The Castle (1997 TV Movie)

Nikolaus Paryla: Vorsteher

Quotes 

• Vorsteher : I must tell you the entire disagreeable truth: We don't need a Land Surveyor.

  K. : But I've been hired as Land Surveyor.

  Vorsteher : There wouldn't be the slightest work for one here. The boundaries of our little properties have been marked out and properly recorded, and they rarely change hands. What would we need a Land Surveyor for?

• K. : I had an unpleasant encounter with this Schwarzer the day I arrived. He telephoned a deputy warden by the name of Fritz and was told I'd been taken on as Land Surveyor. How do you explain that?

  Vorsteher : It's very simple. There's no fixed telephone connection with the Castle and no switchboard to direct our calls. If you call someone at the Castle from here, all the telephones in the lower offices ring - or rather they would ring if nearly all of them weren't turned off. Now and then an overly tired official is in need of distraction, especially in the evening or at night, and turns the ringer back on. Then we get an answer though an answer that's no more than a joke. Look around. I certainly deal often with the authorities, yet I have no telephone.

  K. : So in the end it's all unclear and irresolvable.

• Vorsteher : We replied to the decree that I spoke of with thanks, explaining that we needed no Land Surveyor. But our reply didn't reach the original department - let's call it A. By mistake it went to Department B. What's more, the file arrived there incomplete. Only the cover note arrived. So the official there sent a request for the rest of the file. Now, since the first communication came from Department A, many months, if not years, had passed, so that we had only a vague memory of events and could only reply that we knew nothing about a Land Surveyor being appointed, and that there was no need for one. Naturally they weren't satisfied with this reply. A lengthy correspondence ensured. To the inquiry as to why a Land Surveyor was suddenly unnecessary, we answered that the idea had originally come from their own office. We had of course long forgotten that a different department had been involved. The first official decrees was demanded, but that had been lost with the file. Officials then came to the Herrenhof, and every day formal hearings were held with respected members of the community. Most stood by me, but a few were distrustful, suspecting secret deals or injustices. And so this perfectly obvious point - that there was no need for a Land Surveyor - was at least made to seem questionable.

• Vorsteher : This is not an official communication but a private letter. Not a single word in it mentions your being appointed Land Surveyor. It speaks only of "official service" and refers you to me as your immediate superior for further particulars.