Characters in "Cold Peace" - Jakob Liebherr
While the conflict in Berlin 1948-1949 was primarily between the post-war superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union, the Berliners were not just pawns. Indeed, they could have ended the entire crisis at at any time simply by indicating their preference for Soviet. The West was only willing to make the huge effort to supply Berlin by air as long as the Berliners themselves wanted to remain free.
Jakob's role in "Cold War" is to bring to the reader the perspective of the Berlin City Government. Through Jakob, we take part in political developments and face the challenges confronting the civilian government.
Although a fictional character, Jakob is a composite character bringing together many features typical of Berlin's leaders in this period. First of all, he is a Social Democrat, and secondly he is a man with an indubitable track-record of fighting the Nazis. Jakob Liebherr isn't young any more. In fact, he's losing his hair and two years in a concentration camp have left his internal organs damaged in a variety of ways. But his determination to make Germany a better place is unbroken. He can see the dangers bright as day -- just as he saw the danger Hitler posed 1930 - 1933. He knows the enemy is in the East, disguised as "Socialist solidarity" and "brotherhood of the working classes." But as the Russian bear licks his chops and prepares to devour Berlin, Jakob begins to despair about the willingness of the West to stand up to him. As a result, the decision to attempt an Airlift astonishes and encourages him. He works closely with the allies to determine how much of what the Berliners need to survive. He also supports the establishment of a police force free of Soviet political control and manipulation. Yet Jakob is too old not to be a little cynical about the chances of success.... Here is an excerpt in which Jakob Liebeherr is active:
High-pitched hysterical screaming from thestreet below interrupted the discussion. Charlotte recoiled and curled up, herproud bearing collapsing like a house of cards. Mrs Priestman, on the otherhand, looked startled and moderately alarmed, but not frightened. She turned tolook out the window in the direction of the screams. Liebherr had already leaptto his feet. With an “excuse me” he hastened out the door.
On the landing, he nearly collided with Christianvon Feldburg, coming out of the apartment opposite. Together they started downthe stairs in the wake of the three young men who shared the flat under theLiebherr’s. Jakob knew that all three men, who went by names such as Meyer,Schultz and Braun, were black marketeers who also sold homemade schnapps ofvery dubious quality. They had served together on U-boats. They were cynicalbut young, fit and tough.
By the time he reached the ground floor,Liebherr lagged behind the younger men. Emerging from the front door, he found alarge crowd had collected around the entrance of the adjacent apartment house. Inaddition to the woman’s frenzied shrieking, people were shouting and callinginsults. The crowd blocked the way between the door and the canal. Jakob glanced toward the street and spotted anAmerican car of some sort with police licence plates.
Aheadof him, Feldburg and Kapitaenleutnant “Meyer” pushed their way throughthe crowd, Meyer’s two crewmen in his wake. Abruptly a shot rang out. Everyonefroze and silence crashed down over the crowd. The only sound was the rustling of the wind in the chestnut trees.
Horrified, Jakob forced himself forward. He pushedthrough the stunned crowd to find three policemen holding a man crumpled upbetween them; a fourth policeman held a pistol pointed at the sky. One of thepolice officers looked straight at Jakob and barked, “Tell these fools to backoff or next time I’ll shoot to kill!”
“First tell me what is going on here,” Jakobcountered moving cautiously closer. His heart was pounding furiously in hischest but if you learned anything in a concentration camp, it was not to showfright or anxiety. The thugs of both fascism and communism fed on fear.
“We are making an arrest—”
“They’re Markgraf’s men!” someone shouted frombehind Liebherr. Markgraf was the Chief of Police installed by the Soviets assoon as they had conquered the city.
“My husband is innocent!” screeched thehysterical female voice that had shattered the afternoon’s peace. From thedoorway she wailed, “He’s done nothing — NOTHING!”
“He’s a capitalist warmonger who has beengouging the proletariat —”
“He runs a barbershop!” the woman yelled backan octave higher than her normal voice. “We can hardly make ends meet!”
“Shut up or I’ll arrest you as well!” thepolice officer with the pistol retorted, lowering the barrel of his pistol sothat it pointed at the woman in the door.
She answered by flinging open her arms and howled,“Shoot me! Shoot me! I’d rather you shot me than left me here without my Paul! Shootme!” it turned into a long, drawn-out keen of grief.
The officer turned away as she sank to herknees in despair and snapped at his men. “Get him in the car!”
The other three policemen started shoving anddragging the stunned victim toward the waiting vehicle. The crowd didn’t part,but it didn’t stand firm either. The police officer narrowed his eyes, and hispistol swung back and forth as if looking for a target.
Jakob was no more courageous than the others.His mouth went dry, and he felt his muscles cramping up. He hated beingdefeated. He hated giving in, but he recognized the look in the policeman’seyes. He would have liked to kill someone.
