This is bad as Britain lacks the strength and the US the will - [Britain also being somewhat divided on the issue] to oppose the Soviets yet so the danger is that even more of Europe as well as possibly large parts of the ME are going to be dominated by repressive and brutal non-democratic regimes. Not to mention the repression in western Europe which will pick up a lot of innocents as well I fear and drive others into the hard liners stance.
The Berlin Dome
- Thread starter Zagan7
- Start date
- Timeline Post-1900 Supernatural
- Location
- Romania
Of course that Communism is bad (I lived in Communist Romania and I am a convinced anti-communist). However, not all Communist regimes were equally bad. Stalin was significantly worse than Tito for example. In TTL, the Greek flavour of Communism will be less murderous and repressive.
I am sure that the Western Powers would not tolerate the Soviet Union taking the oil of the Middle East. That would clearly be "a line in the sand".
The repression in Inner France and Wallonia is mainly directed towards the local Communists. Laval and Degrelle lack support to embark upon large scale repression and turning those countries fascist is almost impossible (isolated quasi-fascist authorities in Nancy and Charleroi does not equal bona fide Fascist Dictatorships like interbellic Italy).
I don't think a lot of the ME oil had been discovered yet, with only relatively limited amounts being exploited in the Mosul region of Iraq and SW Iran but agree that the allies would probably step in if those regions are threatened, or could hopefully do so with the attack on Turkey but the latter it happens the worse the price will be. Of course, having the additional losses of its forces inside the dome, Stalin's empire could turn out to be a paper tiger.
Didn't realise you were talking about repression in 'Inner' France and Wallonia, although here 'communist' could be a blanket term used for anyone thought to oppose the regime. Thought you were talking about wider repression within outer France and Italy where communism of generally more moderate versions had a lot of support, especially as it had been a key organisation of resistance to fascism.
Fully agree communism is nasty. Grew up myself under the fear of a nuclear exchange which seemed to grow more likely as the communist empire faltered. Couldn't see the rulers accepting their downfall without some bid for final military victory and will forever be grateful that Gorbachev managed to bring the system down [albeit largely unintentionally] without a murderous world war that could easily have gone nuclear. However I think you misunderstand how deeply Nazism and related ideas of brute force and racial superiority were embedded in Nazi Germany and how difficult to get anything like a democratic and moral regime in Germany will be in this scenario. Especially since Germany will have gained substantial territories at the expense of its neighbours, even without indirect control of them.
Furthermore you have saved a fair number of German lives by avoiding the final advance on Berlin especially and some of the latter bomber raids but only by killing a lot more Poles and Soviets espeically in the east. Including direct and indirect civilian deaths, it could already be larger than the historical toll.
- Location
- Romania
1. Yes, that was what I meant. I believe that Iraq and the rest of Iran would be defended by the Western Allies if Stalin decides to push on southwards. However, it is possible that the Soviet Union fails to conquer Turkey in the first place!
2. Oh, yes, you're right. In the last chapter I was talking about anti-Communist actions in Outer France and Outer Italy of course. But the Communists there are not killed outright, let's say the repression is at McCarthy levels or so. Obviously, inside the Dome, some other leftists or simply democratic minded opponents may be branded as "Communists" for convenience.
3. That's true. Even with no more Nazis in power in Germany, some nasty Nazi or Nazi-like ideas may still linger on for quite some time.
4. The death toll may only surpass OTL in Poland (and soon in Turkey). An indordinate number of Red Army soldiers would have died anyway in the OTL battle of Berlin and other battles during the last months of the war.
JuliusClonkus
Scatterbrained Speculator
- Location
- Federal Reichspublic of Karlsland
I fully expect a much harder pushback against Mao in China and the subsequent prevention of the Great Leap Into The Woodchipper to be the basis for the "less deaths" clause.
Especially since the USSR probably won't engage in war against Japan, translating into a smaller Communist powerbase in Manchuria.
Especially since the USSR probably won't engage in war against Japan, translating into a smaller Communist powerbase in Manchuria.
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- Location
- Romania
Ugh, I believe we have already discussed that a number of times. Anyway, in a nutshell: There are significantly less deaths in Europe alone, not only all over the World. Less war means certainly less deaths. Combat in World War Two claimed seven times more lives than the Nazis (about 80 million in total vs. 11 million the Nazis). Moreover, in TTL, for practical reasons, the Holocaust (at least its organized phase) had already ended since late January. Yes, some people are still dying from hunger, disease, neglect, repression, etc, but their numbers are really incomparable to those dying during actual open warfare.
I can't really comment about the future of the Far East at this point. There will be several chapters dealing with that in the future.
Chapter 56. Hitler muss weg
- Location
- Romania
Chapter 56. Hitler muss weg
It is rather ironic that, instead of buttressing the National Socialist Regime, the outerwordly Berlin Dome did in fact hasten its demise.
2 - 23 March 1945, Deutsches Reich
After five and a half years of war, an eerie peace had finally descended upon the severely battered Reich.
Germany had lost millions of soldiers, dead, maimed or maybe even worse, prisoners in a Siberian Gulag. Hundreds of thousands of civilians had been killed by the Western Allied bombers or Soviet soldiers during their short but brutal occupation in Eastern Germany. The hospitals were overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of the sick and wounded, the health system being close to a collapse.
The German industry was almost completely destroyed, with the few factories still in business producing almost exclusively military gear. There were widespread shortages of almost every concievable commodity. The rations kept getting smaller with generalized famine beginning to raise its ugly head.
Being still theoretically at war with the outside World meant that the full embargo was still very much in place. Trade was of course possible with the friendly neutrals inside the Dome but the Reichsmark was almost worseless, Germany had no more Gold and no hope of acquiring debt.
In theory, the Wehrmacht could have been sent for plunder inside the Dome but, leaving aside the political backslash for such an action, the reprieve would have been very short as the other countries were in a similar or worse situation. Besides, Germany needed peace with the outer World in order to be allowed to trade lest its predicament was to continue...
The roads, the railroads, the electrical and communications grids, all infrastructure was severely damaged. The cities were smoldering ruins and hundreds of thousands were homeless with their lives, possessions and livelyhoods shattered. And the weather was still rather frosty...
Tens of thousands of girls and women had been raped by the Soviets. Most of them had venereal diseases. Some of them were pregnant, the children growing in their wombs being considered subhuman by the official propaganda. Abortions were certainly needed. En masse.
Millions of soldiers and officers were returning home, waiting to be demobilized as, under the new circumstances, the Reich only needed about half a million men under arms, maybe less. Most of them were deeply shocked by what they saw, some of them by what they did... About half of their brethren in arms were not returning home though, either buried in a Russian field or waiting the redemption of death in a Soviet Gulag.
Despite everything, at first, the overwhelming majority of the Germans were exuberant. The damned war is finally over! No more death, no more bombardments, no more shortages! After all these sacrifices, when there was almost no hope anymore, we have won! Well, the Führer said that the war had been lost due to no Lebensraum or whatever but who cares, right?
Little by little though, realization sunk in. The war was over but their lives did not show any signs of improvement. No more people died in bombardments or on the battlefields but many still died of hunger, disease or exposure amongst the ruins. That was no peace, that was only a cessasion of hostilities. The blockade was still in place and millions were going to starve until the Reich reached its natural carrying capacity whatever that might have been.
After the spectacular victory over France in 1940, nine out of tens Germans loved their Führer. Five years later, nine out ten hated him, his henchmen and his political regime. Propaganda is always trumped by reality when you lack food, shelter, power, medicine, healthcare, work, everything.
An anti-Nazi uprising would have been possible anyway but there were two decisive factors which made it nigh inevitable. The first one was the Western Allied condition that Hitler and other high ranking Nazis be removed from power prior to a negotiated Peace Settlement. The second one was the latest of Hitler's ramblings, who apparently wanted to resume the war with Soviet Russia after a short period of "recovery".
In March 1945, most Germans saw their once beloved Führer as:
Most Germans had already made up their mind: Hitler muss weg (Hitler must leave power; literary Hitler must go).
