Belloq tapped his fingers against his glass, thinking.
"There is a particular German with whom I've often worked. A Gestapo man, Major Toht he is called. He's just the sort of person you describe: brutal, barbaric, no sense of beauty or real appreciation for the artifacts I acquire for him and his masters. He's the sort of man who would smash a two-thousand year old kylix just to prove that he can destroy whatever he wants. But he is efficient, very efficient."
He took a long drink from his glass, then made a face at the bitter, hoppy taste.
"I sometimes wonder if I ever shot at him across a poppy field back in 1916. I shot at a lot of Germans back then.
"You see, that's why it doesn't matter who wins and who loses. If the Nazis conquer Europe, yes, I'm sure it will be brutal and there will be many killings. But if they lose their coming war, do the killings stop, the wars? If they lose, maybe the Germans just come back yet again; third time's the charm they say. Or maybe it's someone else next time, the Britons or the Russians who decide that their Empires need expanding. In the end, the only thing that changes is who does the killing and who is being killed. Minor details. Better then to stand outside it all as a freelancer, shifting with the changing tides."
no subject
"There is a particular German with whom I've often worked. A Gestapo man, Major Toht he is called. He's just the sort of person you describe: brutal, barbaric, no sense of beauty or real appreciation for the artifacts I acquire for him and his masters. He's the sort of man who would smash a two-thousand year old kylix just to prove that he can destroy whatever he wants. But he is efficient, very efficient."
He took a long drink from his glass, then made a face at the bitter, hoppy taste.
"I sometimes wonder if I ever shot at him across a poppy field back in 1916. I shot at a lot of Germans back then.
"You see, that's why it doesn't matter who wins and who loses. If the Nazis conquer Europe, yes, I'm sure it will be brutal and there will be many killings. But if they lose their coming war, do the killings stop, the wars? If they lose, maybe the Germans just come back yet again; third time's the charm they say. Or maybe it's someone else next time, the Britons or the Russians who decide that their Empires need expanding. In the end, the only thing that changes is who does the killing and who is being killed. Minor details. Better then to stand outside it all as a freelancer, shifting with the changing tides."