Letter to Romans

7/29/2019 Letter to Romans

1/21

Letter to the Romans

1


2/21


2

Andr Traichel


Teutnia, RS2013


3/21


3

All rights reserved.

Registered in Brazilian National Library,

under the number 459.630, book 864

Cover photo:

Katia Grimmer-Laversann

Portuguese revision:

Gabriela Silva

German Revision:

Adilson Eskelsen

Translated by Noeli Eggers Strate


4/21


4

Notice to the Readers:

This is just a fictitious, detective story that was based on an

urban legend of a town of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.

Legend has it that at the beginning of the century XX, a

Masonic Temple caught fire, without causing casualties, but, until

now, the facts are mixed with folklore and almost nothing is said. Inone of the cemeteries of the town there are still timeworn tombstones

with symbols of Masonry. I repeat: it is not related to this story.

The Order of Teutonic Knights exists until now, its

headquarters is in Austria, but it doesnt have anything to do with the

German immigration in Brazil. The description about the Lutheran

Church is also factual, but the facts narrated in this book are

fiction, they are just part of the plot of this novel.

The characters of this story and the community of New

Berlin are also fictitious and any resemblance with names is purelycoincidental.


5/21


5

To my wife Mariana and mychildren Matheus and Valkiria for the

comprehension for the hours spent in front of

the laptop; to grandma Elvira, who never let

us forget who we are and where we are from.


6/21


6

Prologue

June 07, 1944 22:25pm

All were alarmed. The news about another three temples that

had been burned in several places in the Valley concerned the

Brothers; now they redoubled the security to the access to themeetings. The sequenced beat and the old entrance word, whispered

and transmitted only to the members initiated in the Order, were not

synonymous of trust and entrance to the sessions anymore. New

dreads resuscitated old wounds that everybody in the Order had

considered healed.

On that starlit night, fourteen worried members from the

neighborhood and also from other districts, came to the meeting in

the New Berlin Colony temple.

- Mein Gott, we will not be safe anywhere while we wont

discover what is happening said the only Novice present at the

meeting. I heard that in the neighbor district all the accessories of thetemple remained there, among the ashes and the demolished walls,

until the curious ones arrived. After that, they didnt even paid

attention to the bodies; they were more interested in taking the

candlesticks!

This caused exaltation among them.


7/21


7

- This shows that whoever burned the temple, was not

interested in robbery, but, in burning our Brothers live said the

oldest.

While all discussed how and what happened and what

actions should be taken, a small flame began near one of the curtains

that covered the east wall of the temple. The Brothers analyzed the

alternatives that rested, taken by the anguish and dread due to the

recent facts happened in the neighbor colony, so concentrated on

their ideas that they didnt perceive the imminent danger that

surrounded them.

When they realized, there was a thick layer of smoke on the

ceiling of the room of the four-sided building, adorned with golden

inscriptions in Latin and old German, about legends and teachings

transmitted from generation to generation to those that were chosen

to compose the Order.

The fire spread fast in the room. The Brothers tried but no

water came out of the small tap of the lavatory in the back of the

temple. The youngest and more vigorous tried to choke the flames

that now were shaping using the several rugs, but, the situation

complicated more, as if the fire waited for this. The heat increased

and the dense smoke that entered in the lungs was already causing

the succumbing of the oldest, with the black tunics that covered the

whole bodies.


8/21


8

The despair increased when they realized that the only exit of

the building was through the Initial Room, localized in the previous

portion of the building. With difficulty, some of the Brothers tried to

open the thick door, elegantly carved, but of no use. The entrance

was locked, probably from outside, with no chance of opening. Since

old times, the Order temples didnt have windows or other

alternative outlets.

In just thirty minutes the fire consumed not only the building

localized inside a small colony of five hectares but also de bodies of

thirteen respected members of the community of New Berlin Colony.


