These papers tell me you are nothing
published by Stephan Gruber
“But I am a German!”
“No, you are nothing. These papers tell me you are nothing. Nothing at all. You do not exist.”
“One day! They are out of date by one day, that is all.”
“Sir, this gentleman comes through all the time,” Klingermann gave Alois an uncomfortable look. “He is… he is well known to me. I can vouch for him.”
“Oh, you can vouch for him, can you Klingermann? And why do you think the Imperial Government in Vienna spends a fortune every month on papers, stamps, passports and vouchers, then? For fun? What do you think a voucher is? It is a stamped piece of paper to be carried around at all times, legitimising the bearer. Or does this non-existent citizen of nowhere imagine that he will carry you around as his voucher?”
“But as a German, I am allowed free passage into Austria!”
“But you are not a German. You may have been, from these papers, a German yesterday. But today, today you are no one and nothing.”
aus Stephen Fry: Making History, London 1997, S. 32
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