High Treason and Low Comedy. Robert T. O’Keeffe
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(continues): ... that you truly love me, I don’t want anything else from you, just that you remain my Stevie, while I’m still your Freddy ...
(Franzi steps forward)
HROMADKA (he jumps to his feet): Franzi! (he pauses) Franzi, let me explain this to you ...
FRANZI (her voice tinged with sadness): You don’t have to explain anything at all to me, Stefan. I know you very well, and I know that you’re a good person. And if you’ve been a little frivolous, maybe rash, still I know you’re convinced that you love me and that we’re good for each other. No, Stefan, you’re not guilty of anything. (she gives Redl a measured gaze)
REDL (his tone is cold): You wish to say something else? That I’m “guilty of something,” my dear young woman?
Conflict between Franzi and Redl
FRANZI (aggressively): Yes, I do want to say something, don’t you worry about that, I’ll say it alright. Shame on you, Herr Colonel, shame on you, you in your golden collar, that you ...
HROMADKA: Franzi, please, you don’t understand what’s going on.
FRANZI: No, I don’t understand it, thank God for that, and I don’t ever want to understand it. I’m not going to get mixed up in that business, what men do with each other. “Judge not, lest ye be judged,” that much I’ve learned from my religion. And first of all I don’t want to judge something that I don’t understand... But what I do understand, Herr Colonel, is that you’ve led this young man astray, seduced him, and you want to lead him ever farther astray. You’ve pampered him and coddled him, and now you want to corrupt him, corrupt him for once and all. That’s why I’ve come here, Herr Colonel, to tell you that you shouldn’t ruin my Stefan. What do you want from him?
REDL: Don’t get yourself involved in men’s business, my dear young woman.
FRANZI: No, I don’t want to get myself involved in your kind of men’s business, Herr Colonel, you’ve got a heavy burden to bear when it comes to that. I can see from the way you look that you’re an unfortunate man, but don’t pull this young man into your own misfortune. Go on, carry on your men’s business with other men just like you, but this young man isn’t like that, a man like you, he loves me, do you understand, he loves a woman!
REDL: It’s up to me to decide who my friends are.
FRANZI: Friends? We’re not talking about friendship. Why are you lying to yourself about it? Is it friendship that he has with a man twice his age? What kind of a friendship is it for you to take an upright lad from the country and stick him in the middle of a
What the name “Redl” really means
bunch of cavalry officers, a bunch of titled idlers who would openly scorn him if you weren’t protecting him, if you hadn’t made him your so-called protégé, while in reality you don’t want to do anything for him.
HROMADKA: But Franzi! Colonel Redl has already done more than enough for me!
FRANZI: That’s what you think. Oh yes, he’s bought you riding horses, had beautiful uniforms made for you, got you nice living-quarters, sent you bon-bons and champagne, but just why has he done all this? It’s because he wants you to get used to his posh way of life, so you won’t be able to break away from him. And hasn’t he promised to get you into the War College? So why hasn’t he told you that you should be studying, should be preparing for the examinations? Only because he’s worried that if you show that you can accomplish it on your own, you won’t need him anymore. It’s the same reason why you haven’t gotten into the military intelligence bureau even though he promised you that too. If he really wanted that, you would have been taken in by the bureau ten times over. Doesn’t just one word from Colonel Redl suffice for that?
REDL: The dear young woman overestimates my powers.
FRANZI: Oh no, Herr Colonel, I’ve made all the right inquiries about the man who wishes to call himself the friend of my Stefan. And wherever I’ve asked, I’ve received the same information — in the army the name of Colonel Redl means almost as much as the Emperor’s name. Colonel Redl is the ingenious organizer behind all of our intelligence services, Colonel Redl is the master recruiter of spies, Colonel Redl is flawless when it comes to unmasking foreign agents, he’s the expert who can’t be contradicted in espionage trials, he’s the man who makes sure that the accused wind up in prison.That’s who you are, Herr Colonel Redl. None of that makes
Recruiting spies, punishing spies
me very happy, because the one important thing I learned from my religion is, “Judge not, lest ye be judged.” So, how can a man recruit spies and, at the very same time, punish spies — that I don’t understand... But, first and foremost, what’s been on my mind is this: if a man can so easily induce hundreds into criminality, then he should easily be able to lead one man who is his friend to honest work.
REDL: My dear young woman, I forbid you to get mixed up in my professional affairs.
HROMADKA: Franzi, your behavior is scandalous!
FRANZI: Certainly, Herr Colonel, here in this place you have the right to forbid what you want. I shouldn’t get involved in your men’s business, or in your professional affairs. Fine, Herr Colonel. But you shouldn’t be getting my fine young Stefan involved in your dreary little men’s business or your wretched professional affairs. That’s what I’ll forbid to you. Poor Stefan!
(she addresses Redl) : We’ll see each other again.
(she exits)
REDL: Well now, you just got a preview of what kind of wifely lectures await you when you marry. Look how she’s been snooping around after you! And how she’s been collecting information about me. An international spy couldn’t have discovered more! And how critical she is of my profession ...
HROMADKA: I really must beg your pardon for all this.
REDL: No, it’s all right. But I do want to save you from the clutches of this woman, she’s a real witch, I’m telling you. Come on, take a trip with me, we’ll make a pleasant tour of the Alps ...
HROMADKA: I don’t have any military leave time.
Arranging a trip to the mountains
REDL: I’ll get your leave for you tomorrow, do you want that?
HROMADKA (hesitantly): But ...
REDL: No buts about it! Do you want to? (Hromadka is shaking his head) We’ll travel by car. In a touring car, I’ll buy you a touring car.
HROMADKA: An Austro-Daimler?*
REDL: Yes, an Austro-Daimler.
HROMADKA: When?
REDL: First thing tomorrow.
HROMADKA: Your word of honor on that?
REDL (smiling): My word of honor
* One of the most expensive cars of the pre-WWI era. Redl owned two and, in Kisch’s 1924 report, he was having one ostentatiously refurbished while in Vienna to deal with Hromakda.
HROMADKA: You’ve got that kind of money?
REDL: Yes.
HROMADKA: Here in Vienna?
REDL (as he looks at the clock): Yes, but you should go now and pack your bags. And tomorrow morning you’re coming, aren’t you? Word of honor?
The Colonel rushes off
HROMADKA: Word of honor! Are you going out too?
REDL: No, not — that is, well, I do have to go out now.
HROMADKA: Good, then, we’ll go together.
REDL: No, that’s not on. I’ve got to change into civvies.
HROMADKA: Well, I don’t mind waiting for you.