Faced with the SS and a loyal Wehrmacht, the common people had obviously no chance of toppling the Nazi Regime. The fact that they took to the streets in the thousands in most major cities of Germany is proof of both their bravery and of their desperation.
The demonstrations, initially small and spontaneous, later increasingly larger and better organized, mushroomed quickly all over the Reich. Hungry and desperate Germans, young and old, men and women, wounded war veterans and newly demobilized soldiers, old-time anti-Nazis and disillusioned former Nazis, all flooded the centres of their cities, despite the danger and the cold weather, asking at first for food, shelter and medicine and then for regime change and the ousting of Hitler.
By the 23 of March, more than one hundred thousand people were demonstrating against Hitler all over Germany. The local police and the SS, including in some instances Waffen SS troops, had intervened against the demonstrators in a seemingly random and uncoordinated manner:
Nobody knows for sure how the civic unrest would have progressed if the Werhmacht had stayed in the barracks. However, the German soldiers and many of their commanders remembered an war-time saying of theirs: "When this mess is over, we have a business to do in Berlin".
In the end, the decisive intervention of the army was precipitated by the momentous events of the 24th of March.
Information about Hitler, Adolphine and others and the situation in the Bunker / Hirn during that turbulent period will be presented in the following chapters.
It is rather ironic that, instead of buttressing the National Socialist Regime, the outerwordly Berlin Dome did in fact hasten its demise.
2 - 23 March 1945, Deutsches Reich
After five and a half years of war, an eerie peace had finally descended upon the severely battered Reich.
Germany had lost millions of soldiers, dead, maimed or maybe even worse, prisoners in a Siberian Gulag. Hundreds of thousands of civilians had been killed by the Western Allied bombers or Soviet soldiers during their short but brutal occupation in Eastern Germany. The hospitals were overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of the sick and wounded, the health system being close to a collapse.
The German industry was almost completely destroyed, with the few factories still in business producing almost exclusively military gear. There were widespread shortages of almost every concievable commodity. The rations kept getting smaller with generalized famine beginning to raise its ugly head.
Being still theoretically at war with the outside World meant that the full embargo was still very much in place. Trade was of course possible with the friendly neutrals inside the Dome but the Reichsmark was almost worseless, Germany had no more Gold and no hope of acquiring debt.
In theory, the Wehrmacht could have been sent for plunder inside the Dome but, leaving aside the political backslash for such an action, the reprieve would have been very short as the other countries were in a similar or worse situation. Besides, Germany needed peace with the outer World in order to be allowed to trade lest its predicament was to continue...
The roads, the railroads, the electrical and communications grids, all infrastructure was severely damaged. The cities were smoldering ruins and hundreds of thousands were homeless with their lives, possessions and livelyhoods shattered. And the weather was still rather frosty...
Tens of thousands of girls and women had been raped by the Soviets. Most of them had venereal diseases. Some of them were pregnant, the children growing in their wombs being considered subhuman by the official propaganda. Abortions were certainly needed. En masse.
Millions of soldiers and officers were returning home, waiting to be demobilized as, under the new circumstances, the Reich only needed about half a million men under arms, maybe less. Most of them were deeply shocked by what they saw, some of them by what they did... About half of their brethren in arms were not returning home though, either buried in a Russian field or waiting the redemption of death in a Soviet Gulag.
Despite everything, at first, the overwhelming majority of the Germans were exuberant. The damned war is finally over! No more death, no more bombardments, no more shortages! After all these sacrifices, when there was almost no hope anymore, we have won! Well, the Führer said that the war had been lost due to no Lebensraum or whatever but who cares, right?
Little by little though, realization sunk in. The war was over but their lives did not show any signs of improvement. No more people died in bombardments or on the battlefields but many still died of hunger, disease or exposure amongst the ruins. That was no peace, that was only a cessasion of hostilities. The blockade was still in place and millions were going to starve until the Reich reached its natural carrying capacity whatever that might have been.
After the spectacular victory over France in 1940, nine out of tens Germans loved their Führer. Five years later, nine out ten hated him, his henchmen and his political regime. Propaganda is always trumped by reality when you lack food, shelter, power, medicine, healthcare, work, everything.
An anti-Nazi uprising would have been possible anyway but there were two decisive factors which made it nigh inevitable. The first one was the Western Allied condition that Hitler and other high ranking Nazis be removed from power prior to a negotiated Peace Settlement. The second one was the latest of Hitler's ramblings, who apparently wanted to resume the war with Soviet Russia after a short period of "recovery".
In March 1945, most Germans saw their once beloved Führer as:
- responsable for their past and current disastrous situation (because of launching an unwinnable war against the entire World);
- responsable for the continuation of said disastrous situation (because he was an obstacle to the normalization of their relations with the Occident);
- responsable for future disasters (should he really start another war against the Soviet colossus).
Most Germans had already made up their mind: Hitler muss weg (Hitler must leave power; literary Hitler must go).
Faced with the SS and a loyal Wehrmacht, the common people had obviously no chance of toppling the Nazi Regime. The fact that they took to the streets in the thousands in most major cities of Germany is proof of both their bravery and of their desperation.
The demonstrations, initially small and spontaneous, later increasingly larger and better organized, mushroomed quickly all over the Reich. Hungry and desperate Germans, young and old, men and women, wounded war veterans and newly demobilized soldiers, old-time anti-Nazis and disillusioned former Nazis, all flooded the centres of their cities, despite the danger and the cold weather, asking at first for food, shelter and medicine and then for regime change and the ousting of Hitler.
By the 23 of March, more than one hundred thousand people were demonstrating against Hitler all over Germany. The local police and the SS, including in some instances Waffen SS troops, had intervened against the demonstrators in a seemingly random and uncoordinated manner:
- no presence whatsoever in Stuttgart, Frankfurt, etc;
- passively blocking access to the official buildings in Köln, München, etc;
- deploying watercannons in Hamburg, Stettin, etc;
- beating up some unlucky protestors in Wien, Danzig, etc;
- breaking up the smaller demostration in Breslau and arresting a few people only to dissapear when confronted with a much larger and angrier crowd later;
- firing live ammunition in Königsberg which resulted in dozens of casualties and two weeks with no more demonstrations;
- massive crackdown and indiscriminate killings in Prag and Berlin which seemed to completely silence any opposition there for the time being.
Nobody knows for sure how the civic unrest would have progressed if the Werhmacht had stayed in the barracks. However, the German soldiers and many of their commanders remembered an war-time saying of theirs: "When this mess is over, we have a business to do in Berlin".
In the end, the decisive intervention of the army was precipitated by the momentous events of the 24th of March.
Information about Hitler, Adolphine and others and the situation in the Bunker / Hirn during that turbulent period will be presented in the following chapters.
JuliusClonkus
Scatterbrained Speculator
- Location
- Federal Reichspublic of Karlsland
...so the Wehrmacht does it.
Say, idle curiosity, how many monarchists are left in there?
Say, idle curiosity, how many monarchists are left in there?
- Location
- Romania
We shall have them counted in the upcoming referenda.
JuliusClonkus
Scatterbrained Speculator
- Location
- Federal Reichspublic of Karlsland
So there will be a Third Reich after all, just as promised.We shall have them counted in the upcoming referenda.
...Yeah, if you think I'm gonna count the Nazi state into that noble line of realms you'r sorely mistaken.
Agreed. Nazi Germany has no place in the line of realms
Also his responses seemed strange. I would understand Prague being treated more brutally than a german city as he saw Czechs as untermensch (for the most part though he saw some as able to become Germanised). But this logic fails in Berlin. I am guessing he just became that insane that he responds randomly. This insanity would also help explain his suicidal and insane plan to invade Russia
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- Location
- Romania
Yes, it is probable that Hitler had already lost his marbles by 1945. That may explain it or he might no longer be fully in control of the situation for whatever reasons.
In any case, a more brutal crackdown in Berlin itself may be understandable simply because it is the location of both Hitler himself and of the all important Hirn.
On point 3 its likely a lot of nasty ideas are likely to survive, at least by post-war western standards.
