- Location
- Hamburg, Germany
Akihito is still the crown prince. He's a child and completely unaware about the situation, except de facto being hostage for some hours.
Merkels Operation Walküre
- Thread starter Tyr Anazasi
- Start date
- Timeline Post-1900 Supernatural
-
- Tags
- isot (isekai) germany
- Status
The interesting thing with this blow is that if it works, it will be done later. they already knew before the event that the war was already lost and only fought for honor and fanaticism, knowing that nuclear bombs would be used to build cities against them, and if they did not change their way of fighting, the Germans would abandon them.
For me this blow is created by the fans knowing that if they achieve in the same way they will lose the war.
For me this blow is created by the fans knowing that if they achieve in the same way they will lose the war.
- Location
- Hamburg, Germany
Indeed time is the important factor. But no plan survives contact with the enemy. They need time to elaborate a plan. And time is the one thing the don't have.
Chapter III, Part 5: Kyūjō Incident
- Location
- Hamburg, Germany
Tokyo, Imperial Palace, June 3rd, 02:04
It had been a long 4 days since the event. He couldn't sleep despite having worked hard together with Prime Minister Suzuki to forge this new or old, alliance with the Germans. They had promised much assistance but more time was needed for reforms.
What he was shown and told by the Germans proved that he took the right decision. But how would his people react? Japan would be reformed, again no doubt. Like his grand father, the Meiji-tenno did. But even then there was resistance, even a civil war. Japan couldn't afford such a civil war just now, in times of great peril. Well, Hirohito corrected himself in his thoughts, one could never afford a civil war. He sighed and stood up. He made his way to the garden to get some fresh air. Perhaps he would find some peace of mind there.
In a moment of spontaneity he decided to take a car ride of Tokyo. He knew, the days of this Tokyo were limited. Either due to US bombardment or, hopefully, due to the reconstruction program after the war. The buildings in Tokyo were not earthquake proof and extremely vulnerable to fire. An extensive modern reconstruction was required and unavoidable. Not only Tokyo, but other cities and towns as well. He wanted to have one final look at old Tokyo and by extension Japan. For him it was bidding farewell to the past and looking forward to the future.
Just as the Tenno's car left the palace grounds, several soldiers arrived at the palace and blocked all entrances and streets leading to it. They disarmed the guards and took the Imperial Family hostage. The Kyūjō incident had started.
Unrest and discontent within the IJA had emboldened a group of lower rank officers to carry out a military coup in what they perceived as preserving Japan. Especially as most of the officers were to be transferred to remote posts. Major Kenji Hatanaka was to be transferred to Iwo Jima and Lt. Col. Jiro Shiizaki to Wake Island. They had little time and thus acted hastily in order to take control of the Tenno and broadcast a new proclamation by the Tenno, that the old Japan would be kept. It was a poorly planned operation, due to the little time they had and the hope that higher ranking IJA officers would join them. However, their actions would create great chaos.
The putschists had taken the Imperial Palace and a broadcasting station, from where their propaganda was soon broadcasted. That alarmed the military across Japan. What the putschists didn't know was the existence of another coup plan made by Tojo and Prince Naruhiko. Their coup was planned more carefully and thoroughly. But that coup needed more time to be brought to fruition.
The putschists forces had taken some key positions, but the main bulk of the Japanese army did not follow them yet. General Anami, the minister of war, had already refused to help them as had the new commander of the 1st Guards Division, Lt. Gen. Takeshi Mori. It was him, who reacted fast and sent his troops against the putschists. Very surprisingly to him the Tenno himself appeared in his HQ. That led Mori to the decision to take the broadcast station first. The putschists had broadcasted, that the Tenno would soon make a speech. Well, they would get this speech. But not with the content they were expecting.
Other forces were inactive, as they had no orders. Only one unit under the command of a close friend to Anami acted. He had known of the plan Anami had made with Naruhiko and was under the wrong impression, Anami had given the orders. But Anami, and the other coup members, had not joined them, as they were the opinion, that this coup would fail (and due to personal reasons). However, a message by this officer to Anami, which was captured with the messenger, which would later prove to be critical as proof of Naruhiko's plot.
The Tenno alongside Lt. Gen. Mori arrived at the broadcasting station. The putschist forces guarding the station already had orders to let them in. However, they were surprised when the Tenno ordered them to disarm themselves. Caught off guard and ingrained deference they complied. Moments later the Tenno made his speech which he improvised on the spot.
"To all Japanese soldiers, to all Japanese, to the whole world. We had become witness of a great wonder of the Kami. Amaterasu herself has given us the chance to cope with a situation we could not have controlled any more. Yes, we were out of control. We were forced into this war by the United States. We are still fighting a war, which is justified. But we were losing it. Mistakes were made we need to correct and apologise for. If one recognises the mistakes a friend showed to you, one needs to act to ameliorate them. Only a fool would not accept help in a difficult situation by a friend. Especially if the friend has asked nothing in return and are in a problematic and difficult situation themselves.
We need to look at our current situation. We need to look back to our mistakes. Bringing reforms on our own terms is better than being forced to by the enemy.
So the question is to go down a path, which would lead to our doom or to follow the way, the sun goddess our beloved grand mother, has shown us.
Thus I ask all rebels to lay down their weapons and release all hostages. For a free Japan! Banzai! Banzai! Banzai!"
This speech led to the fall of the putschists. Hatanaka and Shiizaki realising that their coup had collapsed, committed seppuku. When the forces of Mori arrived at the palace, the Imperial Guard soldiers had already disarmed the putschists and were in control of the situation. The soldiers, including the NCOs were sent home with the officers arrested.
Tojo had informed the Tenno and Suzuki of Prince Naruhiko's coup immediately after his meeting with Naruhiko. This in conjunction with the revelation of Anami's involvement from the captured messenger resulted in Anami committing seppuku and Prince Naruhiko resigning from his posts to become a monk. With the revelation of the coup and assistance in crushing it Tojo had secured some goodwill for later.
It had been a long 4 days since the event. He couldn't sleep despite having worked hard together with Prime Minister Suzuki to forge this new or old, alliance with the Germans. They had promised much assistance but more time was needed for reforms.
What he was shown and told by the Germans proved that he took the right decision. But how would his people react? Japan would be reformed, again no doubt. Like his grand father, the Meiji-tenno did. But even then there was resistance, even a civil war. Japan couldn't afford such a civil war just now, in times of great peril. Well, Hirohito corrected himself in his thoughts, one could never afford a civil war. He sighed and stood up. He made his way to the garden to get some fresh air. Perhaps he would find some peace of mind there.
In a moment of spontaneity he decided to take a car ride of Tokyo. He knew, the days of this Tokyo were limited. Either due to US bombardment or, hopefully, due to the reconstruction program after the war. The buildings in Tokyo were not earthquake proof and extremely vulnerable to fire. An extensive modern reconstruction was required and unavoidable. Not only Tokyo, but other cities and towns as well. He wanted to have one final look at old Tokyo and by extension Japan. For him it was bidding farewell to the past and looking forward to the future.
Just as the Tenno's car left the palace grounds, several soldiers arrived at the palace and blocked all entrances and streets leading to it. They disarmed the guards and took the Imperial Family hostage. The Kyūjō incident had started.
Unrest and discontent within the IJA had emboldened a group of lower rank officers to carry out a military coup in what they perceived as preserving Japan. Especially as most of the officers were to be transferred to remote posts. Major Kenji Hatanaka was to be transferred to Iwo Jima and Lt. Col. Jiro Shiizaki to Wake Island. They had little time and thus acted hastily in order to take control of the Tenno and broadcast a new proclamation by the Tenno, that the old Japan would be kept. It was a poorly planned operation, due to the little time they had and the hope that higher ranking IJA officers would join them. However, their actions would create great chaos.
