Pale, plain, 30-year-old Ralph Kastner did not have much use for his father. Socially and politically, father Hermann was an opportunist. After Ralph's mother had divorced him in 1944, father Hermann managed a retrial which declared his wife guilty, hounded her and their daughter out of Dresden. When he married again, Hermann chose blowzy, peroxide-blonde Trude Mirtsching, a stenographer with excellent Soviet connections. A year later, conniving Hermann had worked up from a minor political boss to be Deputy Chairman of the Economic Commission, forerunner of the East German government.
Last fall the new East German government made Hermann a Deputy Prime Minister. Trude was delighted. She made no secret of her ambition to be the First Lady of Germany. The high point for the Kastners was a Russian invitation to a vacation in the Crimea.
Two Bags of Candy. Meanwhile, son Ralph plugged away at his puny post in the Dresden Volkssolidarität (People's Solidarity), a Communist welfare organization. Life was hard for Ralph Kastner, and twice Hermann helped him out. The day before currency reform, Hermann gave Ralph 1,000 marks; next day the value of the money was cut 90%. Once when Ralph pleaded that his children needed help, Hermann sent his chauffeur around with two bags of candy.
Last month, Ralph was bounced from his job because he would not join a Communist union. He moved his shabby little family into West Berlin. Then he called up his father and told him off:
Ralph: "Do you know what's going on out in our zone and can you still take the responsibility for what's happening? The oppression everywhere?"
Hermann: "What are you going to do about it?"
Ralph: "I'm going to the West. . . and say, don't you want to come along, or can you still stand what's going on in the zone?"
Hermann: "What are you going to do in the West?"
Ralph: "I'll get along better than in the East, won't I?"
Hermann: "Well, all the best. I'll hear from you, won't I?"
Ralph: "Yes, you'll hear from me."
A Few Days of Sick Leave. Hermann Kastner heard from Ralph sooner than he had expected. That night Ralph, broadcasting over the U.S. radio station in Berlin, told Hermann a few of the things he had not got around to on the telephone: "What do you say to the starvation rations in the Soviet zone? How can you reconcile it with your conscience that tens of thousands of innocent people . . . are kept in prison and tortured to death . . . I suppose I could have told you all this in Dresden, but then your wife, Trude, what with her excellent connections with the Soviet authorities, would have seen to it that I wouldn't have had the chance to flee to West Berlin."
Hermann Kastner decided to take sick leave for a few days. In the Communist high command they began to mutter that he might have to be replaced: he did not quite "measure up to his responsibilities."