Konrad and Alexandra (pdf) - Rolf Gross

Fiesole 1905
"Walter, we have not seen each other for a very long time, why did you abandon us and
never visit St. Petersburg?"
Walter looked past her. "Dear Alexandra, it pains me to explain. I know you are not to be
blamed, you are not Russian. We did not abandon you, I have given up collecting Russian
icons. I have only a few Georgian and Byzantine émailles left."
He glanced at his young friend and lowered his eyes. "You see, it is because of the
dreadful progroms in Russia and Poland. Every day new refugees arrive. The Jewish elders
have decided to boycott the Russian market. I don’t believe it will change anything, but if we
don’t hold together this cancer will spread." He awkwardly clasped and unclasped his hands.
"Forgive me that I trouble you with my problems."
Alexandra considered his words. She had heard of the progroms that sprang up again
and again in the West-Russian Jewish Pale. The central government had repeatedly issued
decrees to stop the abuse, but Tsar Nicholas was known to be at best indifferent, and the local
police authorities in the far away provinces paid no attention to these governmental decrees
and looked aside when the Cossacks devastated Jewish villages.
The non-Semitic Georgian Jews, proselytized during the first century, were a fully
integrated part of the populations of the towns. Largely indistinguishable from their Georgian
neighbors. They were one of the bewildering collection of faiths in Transcaucasia. She held no
antipathies against Jews.
She nodded and tried to ease Walter’s embarrassment with her eyes. She truly felt for
her old friend. He smiled wretchedly at her and apologized once more, begging that they avoid
this distressing subject.
Konrad asked Sally for permission to show Friedrich the house. Alexandra joined him.
Katharina was asleep upstairs. Sally would serve dinner in an hour.
Sally had given them their old room. Below their window the silvery leaves of the graygreen
olive trees, the city below, a profusion of blue iris on the hillside. The quiet serenity.
Spring was even more beautiful than the summer of their memories. They woke Katharina.
Alexandra excused herself. She had to find Sally. In the kitchen she asked where she
could help. "You could prepare the salad and garlic crostini, we are having médaillons de veau
chasseur.“
Washing and drying the lettuce leaves Alexandra began. "Sally, I am so happy to be
here. Walter’s discourses on the spirit of the Renaissance have been my challenge all through
the past years. In the last months I finally encountered a new provocation in modern music and
painting. Tell me, Walter is so depressed, what has happened?"
Sally did not answer. For a while she continued to pound the veal cutlets. After she had
finally shaken them energetically in a bag with flour she faced Alexandra. "Please, don’t take
his words about the Russian progroms personally. You are right, he is depressed. The boycott
is only part of the reason. The art market is changing rapidly. To make ends meet, I help him
sell modern art, but his heart is not in modern painting. The business in Renaissance paintings
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