On point 4 a lot of those Soviets survived OTL simply because they won. German military losses are likely to be a bit lower but possibly not greatly so given the intensity of the fighting. Polish civilian losses could well be at least as bad if not worse than Germans because their already in a very bad way, after ~5 years of looting and invasions and because the Polish population, unlike many of the Germans have nowhere to escape to. Not to mention Germany dumping more Poles into an already devastated territory. The total losses might be a bit less given the quick ending of the fighting on the western front but the political situation is likely to be worse across west/central Europe. What happens in the east is likely to be worse as well, at least in the short run. [Annexation of Romania is likely to prompt a new wave of resistance and repression, as well as brutal communist control of Greece and the bloodbath that Turkey is likely to be.]
On the main update it sounds like the army is going to step in and then decide or be forced to allow a referendum on the future of Germany. What they do to the non-German [and disputed] lands within the dome would be a big issue.
- Location
- Romania
Your analysis seems sound. I only have to step in and clarify two issues.
1. The population exchanges between Poland and Germany are not rushed and chaotical but slow and methodical. It would take almost one year to complete them. In total, about 320,000 Germans from rump Poland would be sent to Germany and about 1,100,000 Poles, mainly from Posen, to Poland.
Many people were exempted from deportation to Poland (after the fall of the Nazis):
- those who could pass as Germans / sufficiently Germanized;
- those who claimed another West Slavic nationality (Sorbs, Silesians, Mazurians, Kashubians, etc);
- the Poles married to Germans;
- the Poles from Gdingen / Gdynia (leased to Poland);
- the Ruhrpolen and other Poles residing in the Altreich (not from the annexed territories);
- those Poles deemed important for the German economy, etc;
- those Poles who managed to bribe the authorities.
The German authorities were only interested in breaking the Polish majority in Posen not in completely removing all Poles from Germany. It is estimated that almost one million Poles (including Kashubians, etc) remained in Germany at the end of the population transfer.
2. On the issue of the "non-German [and disputed] lands within the dome", we should first try to categorize them.
a) Foreign territory (Inner Latvia, Inner Lithuania, Inner Poland, Slovakia, Inner Hungary, Inner Croatia, rump Switzerland, Inner France, Wallonia, Flanders, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden). These are recognized as independent countries under various degrees of German influence. The German influence could be relaxed in the future but I believe it is obvious that they will never be allowed to join an anti-German coalition for example.
b) Occupied territory (Inner Norway). Germany plans to release it as soon as an accomodation with Outer Norway is reached (armistice, etc).
c) Unilaterally annexed territories:
- Luxembourg (Germany intends to keep it "because it is ethnically German"; a referendum would probably yield independence though);
- Bohemia-Moravia (Germany probably intends to keep it for strategic reasons; a referendum would yield independence);
- Inner Slovenia (they may grant it independence);
- Adriatic Littoral (strategically important);
- South Tyrol proper (massive German majority; no way to give it up; would vote for Germany in any referendum);
- Inner Trentino and "Inner Italy Protectorate" (would be probably returned to Italy at a future peace treaty / armistice).
d) Territories officially ceded by other countries:
- those with a German majority (Central Schleswig, Danzig, Memelland, parts of Poland, Sudetenland, Liechtenstein, Eupen-Malmedy, etc) -- will remain parts of Germany as noone is contesting that;
- Posen and parts of West Prussia (Polish / Kashubian majority) -- the current population exchanges are skewing the ethnic make-up towards a German plurality;
- Sopron and other small Hungarian areas (slight Hungarian majority) -- too early to tell;
- Alsace-Lorraine (Alsacian majority, French minority) -- Germany considers the Alsacians to be ethnic Germans;
- Briey-Longwy (French majority) -- depends upon the peace treaty with France.
So, the only answer to that "big issue" is that it depends upon the territory in question and its status (de jure, de facto, ethnic composition, importance, etc).
Moreover, the results of a peace treaty with the West may be challanged in the future by the local populations and a future democratic Germany may decide to listen to them. Or maybe not. Or the situation may be so wildly different in the future that that would not be a significant concern anymore. We shall see.
- Location
- Romania
@Adamgerd
Please do not mention future events in this story. Some readers here would not like to have the story spoiled like that. Thank you.
I don't know what AAR might be.
Sorry to answer you here but (i) I cannot post there right now as I am writing the next update and (ii) it is related to this site anyway.Adamgerd on AH.com/The Berlin Dome said:
Please do not mention future events in this story. Some readers here would not like to have the story spoiled like that. Thank you.
I don't know what AAR might be.
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Yeah, I won't
Force of habit, AAR means after-action report really and is for games, I am just used to it, so not relevant here, just ignore it
Chapter 57. The Beginning of the End
- Location
- Romania
Chapter 57. The Beginning of the End
24 March 1945, Großdeutscher Reichstag, Berlin, Großdeutsches Reich
Note: Twelve years prior, on 24 March 1933 (just two months in the Chancellorship of Adolf Hitler and one month after the Reichstag Fire and subsequent Reichstag Fire Decree), the Reichtag (with the Communists removed) and the Reichsrat voted and Reichspräsident Paul von Hindenburg signed into law the Enabling Act (Ermächtigungsgesetz) which gave the Government Plenary Powers, allowing Chancellor Adolf Hitler to rule by decree, bypassing the Reichstag and, thus, turning the German Reich into a legal dictatorship. The Enabling Act was valid for a period of four years and was duly renewed by the Reichtag twice, in March 1937 and March 1941. In OTL, the March 1945 renewal did not take place, due to various reasons (the 26 April 1942 decree made the Enabling Act largely superfluos, the Reich was already collapsing under the military might of the Allies, etc).
In the midst of large scale nation-wide antigovernment protests (see previous chapter), the members of the Reichstag who were still alive, not under arrest and whom whereabouts were known to the authorities had been abruptly summoned for an extraordinary meeting of the Reichstag for the morning of the 24th.
It is not known whether the order to summon the Reichstag was actually issued by Hitler himself or by Helga who was frequently impersonating him in telephone calls.
From the total of 876 deputies, only 592 were present, thus barely meeting the quorum. Almost all of them were members of the National Socialist Party, the rest being sympathysers. Both Führer Adolf Hitler (who had never left the Hirn since his 26 February minor stroke) and Reichstag Speaker Hermann Göring (who was involuntary admitted to a programme of detoxification) were conspicously absent.
Despite a small but intimidating SS presence, the first signs that trouble may lay ahead could be sensed from the very beginning of the meeting when the enthusiastic singing of the Deutschlandslied was followed by a decidely more anaemic rendering of the Horst-Wessel-Lied.
After a short speech by Joseph Goebbels, who proclaimed himself Acting Speaker of the Reichstag in the absence of Göring, the renewing of the Enabling Act for a further four years was immediately put to a vote.
And then the unfathomable happened. To the unspeakable consternation of Goebbels and many of those present, the motion was defeated with 283 votes for, 106 against and 203 abstaining.
After a moment of panic and confussion, Goebbels venomously attacked the deputies who failed to vote the Enabling Act renewal, branded them traitors and Jewish lackeys and called for their immediate arrest.
The SS present in the hall duly started to take the offending deputies into custody. The problem was that it was difficult for thirty SS men to arrest and keep under control 309 men. Sensing that, and despite the fact that the SS were armed, the deputies counted on their massive numerical advantage and fought back.
Soon the first bullets were fired, people began to fall down and all hell broke loose with the adrenaline powered deputies overwhelming the small SS squad while also fighting some of the Nazi loyalist deputies. After the last SS officer was trampled by the crowd, the brawl with the Nazi loyalists ended quickly with the clear victory of the defectors who were by then armed with the weapons seized from the overwhelmed SS men.
After less than fifteen minutes of fighting, the Reichstag looked like a war scene. At least 17 deputies were dead, including Goebbels, fallen over the Speaker's desk with a bullet hole in his forehead, about 40 were injured and the smell of blood, gunpowder and death was permeating the air. Of the 30 SS troops, 13 were dead and the others, of which more than half seriously injured, were immobilized with various improvised means. More than a hundred of the loyalist deputies had taken advantage of the confusion and fled the premises, while some of the others joined the defectors.
