The Counterfeit Traitor Page #2

No, I'm meeting

General Bacher and his wife.

- But I seem to be a few minutes early.

- Then please wait here.

- May I offer you some sherry or...?

- No. No, thank you.

Erickson?

You must be Swedish.

Yes. From Stockholm.

I just arrived.

And will you be with us long?

Afraid I have to leave

tomorrow morning.

Oh, that's a pity. Just now

when the weather's so good.

I wish I could say

the same for my business.

I have just had the unpleasant

task of telling Mr. Erickson

that our petroleum exports

are going to have to be reduced.

Oh, but I'm certain

that's only temporary.

The moment the Russians

are whipped, and that can't be long,

the fhrer will be generous

with Sweden again.

Would you mind coming to Stockholm

and telling my investors that?

But surely, your countrymen

are more than willing

to make such a small

sacrifice to beat Russia.

After all, she's been your enemy

as well as ours for a long...

Oh, here they are.

Sorry to have interrupted

your little business conversation.

Not at all. It's the most pleasant

moment I've had since I arrived.

Well, perhaps when you come

to Berlin again, we'll have another talk.

Looking forward to it.

Good evening.

Sorry, Eric.

She and her husband are...

She gets around quite a bit.

In Germany today, it's wise

to be nice to such a person.

You never know into whose ear

she'll be whispering next.

I'm sorry about your oil, Eric.

Well, I know if there's

anything to be done, you'd do it.

The shortages in the coming year

are going to be more acute

than anyone

is willing to admit.

I'm doing a survey now on

the possibility of building refineries

in Italy and France.

But the only trouble is, they'd

be more open to bombings

and sabotage

than our own.

Suddenly, a solution occurred

to me. The baron was interested.

If they wanted

bombproof refineries,

what about building

one in a neutral country?

Sweden.

The moment I got back to

Stockholm, I told the plan to Collins,

who immediately

spotted the one big flaw.

The Swedish government

would never approve.

It would hardly be considered

a neutral act by the Allies.

That's the weakness.

And von Oldenbourg

pounced on it.

Maybe you could arrange for the

Allies not to object too strenuously.

How far do you think you could

nurse this along before it'd collapse?

Oh, with discussion

of finance and construction,

I'd say...

...five or six more trips.

Provided the German

officials here in Stockholm

don't torpedo the idea

from the start.

Since I'm American-born,

they don't trust me...

...any more than you do.

No.

Perhaps you might

have to spend time

in developing a little

character... or the lack of it.

What I mean to say is this,

that now that you are on the blacklist,

wouldn't it be logical to express

your anger and indignation

by beginning to say some

nasty things about the Allies?

And from there, the Germans

wouldn't be too surprised

if you gradually became

pro-Nazi.

The people who know me

would never believe it.

You wouldn't be the first businessman

to let profit color his politics.

The best friend I have is a Jew.

Max Gumpel.

For a time, you'll hurt

one Jew deeply.

You might help save

the lives of thousands.

You'll be hated for a while, no doubt

about that. You'll be a quisling.

And you'll just have to live with it.

You won't be able to tell anyone.

Not even my wife?

This is more than I bargained for.

I know. That's the trouble

with this sort of work.

The simplest little thing

often leads to such complications.

- When do you have to know?

- I take the plane to London tonight.

The Americans take

over from here.

Heavens, I'll have to rush.

Don't become pro-Nazi

too fast, Erickson.

Handle it slowly and subtly.

I haven't said I'd do it yet.

Oh, but I think you will.

We have a most interesting recording

of you accepting our first proposition.

Cheerio.

There wasn't much choice now.

It was either go along

or go to jail.

The next night I invited

my closest friend, Max Gumpel,

to have dinner

with my wife and me.

If I could get by them, the chances

were I could convince others.

I started by ranting about

the unfairness of the blacklist

and then tried

my first anti-British remark.

We like to feel that Sweden

is free and neutral, but she's not.

I hate to say it,

but we're occupied

just as surely

as Denmark and Norway.

Not by German military.

By Allied officials.

Eric, I know how

angry you must be,

but don't talk like that.

Max.

These men are determined

to capture us economically.

Watch and see.

England will involve us in this.

Ingrid was merely surprised,

but Max was hurt.

I hated to do it to him,

but apparently he believed me,

and that was the most

important thing.

Now I began to drop remarks here

and there with associates and friends.

Nothing too obvious at first.

That Germany was

only trying to recover

what had been stolen from

her at Versailles and Locarno.

As months went by,

I kept hammering away

at Churchill's treatment

of the French.

I took my time

but never lost an opportunity to drop

a little poison whenever I could.

Friends began avoiding me,

and I was alone most of the time.

I didn't try to contact

the German Embassy crowd.

I figured, sooner or later, they'd hear

about my attitude and try to woo me.

And they did...

... and eventually offered

me a membership

in the Swedish-German

chamber of commerce.

At one of the weekly meetings,

I made a speech paraphrasing an

editorial from a German newspaper.

And someday, even those

countries who now oppose him

will realize who their true

enemy really is.

And then they'll join

the Third Reich,

in a combined front

against international exploitation

and racial degeneration.

Thank you.

Remember Ulrich

and I are here

as representatives of the Third Reich

to help Swedish businessmen.

So if you have any problems,

please call on us.

- Thank you. Good night.

- Good night.

Good night.

- Oh, excellent speech, Eric.

- Yes, good.

Very much like an editorial

I read in the Frankfurter Zeitung.

Have you had a chance

to study my letter on the refinery?

Yes. I feel it has great possibilities

if certain questions can be answered.

And I have the first question.

Are you planning this to help

the Third Reich or to help yourself?

Well, I admit that personal gain

has a great deal to do with it.

National Socialism

is sacrifice, not profit.

And business is

profit, not sacrifice.

It's amazing how well the two get

along together if they have to.

I hate opportunists.

Whether they are

Swedish or German.

Heil Hitler.

On behalf of my government,

my apologies.

His beer-hall manners

are disgusting.

He should have a job requiring

muscles rather than brains.

I'm working on just that.

Without consulting me, he

requested a transfer to Copenhagen.

Without consulting him,

I demanded it.

He can wear a uniform.

That should make him happy.

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