The putschists had taken the Imperial Palace and a broadcasting station, from where their propaganda was soon broadcasted. That alarmed the military across Japan. What the putschists didn't know was the existence of another coup plan made by Tojo and Prince Naruhiko. Their coup was planned more carefully and thoroughly. But that coup needed more time to be brought to fruition.
The putschists forces had taken some key positions, but the main bulk of the Japanese army did not follow them yet. General Anami, the minister of war, had already refused to help them as had the new commander of the 1st Guards Division, Lt. Gen. Takeshi Mori. It was him, who reacted fast and sent his troops against the putschists. Very surprisingly to him the Tenno himself appeared in his HQ. That led Mori to the decision to take the broadcast station first. The putschists had broadcasted, that the Tenno would soon make a speech. Well, they would get this speech. But not with the content they were expecting.
Other forces were inactive, as they had no orders. Only one unit under the command of a close friend to Anami acted. He had known of the plan Anami had made with Naruhiko and was under the wrong impression, Anami had given the orders. But Anami, and the other coup members, had not joined them, as they were the opinion, that this coup would fail (and due to personal reasons). However, a message by this officer to Anami, which was captured with the messenger, which would later prove to be critical as proof of Naruhiko's plot.
The Tenno alongside Lt. Gen. Mori arrived at the broadcasting station. The putschist forces guarding the station already had orders to let them in. However, they were surprised when the Tenno ordered them to disarm themselves. Caught off guard and ingrained deference they complied. Moments later the Tenno made his speech which he improvised on the spot.
"To all Japanese soldiers, to all Japanese, to the whole world. We had become witness of a great wonder of the Kami. Amaterasu herself has given us the chance to cope with a situation we could not have controlled any more. Yes, we were out of control. We were forced into this war by the United States. We are still fighting a war, which is justified. But we were losing it. Mistakes were made we need to correct and apologise for. If one recognises the mistakes a friend showed to you, one needs to act to ameliorate them. Only a fool would not accept help in a difficult situation by a friend. Especially if the friend has asked nothing in return and are in a problematic and difficult situation themselves.
We need to look at our current situation. We need to look back to our mistakes. Bringing reforms on our own terms is better than being forced to by the enemy.
So the question is to go down a path, which would lead to our doom or to follow the way, the sun goddess our beloved grand mother, has shown us.
Thus I ask all rebels to lay down their weapons and release all hostages. For a free Japan! Banzai! Banzai! Banzai!"
This speech led to the fall of the putschists. Hatanaka and Shiizaki realising that their coup had collapsed, committed seppuku. When the forces of Mori arrived at the palace, the Imperial Guard soldiers had already disarmed the putschists and were in control of the situation. The soldiers, including the NCOs were sent home with the officers arrested.
Tojo had informed the Tenno and Suzuki of Prince Naruhiko's coup immediately after his meeting with Naruhiko. This in conjunction with the revelation of Anami's involvement from the captured messenger resulted in Anami committing seppuku and Prince Naruhiko resigning from his posts to become a monk. With the revelation of the coup and assistance in crushing it Tojo had secured some goodwill for later.
- Location
- Hamburg, Germany
That's the last update before Christmas, when (hopefully) the Christmas special is ready.
- Location
- Rotting in port
Thank you, and do have fun.
I did expect things to get much hairier, though, and so public that the Japanese society would end up forced to take a good look at itself. Sure, the Tenno personally broadcasting a message on the radio is completely unprecedented, the first time he did so in the Lost History would be* when he announced Japan's defeat, but the coup seemed almost like a footnote, of little concern to anyone not directly involved.
Unfortunately Japan is extremely resistant to change and needs events on the magnitude of the Mongols, the Portuguese or the Black Ships arriving to actually break off its traditions' inertia. While certainly important, the Event happened on the other side of the world, so it would be peripheral to them and likely fail to penetrate their mental insularity. Remember, one atomic bombing wasn't enough to make them give up on the war everybody knew they were losing badly, it took a second bombing and a direct intervention by the Tenno to make the military pull their heads out of their arses and finally surrender.
*Oh, those time-travelling conjugations...
I did expect things to get much hairier, though, and so public that the Japanese society would end up forced to take a good look at itself. Sure, the Tenno personally broadcasting a message on the radio is completely unprecedented, the first time he did so in the Lost History would be* when he announced Japan's defeat, but the coup seemed almost like a footnote, of little concern to anyone not directly involved.
Unfortunately Japan is extremely resistant to change and needs events on the magnitude of the Mongols, the Portuguese or the Black Ships arriving to actually break off its traditions' inertia. While certainly important, the Event happened on the other side of the world, so it would be peripheral to them and likely fail to penetrate their mental insularity. Remember, one atomic bombing wasn't enough to make them give up on the war everybody knew they were losing badly, it took a second bombing and a direct intervention by the Tenno to make the military pull their heads out of their arses and finally surrender.
*Oh, those time-travelling conjugations...
- Location
- Hamburg, Germany
Well, the situation in Japan OTL was already on the point that they wanted to surrender. Only the tenno should have been spared (what did happen OTL as well). So IMO the nuking, especially the second, which was too close to the first, were not necessary. However, that is another topic.
Changes in Japan are problematic, but a whole embassy appearing with new information is IMO such an event. Especially as Japan was a democracy before the world economy crisis. And a kind of militarism you can't condemn, as Japan was on the verge of becoming a colony in the 1860+ years. Japan will reform, but in the Japanese way.
Changes in Japan are problematic, but a whole embassy appearing with new information is IMO such an event. Especially as Japan was a democracy before the world economy crisis. And a kind of militarism you can't condemn, as Japan was on the verge of becoming a colony in the 1860+ years. Japan will reform, but in the Japanese way.
xa na xa
A.E.I.O.U. - Antarticae est imperare orbi universo
- Location
- σ Octantis
This is false and misleading but deplorably mainstream pop history.
Firrst, that atomic bombs were the solitary factor immediately deciding the Japanese surrender.
But dozens of cities had been firebombed to ashes by that point. A nuked city was only a marginal increment in destruction.
The B-29s of the 5th Air Force were bombing several cities every week, so atomic bombs would have meant just an extra city each week, because the rate of production of atom bombs that could be sustained was 1/week. (If everything went ro strategic bombing, but large number of bombs would have been hoarded for Operation Downfall, plans called for the use of at least a couple dozens)
Something that had far, far more important and immediate impact on the strategic situation of Japan was the Soviet DoW. It meant losing the last colonial possessions that Japan had access to, and their direly needed resources such as coal and food. It meant the utter annihilation of the Kwantung Army, the last unengaged reserve army Japan had. It meant all hopes of playing a neutral USSR against the allies, have them be mediators for a negotiated conditional surrender were dashed, that Stalin had played them for fools and stabbed them in the back.
It's a contra-factual unknownable whether the Soviet DoW alone would have prompted surrender.
But what's relevant is that inasmuch it was a combination of the twin shock of the DoW and Hiroshima, it was not due to the material effects of the latter. Rather, it was the shock of the spectacular, and the convenient "the enemy has a superweapon" excuse, making surrender easier to explain and accept.
Second, if the contribution of Hiroshima is debatable, as above, Nagasaki was totally meaningless and unnecessary. Frankly it's just a gross war crime. Nagasaki was not a primary target, all other targets had a cloud cover. The bomber crew claimed they saw "a fleeting gap in the clouds" and de facto bombed blind. They hit nothing but civilians; notwithstanding the claim that some barracks were maybe perhaps within the extreme damage range circle.