9/21


9

Chapter I

A new beginning

April 25, 2008 4pm

It was 3pm when Klaus Fischer emptied his drawers at the

News from RS newspaper office. After a decade of working as a police journalist, at one of the most respected newspapers of the

south of the country, Klaus felt that his time there was over. It was

not just the competition among the journalistic environment that

disturbed him, but also the fact that there were no chances to grow

there anymore. The salary was not suitable according to the risks of

the reports, besides, the sacrifices of the daily routine were stressing

the whole family.

During the last five years, Klaus had followed the same

routine. Every day he used to take his son at the nursery; that cost a

considerable part of his salary, and he used to walk the five

kilometers through Cristvo Colombo Avenue until the headquarter of the newspaper office, saving the money of the ticket besides doing

some physical exercise. His work demanded him to spend the whole

day dealing with law suits, puzzles, witnesses, and plots that were

similar to any Hollywood movie.

On the last working days, Klaus used to call to this wife,


10/21


10

Bianca, to ask her to pick the little Artur up at the nursery after work,

because the chief editor asked him to stay longer at work. The reason

for this forced overtime was the report about a German engineer that

had been killed with his hands tied in a luxurious apartment of the

seventh floor in one of the fanciest neighborhoods of Porto Alegre .

Klaus was, definitely, tired of this.

After saying goodbye to those who had been his colleagues

for a long time and with a brief wave to his former boss, Klaus took

the lift on the third floor feeling relieved. He had just quit in a way

that he would always be remembered at the newspaper office. During

the meeting with sarcasm and truths that everybody would like to

say. Finally, he was free to restart his life in another place, far away

from the noise of the big city, of the car pollution and, above of all,

with his family.

Some weeks before, when he and Bianca decided to quit

their jobs, they researched through the Internet the Real State

agencies of some nearby cities. In a short time, they bought a house

in a small town not far from Porto Alegre , founded by German

immigrants in the mid of the nineteenth century.

Almost all the thirteen thousands and five hundred

inhabitants there had Germanic ascendancy and they still spoke their

grandparents dialect: the Plattdeutsch. Klaus was extremely excited

about the chance of using the first language that he had spoken when


11/21


11

his family of small farmers lived in the countryside in a town that

had also been founded by German immigrants.

New Berlin was the perfect place to raise Artur and to restart

their careers: he at the local newspaper they liked to have a

journalist from the capital city for a countryside salary and she as a

Math teacher at the Agricultural Technical School.

The sixty-year-old house was bought with the savings that

they had done during ten years. It needed a remodeling; Klaus and

Bianca would do what they could, like the painting and a new

garden. Besides saving the handwork money, it would also help to

relax, a collective hobby.

On a sunny Saturday, two days after they quitted, Klaus and

Bianca moved. They packed and put the furniture in the small truck.

After a last look at the apartment that had been their home for so

many years, the couple left for their new life.

As soon as they arrived, they called the attention of the few

neighbors that lived in Linha Fritz ; most of them were agriculture

workers, who rarely left their town and that were not used to

strangers, especially those from other cities. There were many

speculations among the dwellers about how would be the new

inhabitants of that house that had been sold after many years.

As usual in small communities, everybody observed the

furniture and the packages that were coming out of the little truck.


12/21


12

Bianca gave instructions to the carriers and to an already annoyed

Klaus about where the furniture should be placed; while little Artur

was already playing in the garden of the house.

The couples move would be the subject of the conversations

of the small community that week.

The first days were not as planned. Although Klaus was a

typical German descendant, one hundred kilograms of weight and six

feet height, blonde hair, blue eyes and usually unshaven, the dwellers

or dealers of the town were polite only if they were greeted with a

Guten Tag, well pronounced with a heavy accent.

After introducing himself at the local Newspaper, Klaus

new boss suggested him to snoop around, in order to know the

people and the places that would be his new working subject. During

this first week, he noticed the distrustful and crossed looks several

times.