Correctly estimating that they had little time available, the deputies acted in divergent ways. Some left, either going home or into hiding, others attempted to contact the Church, the Werhmacht, the anti-Nazi demonstrators, the Foreign Missions, the Red Cross, etc, while others, most of them with some military background, were organizing a makeshift defense, gathering weapons and barricading the hallways and windows.
Although they had no more quorum, a vote of no confidence in the Government was passed with 181 votes for, 97 abstained and 8 against.
Subsequently, in quick succession, the rump Reichstag declared the merging of the posts of Reich President and Chancellor to have been illegal per both the Constitution of the German Reich and the then in force Enabling Act, declared the title of Führer to be purely honorific, passed a motion asking Adolf Hitler to resign from the post of Reich President and called for free general elections.
After cca. 80 minutes, the free Reichstag was stormed by hundreds of fanatical Waffen SS troops. The battle was short and brutal. Twenty minutes later, the last defenders (deputies and nearby civilians who had come forth to offer their help) surrendered. 63 deputies and 115 civilians were dead, a few had escaped and the rest, many of them injured, were under arrest.
While the SS were herding the cca. 400 arrested people towards their vans, General Dietrich von Saucken showed up at the scene with at least two thousand soldiers. He ordered the Waffen SS soldiers to release the prisoners and disperse.
After a short showdown, gunfire suddenly erupted, followed shortly by bursts of automatic fire. With Wehrmacht, Waffen SS, as well as freed deputies and civilians firing at will in all directions, the confrontation turned quickly into a massive bloodbath, with friendly fire being sadly quite common.
After the decimated remnants of the SS troops surrendered, the carnage became apparent. Hundreds of casualties on both sides were scattered around the blood stained pavement. Von Saucken had been hit in the left arm and leg but was out of immediate danger. Many other injured soldiers, deputies and civilians were not so lucky.
With Berlin deemed unsafe, Von Saucken's men escorted most of the remaining Reichstag deputies (cca. 110) out of the city to the relative safety of a nearby military compound. News of the events in the Reichstag and subsequent battles spread like wildfire, raising the morale of the population. For the first time after the horrific crackdown of the previous weeks, groups of brave Berliners began to once again congregate in the city centre.
After conferring with other Werhmacht Generals and Field Marshals, General Von Saucken, despite his injuries, refused to go to hospital, had his wounds tended on the battlefield and rushed to the Bunker to try and talk sense into the ailing Führer.
For the Nazi Regime it was the beginning of the end.
24 March 1945, Großdeutscher Reichstag, Berlin, Großdeutsches Reich
Note: Twelve years prior, on 24 March 1933 (just two months in the Chancellorship of Adolf Hitler and one month after the Reichstag Fire and subsequent Reichstag Fire Decree), the Reichtag (with the Communists removed) and the Reichsrat voted and Reichspräsident Paul von Hindenburg signed into law the Enabling Act (Ermächtigungsgesetz) which gave the Government Plenary Powers, allowing Chancellor Adolf Hitler to rule by decree, bypassing the Reichstag and, thus, turning the German Reich into a legal dictatorship. The Enabling Act was valid for a period of four years and was duly renewed by the Reichtag twice, in March 1937 and March 1941. In OTL, the March 1945 renewal did not take place, due to various reasons (the 26 April 1942 decree made the Enabling Act largely superfluos, the Reich was already collapsing under the military might of the Allies, etc).
In the midst of large scale nation-wide antigovernment protests (see previous chapter), the members of the Reichstag who were still alive, not under arrest and whom whereabouts were known to the authorities had been abruptly summoned for an extraordinary meeting of the Reichstag for the morning of the 24th.
It is not known whether the order to summon the Reichstag was actually issued by Hitler himself or by Helga who was frequently impersonating him in telephone calls.
From the total of 876 deputies, only 592 were present, thus barely meeting the quorum. Almost all of them were members of the National Socialist Party, the rest being sympathysers. Both Führer Adolf Hitler (who had never left the Hirn since his 26 February minor stroke) and Reichstag Speaker Hermann Göring (who was involuntary admitted to a programme of detoxification) were conspicously absent.
Despite a small but intimidating SS presence, the first signs that trouble may lay ahead could be sensed from the very beginning of the meeting when the enthusiastic singing of the Deutschlandslied was followed by a decidely more anaemic rendering of the Horst-Wessel-Lied.
After a short speech by Joseph Goebbels, who proclaimed himself Acting Speaker of the Reichstag in the absence of Göring, the renewing of the Enabling Act for a further four years was immediately put to a vote.
And then the unfathomable happened. To the unspeakable consternation of Goebbels and many of those present, the motion was defeated with 283 votes for, 106 against and 203 abstaining.
After a moment of panic and confussion, Goebbels venomously attacked the deputies who failed to vote the Enabling Act renewal, branded them traitors and Jewish lackeys and called for their immediate arrest.
The SS present in the hall duly started to take the offending deputies into custody. The problem was that it was difficult for thirty SS men to arrest and keep under control 309 men. Sensing that, and despite the fact that the SS were armed, the deputies counted on their massive numerical advantage and fought back.
Soon the first bullets were fired, people began to fall down and all hell broke loose with the adrenaline powered deputies overwhelming the small SS squad while also fighting some of the Nazi loyalist deputies. After the last SS officer was trampled by the crowd, the brawl with the Nazi loyalists ended quickly with the clear victory of the defectors who were by then armed with the weapons seized from the overwhelmed SS men.
After less than fifteen minutes of fighting, the Reichstag looked like a war scene. At least 17 deputies were dead, including Goebbels, fallen over the Speaker's desk with a bullet hole in his forehead, about 40 were injured and the smell of blood, gunpowder and death was permeating the air. Of the 30 SS troops, 13 were dead and the others, of which more than half seriously injured, were immobilized with various improvised means. More than a hundred of the loyalist deputies had taken advantage of the confusion and fled the premises, while some of the others joined the defectors.
Correctly estimating that they had little time available, the deputies acted in divergent ways. Some left, either going home or into hiding, others attempted to contact the Church, the Werhmacht, the anti-Nazi demonstrators, the Foreign Missions, the Red Cross, etc, while others, most of them with some military background, were organizing a makeshift defense, gathering weapons and barricading the hallways and windows.
Although they had no more quorum, a vote of no confidence in the Government was passed with 181 votes for, 97 abstained and 8 against.
Subsequently, in quick succession, the rump Reichstag declared the merging of the posts of Reich President and Chancellor to have been illegal per both the Constitution of the German Reich and the then in force Enabling Act, declared the title of Führer to be purely honorific, passed a motion asking Adolf Hitler to resign from the post of Reich President and called for free general elections.
After cca. 80 minutes, the free Reichstag was stormed by hundreds of fanatical Waffen SS troops. The battle was short and brutal. Twenty minutes later, the last defenders (deputies and nearby civilians who had come forth to offer their help) surrendered. 63 deputies and 115 civilians were dead, a few had escaped and the rest, many of them injured, were under arrest.
While the SS were herding the cca. 400 arrested people towards their vans, General Dietrich von Saucken showed up at the scene with at least two thousand soldiers. He ordered the Waffen SS soldiers to release the prisoners and disperse.
After a short showdown, gunfire suddenly erupted, followed shortly by bursts of automatic fire. With Wehrmacht, Waffen SS, as well as freed deputies and civilians firing at will in all directions, the confrontation turned quickly into a massive bloodbath, with friendly fire being sadly quite common.
After the decimated remnants of the SS troops surrendered, the carnage became apparent. Hundreds of casualties on both sides were scattered around the blood stained pavement. Von Saucken had been hit in the left arm and leg but was out of immediate danger. Many other injured soldiers, deputies and civilians were not so lucky.