Truman was appalled by Nagasaki. He ordered an immediate halt to all nuclear bombings unless with his personal and explicit authorisation. He was already troubled by the damage reports from Hiroshima, where he realised the full consequences that an atomic bomb was not just a superlarge bomb. He was enraged at the command of the 5th Air Force, that was just trying to drop bombs as soon as they arrived, as soon as possible, on a city, any city. Nagasaki did no tangibe military damage whatsoever, did not demonstrate anything they didn't knew or assumed, would not have been an important target anyway even if hit properly, and was just generally a mindless, senseless and useless loss of life.
If people want to discuss this further, I propose continuing in this dedicated thread, as to not cause a derail:
Historiography of the Nagasaki and Hiroshima nuclear bombings (by Alex Wellerstein)
Alex Wellerstein is the NukeMap guy. (also aome kind of expert with a blog. But seriously check out his blog if you have any interest in obscure but fascinating details about the history of nuclear weapons) Over the last few days he has written a number of twitter threads...
forums.sufficientvelocity.com
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Sorry for mistaking name. If i remember correctly, some german archeologist made his work there before WW1,but i do not knew, if japaneese did it,too. There are also rumors about sinked city nearby, but somebody could mistake underwater stones for it. You could choose whotever help your story.
About oil - considering, that Manchur people were not Chineese, and then become minority in their own country in OTL - maybe just gave them really independent state ? Of course, with another ruler.
- Location
- Asia
Eh...Japan's changing after WWII is quite debatable, TBH. Aside from Parliamentary supremacy and women's suffrage, Japanese law and society remained the same as before or during WWII. Even the zaibatsu (vertical monopolies) weren't truly disbanded, instead reforming as the keiretsu (horizontal monopolies), and even Japanese pacifism was dependent on the American nuclear umbrella, conventional garrisons, and alliance.
- Location
- Hamburg, Germany
Well... Japan had lost the war, but kept the identity. After the war the US sent a lawyer to Japan to rebuild the legal system. He did, except in the labour law and the cartel law, little. The reason is, he was a German jew, an administration law judge. And the laws he found were (mostly) of German origin. Indeed to this very day Japan belongs to the German civil law system (Rechtskreis). There is no law but German law, was a motto often heard in Japanese universities for a long time. And why would one have to destroy the soul of a nation? I don't want to justify any attrocity made by Japan, but this way did start, when the foreign powers, especially France, Britain and the US, opened Japan by force. They knew, they needed protection. And they saw, that protection is only having strong forces. Which can only be paid by a strong economy. At one point they crossed the border of a "healthy" patriotism into an extreme nationalism.
After 1945 they changed. However, a nation like Japan can't be really neutral and need to defend herself. In the times of the Cold War, Japan relied on the US. Well, since the days of Trump at last one can predict, that you can't rely on them any more, at least not like in the days of the Cold War.
With changes I meant they got rid of the extreme nationalism, but still kept the national, well, "soul". That will happen here as well. Partly more, partly less than today.
I made a SHORT abstract, when a book is needed to explain everything, from the Meiji revolution over Washington naval conference to ww2 and beyond. I am sorry, but I can't be more precise atm as I don't have the time.
After 1945 they changed. However, a nation like Japan can't be really neutral and need to defend herself. In the times of the Cold War, Japan relied on the US. Well, since the days of Trump at last one can predict, that you can't rely on them any more, at least not like in the days of the Cold War.
With changes I meant they got rid of the extreme nationalism, but still kept the national, well, "soul". That will happen here as well. Partly more, partly less than today.
I made a SHORT abstract, when a book is needed to explain everything, from the Meiji revolution over Washington naval conference to ww2 and beyond. I am sorry, but I can't be more precise atm as I don't have the time.
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Christmas Special: Natalja & Sönke
- Location
- Hamburg, Germany
Hamburg Central Station, January 6th 1945, 15:48:
She stood on platform 11 of the Central Station. In front of her was the first train, which were to take former Soviet PoW back home. Well, the first from Hamburg. Earlier that day the first train had left Berlin. Trains from Königsberg, Breslau and Olmütz had also already departed. She stood there in midst of hundreds of other Soviet soldiers, yet all she heard was this familiar voice calling to her in German: "Bitte geh nicht - ich liebe Dich!" This made her cry softly. She wanted to get onto the train away from all of this but the turmoil in her heart froze her in place. The platform went silent and everyone on it looked at her. How did it come to this she asked herself.
To get an answer Natalja didn't need to go far into the past. It was "only" a little over two months ago on a cold night near Kiev.
She had already made 16 sorties with the Po-2 bomber. Her navigator, Olga Golyzin had become a close friend to her. The sortie that night should have been a routine attack on German positions. In the last few months the VVS were taking heavier losses than usual.She started to believe the rumours about a new Germany from the future. She still grieved for Natasha and Alexandra. Silently she felt guilty relief, that she wasn't in their position and died alongside them.
A few sorties ago Natalja had seen a rocket being fired from the ground at one of her comrades. Her squad mate started to turn away to avoid the rocket but somehow it kept itself on course. Upon realising that she broke out into increasingly desperate evasive manouvres. However, that proved to be futile as her squadron mate's aircraft was struck by the rocket and engulfed in flames.
And that she did. She was on her 17th patrol, when she saw a burning wreck on the ground, followed a little later by an explosion in the air. Only little later she spotted such another place with a burning wreck. Here, too, a plane had crashed. Her bad feelings grew. She tried to get more out of her engine to warn her squadron mate flying a few km in front of her. But then she saw an explosion. She simply knew, she came too late. But she saw the plane, which was responsible for that. So she assumed. It was also a biplane, but smaller, faster and much more agile.
"Fly nearer. I can get him with my MG." Olga said. Coming up behind the Hs 123's blindspot they managed to achieve complete surprise in the attack run on the Hs 123. But Olga's aim was not good enough. The first burst of machine gun fire missed. The second was on target but had no effect. The plane seemed to be too well armoured. Olga fired a third time, but missed again.
Realising that they were being fired upon the Hs 123's pilot opened up their throttle and accelerated away from the Po-2. Natalja could only watch the Hs 123 gradually distance itself from her Po-2. At a sufficient distance the Hs 123 pilot turned around to go into a head on with her.
When both aircraft came into range they opened fire on each other. Natalja could see the tracers of the enemy's fire missing her, as she had turned away at the very last moment. She assumed that she had avoided damage and injury. As she made to turn her aircraft around again the whole aircraft shook badly. Her head hit the cockpit windshield and everything went black. Suddenly she found herself flying through a tunnel. As she neared the warm light towards its end she heard the voice of her father. She knew, that it was impossible, as he was already dead for seven years. "Nati, my babuschka. Turn around. Your time hasn't come. I love you."
Suddenly she awoke to great pain. Despite her father's calming words she was still in dire straits. The motor was on fire and she knew it would soon stop working. She called after Olga, but did not get answer. She saw the German pilot flying next to her aircraft. He was making signs to follow her and land the plane. She signed back in affirmation. Her aircraft was barely flyable and the pain made things even more difficult. And then the motor spluttered into inactivity. Luckily she was able to make an emergency landing on the airstrip that the German pilot guided her to. Her world went black as soon as she landed the aircraft safely.
The next thing she remembered was waking up in a hospital. The Bundeswehr Hospital in Hamburg to be specific. A nurse told her that she was in a coma for three weeks. Futhermore the war was nearly over. At first she was incredulous only believing it when a nurse played a recording of Stalin's November 9th radio address. She didn't know, how to react to it. Relieved, as the war was over? Or shocked, that every rumour she had heard about time travel was true. Or sad and furious that they had not won the war. Really? Was the war lost? Was it worth the price? She had asked about Olga, and although the hospital staff said that they didn't know what happened to her. Natalja already knew the answer. She was dead. A physician finally told her. She had been dead before the plane landed. Likely she was dead, in the head on with the Hs 123. She, Natlaja, had great luck. The cannon's projectile had directly hit the engine with almost all of the shrapnel being stopped by the engine firewall and the instrument panel. A shattered piece of the instrument panel had broken off and lodged into her abdomen that caused her wound. The German at the hospital and air strip considered it a miracle to safely land a barely flyable aircraft in her heavily wounded state.
