An Infinity of Mirrors
Page 9
Heil Hitler!
H. Himmler
RfSS u. Ch. d.d. Pol., im R.N.d.I.
After allowing some time to elapse, during which it could be considered that he was conducting intensive research, Drayst wrote more fully.
TO: Reichsfuehrer SS
6 March, 1932
Enclosed find primary report written by Herr Wilhelm Rodenkirchen (with my assistance) regarding the immediate classification of the character of individuals depending on whether they are first born, second born, third born, et cetera.
Herr Rodenkirchen, semi-retired, acts as a sub-manager and porter at the Pension Siegfried, this city. He is sixty-five years old and states that he has devoted most of his life to the development and confirmation of his theories.
He has had some remarkable victories. If, for example, a first born should not seem to conform to the required characteristics, Rodenkirchen has usually ascertained that the respective mother had had a miscarriage previous to that child, so the alleged first born is actually a second-born child.
I have helped Herr Rodenkirchen by giving him some intellectual and statistical advice. He has now formulated his ideas in some parts of his paper better than before—but in other parts considerably worse than before. Most readily refutable is his clumsy condemnation of first-born and second-born children of which he considers the first physically and the second morally inferior. This is an impossibility because it would establish that the greater part of the German people today would be inferior in one way or another.
Even so, a good basic idea is behind his work which needs only to be presented properly and to be examined conclusively. Professor P. Hochuli is correct when he says that the hypothesis made by Herr Rodenkirchen could be tested only by the application of exhaustive statistical methods.
Heil Hitler!
Eberhard Drayst
SS Sturmbannfuehrer
This letter marked the turning point in Drayst’s career. He was ordered to appear personally before the Reichsfuehrer SS, who commended him on his intellectual diligence, stated that for some time he had been considering the establishment of a Special Projects Office, and that he felt that Drayst was the right German to take charge of it. Drayst was a university man, twenty-five years old; the Reichsfuehrer was himself only thirty-one.
Drayst was detached from active duty with the interrogation teams and was promoted on the spot to the rank of SS Obersturmbannfuehrer. He spent two rewarding years as Section Chief of the Special Projects Office before being transferred to the SS Fuehrerschule as an interrogations instructor. All of his life Drayst was to cherish the correspondence he had exchanged with the Reichsfuehrer SS; he kept it in a transparent, dust-free file on top of his other papers in an unlocked drawer of his desk so that SD investigators might make a note of the relationship.
Some of the correspondence between the two men blazed new trails and opened inquiries which had never before been considered.
TO: Obersturmbannfuehrer Eberhard Drayst
Chief, Special Projects Office
27 March, 1932
I was most interested to receive the outline of your proposed research project #2146, which considers the need for investigation of the possibility that all left-handed people may be open or concealed homosexuals, and you have my permission to carry it forward. I would suggest that you administer this through Dr. L. Roth of the Department of Science and Education.
Keep thinking. Victories are carried by the force of arms, but it is the minds of far-seeing Germans who will prepare the way.
Heil Hitler!
H. Himmler
RfSS u. Ch. d.d. Pol., im R.N.d.I.
TO: RfSS
11 April, 1932
Relative to the Study Project #2146 to determine homosexuality factors in left-handedness, I have submitted an outline of the project to Dr. L. Roth of the Department of Science and Education, as per your request/order.
I can report that the subject is also being explored by Dr. A. Weiler, Institute of Eugen Fischer-Dahle and one of our finest medical-research minds. By a lucky coincidence, both he and Dr. Youngstein, head of the Psychiatric Department at the Charité, who is also cooperating, are left-handed.
Heil Hitler!
Eberhard Drayst
SS Obersturmbannfuehrer
Chief, Special Projects Office
TO: Obersturmbannfuehrer Eberhard Drayst
17 April, 1932
I want to remind you of our recent correspondence about left-handedness in humans. I want to put down my thoughts about this topic for you in writing.
