Konrad and Alexandra (pdf) - Rolf Gross

Germany an alternative. He surely did not sympathize with the Russian nationalists, but
Alexandra was Georgian.
He voiced the obvious, "I don’t consider a retreat to Germany an acceptable solution. I
may be German, but I don’t feel an allegiance to Germany like you do, Joachim. I am married
to Alexandra and my home is there. One cannot change one’s allegiances overnight. And
Alexandra feels she has a mission as a physician among her countrymen. This may sound like
naïve Socialism to you, but I fully support her idealism."
Red-faced, Joachim said. "Konrad, it will be a matter of life and death, not a question
whether you should stay or not."
Alexandra, who had listened quietly, sat bolt upright and said. "Joachim, if I try to look at
your suggestion with a modicum of rationality, I see many reasons that speak for your
suggestion and many personal ones that are against it. I am Georgian as Clara and Konrad
point out. Georgians are very hard to transplant, and my ‘mission’ as Konrad calls it, is in no
small measure my way of coping with these threats to our existence and with my
‘homesickness’ of living in northern Russia."
She picked up a piece of bread, plucked it into small crumbs which she arranged
absentmindedly into designs on the table cloth. "Munich has turned out to be a place with a
surprisingly ‘Georgian’ charm. I feel I could live here. Maybe this would be the closest place for
me to live away from home. However, if St. Petersburg becomes too dangerous for us to stay, I
would first go back to Tiflis before I would think of emigrating. In Tiflis my life would have a
purpose, here not."
Clara called Joachim a Cassandra and argued once more for Alexandra, who with a
grateful look decided to divert Joachim from his gloom. "Would you join us tomorrow night at a
chamber concert at the house of friends? They are the parents of Niko’s fiancé one of the
culturally influential families in town. You would find them most congenial."
Clara was immediately interested, if Alexandra could get the agreement of the hostess.
Joachim, still brooding under the dark shadow of the meeting in Berlin, remained stubbornly
silent.
Alexandra tried again. "Look Joachim, these Monday evening concerts are most
charming, they have given me my first taste of Western music. Besides Professor and Mrs.
Dahl are an exceptional couple living in a very unusual, contemporary house. I know you will
enjoy their company after so many years in that ‘Oriental backwater.’ It will divert you from your
dark thoughts. Come along, forget Berlin and St. Petersburg for one evening. These two
incapable emperors will disappear one day!"
Joachim, incredulous, shook his head. Alexandra gave him her most winning smile
which finally melted his objections.
194