A few days later she was transferred to a regular medical unit as her physical state had improved by then. To her surprise a great nosegay was already waiting. Also a sizeable packet of chocolate. She was told it was from a certain Sönke Petersen. The next morning he came to introduce himself.
"Good morning, Miss Lieutenant." he said on English when coming into the room. "I am Captain Sönke Petersen."
"You don't need to talk in English." she answered on German, which was very good. "I can talk to you in German."
"Excellent." he said.
"Are you the man, who shot me down?" She was certain it was him when she read his name on the small note on the nosegay.
"Erm, erm, yes." She could see him starting to sweat.
"I thought so." There was some silence after this.
"I am sorry, that I disturbed you. It was a bad idea. Excuse me." he finally said and turned to go.
"No," she exclaimed. Her voice was a bit louder than she intended, which also surprised her. "No, that's not necessary. Why did you come here?"
A good question, as Sönke didn't know exactly himself. "Erm, well," he stuttered, "well..."
She sighed. "Look, I am a woman, but I am also a soldier. You did your duty, I did mine. You shot me down. That's nothing you should be sorry for." She said. A part of her couldn't believe hearing that, but this man was something special. There was something. Something she never felt this way before.
"So you aren't angry with me? Especially as your navigator..." He stopped the sentence a word too late. He saw tears come to her eyes after he spoke the last word.
"She was my friend. All of my fellow pilots were my friends. But that's war. Besides it was me, who attacked you first." She didn't tell him, it had been Olga's idea. A foolish idea. "It was our duty."
"You speak German very well." He wanted to change the topic. She was glad he did.
"My father was a physician, like his father. My family was very bourgeois, but my father was a communist. He joined the Red Army on the very first day and became a famous physician. He helped many famous communists. He had good connections, so we even kept our old home, a dacha, to live in. I was born there, my sister as well."
"And where is this house?" Sönke asked.
"Oh, in Moscow." she made a pause.
"My father helped so many people. He died of a stroke eight years ago. For his service to the motherland, do you know what the communists did?
"They took our home for some party leader and gave us a small dilapidated flat. My little sister was ill and in that flat it became worse. I went to the party to protest. There they told me, I should remain silent. I didn't. So the NKWD came.
"However, it seemed my father had helped some of them in the past, as I was released at once, after I told them my name. We did get a much better flat but..." she made a small pause. "but Jelena... It had been too much for her. The fever got her. She died. My mother died in 1940 of grief..." She made yet another small pause.
Before Sönke could say a word again, she continued. "Well, my father was a communist, but he had a classical education and taught me and Jelena in the same vein. Including German. He loved the German language and German literature. Goethe, Schiller, Lessing,...it was good, that he had died, before he could see the Great Terror.
"One had to be very careful in those days. I guess only my father's name protected me. I'm sure, I was on some list. Then the Germans attacked. I wanted to join the Red Army at once, but wasn't accepted. Only a year ago I finally managed to get a position within the night witches. That sortie was my 17th."
"You're very open for someone living in such circumstances." Sönke said.
She laughed. "Yes, I am. Anyway, I thought you should know that."
"I come from another time, 70 years in the future. When I was born, the war was over for about 30 years. I was born in 1974."
"If I didn't see proof, I wouldn't have thought it possible," she remarked.
"Me, too. In my time, I was a Lufthansa pilot. I was about to land at New York, when my plane was suddenly on ground in Frankfurt. I was very surprised, to say the least."
"How did you become a combat pilot?" She wanted to know.
"Well, I was sent to a unit which needed new pilots. My qualifications matched the requirements. Unfortunately it was for an Hs 123 rather than a Tornado."
"Tornado?" she questioned.
"A jet fighter-bomber. Able to fly more than twice the speed of sound and deliver a 9,000 kg payload."
"Interesting. Also, why are you even telling ME all of this?" she was stunned.
"Yes. It is not a military secret. Everyone can read about it on the Internet."
"Internet? I heard about it before. What is it?"
"Oh, I think I have to show you some things. The Internet is..."
That had only been the first of many visits. At one point she was allowed to leave the hospital on Sönke giving his word to keep an eye on her. [commentary: Removed the "only on her word". Why would the UT Germans or Germans for the matter give her preferential treatment?] He took her to the city of Hamburg, the Christmas markets, the shops. She saw the Elbphilharmonie, which was still under construction. She saw the wonders of a new world. Then Christmas came around.
Normally she would have been sent to a PoW camp for a week or so, but since war with the USSR was over and she still needed some treatment, the doctors kept her with them. It helped, that Sönke's cousin was a physician at the hospital. Sönke invited her to celebrate Christmas with him. She accepted.
She would never forget the ride to Sönke's parents, where they would celebrate. She wore some new clothing the hospital gave her. She correctly assumed, it was Sönke, who had bought them for her. She had not much else, as her pilot uniform had not survived, in contrast to her. The ride was very nice. The sun was already setting and it had snowed covering the countryside in a sheet of white. When they drove through a small forest, she felt as she was back home. It was like winter in Russia. Like driving in a sleigh to the dacha her father once had.
It was already dark, when they arrived at his parents' farm the day before Christmas Eve. Everyone welcome her warmly. Sönke's parents were curious, especially his 94 years old grand mother. She remained silent towards her. Polite but cold and distant. She did not dare ask Sönke, what the matter with his grandmother was. The atmosphere of cold tension between her and Sönke's grandmother went unnoticed by everyone.
When they arrived, they got to eat Labskaus. Natalja had never seen a dish like this. According to Sönke, it is a potato dish with beetroot, gherkins, beef, egg and herring. It did not look very appetising but her misgivings faded away when she took her first mouthful.
As she was tired, Sönke brought her to the guest room. His room was on the next floor. It was a nice little room, even with a small TV. She was far too tired to watch any television and soon was fast asleep.
She slept very well. The war allowed for little sleep much less a regular sleeping schedule. She woke just past 10 in the morning, so she hurried downstairs after taking a shower, which was a bit problematic, as she was not fully recovered. Only Martha, Sönke's grandmother, was there.
"Oh, good morning." she greeted as she seated herself at the kitchen table.
"Moin." Martha said. Natalja waited for "you're late" or "we rise up with the sun" or something similar, but Martha said nothing. Instead, the old woman stood up from her chair and went to the kitchen stove, where an omelette was in a pan. She gave it to her. Soon coffee, bread, lunch meat some strawberry marmalade and honey were placed at the table. This was far more than she could eat.
After that, silence fell over the room punctuated with the sounds of her eating and Martha preparing potatoes for dinner.
Feeling the need to break the awkward silence Natalja asked, "Where are the others?"
"The men are repairing something. Gaby, Sönke's mother is doing last minute shopping." Martha curtly replied.
"You have been cold and distant with me ever since I have been here. I know you are constantly observing me as if we are still enemies and will kill everyone in their sleep. Shall I strip myself of clothing and have myself searched?
"You probably hate me for your nation's defeat by the motherland in your time. You probably think that I will hurt Sönke. You hate me don't you?" Natalja expected Martha to be incensed and berate her for being insolent.
Unexpectedly Martha started to laugh heartily.
"No, I don't hate you." as she stopped laughing. "I really do not hate you. I was curious as to why you were here. Especially as it was Sönke, who shot you down."
Natalja was perplexed. "Well, erm, well... I am... I... don't know."
Martha laughed again. "You should know, mien Deern."