Many signs indicate that man in very early times was left-handed. A great amount of early findings (tools) can be mentioned as proof.
This probably changed with the introduction of the shield. It covered the left side of the body in order to protect the heart. Therefore the right hand had to be used more and more and, by and by, man became right-handed although not exclusively right-handed. We know from the Waltarlied, which described the fighting between Walther von Aquitanien with Gunther and Hegenin in the ninth century, that man at that time used both hands. Probably only in the last centuries did man become right-handed.
It is my opinion that a child following natural instincts prefers to use his left hand rather than his right. This is a point which I want you to have Dr. Weiler explore. Is this Dr. Abraham Weiler, the Jew? And have him state why this instinct exists in human beings, with copies to Dr. L. Roth of the Department of Science and Education.
We find ourselves led to this question: Could it be assumed that there is better circulation and better development on the left side of the body? I think you will find that Dr. Weiler will bear me out on this. I know Dr. Youngstein will bear me out, and Dr. Roth, of course.
Furthermore, I should like you to find out if it can be assumed that the reason for a stroke could be lack of exercise of the muscles and the nerves of one side of the body, lesser efficiency in the corresponding side of the brain, and the greater tendency to calcification of the arteries of this part of the brain.
Heil Hitler!
H. Himmler
RfSS u. Ch. d.d. Pol., im. R.N.d.I.
With this letter the Reichsfuehrer SS placed maximum responsibility and total intellectual confidence in Drayst. Further exchanges, which Drayst valued highly, demonstrated that he had the character to disagree with the Reichsfuehrer. It also demonstrated his growing self-confidence and indicated the degree of give-and-take intimacy which the two men had achieved.
TO: Obersturmbannfuehrer Eberhard Drayst
Chief, Special Projects Office
21 June, 1932
As you know, the storks of northern Europe migrate each year to South Africa. It is known that the natives of South African countries like to eat stork meat. This represents an opportunity for us to influence the Boers with effective propaganda for National Socialism.
Please submit your project report in this regard not later than the 30th June.
Heil Hitler!
H. Himmler
RfSS u. Ch. d.d. Pol., im R.N.d.I.
TO: RfSS
30 June, 1932
This is the project report on your request/order #3781 for the investigation of the use of migrating storks to influence Boers with effective propaganda for National Socialism.
I have been in constant consultation with Professor Dr. Hjalamar Mattesohn, Chief of the Ornithological Station Rositten, who has presented these objections to the practicality of the idea:
1: It would be necessary for Professor Mattesohn’s staff, according to Fräulein Reiter, his statistical expert, to catch at least one thousand storks and attach rings with leaflets around their legs. This would be a very difficult task. Fräulein Reiter also expresses concern over the problems of housing one thousand storks, if they could be captured.
2: Statistically, we would need to grant that there would be little chance that South African natives would shoot down all one thousand storks. This is based on the fact that so man
y storks keep returning from South Africa each year. Of the storks which were shot down, according to Professor Roland Handschuh, Chief of the Department of Linguistics at Wartburg University, it would be necessary that the leaflets be printed in one or more of the Bantu languages. Dr. Handschuh reports that the number of Bantu languages is still undecided—ranging, according to different authorities, between eighty and one hundred. However, should we determine that the Storkleg Project is to be carried forward he assures me that the principal languages are Swahili, Zulu, Congo, Luba-Lulua, Luganda (or Ganda) and Nyanja.
3: For the Boers it is taboo to shoot down storks; consequently they could not be counted on for this kind of propaganda response, I am advised by Dr. Peter Maas of the Geopolitical Institute.
4: Since storks are very popular in South Africa, the whole action could turn the natives of South Africa unfavorably against the Reich. (Dr. Maas)
Do you wish this project to go forward?
Heil Hitler!
