THE LEAGUE OF TRUE CHRISTIANS
Odd, mysterious things were happening. One morning hundreds of men
and women stood before advertising kiosks at the Schottentor, before
the Opera, in the Stubenring, and in other localities, where someone
had attached, by means of a tack, small octavo leaflets bearing the
following legend:
“Citizens of Vienna and Austria! Arise before you are destroyed
altogether! With the Jews you drove out prosperity, hope and the
possibility of future development! Accursed be the demagogues who
misled you!
The League of True Christians.”
People read the impudent words aloud; many were indignant, and declared
it was the work of Freemasons; others went away silently, and still
others had the courage to voice their approval and to look defiantly at
those who differed.
A few days later new posters appeared in various places, reading:
“Vienna is becoming provincialized! Citizens of Vienna, do you not
see it? Another year or two, and the old metropolis, once the seat of
emperors, will have become a shabby little hamlet, forgotten by all
the world!”
As the burden of the poster was also being published in the
_Arbeiter-Zeitung_, it began to affect the people’s nerves, and to
cause restlessness throughout the city. Was there not some truth in
this last statement of the mysterious League of True Christians?
It gave rise to heated discussions at meetings, in the barroom,
and on the tramway. Somehow the remark about the provincialization
of Vienna hovered in the air--it seemed to acquire wings, for soon
it was heard everywhere, and even the Christian _Weltpresse_ quite
unintentionally closed an editorial with: “We must do everything to
avoid provincialization!”
The government, very much annoyed, exhorted the police to discover
the malefactor who was putting up the posters. But their efforts were
in vain. New leaflets appeared every day or two, always in different
places--on the doors of the houses and churches, once even on the
portals of the Chancellor’s Palace, of Police Headquarters, and of the
Parliament Building. Always they bore a terse but effective attack on
the government, an inflammatory suggestion to the people. And each time
the _Arbeiter-Zeitung_, having received a mailed copy the day before,
was enabled to publish in its early morning edition the contents of the
leaflet which would be put up that day.
After a short while all Vienna was seething with excitement; almost
all conversation centered about these leaflets, and everybody puzzled
over who might be behind this mysterious League. From week to week the
number of those who agreed with the message of the little proclamations
increased, Social-Democratic meetings again drew large crowds, and the
Chancellor’s prestige fell to an appreciable extent.
One afternoon Lotte went over to Leo’s earlier than he had expected. As
she had her own key to the apartment, and since Leo was not waiting for
her in the living-room as he usually did, she went directly into the
studio. Leo quickly threw a cloth over a little wooden table, and then
greeted her with a somewhat embarrassed air.
Lotte pulled his little beard, looked straight into his eyes, and said:
“Look here, Leo, you’re trying to hide something from me! What have
you got there under that cloth?”
Leo laughed heartily.
“You’ve the eyes of a lynx, darling mine! Well, I guess I’ll have to
tell you my secret now.”
He pulled off the cloth, and Lotte saw, beside a box of type and a
miniature hand-press, a pile of newly printed sheets. Amazed, she read:
“Citizens of Vienna! Are you better or worse off today than in the
time of the Jews? Think it over calmly, and you will find the right
answer! Years ago we all cried: ‘Throw out the Jews!’ But today we
cry: ‘Let in the Jews who really want to work loyally with us!’
The League of True Christians.”
Dumfounded, uncomprehending, Lotte dropped the paper and picked up
another sheet, on which was printed:
“We are not longing for the Jewish bankers. But if we want to escape
hopeless misery we must welcome back the intelligent, clever Jews who
can be of value to us. Arise, and act, before it is too late!
The League of True Christians.”
Lotte looked inquiringly at her fiancé.
He picked her up, kissed the tip of her nose, and again roared with
laughter.
“Don’t you understand, you child? I, all by myself, am that League
of True Christians that has been driving Vienna crazy for weeks! And
I shan’t stop before the great storm breaks. Mark my words, these two
leaflets will do the work! They’re my gas and stink bombs and flares,
with which I kill, suffocate, and illuminate.”
Lotte was trembling.
“If you’re caught at it, Leo, it’ll be all over with you!”
“If--if! But they won’t get me! I have a marvellous technique for
putting up the leaflets! As I stroll past a door or a wall in the
morning--without stopping for a second, but while walking--I push in
the tack to which the paper has already been attached. And even if the
police tear down the leaflet a few minutes later there’s no harm done,
for the _Arbeiter-Zeitung_ has already printed its contents. You can
trust me, dear; it has to be done this way. I’ve mapped out my course
to a ‘T,’ and I’m devilish careful anyway.”
Swinging her slender legs as she sat perched on the broad
drawing-table, Lotte spoke thoughtfully:
“You know, Leo, I think you’ve already accomplished a great deal.
We had quite a crowd at our house yesterday, ten men and women, and
mostly all the conversation was about the expulsion of the Jews and
its consequences. Everybody, including Hofrat Tumpel, agreed that the
expulsion should have been limited to some of the Eastern Jews--to
those who could not prove that they had a decent occupation. And
finally Hofrat Tumpel, who, a year ago, used to become furious if you
dared to differ ever so slightly with the Chancellor, remarked:
“‘Yes, it seems that a very delicate mechanism has been interfered
with too abruptly! There are some Jewish qualities that are not to be
underestimated, and which we miss badly.’
“This may of course have something to do with the fact that the
Hofrat’s brother owns the bookshop in the Seilergasse where only _de
luxe_ and artistic editions are sold. Since the Jews are gone his
business amounts to practically nothing, and on two occasions his
brother, the Hofrat, has had to give him large sums of money to save
him from bankruptcy. Another thing, Leo: I always keep my eyes and
ears open--in the morning when I do my shopping, and at concerts, at
the opera, and on the tramway. And I always hear people recalling the
past more and more wistfully, and speaking of it as if it had been very
beautiful. ‘In the old days, when the Jews were still here,’--they say
that in every imaginable tone of voice, but never with hatred. You
know, I think people are actually becoming lonesome for the Jews!”
Leo rewarded her keenness by pressing her to his breast. “And I’ll do
my share to make their longing irresistible.”
“But be very careful, Leo! Don’t forget that if they kill you I’ll have
to die, too!”