With Berlin deemed unsafe, Von Saucken's men escorted most of the remaining Reichstag deputies (cca. 110) out of the city to the relative safety of a nearby military compound. News of the events in the Reichstag and subsequent battles spread like wildfire, raising the morale of the population. For the first time after the horrific crackdown of the previous weeks, groups of brave Berliners began to once again congregate in the city centre.
After conferring with other Werhmacht Generals and Field Marshals, General Von Saucken, despite his injuries, refused to go to hospital, had his wounds tended on the battlefield and rushed to the Bunker to try and talk sense into the ailing Führer.
For the Nazi Regime it was the beginning of the end.
JuliusClonkus
Scatterbrained Speculator
- Location
- Federal Reichspublic of Karlsland
I'm sure Hitler is happy with his fanatically loyal SS right now.
Not that it matters. The first shots have been fired, and even if Hitler were to relent the SS leadership will see this as a violent anti-Nazi coup, and proceed to launch a hyper-Nazi counter-coup.
I am rather sure Poland, if it's done with the Russians, will send aid to the Wehrmacht if it's necessary to stop a consolidation of Nazi power. They're less likely to subscribe to the whole 'Let's depopulate all of Eastern Europe' thing.
Not that it matters. The first shots have been fired, and even if Hitler were to relent the SS leadership will see this as a violent anti-Nazi coup, and proceed to launch a hyper-Nazi counter-coup.
I am rather sure Poland, if it's done with the Russians, will send aid to the Wehrmacht if it's necessary to stop a consolidation of Nazi power. They're less likely to subscribe to the whole 'Let's depopulate all of Eastern Europe' thing.
Also most other puppets that aren't pro-Nazi and definitely Poland, possibly Netherlands, Norway, sweden and france too would rise up to support it. Also if the Wehrmacht promises amnesty, I can expect partisans and the czech resistance for example rising up, since the Wehrmacht can hardly be worse
Zagan7
Ok, I was assuming it would be done in the normal Nazi fashion, with speed and brutality on the deporting of the Poles. If there's a pause as you suggest at least there is less likely to be immediate deaths and a chance for the rump Poland to recover somewhat so it could give them some food and housing if the war with the Soviets is concluded by that time.
Also under such circumstances would the regime seek to allow Poles to stay, in the groups your mentioning, whether for racial reasons or simply to avoid having Posen still having a substantial minority if not a majority of people who might identify as Polish? [They might use any option to pretend to be German or one of the allowed Slavic groups at the time or find some other route to avoid being removed from their home, but under a democratic later government might feel safer about displaying a Polish identity.
What was the status of Poles elsewhere in Germany proper? I know there was a tradition of large numbers of Poles working in places such as the Rhur in pre-1914 period but not sure if it continued, especially post-33 with the high unemployment and Nazi racial ideas. Or whether any such group, after 39 would have been added to the list of slave labourers.
With the other regions there are a lot of areas that would like to be outside German control or in cases direct rule but it depends, while the dome exists and is used for Germany's benefit, on Germany deciding to allow any such rights and I find it difficult to see that a German government will develop that would allow any real liberty. That's my primary concern as most of the drivers for the emergence of the modern German republic in terms of its social views seem to be missing. However will see what will develop.
Steve
PS Would agree with other posters in seeing a good bit of bloodshed ahead. Although the SS and their supporters will probably go down it will be costly and I think at least a fair proportion of the army will support the regime, either because of their oath, or their brainwashing plus the fact that recent events - which few will know the government aren't responsible for - have turned very much in their favour. Think the good [or at least less evil] guys will win in the end but its going to be a mess for a while.
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JuliusClonkus
Scatterbrained Speculator
- Location
- Federal Reichspublic of Karlsland
Given that many of these migrated there in the 1800s, and as a whole presented little to no danger to the territorial integrity of the German Reich, I'd not be surprised if a majority of them had been considered Germanized enough to be left alone.
The Polish had the incredible misfortune that their settlement areas overlapped with the German ones in a way that'd always mean a potential bisection of the Reich even if it were content with the borders of 1871 - coupled with the fact that the Poles were very eager to fight for independence in the previous century meant they were a liability for the Nazis, especially with how they'd be able to disrupt contact between the Altreich and the areas envisioned as colonies under Generalplan Ost.
By comparison, historically docile or sympathetic populations were not considered for total extermination, but intended to be allowed to continue to exist as some perverse analogue to serfs, become "Germanized" (Baltics in particular), although in many places they intended to reduce the native populations to more 'manageable' sizes (Belarus, Ukraine and Russia).
Nazi Germany was flexible on who was and who wasn't German - if you lived outside f a problem area (border areas or ghettos), weren't a recent immigrant, spoke the language and lived the culture, you were likely fine.
- Location
- Romania
1. There are three reasons for the semi-humane (ethnic cleansing is never ok, no matter how "gently" it is done) manner in which the deportations are conducted:
- Adolphine's "but the Poles are White People just like us!" Hitler probably is not buying it but he is trying to keep her happy.
- The desire to present a more reasonable image to the Western Powers in anticipation of an Armistice in the West.
- The desire to keep reasonable relations with Poland and have the Germans from Poland sent to Germany in similarly good conditions.
2. That's why the deportations are stricter in Posen and there is more leeway elsewhere (in areas with lower concentrations of Poles). Of course, the number of people identifying as Poles in the censuses may increase in the future and that may produce additional headaches for a future democratic Reich Government as well as for the local governments of Posen or West Prussia. However, that remains to be seen.
Moreover, if Germany's economy in TTL will in any way resemble the OTL post-war West German "miracle", the need for Gastarbeiter will result in additional Poles (and other nationalities) being allowed in the Reich, even if on a temporary basis.
3. The Poles from the Altreich (who were full German citizens before the war) were not particularly oppressed. Their cultural associasions were closed and minor stuff like that but nothing close to the awful situation of the Poles from occupied Poland. Many Reich Poles, especially the Ruhrpolen were partially Germanized anyway. Some of them were members of the Nazi Party and even the supposedly "racially pure" SS. Hitler's driver, Erich Kempka was an ethnic Pole from the Ruhr. What I want to stress here is that Nazi policies were by no means consistent.
No citizens of the Altreich were turned into slave labourers with the exception of the Jews.
After 1933, unemployment in Germany quickly plummeted to almost zero.
4. We will soon see which areas is Germany willing to shed. The situation of the remaining minorities will be discussed in future chapters as well. Obviously, there will still be several million people unhappy with their status of German citizens (about 10% of the total Reich population).
It may also be added here that modern ethnic minority rights were either non-existent or not respected in almost all countries until quite recently.
5. Yes, it will be messy but the degree of that mess remains to be seen in the following chapters.
Chapter 58. Back to the Hirn
- Location
- Romania
Chapter 58. Back to the Hirn
2 - 23 March 1945, The Hirn, Berlin, Großdeutsches Reich
Adolphine: "Adolf..."
Hitler (absent): "Yes..."
Adolphine (shouting): "I'm pregnant!"
Hitler (frowning): "Oh... Do you know who the father is?"
Adolphine (laughing): "I was joking! I didn't even have sex yet! You were so lost in your thoughts that I wanted to catch your attention!"
Hitler: "Ha, ha, very funny... Not. What do you want?"
Adolphine: "You seem unwell."
Hitler (raising his voice): "Of course. Because I'm sick! And these doctors... and engineers and whatever... who should have made those nanobots to work... they are worseless... incompetents..."
Adolphine: "Maybe they are paid by the Jews..."
Hitler (worried): "But is it possible? Do you really think so?"
Adolphine (laughing): "Nooo! I was joking... again... and I got you!"
Hitler (angry): "Are you making fun of me now?"
Adolphine: "No, Adolf, I'm sorry. I see that you are so depressed... sorry, how do you say it... yes, melancholic, and I just wanted to cheer you up. That's what kids are good at, you know, to lighten the mood when the parents are worried and sad..."
************
Adolphine (cheeky): "Eva... am I going to have a little brother?"
