Berlin Alexanderplatz: The Story of Franz Biberkopf (6 page)

Thus Franz Biberkopf, the concrete-worker, and later furniture-mover, that rough, uncouth man of repulsive aspect, returned to Berlin and to the street, the man at whose head a pretty girl from a locksmith’s family had thrown herself, a girl whom he then made into a whore, and at last mortally injured in a scuffle. He has sworn to all the world and to himself to remain respectable. And as long as he had money, he remained respectable. Later, however, his money gave our: and that was the moment he had been waiting for, to show everybody, once and for all what a real fellow is like.

SECOND BOOK

And thus we have brought our man safely to Berlin. He has made his vow, and the question is: Hadn’t we better simply stop here? The end seems amiable and without artifice, almost a fitting end, and the whole has the great advantage of brevity.

But this is no ordinary man, this Franz Biberkopf. I did not call him here for sport, but to share his hard, true, and enlightening existence. Franz Biberkopf is badly burnt. He now stands safe and sound contentedly on Berlin ground, and if he says he wants to be good, we can believe him, he will be good. You’re going to see how he stayed decent for many a week, but it’s only a respite, so to speak.

Once upon a time there lived in Paradise two human beings, Adam and Eve. They had been put there by the Lord, who had also created the beasts and plants and heaven and earth. And Paradise was the wonderful garden of Eden. Flowers and trees were growing there, animals were playing about, and none oppressed the other. The sun rose and set, the moon did the same, there was abiding joy the whole day long in Paradise.

Thus let us start off merrily. We want to sing and move about: with our little hands going clap, clap, clap, our little feet going tap, tap, tap, moving to, moving fro, roundabout, and away we go.

Franz Biberkopf Enters

BERLIN

Notice of a scheme regarding the building lot situate An der Spandauer Brucke No. 10.

The scheme for the permanent restriction of the building lot situate in the Communal District of Berlin Center due to the addition of an ornamental rosette to the street wall of No. 10 An der Spandauer Brücke is hereby published, together with a sketch plan, for public inspection. During this time all parties concerned may file any objections to the scheme, within the extent of their interests. The municipal authorities of the communal district are also authorized to state their objections, if any. Such objections should be made in writing to the District Office Center, Berlin C 2, Klosterstrasse 68, Room 76, or be made orally before the Registrar.

- I have granted to Herr Bottich, hunting lessee, with the consent of the Police President, authority, liable to cancellation at any time, for the shooting of wild rabbits and other vermin in the area of the Faule Seepark on the following days in the year 1928: Shooting must cease in summer, from April 1st to September 30th, by 7 p.m., in winter, from October 1st to March 31st, by 8 p.m. The public are hereby notified of this permit, and are warned against entering the said area during the shooting time fixed hereby. The Chief Burgomaster, Controller of Hunting Licenses.

- Albert Pangel, master furrier, who may look back upon an activity of almost three years as honorary official, has resigned his honorary office because of age and removal from the district in question. During this long period he was uninterruptedly active as president of the charity commission, or rather as charity guardian. The district office has expressed recognition of his merits in a note of thanks to Mr. Pangel.

The Rosenthaler Platz is busily active.

Weather changing, more agreeable, a degree below freezing. For Germany, a low-pressure region is extending, which in its entire range has ended the weather prevailing up to now. The few pressure changes now going on indicate a slow extension of the low-pressure area towards the south, so that the weather will remain under its influence. During the day the temperature will probably be lower. Weather forecast for Berlin and surrounding country.

Car No. 68 runs across Rosenthaler Platz, Wittenau, Nordbahnhof, Heilanstalt, Weddingplatz, Stettiner Station, Rosenthaler Platz, Alexanderplatz, Straussberger Platz, Frankfurter Allee Station, Lichtenberg, Herzberge Insane Asylum. The three Berlin transport companies - streetcar, elevated and underground, omnibus - form a tariff-union. Fares for adults are 20 pfennigs, for schoolchildren 10 pfennigs, reduced fares allowed for children up to the age of 14, apprentices and pupils, poor students, war cripples, persons physically unfit for walking as certified by the district charity offices. Get to know about the lines. During the winter months the front entrance shall not be opened for passengers entering or leaving, 39 seating capacity, 5918, to alight from the car, warn the motorman in time, the motorman is forbidden to converse with passengers, getting off or on while the car is in motion may lead to fatal accidents.

In the middle of the Rosenthaler Platz a man with two yellow packages jumps off from the 41, an empty taxi glides just past him, the copper looks at him, a street-car inspector appears, cop and inspector shake hands: damned lucky, that fellow with his packages.

Various fruit brandies at wholesale prices, Dr. Bergell, notary and attorney-at-law, Lukutate, the Indian rejuvenation treatment for elephants, Fromms Akt, the best rubber sponge, what’s the use of so many rubber sponges, anyway?