The police shoved their victim into the back seat,and two of them squeezed in beside him, while the third went around to thedriver’s seat. He climbed in behind the wheel and turned the key in theignition. Only then did the man with the pistol start backing towards the car.He kept his pistol pointed at the crowd, his eyes daring anyone to make a move.His lips were curled in a sneer of contempt. He opened the door with his freehand and then in a swift movement, spun about and dropped inside.
No sooner had his door slammed shut than thecrowd erupted. Several young men grabbed bricks from the heaps lying beside thesidewalk and threw them at the car. Several hit the side, boot and bumper, crashingand crunching as the metal buckled. The driver started to pull away from thecurb, but the crowd chased after the car. More bricks and cobblestones raineddown on the boot and the back window shattered. From the corner of his eye.Jakob registered that someone was drawing a pistol. In horror, he turned andsaw Kapitaenleutnant “Meyer” start to take aim. “NO!” he shouted andknocked his arm away. “If you shoot a policeman, you’ll be the next victim!”
“They aren’t policemen!” someone shouted inanswer. “They’re Stalin’s pet wolves!”
With the police car now far out of range, thecrowd turned their rage on Jakob as a representative of their city government.
“They steal from us and kidnap and intimidatehonest citizens!”
“When are we finally going to get protectionfrom the criminals in police uniform?”
“We want police who aren’t Soviet stooges!”
“So do I!” Liebherr responded, raising hisvoice to be heard above the snarling of the others. “Believe me! No one wantsreal police more than Mayor Reuter and I!”
“Then do something!”
“How many more people are you going to letthem kidnap?”
“When are you going to stop the theft? We havealmost nothing left as it is!”
The hostility around him was so powerful that Liebherrwas relieved to feel Christian von Feldburg move up beside him. He had his handinside his jacket, and Liebherr sensed that he, too, was fingering a pistol.Feldburg was joined a moment later by Kapitaenleutnant “Meyer,” whosepistol was still in his hand.
Encouraged by this support, Liebherr raisedhis voice again to project authority as best he could. “Mayor Reuter is tryingto recruit men for a new police force. If any of you wish to volunteer, let meknow and I will see that you speak to the right people.” To his relief, thisannouncement harvested so much excitement that the hostility snapped. People startedtalking among themselves, while several of the women turned to comfort thewoman sobbing in the doorway.
Liebherr joined them, sinking down on thefront step to ask the name of the victim. He would, of course, protest to theChief of Police, but he knew he would earn nothing but a sneering rebuff.Markgraf did not recognise the authority of the elected city officials; he tookhis orders solely from the Soviet Military Government.
As the women took the victim’s wife backinside, the rest of the crowd dispersed, and Liebherr turned to go back to hisapartment. Glancing up, he saw that MrsPriestman was on the balcony and had apparently seen everything. Very good. Itwould do no harm for the RAF station commander to know what was going on in thecity, even if there was nothing he could do about it.
Feldburg and Meyer were talking in low voicesamong themselves. As Liebherr went entered the building, they joined him. “Isthat true about a new police force?” Meyer asked intently.
“Yes. Interested?”
“I might be,” Meyer tried to sound evasive,but Liebherr could tell he was tempted. After a moment, the young man admitted,“I’m tired of doing nothing. Just watching them trample all over us. Iused to hate the Amis and Tommies as much as the Ivans, but…” He shrugged toexpress his frustration, “Well, they are flying in food and coal, aren’tthey?” He automatically looked up where, nowadays, an aircraft was alwaysvisible somewhere.
Jakob is a character in all three volumes of the Bridge to Tomorrow Trilogy
The first battle of the Cold War is about to begin....
Berlin 1948. In the ruins ofHitler’s capital, former RAF officers, a woman pilot, and the victim of Russianbrutality form an air ambulance company. But the West is on a collision coursewith Stalin’s aggression and Berlin is about to become a flashpoint. World WarThree is only a misstep away. Buy Now
Berlin is under siege. More than twomillion civilians must be supplied by air -- or surrender to Stalin's oppression.
USAF Captain J.B. Baronowsky and RAF FlightLieutenant Kit Moran once risked their lives to drop high explosives on Berlin.They are about to deliver milk, flour and children’s shoes instead. Meanwhile,two women pilots are flying an air ambulance that carries malnourished andabandoned children to freedom in the West. Until General Winter deploys on theside of Russia. Buy now!
Based on historical events, award-winning and best-selling novelistHelena P. Schrader delivers an insightful, exciting and moving tale about howformer enemies became friends in the face of Russian aggression — and how closethe Berlin Airlift came to failing.
Winning a war with milk, coal and candy!