Eva Hitler: "I wish so but sadly not. I'm just bloated... Well, maybe I have put on a little weight since I moved in here. You know, I used to have a lot of physical activity before but now we are prisoners in this bunker... Oh, how much I hate those ungrateful people. Adolf has done so much for them and for the Reich and now, because of a few shortages, they are unruly... If Adolf were in better health he would have gone to talk to them and make them understand. I mean, some sacrifices are sometimes necessary. I didn't know that the common people can be so materialistic..." (keeps on talking) "So now it is dangerous to go out! Can you imagine?..."
Adolphine (who did not listen up to the end): "Please, Eva, don't be sad. It will get better. The street disturbances will eventually come to an end and we will be able to go out soon. Please don't cry..." (pause) "Eva... but why don't you make a baby now that you are married? I mean, I suppose that you want to have children."
Eva: "Of course I want to have children, but it's not so easy you know... And we are only married for six weeks."
Adolphine: "I see. In my time, when a couple wants children, she gets pregnant immediately... after they are having sex, of course."
Eva: "Wow! Why is that?"
Adolphine: "I'm not sure. It's just how things are... The nanobots take care of it probably."
Eva (unsure): "Adolphine..."
Adolphine: "Yes, Eva, speak up, would you."
Eva: "There is a, ahem, problem... Adolf is not in good shape, he is quite ill... and a little old... and..."
Adolphine: "Oh my God! Is he impotent?"
Eva: "Adolphine! No, my God, no... but... I mean, not completely but... it's certainly more difficult for him to... you know... and maybe it's not enough to get me pregnant... and I don't want to make him strain, after that stroke... I'm afraid he might die."
Adolphine (serious): "I see. I will try to help you."
Eva: "How?"
Adolphine: "Leave it to me. I have a plan... It's called in vitro fertilization..."
************
Adolphine: "Helga, any news?"
Helga: "Yes, sadly there were casualties in Königsberg. The Gauleiter ordered the SS to confront the demonstrators with live ammunition. At least 37 are dead."
Adolphine: "Germans? Did they kill Germans? Unarmed Germans who were peacefully voicing their legitimate complaints? What the hell? Who the hell did this?"
Helga: "Erich Koch, the Gauleiter of East Prussia."
Adolphine: "Is he a National Socialist?"
Helga: "Of course. There are nothing but National Socialists in all important public functions."
Adolphine: "But the National Socialists..." (lowering her voice) "are German patriots. They would never hurt real Germans. Jews or other races... I understood that there were killings... but Germans??"
Helga: "I am sorry Adolphine. I have seen documents proving without any doubt that, before the war, before the killing of other people even started, the National Socialist Regime was killing innocent Germans..."
Adolphine: "No! They were not innocent!... Communists probably..."
Helga: "No, Adolphine, not Communists. Disabled Germans, mentally ill Germans, terminally ill German children. They called it euthanasia, just like when you put down a dying pet. The grim irony is that both the first and the latest victims of the National Socialists were Germans. Not Jews, not Gypsies, not Poles, but fellow Germans... Do you want to see the documents?"
Adolphine (sobbing uncontrollably): "No, I believe you... How many people were killed... not now but in total, over the years?"
Helga: "Nobody knows for sure. Millions. Probably over ten millions."
Adolphine: "And six million Jews?..."
Helga: "No..."
Adolphine: "Thank God! I hate that number!"
Helga: "Between five and five and a half million, more probably close to the latter figure."
Adolphine (shocked): "But this is close to the damn six million!"
Helga: "It is rather close but, mathematically speaking, it is not a valid approximation. An unknown number between five and five and half million should be rounded to five million not to six million. Only that..."
Adolphine: "What?"
Helga: "Only that the six million figure you quoted was presumably the number of deaths after the surrender of the Reich. I presume that, should the killings have continued after January the seventeenth..."
Adolphine: "That's enough, I got it. Please, stop. I CANNOT TAKE IT ANYMORE!" (Helga remained silent)
************
Hitler: "Where is Adolphine?"
Eva: "She's in the gardens with that Festo chainsaw again... Isn't it dangerous?"
Hitler (serious): "Yes it is. It's very dangerous." (laughing maniacally) "For everyone who's stupid enough to be around her!" (calmer) "She is invulnerable, you know that!... What's she doing with the chainsaw anyway?"
Eva: "She is sculpting in wood. She keeps asking for larger and larger logs... The gardens are full of sawdust and hideous wood sculptures!"
Hitler: "Well, if she likes it..."
************
24 March 1945, The Hirn, Berlin, Deutsches Reich
Adolphine: "Adolf, there is a wounded man coming to see you!"
Hitler: "Yes, Adolphine, I know. General von Saucken has been anounced. You know, I had actually managed to rule the Reich for twelve years before you got here."
Adolphine: "Why is he wounded? He is limping and has a bandaged arm..."
Vallet: "General von Saucken."
General Dietrich von Saucken (with a military salute): "Good day, Herr Hitler. Fräulein..."
Hitler: "Good day, General. Adolphine, please excuse us..."
Adolphine: "But I want to stay. I'm bored..."
Hitler (yelling): "Get out!"
Adolphine (leaving): "Yes, sure, just don't be so grumpy..."
von Saucken: "These children..."
Hitler: "Yes... I see that you are wounded... Anarhists?"
von Saucken: "Umm... Are you aware of what happened at the Reichstag meeting earlier today?"
Hitler: "The Reichstag... Umm... Yes, the Enabling Act. They voted the renewal of the Enabling Act."
von Saucken: "Yes. Only that the vote did not pass."
Hitler: "I don't understand. If there wasn't quorum, they should have... done something about it..."
von Saucken: "It was quorum. The deputies voted against."
Hitler (eerily calm): "Is this a coup?"
von Saucken: "No, Herr Hitler. The Reichstag can vote for or against a law. It is its purpose."
Hitler: "I know that... Go on. And make it quick."
von Saucken: "Sure. The SS began to arrest the deputies. They fought back. There were casualties. Herr Goebbels is among the dead. The deputies subdued the SS then voted to dismiss the Government. You are no longer Chancellor but you are still Reich President... Herr Hitler, are you feeling unwell? Herr Hitler?"
Hitler (raised voice): "Go on, I am listening."
von Saucken: "More SS troops attacked the deputies. There were hundreds of casualties. Being informed of this heinous crime perpetrated by the SS, I arrived with my unit at the crime scene where we were engaged by the SS. I was wounded in the battle. We secured the premises and took the deputies still alive to a safe place. I believe that is all."
Hitler (pointing his gun to von Saucken's face): "Are you with them?"
von Saucken (unmoved by the gun): "With whom?"
Hitler: "With the conspirators! With those who plot to overthrow me!"
von Saucken: "There is no conspiracy. The Reichtag had legally repelled the Enabling Act and passed a vote of no confidence in the Reich Government. We will have new elections as soon as the situation permits."
Hitler: "I can shoot you right now, you miserable piece of shit!"
von Saucken: "Yes you can. But I strongly believe that you should put that gun to better use by aiming it in the opposite direction."
Hitler (paling): "This is what you want, isn't it? You want me dead! You actually came here to murder me! You have a bomb, don't you?"
von Saucken: "No, Herr Hitler. I am not an assassin but a Prussian Officer. However, it is quite possible that others will not have these scruples. In fact this is why I came to see you. To inform you that, for all intents and purposes, you are no longer in power... Please understand that, if you fail to resign and end the bloodshed, your own blood will flow sooner rather than later."
Hitler: "I cannot resign. The people love me. Only the traitors want me down!"
von Saucken: "If you want you can stand in the next elections." (ironic) "Surely the people will vote for you."
Hitler: "They will bring the Jews back!..."
von Saucken: "The Wehrmacht will protect the Hirn until you sign your resignation. Then we will move you and your family to the Berghof. In the mean time, the SS is disolved and all Gauleiters are relieved from their posts. The Wehrmacht will ensure that the transition towards a new Government will be as smooth as possible."
