Coincidence or not ?
The prestigious French literary Prix Goncourt came out came just a few weeks before the election of 31-year-old Sebastian Kurtz as chancellor of Austria. Many would say that election marked another step by the European Union along the road toward nationalism.
The topic of the novel is the Anschluss. With devastating sarcasm the author, Eric Vuillard, puts the magnates of German industry on trial for profiting from the Nazi regime and the Austrian people for welcoming the invading German army on March 12 1938. The title itself is ironic since L’Ordre du Jour – which translates as ‘the order of the day’ or ‘the agenda’ – refers to a democratic assembly, which in the book will soon be abolished by Hitler.
It is a very short book (only 150 pages) printed in an unusual miniature format. But it is a striking story, beautifully written, leading the reader through shocking scenes in which cruel humor is mixed with great despair. Vuillard, is also a film maker, which explains the way he stages the story as seen through a camera, with colorful images, a sound track, leading actors and supporting crowds.
The action starts on February 20th, 1933, in Potsdam. Twenty-four managers of the German industry – Gustav Krupp, Wilhem von Opel, Günther Quandt, Kurt Schmitt and others – are waiting in the ante-chamber of the Reichstag at the pleasure of its president, Hermann Goering. The 24 grey-haired gentlemen, dressed in formal black or brown coats, with stiff shirt collars and striped pants, resemble the bare trees lining the Spree river in the winter.
Goering is late but the visitors wait patiently.
When he finally shows up, the guests raise like lizards on their hind legs. Hitler – appointed chancellor just one month before – makes his entry and greets his guests. At the end of the meeting, as expected from them, the managers obsequiously make their meager contribution of several millions Deutschmarks to help the Nazi war effort.
Vuillard turns the Anschluss into a farce. Using threats, lies, and brutal intimidation, Hitler manipulates the Austrian chancellor Kurt von Schuschnigg, making him totally helpless, bulldozed by the Nazi timetable.
February 12, 1938, is the second decisive date in Vuillard’s story. Hitler has invited Schuschnigg for a secret lunch at Berchtesgaden, his mountain retreat in the Bavarian Alps. It is an ominous sequence. When the doors close behind the guest, the reader feels a sense of foreboding.
Overwhelmed by the hypnotic personality of Hitler, Schuschnigg caves in and has to agree to all his demands: appointment of the Nazi Seyss-Inquart to the post of minister of the Interior; amnesty of those condemned for the assassination of the Austrian chancellor Dollfuss in 1934; rehabilitation of all national socialist officials. Having said that, Hitler reaffirms the independence of Austria. Wasn’t that the ultimate? asks Vuillard.
On the eve of the planned invasion, Mr and Mrs Ribbentrop (he is the German foreign minister) are invited to dinner at Downing Street. The author describes in detail the menu of French cuisine and the wine list. The conversation is light and animated. All seem interested in tennis and the performance of Bill Tilden, who won the Davis cup seven times.
Toward the end of the dinner, a staff member brings a note to Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, who becomes preoccupied. Vuillard writes: “Winston Churchill opens his big cocker spaniel eyes.” The Chamberlains are getting impatient but, out of sheer British politeness, do not show it. Guests start leaving but the Ribbentrops linger on, saying endless goodbyes.
The camera jumps to the car where the German couple is now on its way home. They burst out laughing. They knew all along what was in the note … German troops have just crossed the Austrian border.
The story reaches its climax when the German forces are ready to pounce on Vienna on March 12, 1938. The sky is a bright blue but it is freezing cold. The Panzers are massed by the border but a problem arises — they run out of gas and a monumental traffic jam occurs. It is hard to pull out a tool kit by the side of the road in sub-zero temperatures.
Hitler, who at first was elated by the prospect of entering Vienna with cheering crowds waving small flags and blond-braided, young girls throwing flowers at the German soldiers, is now stuck on the road along with hundreds of armored cars. When an army experiences a breakdown en route, ridicule is guaranteed.
Hitler cannot contain his anger and keeps shouting. By dusk, his Mercedes reaches Linz, the town where he spent his youth. On March 15, the poor Austrian population, abused, but finally submissive, stands in front of Sisi’s palace to hear Hitler’s hoarse voice vociferate insults. In a referendum, Austrians voted 99.7 percent in favor of the annexation by the Reich.
What happened to the 24 captains of industry we met in 1933?
During the war years, they made an incredible amount of money by employing cheap labor from Auschwitz, Ravensbrück, Buchenwald or Dachau. They may have died of old age, but their empires live on, stronger than ever … BMW, BASf, Bayer, IG Farbem, Siemens, Tellefunken, Opel, and Thyssen-Krupp.
Exaggerated or not, the fact is that such a novel gives the reader a major jolt. It is a literary feat, which revives dark moments of history that one should never forget.
Editor’s Note: This is the opinion of Nicole Prévost Logan.
Nicole Prévost Logan
About the author: Nicole Prévost Logan divides her time between Essex and Paris, spending summers in the former and winters in the latter. She writes a regular column for us from her Paris home where her topics will include politics, economy, social unrest — mostly in France — but also in other European countries. She also covers a variety of art exhibits and the performing arts in Europe. Logan is the author of ‘Forever on the Road: A Franco-American Family’s Thirty Years in the Foreign Service,’ an autobiography of her life as the wife of an overseas diplomat, who lived in 10 foreign countries on three continents. Her experiences during her foreign service life included being in Lebanon when civil war erupted, excavating a medieval city in Moscow and spending a week under house arrest in Guinea.