What most called the journalists attention was, of course,

the prominent people of the town: the mayor Franz Schmidt, a simple

guy that had been elected under a job promise for everybody, even

that for turning this possible he had to build another city hall in order

to accommodate all of them; the police officer Hans Jorge Schneider,

known by everyone (even by those who were arrested by him); and

Mr. Frank Meyer Schuch, an octogenarian respected by all the elders

of the town; considering the fact that he was the principal responsible


13/21


13

for the political emancipation of New Berlin , in the 1950s,

contributing for the progress and abundance of the small town.

The tourist attractions called his attention, as well as the half-

timbered style of the city hall, the typical German style. The stone

walls of these kind of buildings are hacked by wood beams in the

horizontal and in diagonal, providing support to the structure; the

colonial style centenary houses, well preserved; the main square of

the town always flowered and very clean, its basalt sidewalks and

trees like German pine tree, beyond several araucarias, typical trees

of the temperate climate of the South of Brazil.

One of the most visited tourist attractions was the

observatory, built among the hills around the town, at 800 meters

height, revealing an incomparable beauty in the woods and fog,

typical of that period.

Due to the fact that it was localized in a place of difficult

access, among the hills and with no industries, New Berlin didnt

attract workers from other cities, conserving much of the culture of

its founders. The local economy was based on agribusiness, since

dairy to the exportation of meat and it derivatives.

It was at the cemetery of the biggest Lutheran church that

Klaus Fischer noted something different, though. Although there

were many other cemeteries in the town, most of them centenary and

situated in the countryside, Jardim Concordia was the oldest, where


14/21


14

the first colonizers were buried, as well as, the most prominent

people of the town.

Concordia church, which supported the cemetery, was

localized in the center of an area of around three hectares, large

lawns, tombstones outworn by the time, where some epitaphs in old

German were not legible anymore.

Amid all this, the journalists attention was captured by

thirteen tombs, placed separately from the rest, its tombstones in a

broken column shape and, above each of them, a marble angel,

already darkened by the time, but, still pointing to the sky, as if they

were indicating to the visitors that their occupants had left to a better

place.

Klaus approached in order to see better and he perceived

that, although they had been weatherworn, they were all well cared,

without weeds or dirtiness. He also noted that at each tombstone

there was a small sculpture in high-relief, something like an eight-

petal-flower.

- Its the Luther Rose; one of the symbols of the Lutheran

church, created under the supervision of Martin Luther himself.

Another symbol is the cross; each element has a different meaning. A

nice work, dont you think so, Herr Fischer ?

The journalist was so curious and entertained that he hadnt

noted the arrival of a man that was around sixty years old, he had


15/21


15

gray hair, white skin, but a rosy face, and in a good physical fitness.

- Do you know me? - asked Klaus, surprised.

- Aber natrlich ! Many people that you interviewed belongs

to the Concordia church, because most of the people is Lutheran and

this was the first churched that was built in town, on April 10, 1870.

So, it is expected to be a meeting place of the members of our

community. Entschuldigung , I forgot to introduce myself: my name

is Gustavo Dietrich von Karl. I am the janitor of this resting place.

Klaus was really surprised by the erudition of the janitor; he

sounded more convicted and eloquent than the mayor or the police

officer who, theoretically, are enlightened.

- Herr Karl, sehr angenehm.

- Danke , Herr Fischer, I know that your German is perfect,

but, we can speak in Portuguese.

- So, again, it is nice to meet you, Mr. Karl. This cemetery is

really nice and well cared; I guess you are very dedicated to your

work.

- I believe that for many people come here and talk to the

beloved ones that passed away is the best way to expiate their sins

and problems; a mean to find the way for better days. They always

keep the cemetery clean and organized, I just do the usual

maintenance and the security.

- I understand. Could you tell me something about these


16/21


16

people buried here? I became curious because they are so separated.

- It was a fire, a long time ago; old history for some people.

Thirteen men died burned in a building and, as we didnt have

firefighters on that time, there was nobody to save them. What rested

from their carbonized bodies was buried in these thirteen tombs. You

can observe by the dates that the burials were all in the same day,

but, unfortunately, in some of them the names are not so legible.