The wide Brunnenstrasse runs north from this square, the A. E. G. runs along its left side in front of the Humboldthain. The A. E. G. is an immense enterprise, which embraces, according to the 1928 telephone directory: Electric Light and Power Works, Central Administration, NW 40, Freidrich-Karl-Ufer 2-4, Local Call and Long Distance Call Office, North 4488, General Management, Janitor, Electric Securities Bank Inc., Division for Lighting Fixtures, Division for Russia, Oberspree Metal Division, Treptow Apparatus Plant, Brunnenstrasse Plant, Henningsdorf Plant, Plant for Insulators, Rheinstrasse Plant, Oberspree Cable Works, Wilhelminenhofstrasse Plant, Rummelsburger Chaussee, Turbine Plant NW 87, Huttenstrasse 12-16.

The Invalidenstrasse trails off to the left. It goes towards the Stettin Slation where the trains from the Baltic Sea arrive: Why, you’re all Covered with soot - yes, there is a lot of dust here. -How do you do? So long. -Has the gentleman anything to carry, 50 pfennigs. -Your vacation certainly did you a lot of good. -Oh, that tan will come off soon. Wonder where people get all the money from to travel around like that. In a little hotel over there in that dark street two lovers shot themselves early yesterday morning, a waiter from Dresden and a married woman, both of whom, however, had registered under false names.

From the south the Rosenthaler Strasse runs into the square. Across the way Aschinger provides food as well as beer to drink, music, and wholesale bakery. Fish are nutritious, some are happy when they have fish, and others are unable to eat it,
eat more fish, the healthy slenderizing dish. Ladies’ stockings, genuine artificial silk, here you have a fountain pen with a 14-carat gold point.

On the Elsasser Strasse they have fenced in the whole street leaving only a narrow gangway. A power engine puffs behind the billboards. Becker-Fiebig, Building Contractor Inc., Berlin W 38. There is a constant din, dump carts are lined up as far as the corner, on which stands the Commercial and Savings Bank, Deposit Branch L, Custody of Securities, Payment of Savings Bank Deposits. Five men, workmen, kneel in front of the bank driving small stones into the ground.

Four persons have just gotten on No. 4 at Lothringer Strasse, two elderly women, a plain man with a worried look, and a boy with a cap and ear-muffs. The two women are together, they are Frau Pluck and Frau Hoppe. They want to get an abdominal bandage for Frau Hoppe, the older woman, because she has a tendency to navel hernia. They have been to the truss-maker’s in the Brunnenstrasse, and now they both want to call by to fetch their husbands for lunch. The man is a coachman named Hasebruck, who is having a lot of trouble with an electric iron which he bought for his boss second-hand and cheap. They had given him a defective one, the boss tried it for a few days, then it failed to work properly, so he is supposed to exchange it. the people refuse to do so, this is the third time he has gone there, today he has been told he has to pay something on it. The boy, Max Rust, will later on become a tinker, father of seven more Rüsts, he will go to work for the firm of Hallis & Co., Plumbing and Roofing, in Grunau. At the age of 52 he will win a quarter of a prize in the Prussian Class Lottery, then he will retire from business and die during an adjustment suit which he has started against the firm of Hallis & Co., at the age of 55. His obituary will read as follows: On September 2, suddenly, from heart-disease, my beloved husband, our dear father, son, brother, brother-in-law, and uncle, Paul Rust, in his 55th year. This announcement is made with deep grief on behalf of his sorrowing family by Marie Rust. The notice of thanks after the funeral will read as follows: Acknowledgment. Being unable to acknowledge individually all tokens of sympathy in our bereavement, we hereby express our profound gratitude to all relatives, friends, as well as to the tenants of No.4 Kleiststrasse and to all our acquaintances. Especially do we thank Herr Deinen for his kind words of sympathy. At present this Max Rust is 14 years old, has just finished public school, is supposed to call by on his way there at the clinic for the defective in speech, the hard of hearing, the weak-visioned, the weak-minded, the incorrigible, he has been there at frequent intervals, because he stutters, but he is getting better now.

Small cafe on Rosenthaler Platz.

In front they are playing billiards, in the back, in a corner, two men sit puffing and smoking and drinking tea. One of them has a flabby face and gray hair, he is sitting with his raglan on: “Well, shoot. But keep still, don’t fidget around like that.”

“You won’t get me to play billiards today. My hand’s shaky.”

He chews a dry Vienna roll, does not touch the tea.

“But you needn’t. We’re all right here.”

“It’s always the same old story. Now it’s come to a head.”

“Who’s come to a head?”

