HHhH: A Novel

Leopold Trepper, head of the French arm of the legendary Resistance organization Red Orchestra, made an observation: when a Resistance fighter fell into enemy hands and was offered the chance to cooperate, he had a choice: to accept or not. If he accepted, the damage could still be limited by saying as little as possible, hemming and hawing, releasing information drop by drop, and playing for time. This was the strategy Trepper adopted when he was arrested, and it was also the strategy used by A54. But they were both extremely high-level professional spies. Most of the time, the spy who accepted the offer to swap sides—even if he had until then resisted the worst kinds of torture—cracked very suddenly. From the moment he made his decision, he (to use Trepper’s memorable expression) “wallowed in betrayal as if in mud.” Karel Čurda is not content to lead the Gestapo to Heydrich’s assassins but also provides the names of all his contacts, and of all those who helped him after his return to his homeland. He sold Gabčík and Kubiš to the Nazis, but he gave them all the others. Nothing forced him to mention the existence of Libuse, the radio transmitter, for example. Yet he puts the Gestapo on the trail of the final two escapees from Valčík’s group, Silver A—Captain Bartos and the radiotelegrapher Potůček. The trail leads to Pardubice, where Bartos—surrounded, after being chased on foot through the town—follows his comrades’ example and kills himself. Unfortunately, when they search his body they find a little book containing lots of addresses. Thus Pannwitz is able to keep following the thread. It passes through a tiny village called Ležáky, which becomes the Nagasaki to Lidice’s Hiroshima. On June 26, Potůček the radiotelegrapher—the last parachutist still alive—sends the final message from Libuse: “The village of Lezaky, where I ended up with my transmitter, has been razed to the ground. The people who helped us were arrested [only two little blond girls suitable for Germanization would survive]. Thanks to their support, I was able to save myself and the transmitter. That day, Freda [Bartos] was not in Lezaky. I don’t know where he is and he doesn’t know where I am now. But I hope that we will manage to find one another. For now, I am alone. Next transmission: June 28 at 23 hours.” He roams through forests, is picked up at another village, and manages to escape once more. But, hunted, starving, exhausted, he is finally captured and shot on July 2 near Pardubice. I said he was the last of the parachutists, but that’s not true: there is still Čurda. The traitor gets his money, changes his name, marries a woman of good German stock, and becomes a full-time double agent on behalf of his new masters. During this time, A54, the German superagent, is sent to Mauthausen, where he manages to endlessly defer his own execution by playing the same game as Scheherezade. But not everyone has that many stories to tell.