Berlin, Germany

Berlin is the base of operations for the protagonist Paul Christopher's father. It is depicted as a dangerous place. In the 1920s, Hubbard Christopher is a writer. The Red Front and Stahlhelms or Steel Helmets of the German Army clash violently and post-World War I hyperinflation is crippling. One U.S. dollar is worth 2 trillion Reichsmarks. Hubbard establishes an account at Horcher's restaurant, where his twenty-dollar American bill will seemingly never be used up in purchases. Hubbard has a furnished flat in fashionable Charlottenburg, whose furniture his future father-in-law characterizes as medicinal. Berlin locations mentioned in conjunction with Hubbard and Lori's courtship include the Swedischer Pavillion by the Wannsee, Kaminskys Telephonbar, and Potsdamer Platz, where Lori nearly causes a car accident.

Hubbard returns to Berlin in the summer of 1945 as head of the European Outfit and finds the beautiful city in smoking and blackened ruins. This...