- I understand. I thought it was strange that they were so

separated from the other ones. It seems like they were not supposed

to mix with the others

- Its a fool superstition, Herr Fischer interrupted the

janitor, fast you know how people are. Thirteen people dead, a not

very blessed number. But, if you excuse me, I have to finish my

tasks.

Gustavo Dietrich von Karl said goodbye fast and returned to

his janitorial function, leaving the journalist with the impression that

there was more about that story, something that the educated janitor

wouldnt like to reveal.

On that evening, the meeting at the Lutheran cemetery was

the subject during their dinner and Klaus told the strange history to

his wife.

- The Lutheran emblem is really beautiful. I remember the

Confirmation classes, when the Pastor explained each element of it.


17/21


17

If Im not mistaken, the black cross reminds the crucified Jesus

Christ; the heart is red because the cross doesnt kill our faith, but

keeps it live. Finally, the rose is white because the faith brings joy

and peace. I guess thats it

- Well done, Bia, you paid attention in class! Dont forget

that the rose is in a blue background, symbolizing the celestial joy

and around it, there is a golden symbol, which represents the eternal

blessing, our most precious one.

- Touch - said an amazed Bianca - you also havent

forgotten!

- Certain things we keep in the memory and dont forget

anymore. It is like the linking verbs. Once I memorized them for a

test at school and until today I keep those damn ones in mind: to be,

walk, stay, seem, remain, continue and become.

Both laughed and Bianca continued repeating the verbs for

some instants more.

- But, what really called my attention continued Klaus

were those thirteen tombs so separated from the others, like if they

didnt want them to mix. When I asked the janitor about the reason

he simply changed subjects and didnt tell me anything else. It

seemed that he didnt want to talk about this, as if he had said the

sufficient.

- Look - Bianca interrupted you can talk to the head of the


18/21


18

municipal museum. There was a group at school who went to see the

exposition about the history of New Berlin , since the first immigrants

until today. The students told me that there are pictures, documents

and dome artifacts that resisted to the time and to the war. But,

before I forget, Leo called. He said he had access to the investigation

reports about the German engineer case and he had already sent them

to your email.

- Ive already told Leo that I dont have anything to do with

this anymore said Klaus - I passed the information to Marcio, he

should analyze the investigation data.

- I know, my dear, but you spend so much time on this case;

I think you could take a look and give Leo a feedback about it. After

all, he worked hard to gather the information for you former

report.

Like always, Bianca was right and he knew that. Many

times, the well dressed, tall, thirty-two-year-old mathematician,

logical thinker, gave the right direction to the reports that Klaus took

home, to work overtime, in front of his laptop. It wasnt different this

time, he knew. He really had to give a support to the young

journalism trainee; he had also faced this at the beginning of his

career in small newspapers of the capital city and he knew how

difficult it was to get the attention and the credits after the effort after

finishing a report.


19/21


19

They met at College when Klaus decided to take the

discipline of free choice with the Mathematic course. The figure of

someone that was lost was outstanding in trigonometry classes and

Bianca noticed it. It was during the monitoring classes with Bianca

that they met and they started a relationship soon after this. Two

years later, they were graduated and got married and, since then, they

have helped each other in their professions.

That evening, another person would require the couples

attention. Although he was just six, Artur seemed to be older,

probably because of his height and weight, brown hair and very

active, demanding long hours of attention from his parents and from

any other person that was in the house.

After dinner, Klaus and Bianca stayed a longer time with

Artur in the living room, playing with his toys. After that, Artur went

to sleep in his bedroom, since he was going to have class early next

morning. Considering the move to the countryside, this was the

biggest change for them because all schools in the small town started

their classes at seven thirty in the morning, even if the temperature

was zero degree and the lawn was frozen.

It was ten oclock when the lights went off at the house in

Linha Fritz , but, something was bothering Klaus, something that he

knew was a good history.

What he didnt know was that this same history would risk


20/21


21/21


21

By the e-book on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Letter-to-the-romans-

ebook/dp/B00B4X64WK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=

1360003562&sr=8-

1&keywords=letter+to+the+romans+traichel

Documents

Letter to Romans