Lost Zweig Page #4

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from your people.

You must heal your soul

of bad thoughts.

Your pan is not here.

On the other side of the earth...

that's where your devils lie.

An older woman is going

around your head.

She's calling you...

while the other one means

a Calvary for you.

She senses...

you have dark plans in your mind.

You should turn your back

for all this.

You should find a new

direction in your life.

She's saying that

after we die...

we enter a time that existed

before we were born.

Therefore, what importance

can have death?

She's asking you

to listen carefully:

no one dies before his time.

They'd given me the day off.

Such nice people.

But this...

this is awful!

How could she know of these things?

There were moments when

I felt was reciting...

passages from Montaigne's

"Essays".

Reincarnation is an important

part of Umbanda.

Our other lives in other eras...

even in other planets,

they affect this one.

Maybe she was reading my mind.

Maybe it was telepathy.

I have Montaigne in me

from head to toe...

I even dream about his thoughts.

But I suppose telepathy is no more

plausible than reincarnation.

Just does make sense.

These things cannot be explained...

in the light of reason, Herr Zweig.

Either you accept them

or you don't.

I believe in them and

it's sometimes frightening.

Their powers of premonition

are terrifying.

It means that

everything is preordained...

that everything is

already said and done.

That's one of the reasons

I stay away from it.

Please, you don't believe that,

do you?

That everything is all laid-out?

No, I don't.

And that's a problem.

Our belief system can't

explain what happened.

We shun the inexplicable,

they embrace it.

Who's to say who's right?

I'm sure they find our believes

just as baffling.

They live in one world,

we live in another.

But last night

the two worlds met...

and it was more exhilarating

than either one alone.

You should have

seen you face, Stefan.

It was like you were

somewhere else.

How could she know about

my most intimate past?

How could she?

A toast...

to Stefan Zweig,

the voodoo Jew of Brazil!

Cheers!

I admit I am defending

a serious breach of doctrine...

but Herr Zweig is a special case.

He has offended a natural law:

"God gives and

only God takes away".

It applies to all

of God's people...

but, gentlemen...

Herr Zweig was one

of our greatest.

He attempted to safeguard

our History...

our culture in his work.

But my only fear, Sholem,

is that it will set a bad example.

By allowing him to be buried

in the Jewish cemetery..

we will make an example

of his life rather than his death.

The Jewish community

will be watching.

A proper burial

is a more fitting end...

than the one he chose for himself.

I agree with Sholem.

Now more than ever,

we must look after our own.

Herr Zweig should be buried

in the Jewish cemetery here in Rio.

Agreed?

Very well then.

Now we must go to Petropolis

and tell them our decision.

But we have a problem to face:

Herr Zweig was affiliated

with the Vargas regime.

Thank God you're here!

We're having

a terrible time in there.

Even when he's dead,

Herr Zweig is a victim of injustice!

They're using him

as a political football!

Who's responsible

for the funeral rites?

- We'll sort it out right now.

- His coffin! His coffin is open!

There are flowers and wreaths

all over the place!

It's an absurd!

What are we going to do?

Calm down.

Calm down, Mr...?

Teitelbaum.

Israel Teitelbaum.

Mr. Teitelbaum...

let's try to resolve

this peacefully.

As Jews, we must take great care.

By all means, rabbi, by all means.

Rabbi.

Excuse me, rabbi Pech.

I'm sorry, but the request

of the government authorities...

I would like your approval.

I have already agreed to send the

bodies to a non-Jewish cemetery...

...here in Petropolis.

- No, no, no!

We've come all the way from Rio

to grant the Zweigs burial...

on sacred Jewish ground.

They will be buried in Rio,

in the Jewish cemetery.

Really, Rabbi Koning!

Wherever a Jew is buried

the ground itself becomes blessed.

Mr. Pontes, I am here on behalf

of the Jewish community...

Mr. Pech...

did Herr Zweig leave any instructions

as to where he wanted to be buried?

- Not that I know of, but...

- Without explicit instructions...

the matter is far from settled.

Herr Zweig was a prominent member

of the Jewish community.

President Vargas wants

to honor Herr Zweig...

and his wife with

a proper State burial...

here in Petropolis.

Now, as far as I know,

and I knew Herr Zweig quite well...

he never made a point

of his Judaism.

In fact, I am surprised

by your zeal.

They will be buried here,

Mr. Pech, not in Rio.

As for Herr Zweig's religious

practices, Mr. Pontes...

they are better left

to heavenly judgment.

His burial should be decided

by the community.

I believe I can resolve

this dispute.

These are Herr Zweig's

last wishes...

written in his own hand

the day before yesterday.

"I wish to be buried

with full Jewish rites...

in a small, simple ceremony

in my beloved Rio de Janeiro. "

So, there you have it.

The ghost of Herr Zweig

affirms his faith.

He is Jewish, Mr. Pontes.

And we, the rabbis,

will allow him to be buried...

in the Jewish cemetery in Rio.

I saw him only yesterday.

He said he was going on a journey.

Maybe he was trying

to send a message...

and we didn't get it.

- Do you know how they did it?

- No.

There are rumors that

they took rat poison...

God!

...but Vargas has forbidden

an autopsy.

He claims that he wants

to respect their privacy.

Dictatorships don't like autopsies.

Poor Lotte!

She was so young,

and such a good companion.

I don't know what could

have been so bad...

as to make them do this.

You know when I first knew

the real Stefan Zweig?

When I read your biography

of that suicidal poet, Kleist.

I thought, this man must

have died once...

to have so much understanding

and empathy.

It's a blessing we're together.

"Now it's all in order.

The eternal intranquillity

is at peace.

That which is destroyed finds itself

in complete union with the world.

Because only he who has

been torn to pieces...

feels the desire for perfection. "

"Eventually my frenzy

mounted...

during the game itself.

I did nothing else from

morning to night...

to such a pitch that I couldn't

sit still anymore.

The driving desire to win,

to dominate, to defeat myself...

gradually became

a kind of madness.

How this horrible, unspeakable

situation came to a head...

I cannot tell you myself.

All I know is that

I woke up one morning...

and the process was

suddenly different.

It was as though

I was outside of my body.

I don't know how much thought

I've given...

to the intellectual character

of this royal game.

But it's absurd,

logically speaking...

to want to play against yourself. "

"Dear President Vargas...

the delicious lunch

was only matched by the sight...

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