"He is a different kind of man."
In their youth, Henrik's father was a recognized military hero. He had continually warned his son not to become too attached to Konrad because he knew Konrad was not the kind of man who would succeed in the military. Desiring his son to follow in his own footsteps, he systematically persuaded Henrik to look down upon people who were not military men.
"Fifty million people found their security in the feeling that their Emperor was in bed every night before midnight and up again before five, sitting by candelight at his desk in an American rush-bottomed chair, while everyone else who had pledged their loyalty to him was obeying the customs and the laws."
Henrik still remembers the glory of the order of the Empire. He longs for the return of that time which to him was simpler. When everyone works within a rigid class system, they have no need to worry about individual identity. Henrik misses the security he felt as being part of such a tightly-knit and goal-oriented collective like the former Empire.
'"And after forty-one years, what did you find?' the General asks again.
'A city,' says Konrad with a shrug. 'Change.'"
In regards to the former glory of Vienna, Henrik fears even to return to the city for fear of seeing its decline in power. He remembers it as a hub of influence for the world. Konrad has returned since and explains he just saw a city, a little different than it used to be. Though concise, Konrad's response demonstrates his modernist perspective in complete opposition to Henrik's imperialist traditionalism. The city (any city) is the epitome of modernism, the symbol of progress and society. He drives his point home by clarifying that "change" is what he really saw. Change and progress in society are the ideas which Konrad fears most. He's engaged in a philosophical debate with this man who is clearly his opponent.
". . . A closed world, like a granite mausoleum. . ."
Henrik lives in a castle, an empty, sprawling stone fortress to which he invites no one. Preferring the protection of his delusions which solitude offers, Henrik is shut off from the changing world around him. By refusing to change, he has essentially abandoned his life. He lives in a stone building, like a living tomb, already settling into rigid immobility.