Eberhard Drayst
SS Obersturmbannfuehrer
Chief, Special Projects Office
The Reichsfuehrer SS showed his innate tact by not mentioning the project again. Drayst liked the challenge of intelligence work, interrogations, and raids, but he would always cherish the two years of scholarly tranquility as Special Projects Chief which the Reichsfuehrer’s restless, questing mind had made possible.
Eberhard Drayst was born in Munich on May 26, 1906. He had a mother and seven sisters who remained invisible throughout his life. His father was dean of men and assistant manager of the Kullers’ Barber College, a commercial institution which graduated a new class each month at economical rates—or in two weeks with expert tutoring provided by Drayst’s father or by the chancellor of the college, Dr. Kullers, at extra expense. Kullers was the businessman of the faculty; Drayst’s father was more the artist. His father had been appointed Court Barber to Crown Prince Heinrich of Bavaria; the Prince had become little Eberhard’s godfather, thus imbuing the lad with a snobbism which time was never to dull.
Because of the royal appointment, the Royal Coat of Arms was displayed at the street-level window of the college and was printed on its diplomas. The student body usually represented all regions of Germany, many Austrian barbering hopefuls, and even young men from as far away as Glasgow. The literature of the college showed that its graduates were working at their trade in Luxor, Egypt, and Erwinna, Pennsylvania, in the United States of America.
Young Drayst himself received a more formal education. He earned his Abitur in 1925, then attended the Universities of Frankfurt and Munich, winning his philosophical doctorate with a thesis entitled “On Pagan Roots in Modern Funeral Practices.” He had hopes of being invited into the business of his only bachelor uncle, who had the largest undertaking practise in eastern and southern Germany and who was known as The Scientist Embalmer. Many people had specified in their wills that they must be embalmed by Herr Dr. Drayst personally.
Drayst knew embalming. On his days off from school and the university his uncle permitted him first to watch the work, then to assist him at it. Drayst was attracted to the stillness and the sublime serenity of the profession, but his father was an ardent militarist who in 1873 had invented and popularized the military haircut known as “der Buerstenhaarschnitt,” and in 1906 had designed and disciplined the moustache of Erich von Ludendorff (which was said to have influenced the shape of the moustache of von Hindenburg himself). Drayst’s father had been deeply influenced by the prestige with which that experience had endowed him, and he transferred this military ardor to his son.
Drayst’s father was anti-Semitic because Dr. Kullers was Jewish; as Drayst’s father saw it, Jewish money had made Kullers chancellor. As early as possible Drayst was enrolled in the Deutschvoelkische Jugendschar and the Jungfrontkampferverband so that he could understand the danger of the Jews. When he was old enough, the boy was enlisted in the Stalhlhelm, a hearty nationalist organization. His father also insisted that the lad become a physical-culture instructor; this strengthened him and served him well during the exacting hours of service on SS interrogation teams.
In 1924, when Drayst was eighteen years old, his father presented him with his own membership card in the Nazi party. In 1930, after he had received his doctorate, his father’s connections were strong enough to place him in the navy. He was stationed at Kiel and assigned to work in the military intelligence organization, Abwehr, with the rank of ensign. Drayst was well-adapted to intelligence work, but he made the fundamental mistake of anonymously telephoning the wives of some of his superior officers and making lewd and obscene representations to them. Drayst was apprehended without delay and dishonorably discharged from the service, which ruined him for any chance of distinction in any of the other branches of the German military. It was a blessing that Drayst’s father had been killed in a political riot for the boy could not have faced him. As it was, he even lacked the courage to confront his uncle and ask for his old embalming job.
Drayst drifted into part-time private detective work in Berlin, but on his last case he was beaten up so badly by a love-crazed client who was broken-hearted over the shocking—not to say needlessly lascivious—details on which Drayst had dwelt in a report on the man’s wife’s infidelities, that he had to leave Berlin in fear of his life. He almost died on the night train to Munich, where he was taken off the train unconscious and removed by ambulance to the hospital near the Central Station. One of the police officials who attended Drayst was an admirer of the Nationalsozialistiche Deutsche Arbeiterpartei; having looked into Drayst’s background while he was still unconscious, the official recommended him to the Reichsfuehrer SS. Drayst’s combination of a university degree, naval experience, Abwehr training, youth, strength, a dishonorable discharge and a police record impressed the Reichsfuehrer, and when the police official showed him Drayst’s paid-up party card dated 1924, the Reichsfuehrer saw to it that the lad’s hospital bills were overlooked and had the young man summoned as soon as he had recovered.