Hitler: "So it is a military coup after all, isn't it? You want the power for yourselves, you Schweinehunde... Wait a minute!" (pointing the gun again at von Saucken) "It is a bluff! You are only a General! Where are all the Field Marshals? Why you?"
von Saucken: "I have already told you. Because I wanted to make sure that you are not murdered. Because, despite the madness in which you plunged the Reich in the later years, the German Nation is still thankful to you for the way you led it out of its predicament in the 1930's. That is all. Good day," (clicking his heels)
Hitler: "God will protect me! I don't need your bloody protection! Get out! Get out before I shoot you!"
************
Hitler (speaking at the phone): "Yes. Arrest him."
Voice on the phone: "There are thousands of soldiers on the Voßstraße..."
Hitler (yelling): "I don't care! Fight them! They are all traitors and you are a bunch of miserable cowards! I would have shot him myself but he had a bomb!"
************
von Saucken (speaking at the portable radio): "Yes, Generalfeldmarschall, he is not fully compos mentis. No, he is not a danger anymore. Yes, we believe we have cut all communications with the Hirn. Yes, we shall do that." [...]
************
Adolphine (jumping in front of von Saucken): "I overheard everything!"
von Saucken: "I see. Are you going to create trouble?"
Adolphine: "No, not at all. Adolf is very sick and frail. You should leave him alone. You will have his resignation, I can promise you that. Please, come with me, you have to meet somebody..."
************
Adolphine: "Helga... General von Saucken..."
von Saucken: "Fräulein Helga..."
Helga: "Hello, General."
Adolphine (laughing): "She is hardly a Fräulein. Olaf fucks her every night!... Don't make that face! I'm joking. Gee!"
von Saucken: "Can we be serious? I have some important business to attend..."
Adolphine: "Yes, sure, my lips are shut. Helga, please explain the situation for the General."
Helga (speaking with Hitler's voice): "As a matter of fact it is me who is actually ruling the Reich. Would you accept my resignation?"
von Saucken (confounded): "What is going on here?"
Helga: "I believe that any and all loyalist resistance will cease after listening to my radio address."
von Saucken (collapsing in a chair): "I'll be damned!"
The Chair: "Do you want a neck massage?"
************
von Saucken (composing himself): "Since when?..."
Helga: "Gradually."
von Saucken: "The lack of use of force against the demonstrators in most cities?"
Helga: "Yes."
von Saucken: "Königsberg?"
Helga: "Transgressing the orders."
Adolphine: "Do you actually understand each other in so few words?"
Helga: "Intelligenti pauca."
von Saucken: "I will have to confer with the OKW."
Helga: "Obviously. You may call me directly at this number."
von Saucken: "We have cut the phone lines."
Helga: "It doesn't matter. This number will work anyway. Are you a scientist?"
von Saucken: "No."
Helga: "Then assume it's magic."
von Saucken (bowing slightly): "It has been a pleasure doing business with you."
Helga (blinking her screen): "The same."
************
Later that evening, Adolphine went to the gardens to relieve some of the stress accumulated during the day. She took her chainsaw, turned it on and attacked a brand new log.
Adolphine was so concentrated upon her marvellous creation that she did not notice one of the guards sneaking behind her. She felt a damp cloth on her face and then... nothing.
Seconds later, two of those who were supposed to protect her were carrying her unconscious body to a small hole in the fence, then into a black car parked just in front of it, which then sped into the darkness.
Sorry for the cliffhanger.
2 - 23 March 1945, The Hirn, Berlin, Großdeutsches Reich
Adolphine: "Adolf..."
Hitler (absent): "Yes..."
Adolphine (shouting): "I'm pregnant!"
Hitler (frowning): "Oh... Do you know who the father is?"
Adolphine (laughing): "I was joking! I didn't even have sex yet! You were so lost in your thoughts that I wanted to catch your attention!"
Hitler: "Ha, ha, very funny... Not. What do you want?"
Adolphine: "You seem unwell."
Hitler (raising his voice): "Of course. Because I'm sick! And these doctors... and engineers and whatever... who should have made those nanobots to work... they are worseless... incompetents..."
Adolphine: "Maybe they are paid by the Jews..."
Hitler (worried): "But is it possible? Do you really think so?"
Adolphine (laughing): "Nooo! I was joking... again... and I got you!"
Hitler (angry): "Are you making fun of me now?"
Adolphine: "No, Adolf, I'm sorry. I see that you are so depressed... sorry, how do you say it... yes, melancholic, and I just wanted to cheer you up. That's what kids are good at, you know, to lighten the mood when the parents are worried and sad..."
************
Adolphine (cheeky): "Eva... am I going to have a little brother?"
Eva Hitler: "I wish so but sadly not. I'm just bloated... Well, maybe I have put on a little weight since I moved in here. You know, I used to have a lot of physical activity before but now we are prisoners in this bunker... Oh, how much I hate those ungrateful people. Adolf has done so much for them and for the Reich and now, because of a few shortages, they are unruly... If Adolf were in better health he would have gone to talk to them and make them understand. I mean, some sacrifices are sometimes necessary. I didn't know that the common people can be so materialistic..." (keeps on talking) "So now it is dangerous to go out! Can you imagine?..."
Adolphine (who did not listen up to the end): "Please, Eva, don't be sad. It will get better. The street disturbances will eventually come to an end and we will be able to go out soon. Please don't cry..." (pause) "Eva... but why don't you make a baby now that you are married? I mean, I suppose that you want to have children."
Eva: "Of course I want to have children, but it's not so easy you know... And we are only married for six weeks."
Adolphine: "I see. In my time, when a couple wants children, she gets pregnant immediately... after they are having sex, of course."
Eva: "Wow! Why is that?"
Adolphine: "I'm not sure. It's just how things are... The nanobots take care of it probably."
Eva (unsure): "Adolphine..."
Adolphine: "Yes, Eva, speak up, would you."
Eva: "There is a, ahem, problem... Adolf is not in good shape, he is quite ill... and a little old... and..."
Adolphine: "Oh my God! Is he impotent?"
Eva: "Adolphine! No, my God, no... but... I mean, not completely but... it's certainly more difficult for him to... you know... and maybe it's not enough to get me pregnant... and I don't want to make him strain, after that stroke... I'm afraid he might die."
Adolphine (serious): "I see. I will try to help you."
Eva: "How?"
Adolphine: "Leave it to me. I have a plan... It's called in vitro fertilization..."
************
Adolphine: "Helga, any news?"
Helga: "Yes, sadly there were casualties in Königsberg. The Gauleiter ordered the SS to confront the demonstrators with live ammunition. At least 37 are dead."
Adolphine: "Germans? Did they kill Germans? Unarmed Germans who were peacefully voicing their legitimate complaints? What the hell? Who the hell did this?"
Helga: "Erich Koch, the Gauleiter of East Prussia."
Adolphine: "Is he a National Socialist?"
Helga: "Of course. There are nothing but National Socialists in all important public functions."
Adolphine: "But the National Socialists..." (lowering her voice) "are German patriots. They would never hurt real Germans. Jews or other races... I understood that there were killings... but Germans??"
Helga: "I am sorry Adolphine. I have seen documents proving without any doubt that, before the war, before the killing of other people even started, the National Socialist Regime was killing innocent Germans..."
Adolphine: "No! They were not innocent!... Communists probably..."
Helga: "No, Adolphine, not Communists. Disabled Germans, mentally ill Germans, terminally ill German children. They called it euthanasia, just like when you put down a dying pet. The grim irony is that both the first and the latest victims of the National Socialists were Germans. Not Jews, not Gypsies, not Poles, but fellow Germans... Do you want to see the documents?"
Adolphine (sobbing uncontrollably): "No, I believe you... How many people were killed... not now but in total, over the years?"
Helga: "Nobody knows for sure. Millions. Probably over ten millions."
Adolphine: "And six million Jews?..."
Helga: "No..."
Adolphine: "Thank God! I hate that number!"
Helga: "Between five and five and a half million, more probably close to the latter figure."
Adolphine (shocked): "But this is close to the damn six million!"
Helga: "It is rather close but, mathematically speaking, it is not a valid approximation. An unknown number between five and five and half million should be rounded to five million not to six million. Only that..."
