Part 2: Nazi's are not your friend.
Skywalker_T-65
Writer with too many ideas.
- Location
- United States
- Pronouns
- Plural/They/He/Her
Herr Otto Fischer, a normal man in what had been a fairly normal neighborhood, looked out a broken window. His greatest goal in life had been to provide for his family and to keep his head down in the increasingly charged climate of the German Reich. Otto had been a loyal member of first the Zentrum, and then the BVP, believing they held more true to his views. Certainly the Bavarian-centric BVP had held to his conservative Christian- and Bavarian, of course -views. That Nürnberg was the center of the Nazi Party in some ways...had made that a bit difficult in recent years. Damn Hitler and his brownshirt lackeys.
But he had been able to live a thoroughly average life nonetheless. A barber by trade, the only time he had even been near a gun was when his father told old war stories. Pulling out the old reservists Mauser that he had held onto after the Great War, dubious legality aside. Otto had been loathe to be near the gun. It reminded him of the fact his father had come back missing an eye and with his lungs forever ruined by gas attacks in Belgium.
The stories had hardly helped matters. It made Otto sick to his stomach to hear some of the details. The way rats roamed the trenches, the screams of wounded men in no-man's-land, the pointless charges. It all...it...
And here I am now. Damn you all, Nazi bastards. Damn you all.
Otto grimaced, trying to push those thoughts from his mind as he held the old rifle. His father was safely in the basement of the barber shop, along with the barber's young wife. Safe from the roaming bands of SA thugs that had taken to the streets of Nürnberg after the results of the Election were announced.
Bad enough that they had attacked businesses and innocent voters before the election.
Now? Well, now the SA and other more extreme members of the NSDAP were in what amounted to outright rebellion.
Little information got into Nürnberg from the outside, and it had been that way for quite some time. All Otto knew was that several cities and towns had seen extremist members of the NSDAP rise up against the 'illegitimate' elections. And most of that he knew from hearing the SA men bragging about how they were going to bring about a revolution now, no matter if the people wanted it or not. Or, in their minds, because the people wanted it. After all, hadn't the Nazis rapidly expanded?
Bah.
Clenching his hands along the worn grip of the rifle, Otto shook his head. He had never much been a fan of Hitler and his ilk, and this had done little to change his mind. They were a bunch of jumped up thugs in their fancy brown shirts. Strutting around like they were members of the Reichsheer with their fake military ranks. The SA was an insult to his father and everything he had fought for.
That they acted like they ruled Germany did little else to endear the Nazis to a man who was a firm member of the Center, be it Zentrum or BVP.
And now, the crackle of gunfire had been his constant companion for the last two days. Honestly it worried him at the same time as it made him furious.
"Bastards...they're going to destroy everything." The young barber ground out, his blue eyes staring out the broken window of his shop and at the street. Empty for now, but if the fighting got any closer...
Well, he would do what he had to do.
Where is the Heer? Surely Hindenburg would send them in to restore order. Even if Hitler had his ear.
Otto did not want to use the gun. He hated the idea of actually taking a life. His long watch had been at least partially in the hope that he would see the proper uniforms of Heer soldiers marching down the street. Surely that was the source of the gunfire? Those brownshirts going out in a blaze of glory as the army restored order?
That was what he hoped for at least.
He truly did not want to...
"Watch yourselves! There's no telling if one of..."
The grip on the old rifle tightened. Otto's eyes started frantically scanning the street. He didn't recognize the voice, but the very fact he heard one had his heart racing inside his chest. His hands shook despite the best efforts he could make to hold them steady, because the worry that had been eating at him came rushing up once more. Would he have to shoot? His father had spoken at length of what it felt like the first time he took a life.
I do not want to do that.
"Hey! There's someone in that shop!"
Just like that, Otto's heart dropped. He had thought he was well-hidden....
"Don't come any closer! I am not afraid to shoot!" His voice was admirably calm as he held the rifle. If this was going to be his death...well, at least he would go down fighting. Hopefully they wouldn't search the shop and find his family.
It was all he could hope for.
But...as the source of the voice came into sight, it became apparent that he had worried over nothing.
For the man he saw in the street was not wearing the brown of the SA. His greying hair marked him as around the same age as Otto's own father, an image further helped by the way he walked. This man was a soldier, and not one of the new generation. This was a man who had fought in the Great War and lived to tell about it.
A man with the Schwarz-Rot-Gold wrapped in a banner around his arm and a Mauser in his hands.