"Yes, but..."
"Do you love him?"
"Yes." Natalja surprised herself with her reply. Did she really love Sönke?
The old woman sighed. Suddenly she stood up. She was short, barely 1.60 m but could still walk. "Come with me." she ordered. "There's something you need to know. Something Sönke has not spoken to you about yet. Where is your wheel chair?"
Natalja pointed towards the home's main entrance. Despite her opposition, the old lady ordered her to sit down. She was still able to push her wheelchair outside. They left the farm and Natalja saw the small village for the first time. The church was nearby, only a few hundred meters.
"You need to know, that this house there" she pointed to a house on the right next to the farm, "is Sönke's. He built it for himself and for his wife. Ten years ago, he had married, built this house and wanted to have a family. It was not meant to be. The day they meant to move into the house, it was found out that Leni had cancer. It was detected far too late and was extremely aggressive. At least, she did not have to suffer for long.
"The house doesn't seem to be empty."
"Indeed. Sönke and Leni moved in when it was finished. But after Leni died he never set foot in that house again."
In the meantime, they had finally arrived at the church, but the old lady pushed her wheelchair to the grave yard. There was one grave, where Martha made a small pause. It was her husband's, Wilhelm. He had died in 1997, as Natalja read his gravestone. Next to his grave she saw another grave.
"Leni Petersen, née Stahl, *17.04.1979, +29.06.2004".
"Sönke has never been at her grave?"
"No." Martha said. "He hadn't been here since the day we laid her to rest. He was in deep shock."
"He never had girlfriends after Leni?" she asked.
"Yes, but nothing serious. You are the first he has brought home. But I don't know, if any good will come out of it."
"You want to protect him?" Natalja realised the reason for Martha's attitude towards her.
"I want to protect you. He is a man. And is liable to act like a stupid ox. But with his background... I think, you should know."
"Yes." she replied. She still wasn't sure about the reason why Martha told her all this. Sönke his first wife? Is he still grieving for her?
The evening of December 24th was so much stranger than Christmas Eve back home, which would be celebrated on January 6th. After going to church Sönke's whole family was at his house. His grandmother, his father Georg, his mother, his sister Luise with her husband, a bank clerk, their two children and his brother Nils with his wife Marlene and three children. Nils would one day take over the farm. The children got their presents first, and Sönke had even bought some presents in her name so she was not empty handed. Everyone had sausages and mashed potatoes for dinner.
On Christmas day Sönke's extended family came over, cousins, nephews, nieces and so on. She could not keep track of all names in her mind. Who was related to whom. There was such a huge variety of food to be eaten. Now she knew why the women in the family had been so busy as of late. This was one of the times during the year where the whole family gathered, except for weddings and funerals of course.
December 26th was a holiday as well. This day was a day to take break from the hectic activity of Christmas. She talked with Sönke, went on a stroll with him and introduced her to a board game called 'Mensch ärgere Dich nicht'.
The following day was a "normal" day. The shops were open again. But many others were still closed. Sönke told Natalja about the time between the years where many enterprises are closed and only open next year. He asked her to join him on a short trip. He wanted to show her something. He drove them both for about a quarter of an hour, until they came to a great field.
"This is my inheritance." Sönke said. She looked at him in confusion. He expected that and laughed. "Well, I am the second son. My brother wanted to get the farm, so my sister and I had to be paid off. My parents wanted to do it at the right time so that there would be no conflict once they pass away. My sister got money to buy land to build her home. I also received money in my inheritance but instead I chose land. This land here belonged to my mother. It was hers since she married my father. As this plot is relatively far away, my brother accepted at once that I can get these 5 hectares."
"So you want to build a farm here?"
He laughed. "I am no farmer. I am a pilot. My dream is to have my own small airstrip with my own flight school."
She looked at the field. Yes, one could have here a small airfield, a hangar, a small tower. "That won't be cheap."
"You are right it will be expensive." he sighed. I have enough to build the air strip and its facilities but I still need money to purchase aircraft. If only I was still able to work with Lufthansa I would only have needed a few more years."
"Would?" questioned Natalja.
"I had a very good contract and was paid quite well. I doubt Lufthansa would accept me back now that war is winding down. Outside of Germany there are few airports that would be capable of handling jet airliners. Also, Lufthansa would probably prefer hiring younger pilots who would be paid less. Oh well, I can think about that later."
"Erm… Sönke I could help you with your dream!"
"Ah...you don't really need to do that. Don't you want to go back?"
"No."
Natalja embraced Sönke and put her lips on his. Eventually Sönke reciprocated with their embrace becoming increasingly fervent. Her bed would not be used that night.
The following days were dreamlike to her. She loved Sönke, and Sönke her. Silvester and New Year came. This year, because of the war, fireworks were not allowed. Still some people disregarded with fireworks being set off intermittently. Despite the atmosphere of joy, many still thought about the ongoing war.
January 5th Natalja received a call from the hospital. They had managed to get her a place on the first train back to Russia. The next day. She could go back home. Where was home for her? Russia? Germany? Sönke urged her not to go. The Soviets put PoW in gulags in harsh and brutal conditions with some being killed despite surrendering. At least in Sönke's time. Stalin had promised not to do so, but most people didn't trust him. She, as well.
She was a soldier and a patriot. She could stay or go back home. Home? Was there really a home she could go back to? Would she be free? Imprisoned? Even shot? She could stay here. They had made love, but Sönke had never said the words she longed to hear. His deceased wife was still there in the room, even when they made love.
That evening they ate green cabbage with sausages, bacon and smoked pork chops. She was in her room again, with the food and her thought leaving her tired but unable to sleep. She went downstairs to make herself a cup of tea hoping it could help her sleep. In the kitchen she heard someone leaving the house. From the kitchen window she saw it was Sönke who just left. She was curious to where he was going, so she rushed upstairs and quickly threw on some warm clothing. She ran downstairs and outside to catch up with Sönke. Luckily, snow had stopped falling so she could clearly see Sönke's footsteps in the snow. The trail lead past his house and ended near the graveyard's entrance.
Natalja could see Sönke standing at his wife's grave talking to her. Hiding nearby she listened to what he was saying.
"I love you still. I loved you and will always love you." He cried softly. It was too much for her and she immediately broke into a run back to the house. She knew, he would not be able to overcome the death of his wife. She realised, she would have no future here.
She wrote a letter and put it on the kitchen counter. Borrowing a bicycle from Sönke's mother, she made her way to Plön Station. She was in time to catch the first train to Kiel at 04:37. From there she arrived in Kiel at 05:10 to catch the train to Hamburg, where she went to the Bundeswehr hospital, where her papers were. From there she rode to the Central Station to wait for the train back to Russia.
She was crying silently amongst other former PoW. Her sharp rebuff to one's attempt to help her, gave her the room she needed now.
Eventually, the train arrived. She slowly moved to board the train only to stop when she heard someone shout.
"Bitte geh nicht. Ich liebe Dich!"
"I love you. I loved my wife. I still love her. But that's the past. I finally built up the courage, to visit her grave. To tell her goodbye. I finally can fulfill her last wish, to find someone else to live with. To find someone else to love and that's you! I love you. I know, I don't have a ring nor that this right moment, but: Will you marry me?
The train drove slowly out of the station. The platform was nearly empty. Only a few passengers waiting for the next trains were there. One man kneeled on the platform. A woman stood there, as if she was about to board a train. She was frozen in place, stunned by the man's confession. Suddenly she turned and kissed the kneeling man, all while crying. "Da!" she said, at first silently, then louder and louder. The few people on their platform and on the other platforms saw this and cheered loudly. Sönke and Natalja soon went home. Their home.
