Summary

At the beginning of Part Two, the setting and the time shift to Budapest in the years preceding the first World War. The son of a prominent Jewish family in Budapest, Rudolf Landsmann, meets the daughters of a local Brewer as he frequents the Galilei Club, a hangout for politically dissident and communist intellectuals. He carries on a courtship of the eldest daughter, Rosa Ripper, until she leaves him for another man during the first World War. As a result, Rudolf eventually marries Rosa’s younger sister, Kamilla. Kamilla embarrasses Rudolf’s family by her constant infidelities, and her bold and suggestive public behavior.

Kamilla gives birth to a daughter. Then in the spring of 1938, Kamilla divorces Rudolf in order to marry a young journalist. When the Nazi government begins to pose a threat to social life, Rudolf and his daughter...