"Calm down, Herr shopkeeper." The older man smiled comfortingly. He held his rifle to the side, deliberately pointing it away from the window. "We are here to help. That is, if you are not one of those SA fools."
Otto knew he shouldn't be so trusting. But he still poked his head up, staring the man directly in the eyes. Blue into grey. "I can assure you that I am not one of them. Those bastards have been nothing but trouble, and I wish that the Heer would deal with them!"
The other man just smiled wider, "Oh but that's what we are here to do. The Reichsbanner and the Heer are working together to clear the Nazis from Nürnberg."
"You..."
A nod answered the unasked question. The old soldier didn't once break his eye-contact with Otto, even as he waved a hand behind his back. "Come on everyone! Our friend isn't a Nazi!"
As more men bearing the Schwarz-Rot-Gold walked into view, Otto felt a surge of relief run through his system.
Funny that. At one point in time he would have disliked them, SPD puppets they were, just as much as he disliked the Nazis. It was interesting how an armed revolt could change one's opinion...
"What's happening? Outside Nürnberg?"
Otto asked that question without even thinking. The need for information overwhelming him, now that he knew that help had arrived. Luckily for him, the Reichsbanner man just laughed heartily. His footsteps crunched over broken glass as the old soldier walked up to the barber.
"That is quite a story my friend..."
Adolf Hitler had declared the revolts by his party as 'illegitimate rabble' that were no longer associated with the Nazi Party.
This did little to change the fact that, in the end, the March Revolts were instigated by- and primarily carried out in the name of -the Nazi Party. The SA, already well-known for their borderline illegal actions to intimidate those who were not members of the NSDAP, had gone one step too far. The city of Nürnberg was merely the largest to enter into revolt. Armed bands of brownshirts and more extremist members of the DNVP and other conservative parties roamed the streets.
Proclaiming the election a sham and that the revolution had arrived.
To say that President Hindenburg was furious would be an understatement. The revolts contributed largely to the removal of Hitler from his position as Chancellor, and the placing of Wels in his place. Furthermore, the President had ordered the Heer mobilized and moved into position to crush the rebels. First by attempting to starve them out, even as anti-Fascist volunteers had moved to help.
And then, by moving into the towns themselves. Gunfights broke out between both sides.
It has been estimated that as many as two-thousand Germans lost their lives in the Revolts.
Both in Prussia and Bavaria, the streets of Germany echoed with the sound of gunfire. On a scale not seen in years and hopefully never to be seen again. German fought German, and it was only due to the fact that the Nazi leadership disowned the rebels that a greater civil war did not take place. Had that happened, the fragile Republic may not have survived the encounter. Certainly the rebels would have succeeded in their goal...for it would be easy for the Nazis to sweep in and take control.
Thankfully for the Republic, this was not to be.
The Revolts were put down, and peace returned to Germany.
Perhaps more importantly for the Republicans in the Reichstag, the Nazis were heavily damaged by the revolts. Oh it was certainly true that the actual death toll and material damage was relatively minor. But the long-term damage done was far reaching and much more important than the short-term damage that had been done. Adolf Hitler had lost control, if only temporarily, of large portions of his party. It was unconfirmed but obvious to any who looked that many Reichstag deputies of the NSDAP had funded and supported the 'revolution'.
Moreover, at least a few had been captured by the Heer attempting to run the blockade and join the fighting themselves. These men were promptly ejected from their posts and replaced by more 'loyal' members of the Party. But the damage had been done.
The Nazis were not likely to recover from an event of this magnitude. Already the DNVP was looking at their erstwhile allies in the opposition with leery eyes. And the SPD was running many propaganda campaigns to take advantage of the NSDAP implosion. It was some time until the next election, in theory.
But it was not likely to see a Nazi resurgence. Those who had not already seen them as an agent of chaos and reactionary thinking were increasingly disillusioned with the National Socialists.
The SA in particular became a symbol of scorn and ridicule in some corners. Madmen who were so wrapped up in their beliefs that even their party leadership could not control them.
On the other side of the political divide, the Reichsbanner became national heroes. Men who had fought in the Great War and once more took up arms in defense of the Nation they had built. Who had answered the call to arms, and fought honorably to put down the Revolts. There was some question of what to do afterwards in fact. The Heer was limited in size by Versailles...
Yet these man had proven their worth and that they were willing to fight. There was some discussion, behind closed-doors naturally, towards instating the Reichsbanner as a new division of the Heer, should the regulations of Versailles be abandoned. Certainly there were certain members of several parties...even the 'banner itself...that pushed for this.
But the question of Versailles would have to wait.
For the first test of the new Reichstag had arrived...
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