Years later, when asked by their children, how they met, Natalja would answer, she was "verschossen" (crazy about someone) at once they met the first time in Sönke, and that he then shot her down ("abschießen" can also be meant in love/sexual way, in another meaning it can be the opposite, to dump the person).
She stood on platform 11 of the Central Station. In front of her was the first train, which were to take former Soviet PoW back home. Well, the first from Hamburg. Earlier that day the first train had left Berlin. Trains from Königsberg, Breslau and Olmütz had also already departed. She stood there in midst of hundreds of other Soviet soldiers, yet all she heard was this familiar voice calling to her in German: "Bitte geh nicht - ich liebe Dich!" This made her cry softly. She wanted to get onto the train away from all of this but the turmoil in her heart froze her in place. The platform went silent and everyone on it looked at her. How did it come to this she asked herself.
To get an answer Natalja didn't need to go far into the past. It was "only" a little over two months ago on a cold night near Kiev.
She had already made 16 sorties with the Po-2 bomber. Her navigator, Olga Golyzin had become a close friend to her. The sortie that night should have been a routine attack on German positions. In the last few months the VVS were taking heavier losses than usual.She started to believe the rumours about a new Germany from the future. She still grieved for Natasha and Alexandra. Silently she felt guilty relief, that she wasn't in their position and died alongside them.
A few sorties ago Natalja had seen a rocket being fired from the ground at one of her comrades. Her squad mate started to turn away to avoid the rocket but somehow it kept itself on course. Upon realising that she broke out into increasingly desperate evasive manouvres. However, that proved to be futile as her squadron mate's aircraft was struck by the rocket and engulfed in flames.
And that she did. She was on her 17th patrol, when she saw a burning wreck on the ground, followed a little later by an explosion in the air. Only little later she spotted such another place with a burning wreck. Here, too, a plane had crashed. Her bad feelings grew. She tried to get more out of her engine to warn her squadron mate flying a few km in front of her. But then she saw an explosion. She simply knew, she came too late. But she saw the plane, which was responsible for that. So she assumed. It was also a biplane, but smaller, faster and much more agile.
"Fly nearer. I can get him with my MG." Olga said. Coming up behind the Hs 123's blindspot they managed to achieve complete surprise in the attack run on the Hs 123. But Olga's aim was not good enough. The first burst of machine gun fire missed. The second was on target but had no effect. The plane seemed to be too well armoured. Olga fired a third time, but missed again.
Realising that they were being fired upon the Hs 123's pilot opened up their throttle and accelerated away from the Po-2. Natalja could only watch the Hs 123 gradually distance itself from her Po-2. At a sufficient distance the Hs 123 pilot turned around to go into a head on with her.
When both aircraft came into range they opened fire on each other. Natalja could see the tracers of the enemy's fire missing her, as she had turned away at the very last moment. She assumed that she had avoided damage and injury. As she made to turn her aircraft around again the whole aircraft shook badly. Her head hit the cockpit windshield and everything went black. Suddenly she found herself flying through a tunnel. As she neared the warm light towards its end she heard the voice of her father. She knew, that it was impossible, as he was already dead for seven years. "Nati, my babuschka. Turn around. Your time hasn't come. I love you."
Suddenly she awoke to great pain. Despite her father's calming words she was still in dire straits. The motor was on fire and she knew it would soon stop working. She called after Olga, but did not get answer. She saw the German pilot flying next to her aircraft. He was making signs to follow her and land the plane. She signed back in affirmation. Her aircraft was barely flyable and the pain made things even more difficult. And then the motor spluttered into inactivity. Luckily she was able to make an emergency landing on the airstrip that the German pilot guided her to. Her world went black as soon as she landed the aircraft safely.
The next thing she remembered was waking up in a hospital. The Bundeswehr Hospital in Hamburg to be specific. A nurse told her that she was in a coma for three weeks. Futhermore the war was nearly over. At first she was incredulous only believing it when a nurse played a recording of Stalin's November 9th radio address. She didn't know, how to react to it. Relieved, as the war was over? Or shocked, that every rumour she had heard about time travel was true. Or sad and furious that they had not won the war. Really? Was the war lost? Was it worth the price? She had asked about Olga, and although the hospital staff said that they didn't know what happened to her. Natalja already knew the answer. She was dead. A physician finally told her. She had been dead before the plane landed. Likely she was dead, in the head on with the Hs 123. She, Natlaja, had great luck. The cannon's projectile had directly hit the engine with almost all of the shrapnel being stopped by the engine firewall and the instrument panel. A shattered piece of the instrument panel had broken off and lodged into her abdomen that caused her wound. The German at the hospital and air strip considered it a miracle to safely land a barely flyable aircraft in her heavily wounded state.
A few days later she was transferred to a regular medical unit as her physical state had improved by then. To her surprise a great nosegay was already waiting. Also a sizeable packet of chocolate. She was told it was from a certain Sönke Petersen. The next morning he came to introduce himself.
"Good morning, Miss Lieutenant." he said on English when coming into the room. "I am Captain Sönke Petersen."
"You don't need to talk in English." she answered on German, which was very good. "I can talk to you in German."
"Excellent." he said.
"Are you the man, who shot me down?" She was certain it was him when she read his name on the small note on the nosegay.
"Erm, erm, yes." She could see him starting to sweat.
"I thought so." There was some silence after this.
"I am sorry, that I disturbed you. It was a bad idea. Excuse me." he finally said and turned to go.
"No," she exclaimed. Her voice was a bit louder than she intended, which also surprised her. "No, that's not necessary. Why did you come here?"
A good question, as Sönke didn't know exactly himself. "Erm, well," he stuttered, "well..."
She sighed. "Look, I am a woman, but I am also a soldier. You did your duty, I did mine. You shot me down. That's nothing you should be sorry for." She said. A part of her couldn't believe hearing that, but this man was something special. There was something. Something she never felt this way before.
"So you aren't angry with me? Especially as your navigator..." He stopped the sentence a word too late. He saw tears come to her eyes after he spoke the last word.
"She was my friend. All of my fellow pilots were my friends. But that's war. Besides it was me, who attacked you first." She didn't tell him, it had been Olga's idea. A foolish idea. "It was our duty."
"You speak German very well." He wanted to change the topic. She was glad he did.
"My father was a physician, like his father. My family was very bourgeois, but my father was a communist. He joined the Red Army on the very first day and became a famous physician. He helped many famous communists. He had good connections, so we even kept our old home, a dacha, to live in. I was born there, my sister as well."
"And where is this house?" Sönke asked.
"Oh, in Moscow." she made a pause.
"My father helped so many people. He died of a stroke eight years ago. For his service to the motherland, do you know what the communists did?
"They took our home for some party leader and gave us a small dilapidated flat. My little sister was ill and in that flat it became worse. I went to the party to protest. There they told me, I should remain silent. I didn't. So the NKWD came.
"However, it seemed my father had helped some of them in the past, as I was released at once, after I told them my name. We did get a much better flat but..." she made a small pause. "but Jelena... It had been too much for her. The fever got her. She died. My mother died in 1940 of grief..." She made yet another small pause.
Before Sönke could say a word again, she continued. "Well, my father was a communist, but he had a classical education and taught me and Jelena in the same vein. Including German. He loved the German language and German literature. Goethe, Schiller, Lessing,...it was good, that he had died, before he could see the Great Terror.
"One had to be very careful in those days. I guess only my father's name protected me. I'm sure, I was on some list. Then the Germans attacked. I wanted to join the Red Army at once, but wasn't accepted. Only a year ago I finally managed to get a position within the night witches. That sortie was my 17th."
"You're very open for someone living in such circumstances." Sönke said.
She laughed. "Yes, I am. Anyway, I thought you should know that."
"I come from another time, 70 years in the future. When I was born, the war was over for about 30 years. I was born in 1974."
