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304, Adolph Hitler Strasse

by Lavie Tidhar

When they came for Hershele Ostropol it was not at night but in the

middle of the afternoon, and they came quiet and with no warning,

with just a polite knock on the door. He had taken it to be the

postman, carrying a late delivery of one of his special magazines;

but the two who stood in the doorway wore no uniforms, and only

their eyes betrayed who, and what, they were.

They called him by his real name, which was Hanzi, but they knew

who he really was and he knew then that it was over; the

knowledge washed him in lethargy, and a sense of futility made him

open his hands as if in a shrug, his fat fingers opening limply, sweat

dampening his palms.

They had interrupted him writing, it was another one of his stories.

The computer was left switched on in his small study (Granddad's old

room), and his special books and magazines lay in plain view on the

desk.

He knew then that it was over; and he went with them without a

fight and let them steer him into the dark Mercedes that waited for

him, as he knew it would, outside.

How it began, how Hanzi Himmler first came to assume the identity

of Hershele Ostropol, he could hardly articulate. But it can be

pinpointed to two events that both happened close together: he

was given the new computer, and he caught his grandfather with a

prostitute.

The computer was a Bulgarian Pravetz. Along with the modem the

computer came with a small communications program and a list of

telephone numbers for several Bulletin Board Systems in and around

Berlin. The first time Hanzi connected to a BBS was late on the night

of his birthday, when his parents were sleeping and he had the

telephone line to himself. He dialed the first number on the list, and

found himself confronted with a colorful welcome screen.

On the BBS, Hanzi discovered that night, he could download small

programs, and text files and even code, and he could post messages

on the BBS which other people could then read. He chose his first

identity that night, his first login name. He wanted Nighthawk, but

ended up being Nighthawk1 as the first name was already taken.

Hanzi didn't care. He read the public posts, and he downloaded a

text file that contained a hundred and eleven dirty jokes and, more

importantly, he also downloaded a file containing the telephone

numbers of many other BBSs.

For him, it was a discovery. He felt like Ernst Schafer must have felt

on his expedition to Tibet to prove the origin of the Aryan race, as if

he too were an explorer in a new and mysterious land. He had found

a door to a new world, and everything was suddenly possible.

Everything... Granddad, Hauptabschnittsleiter Himmler, lived with his

son and daughter-in-law in the solitary room on the ground floor by

the garden. He was once a distinguished Head Section Leader, but

had retired many years back and now spent most of his time in his

room, unseen by his family. He was not a well man, and Hanzi knew

Herr and Frau Himmler worried about him.

Hanzi returned home early one day from school, with a sore throat

and a headache that buzzed little flies on the inside of his skull. His

parents were away, and Granddad should have been asleep in his

room. But he wasn't.

Lavie Tidhar - 304, Adolph Hitler Strasse.pdf

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