House That Jack Built

In Frankfurt am Main last week, the man supervising the reconstruction of Goethe's birthplace, blitzed by U.S. air raids in 1944, explained his difficulties in words that epitomized the whole state of Europe:

"To get wood for the roof, we had to supply a, belt for a band saw. To get the belt we had to promise some cement in exchange. To get the cement we had to promise some wine. To get the wine we had to promise to help the wine merchant find an apartment. And we were able to find an apartment because I knew of a woman who had committed suicide because of an SS man."

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