"If I didn't see proof, I wouldn't have thought it possible," she remarked.
"Me, too. In my time, I was a Lufthansa pilot. I was about to land at New York, when my plane was suddenly on ground in Frankfurt. I was very surprised, to say the least."
"How did you become a combat pilot?" She wanted to know.
"Well, I was sent to a unit which needed new pilots. My qualifications matched the requirements. Unfortunately it was for an Hs 123 rather than a Tornado."
"Tornado?" she questioned.
"A jet fighter-bomber. Able to fly more than twice the speed of sound and deliver a 9,000 kg payload."
"Interesting. Also, why are you even telling ME all of this?" she was stunned.
"Yes. It is not a military secret. Everyone can read about it on the Internet."
"Internet? I heard about it before. What is it?"
"Oh, I think I have to show you some things. The Internet is..."
That had only been the first of many visits. At one point she was allowed to leave the hospital on Sönke giving his word to keep an eye on her. [commentary: Removed the "only on her word". Why would the UT Germans or Germans for the matter give her preferential treatment?] He took her to the city of Hamburg, the Christmas markets, the shops. She saw the Elbphilharmonie, which was still under construction. She saw the wonders of a new world. Then Christmas came around.
Normally she would have been sent to a PoW camp for a week or so, but since war with the USSR was over and she still needed some treatment, the doctors kept her with them. It helped, that Sönke's cousin was a physician at the hospital. Sönke invited her to celebrate Christmas with him. She accepted.
She would never forget the ride to Sönke's parents, where they would celebrate. She wore some new clothing the hospital gave her. She correctly assumed, it was Sönke, who had bought them for her. She had not much else, as her pilot uniform had not survived, in contrast to her. The ride was very nice. The sun was already setting and it had snowed covering the countryside in a sheet of white. When they drove through a small forest, she felt as she was back home. It was like winter in Russia. Like driving in a sleigh to the dacha her father once had.
It was already dark, when they arrived at his parents' farm the day before Christmas Eve. Everyone welcome her warmly. Sönke's parents were curious, especially his 94 years old grand mother. She remained silent towards her. Polite but cold and distant. She did not dare ask Sönke, what the matter with his grandmother was. The atmosphere of cold tension between her and Sönke's grandmother went unnoticed by everyone.
When they arrived, they got to eat Labskaus. Natalja had never seen a dish like this. According to Sönke, it is a potato dish with beetroot, gherkins, beef, egg and herring. It did not look very appetising but her misgivings faded away when she took her first mouthful.
As she was tired, Sönke brought her to the guest room. His room was on the next floor. It was a nice little room, even with a small TV. She was far too tired to watch any television and soon was fast asleep.
She slept very well. The war allowed for little sleep much less a regular sleeping schedule. She woke just past 10 in the morning, so she hurried downstairs after taking a shower, which was a bit problematic, as she was not fully recovered. Only Martha, Sönke's grandmother, was there.
"Oh, good morning." she greeted as she seated herself at the kitchen table.
"Moin." Martha said. Natalja waited for "you're late" or "we rise up with the sun" or something similar, but Martha said nothing. Instead, the old woman stood up from her chair and went to the kitchen stove, where an omelette was in a pan. She gave it to her. Soon coffee, bread, lunch meat some strawberry marmalade and honey were placed at the table. This was far more than she could eat.
After that, silence fell over the room punctuated with the sounds of her eating and Martha preparing potatoes for dinner.
Feeling the need to break the awkward silence Natalja asked, "Where are the others?"
"The men are repairing something. Gaby, Sönke's mother is doing last minute shopping." Martha curtly replied.
"You have been cold and distant with me ever since I have been here. I know you are constantly observing me as if we are still enemies and will kill everyone in their sleep. Shall I strip myself of clothing and have myself searched?
"You probably hate me for your nation's defeat by the motherland in your time. You probably think that I will hurt Sönke. You hate me don't you?" Natalja expected Martha to be incensed and berate her for being insolent.
Unexpectedly Martha started to laugh heartily.
"No, I don't hate you." as she stopped laughing. "I really do not hate you. I was curious as to why you were here. Especially as it was Sönke, who shot you down."
Natalja was perplexed. "Well, erm, well... I am... I... don't know."
Martha laughed again. "You should know, mien Deern."
"Yes, but..."
"Do you love him?"
"Yes." Natalja surprised herself with her reply. Did she really love Sönke?
The old woman sighed. Suddenly she stood up. She was short, barely 1.60 m but could still walk. "Come with me." she ordered. "There's something you need to know. Something Sönke has not spoken to you about yet. Where is your wheel chair?"
Natalja pointed towards the home's main entrance. Despite her opposition, the old lady ordered her to sit down. She was still able to push her wheelchair outside. They left the farm and Natalja saw the small village for the first time. The church was nearby, only a few hundred meters.
"You need to know, that this house there" she pointed to a house on the right next to the farm, "is Sönke's. He built it for himself and for his wife. Ten years ago, he had married, built this house and wanted to have a family. It was not meant to be. The day they meant to move into the house, it was found out that Leni had cancer. It was detected far too late and was extremely aggressive. At least, she did not have to suffer for long.
"The house doesn't seem to be empty."
"Indeed. Sönke and Leni moved in when it was finished. But after Leni died he never set foot in that house again."
In the meantime, they had finally arrived at the church, but the old lady pushed her wheelchair to the grave yard. There was one grave, where Martha made a small pause. It was her husband's, Wilhelm. He had died in 1997, as Natalja read his gravestone. Next to his grave she saw another grave.
"Leni Petersen, née Stahl, *17.04.1979, +29.06.2004".
"Sönke has never been at her grave?"
"No." Martha said. "He hadn't been here since the day we laid her to rest. He was in deep shock."
"He never had girlfriends after Leni?" she asked.
"Yes, but nothing serious. You are the first he has brought home. But I don't know, if any good will come out of it."
"You want to protect him?" Natalja realised the reason for Martha's attitude towards her.
"I want to protect you. He is a man. And is liable to act like a stupid ox. But with his background... I think, you should know."
"Yes." she replied. She still wasn't sure about the reason why Martha told her all this. Sönke his first wife? Is he still grieving for her?
The evening of December 24th was so much stranger than Christmas Eve back home, which would be celebrated on January 6th. After going to church Sönke's whole family was at his house. His grandmother, his father Georg, his mother, his sister Luise with her husband, a bank clerk, their two children and his brother Nils with his wife Marlene and three children. Nils would one day take over the farm. The children got their presents first, and Sönke had even bought some presents in her name so she was not empty handed. Everyone had sausages and mashed potatoes for dinner.
On Christmas day Sönke's extended family came over, cousins, nephews, nieces and so on. She could not keep track of all names in her mind. Who was related to whom. There was such a huge variety of food to be eaten. Now she knew why the women in the family had been so busy as of late. This was one of the times during the year where the whole family gathered, except for weddings and funerals of course.
December 26th was a holiday as well. This day was a day to take break from the hectic activity of Christmas. She talked with Sönke, went on a stroll with him and introduced her to a board game called 'Mensch ärgere Dich nicht'.
The following day was a "normal" day. The shops were open again. But many others were still closed. Sönke told Natalja about the time between the years where many enterprises are closed and only open next year. He asked her to join him on a short trip. He wanted to show her something. He drove them both for about a quarter of an hour, until they came to a great field.
"This is my inheritance." Sönke said. She looked at him in confusion. He expected that and laughed. "Well, I am the second son. My brother wanted to get the farm, so my sister and I had to be paid off. My parents wanted to do it at the right time so that there would be no conflict once they pass away. My sister got money to buy land to build her home. I also received money in my inheritance but instead I chose land. This land here belonged to my mother. It was hers since she married my father. As this plot is relatively far away, my brother accepted at once that I can get these 5 hectares."
