jews in the orchestra, it gave people like me a chance.
major, we're discussing a man of genius, i don't want.
the only thing i know is he's an anti-semite.
i've remembered something else.
furtwngler sent hitler a telegram for his birthday.
one of your people told me.
yes. a corporal. us army. a jew. he said he'd seen the telegram in the chancellery.
no. but that's why we hated him. we admired him as a conductor but we all hated him too because he didn't have to join the party and yet he had a better life than any of us. he didn't have to go and deliver a report after every trip abroad. he got everything from them, everything. he was filthier than any of us party members.
there's a rumour.  i don't know if it's true or not.  but ask him about von der null.
edwin von der null. music critic. he gave furtwngler terrible reviews while he raved about herbert von karajan.
also a conductor. very brilliant. young. von der null called him 'the miracle von karajan'. furtwngler was outraged and they say he had von der null conscripted into the army. the same thing happened to another critic. true or not, it's not such a bad idea. critics give you bad reviews, you have them sent to the russian front. but if you really want to get furtwngler, ask him about herbert von karajan.
yes, yes you may notice that he cannot even bring himself to utter his name, he.  he refers to him as k.
and ask him about his private life.
yes, it's all in here. his women.
would you perhaps like to have a glass of water, herr professor?