Adolphine: "What?"
Helga: "Only that the six million figure you quoted was presumably the number of deaths after the surrender of the Reich. I presume that, should the killings have continued after January the seventeenth..."
Adolphine: "That's enough, I got it. Please, stop. I CANNOT TAKE IT ANYMORE!" (Helga remained silent)
************
Hitler: "Where is Adolphine?"
Eva: "She's in the gardens with that Festo chainsaw again... Isn't it dangerous?"
Hitler (serious): "Yes it is. It's very dangerous." (laughing maniacally) "For everyone who's stupid enough to be around her!" (calmer) "She is invulnerable, you know that!... What's she doing with the chainsaw anyway?"
Eva: "She is sculpting in wood. She keeps asking for larger and larger logs... The gardens are full of sawdust and hideous wood sculptures!"
Hitler: "Well, if she likes it..."
************
24 March 1945, The Hirn, Berlin, Deutsches Reich
Adolphine: "Adolf, there is a wounded man coming to see you!"
Hitler: "Yes, Adolphine, I know. General von Saucken has been anounced. You know, I had actually managed to rule the Reich for twelve years before you got here."
Adolphine: "Why is he wounded? He is limping and has a bandaged arm..."
Vallet: "General von Saucken."
General Dietrich von Saucken (with a military salute): "Good day, Herr Hitler. Fräulein..."
Hitler: "Good day, General. Adolphine, please excuse us..."
Adolphine: "But I want to stay. I'm bored..."
Hitler (yelling): "Get out!"
Adolphine (leaving): "Yes, sure, just don't be so grumpy..."
von Saucken: "These children..."
Hitler: "Yes... I see that you are wounded... Anarhists?"
von Saucken: "Umm... Are you aware of what happened at the Reichstag meeting earlier today?"
Hitler: "The Reichstag... Umm... Yes, the Enabling Act. They voted the renewal of the Enabling Act."
von Saucken: "Yes. Only that the vote did not pass."
Hitler: "I don't understand. If there wasn't quorum, they should have... done something about it..."
von Saucken: "It was quorum. The deputies voted against."
Hitler (eerily calm): "Is this a coup?"
von Saucken: "No, Herr Hitler. The Reichstag can vote for or against a law. It is its purpose."
Hitler: "I know that... Go on. And make it quick."
von Saucken: "Sure. The SS began to arrest the deputies. They fought back. There were casualties. Herr Goebbels is among the dead. The deputies subdued the SS then voted to dismiss the Government. You are no longer Chancellor but you are still Reich President... Herr Hitler, are you feeling unwell? Herr Hitler?"
Hitler (raised voice): "Go on, I am listening."
von Saucken: "More SS troops attacked the deputies. There were hundreds of casualties. Being informed of this heinous crime perpetrated by the SS, I arrived with my unit at the crime scene where we were engaged by the SS. I was wounded in the battle. We secured the premises and took the deputies still alive to a safe place. I believe that is all."
Hitler (pointing his gun to von Saucken's face): "Are you with them?"
von Saucken (unmoved by the gun): "With whom?"
Hitler: "With the conspirators! With those who plot to overthrow me!"
von Saucken: "There is no conspiracy. The Reichtag had legally repelled the Enabling Act and passed a vote of no confidence in the Reich Government. We will have new elections as soon as the situation permits."
Hitler: "I can shoot you right now, you miserable piece of shit!"
von Saucken: "Yes you can. But I strongly believe that you should put that gun to better use by aiming it in the opposite direction."
Hitler (paling): "This is what you want, isn't it? You want me dead! You actually came here to murder me! You have a bomb, don't you?"
von Saucken: "No, Herr Hitler. I am not an assassin but a Prussian Officer. However, it is quite possible that others will not have these scruples. In fact this is why I came to see you. To inform you that, for all intents and purposes, you are no longer in power... Please understand that, if you fail to resign and end the bloodshed, your own blood will flow sooner rather than later."
Hitler: "I cannot resign. The people love me. Only the traitors want me down!"
von Saucken: "If you want you can stand in the next elections." (ironic) "Surely the people will vote for you."
Hitler: "They will bring the Jews back!..."
von Saucken: "The Wehrmacht will protect the Hirn until you sign your resignation. Then we will move you and your family to the Berghof. In the mean time, the SS is disolved and all Gauleiters are relieved from their posts. The Wehrmacht will ensure that the transition towards a new Government will be as smooth as possible."
Hitler: "So it is a military coup after all, isn't it? You want the power for yourselves, you Schweinehunde... Wait a minute!" (pointing the gun again at von Saucken) "It is a bluff! You are only a General! Where are all the Field Marshals? Why you?"
von Saucken: "I have already told you. Because I wanted to make sure that you are not murdered. Because, despite the madness in which you plunged the Reich in the later years, the German Nation is still thankful to you for the way you led it out of its predicament in the 1930's. That is all. Good day," (clicking his heels)
Hitler: "God will protect me! I don't need your bloody protection! Get out! Get out before I shoot you!"
************
Hitler (speaking at the phone): "Yes. Arrest him."
Voice on the phone: "There are thousands of soldiers on the Voßstraße..."
Hitler (yelling): "I don't care! Fight them! They are all traitors and you are a bunch of miserable cowards! I would have shot him myself but he had a bomb!"
************
von Saucken (speaking at the portable radio): "Yes, Generalfeldmarschall, he is not fully compos mentis. No, he is not a danger anymore. Yes, we believe we have cut all communications with the Hirn. Yes, we shall do that." [...]
************
Adolphine (jumping in front of von Saucken): "I overheard everything!"
von Saucken: "I see. Are you going to create trouble?"
Adolphine: "No, not at all. Adolf is very sick and frail. You should leave him alone. You will have his resignation, I can promise you that. Please, come with me, you have to meet somebody..."
************
Adolphine: "Helga... General von Saucken..."
von Saucken: "Fräulein Helga..."
Helga: "Hello, General."
Adolphine (laughing): "She is hardly a Fräulein. Olaf fucks her every night!... Don't make that face! I'm joking. Gee!"
von Saucken: "Can we be serious? I have some important business to attend..."
Adolphine: "Yes, sure, my lips are shut. Helga, please explain the situation for the General."
Helga (speaking with Hitler's voice): "As a matter of fact it is me who is actually ruling the Reich. Would you accept my resignation?"
von Saucken (confounded): "What is going on here?"
Helga: "I believe that any and all loyalist resistance will cease after listening to my radio address."
von Saucken (collapsing in a chair): "I'll be damned!"
The Chair: "Do you want a neck massage?"
************
von Saucken (composing himself): "Since when?..."
Helga: "Gradually."
von Saucken: "The lack of use of force against the demonstrators in most cities?"
Helga: "Yes."
von Saucken: "Königsberg?"
Helga: "Transgressing the orders."
Adolphine: "Do you actually understand each other in so few words?"
Helga: "Intelligenti pauca."
von Saucken: "I will have to confer with the OKW."
Helga: "Obviously. You may call me directly at this number."
von Saucken: "We have cut the phone lines."
Helga: "It doesn't matter. This number will work anyway. Are you a scientist?"
von Saucken: "No."
Helga: "Then assume it's magic."
von Saucken (bowing slightly): "It has been a pleasure doing business with you."
Helga (blinking her screen): "The same."
************
Later that evening, Adolphine went to the gardens to relieve some of the stress accumulated during the day. She took her chainsaw, turned it on and attacked a brand new log.
Adolphine was so concentrated upon her marvellous creation that she did not notice one of the guards sneaking behind her. She felt a damp cloth on her face and then... nothing.
Seconds later, two of those who were supposed to protect her were carrying her unconscious body to a small hole in the fence, then into a black car parked just in front of it, which then sped into the darkness.
Sorry for the cliffhanger.
JuliusClonkus
Scatterbrained Speculator
- Location
- Federal Reichspublic of Karlsland
Damn the cliffhanger. I'm tempted to go check out what happens now.
Because this is easily the most nervewracking part yet.
Because this is easily the most nervewracking part yet.