"So you want to build a farm here?"
He laughed. "I am no farmer. I am a pilot. My dream is to have my own small airstrip with my own flight school."
She looked at the field. Yes, one could have here a small airfield, a hangar, a small tower. "That won't be cheap."
"You are right it will be expensive." he sighed. I have enough to build the air strip and its facilities but I still need money to purchase aircraft. If only I was still able to work with Lufthansa I would only have needed a few more years."
"Would?" questioned Natalja.
"I had a very good contract and was paid quite well. I doubt Lufthansa would accept me back now that war is winding down. Outside of Germany there are few airports that would be capable of handling jet airliners. Also, Lufthansa would probably prefer hiring younger pilots who would be paid less. Oh well, I can think about that later."
"Erm… Sönke I could help you with your dream!"
"Ah...you don't really need to do that. Don't you want to go back?"
"No."
Natalja embraced Sönke and put her lips on his. Eventually Sönke reciprocated with their embrace becoming increasingly fervent. Her bed would not be used that night.
The following days were dreamlike to her. She loved Sönke, and Sönke her. Silvester and New Year came. This year, because of the war, fireworks were not allowed. Still some people disregarded with fireworks being set off intermittently. Despite the atmosphere of joy, many still thought about the ongoing war.
January 5th Natalja received a call from the hospital. They had managed to get her a place on the first train back to Russia. The next day. She could go back home. Where was home for her? Russia? Germany? Sönke urged her not to go. The Soviets put PoW in gulags in harsh and brutal conditions with some being killed despite surrendering. At least in Sönke's time. Stalin had promised not to do so, but most people didn't trust him. She, as well.
She was a soldier and a patriot. She could stay or go back home. Home? Was there really a home she could go back to? Would she be free? Imprisoned? Even shot? She could stay here. They had made love, but Sönke had never said the words she longed to hear. His deceased wife was still there in the room, even when they made love.
That evening they ate green cabbage with sausages, bacon and smoked pork chops. She was in her room again, with the food and her thought leaving her tired but unable to sleep. She went downstairs to make herself a cup of tea hoping it could help her sleep. In the kitchen she heard someone leaving the house. From the kitchen window she saw it was Sönke who just left. She was curious to where he was going, so she rushed upstairs and quickly threw on some warm clothing. She ran downstairs and outside to catch up with Sönke. Luckily, snow had stopped falling so she could clearly see Sönke's footsteps in the snow. The trail lead past his house and ended near the graveyard's entrance.
Natalja could see Sönke standing at his wife's grave talking to her. Hiding nearby she listened to what he was saying.
"I love you still. I loved you and will always love you." He cried softly. It was too much for her and she immediately broke into a run back to the house. She knew, he would not be able to overcome the death of his wife. She realised, she would have no future here.
She wrote a letter and put it on the kitchen counter. Borrowing a bicycle from Sönke's mother, she made her way to Plön Station. She was in time to catch the first train to Kiel at 04:37. From there she arrived in Kiel at 05:10 to catch the train to Hamburg, where she went to the Bundeswehr hospital, where her papers were. From there she rode to the Central Station to wait for the train back to Russia.
She was crying silently amongst other former PoW. Her sharp rebuff to one's attempt to help her, gave her the room she needed now.
Eventually, the train arrived. She slowly moved to board the train only to stop when she heard someone shout.
"Bitte geh nicht. Ich liebe Dich!"
"I love you. I loved my wife. I still love her. But that's the past. I finally built up the courage, to visit her grave. To tell her goodbye. I finally can fulfill her last wish, to find someone else to live with. To find someone else to love and that's you! I love you. I know, I don't have a ring nor that this right moment, but: Will you marry me?
The train drove slowly out of the station. The platform was nearly empty. Only a few passengers waiting for the next trains were there. One man kneeled on the platform. A woman stood there, as if she was about to board a train. She was frozen in place, stunned by the man's confession. Suddenly she turned and kissed the kneeling man, all while crying. "Da!" she said, at first silently, then louder and louder. The few people on their platform and on the other platforms saw this and cheered loudly. Sönke and Natalja soon went home. Their home.
Years later, when asked by their children, how they met, Natalja would answer, she was "verschossen" (crazy about someone) at once they met the first time in Sönke, and that he then shot her down ("abschießen" can also be meant in love/sexual way, in another meaning it can be the opposite, to dump the person).
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- Location
- Hamburg, Germany
At first thanks to @Darksoul2142 for editing.
en.wikipedia.org
Labskaus
en.wikipedia.org
Mensch ärgere Dich nicht
Grünkohl
Labskaus - Wikipedia
Labskaus
Mensch ärgere Dich nicht - Wikipedia
Mensch ärgere Dich nicht
Grünkohl
- Location
- Hamburg, Germany
Merry Christmas!
- Location
- Romania
Fröhliche Weihnachten!
This was a very emotional chapter.
You forgot to remove several of the editor's inline commentaries.
This was a very emotional chapter.
You forgot to remove several of the editor's inline commentaries.
Darksoul2142
SUMMONER OF DARK DRAGON
- Location
- Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Reee. Should've given Tyr a uncommented version.
vnixned2
Sailor
- Location
- Bellanda
you misssed a comment from your beta
[commentary: Completely unrelated to the story. I have often seen this in german related stuff. You guys seem to use the comma for decimals and a full stop as a comma.
Commented on this in your other story as well, please keep in mind German uses a decimal comma, and English uses a decimal point
Frohe Weihnachten!
Last edited:
- Location
- Hamburg, Germany
Comments were deleted.
- Location
- Hamburg, Germany
About 3,2 to 3,6 million Germans were Soviet PoW. Of them 1,11 millions died, about 40%. I have no idea, how many are now in Soviet custody. I guess about a million.
- Location
- Germany
- Pronouns
- He/Him
My grandmother with family was send to german work camp after Warsaw was burned by them. It was in Bavaria, and people there unless prussians were good.
In the same camp workes soviet prisoners - we Poles worked only as much as as we must - germans was enemy,after all - but soviet prisoners would giving all they could.
Later, when american come and told them, that they would send them home, they try to hide in forests. American was shocked, why soviet workers do not wont come back to "soviet paradise".
I hope, that in your story germans would not send them all home against their will.
P.S Why germans during war simply not killed Stalin ? They knew where he lived, and could crack any soviet code. Just kill him during one meeting with generals.considering how soviet state worked, his minions would start killing each other to become next Stalin .
In the same camp workes soviet prisoners - we Poles worked only as much as as we must - germans was enemy,after all - but soviet prisoners would giving all they could.
Later, when american come and told them, that they would send them home, they try to hide in forests. American was shocked, why soviet workers do not wont come back to "soviet paradise".
I hope, that in your story germans would not send them all home against their will.
P.S Why germans during war simply not killed Stalin ? They knew where he lived, and could crack any soviet code. Just kill him during one meeting with generals.considering how soviet state worked, his minions would start killing each other to become next Stalin .
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- Location
- Germany
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Makes a fu situation more unstable if you kill Stalin instead of making deals.
- Location
- Hamburg, Germany
At first, I have to say, I'm a Prussian myself. And I'm proud to be a Prussian. Especially as there were many Prussians dying after July 20th. Also just look at the vita of General v. Saucken. Especially as this was the state of enlightment. Kant and Hegel for example. Or Moses Mendelssohn.
And yes, the situation with Stalin was problematic. One wanted a deal with one side, preferrably the WA. As they refused and continued the war, one accepted the deal Stalin offered. If he had not, well...
And yes, the situation with Stalin was problematic. One wanted a deal with one side, preferrably the WA. As they refused and continued the war, one accepted the deal Stalin offered. If he had not, well...
- Status