The other man, young, very blond, firm face, firm figure: “Me, too, of curse; you thought maybe it was only them? Now everything’s cleared up.”

“In other words, you’ve been let out.”

“I talked some real German with the boss, then he started to jump on me. That evening I had my notice for the first.”

“It’s best never to talk German in certain situations. If you had talked French with the man, he wouldn’t have understood you, and you’d still be there.”

‘Tm still there, what do you mean? Very much there! Maybe they think I’m going to make their lives easy! Every day, at two o’clock sharp, I’ll be on the spot, and I’ll make life a hell for ‘em, you can bet your boots on it.”

“Why, sonny, I thought you were married.”

The other holds his head. “That’s the mean thing about it, I haven’t told her yet, I can’t tell her.” “Maybe it’ll all blow over.” “She is expecting.” “The second?” “Yes.” The man in the raglan pulls his overcoat tighter round him, smiles mockingly at the other, then nods: “That’s all right, children give a fellow courage. You’ll need it now.”

The other jerks forward: “I won’t need it. What for? I’m in debt up to here. Those eternal installments. I can’t tell her. And then to ditch a fellow like that. I’m used to order, and that damned business is rotten from top to bottom. The boss has his furniture factory, and whether I get orders for the shoe department or not, is something he doesn’t worry about. That’s the way it is. You’re the fifth wheel on the wagon. You stand around the office and ask and ask: Did those estimates go out? Which estimates? Six times I told them, what’s the use then of calling on the customers? You make yourself ridiculous. Either he lets the department go to hell or he don’t.”

“Well, take a swallow of tea. Right now he’s letting you go to hell.” A man in shirt-sleeves comes up from the billiard table, taps the younger man on the shoulders: “A game?” The elder answers for him: “He’s just been socked pretty bad.”

“Billiards is good for bad socks.” Then he walks away. The man in the raglan swallows some hot tea, it’s good to drink hot tea with sugar and rum, and listen to somebody else yapping. It’s cozy here in this place. “You’re not going home today, Georg?”

“Haven’t got the nerve, haven’t got the nerve. What’ll I tell her? I can’t look her in the face.”

“Onward, brother, keep the pace, look them calmly in the face. “

“What do you know about it?”

The other sprawls over the table, the lapels of his raglan between his fingers: “Drink, Georg, or eat, and don’t talk. I know something about it. I know the whole shooting-match, yes, sir. When you were that high, I had already been through the mill.”

“Just put yourself in my place. A good position, and then they go and mess things up for a fellow.”

“I was a high school teacher. Before the war. When the war broke out, I was already the way I am now. The cafe was like it is today. They didn’t take me. They got no use for people like me, people who take dope. Or rather, they did take me. I thought I’d get a stroke. The needle, of course, they took that away, and the morphine, too. And into the mess I went. I stood it two days, as long as 1 still had some reserves, drops, and then goodbye, Prussians, and me for the insane asylum. Then they let me go. Well what was I saying, then I was fired by the school, morphine, of course, a fellow is sometimes fuddled when he starts taking the stuff; now that don’t happen to me anymore; worse luck. Well, and the wife? And the child? Good-bye, my dear old fatherland. Georg, old bird, I could tell you some romantic stories.” The gray-haired man drinks, both hands around his glass, drinks slowly, earnestly, peering into the tea. “A wife, a child, it looks as if that were the whole world. I have no regrets. I don’t feel any guilt about it, we have to take facts, like ourselves, the way they come. We shouldn’t brag about our fate. I’m an enemy of Destiny, I’m not a Greek, I’m a Berliner. Why do you let that nice tea get cold? Put some rum in it.” The young man holds his hand over his glass, but the other shoves it aside, pours something into it from a small tin flask which he pulls out of his pocket. “I have to go. Thanks. I’ll have to walk off my bad temper.” “Just stay here and keep quiet. Georg, drink a bit, then play some billiards. At any rate, don’t get yourself all muddled up. That’s the beginning of the end. When I didn’t find my wife and child at home and there was only a letter, gone to mother in West Prussia and so on, life a failure, a man like me, and the scandal and so on and so forth, I slit myself here, here on the left arm, looks like attempted suicide, eh? We should never neglect the opportunity to learn something, Georg, I knew Provençal all right but anatomy - I mistook the tendon for the pulse. I don’t know much more about it today, but that doesn’t matter now, that’s all over. In a word: pain and regrets were nonsense, I went on living, the woman also went on living, the child, too. In fact, more kids came on the scene in West Prussia, a brace I think, seems I operated at a distance; we’re all alive and healthy. I enjoy the Rosenthaler Platz, I enjoy the cop at the Elsasser corner, I like my game of billiards, I’d like anyone to come and tell me that his life is better than mine and that I don’t understand women.”