They had a talk which Drayst was never to forget. The Reichsfuehrer SS became his idol. Drayst was admitted into the SS on July 2, 1932, as a Hauptsturmfuehrer because of his naval record. He was permitted to buy his own boots and black trousers—a privilege of new members of the Corps—and settled into intelligence work. This included reading foreign newspapers in French and English and, three mornings a week, soliciting advertising with two armed, uniformed men, for Voelkischer Beobachter, the party newspaper. He also handled indoctrination sessions for new recruits and sought out desirable Corps candidates on the campuses of universities.
The day began with reveille at six o’clock, followed by an hour of physical training before a breakfast of mineral water and oatmeal. After breakfast came weapons training, but three times a week the recruits enjoyed the activity at which Drayst shone: indoctrination lectures. These were broadly based upon such fixed tenets as: “Providence has sent Germany the Fuehrer and it is almost amazing that he is never mistaken,” and “Jews are the cancer of society and must be removed with surgical ruthlessness.” Free discussions were held on the philosophy of racial selection from such textbooks as Dr. Rosenberg’s Myth of the Twentieth Century and Walter Darré’s Blood and Soil.
After dinner at midday, the recruits spent four hours drilling on the parade ground; this was followed by scrubbing, plank scouring, pipe claying, and polishing. Then, if the recruit could still stand, he was permitted to leave the barracks providing his well-flattened pockets contained only a modest supply of paper currency, his paybook, his handkerchief creased according to regulation, and one prophylactic. The recruit remained a novice until he had earned the right to take the SS oath.
Drayst composed his character very carefully during this period. He developed the rare gift of attentive listening. He would cross his legs respectfully, perhaps smoke a cigarette, and wear the same amiable expression throughout any conversation; he seemed always intensely interested but was never pushy
about it. He was a man of carefully rehearsed emotional gestures. The perimeter of his long, wide face formed a shape like a heraldic shield; and with his thrusting, sharp-ridged nose hurtling out above his heavy bluish lips, his deep, all-wise eyes in sockets like twin anchor ports, he resembled a modern ocean liner seen dead on. His skin had the color of the interior of a Reblochon cheese, and his chin seemed as pointed as the tip of a spade on a playing card. His ears were not much larger than those of a guinea pig, but the bell-clapper lobes hung down on either side of his face like blank tavern signs in the wind. Beneath almost white-blond hair his eyes, more turquoise than blue, were comic eyes, excepting perhaps to a subject under interrogation, for he could flicker them from side to side with horrendous rapidity. He used this device professionally as an instrument of terror. Altogether, Drayst’s face gave the impression of having been homemade, run up by an over-enthusiastic hobbyist.
Drayst had good French and fair English. When he spoke French with his odd accent and his high-pitched voice, it sounded like the record of a chanteuse being played at the wrong speed, but he had learned to speak it perfectly and with the same thoroughness he brought to everything he did. Drayst polished whatever corner he was inhabiting with such fierce energy and commanding determination that, combined with his face, his slender, supple height, and his chilling lack of expression, even his associates feared, resented, and admired him.
If Drayst had any professional flaw it was his choice of sexual expression, which was linked to adoration of power and which presented a tricky ethical problem for the SS. The pleasure Drayst took in uttering obscene phrases to a distant woman over a telephone had to do with his own power search but nothing to do with the SS. The Reichsfuehrer SS knew about his telephone aberration and dismissed it as a “trick of character.” Drayst’s work with the interrogation teams always excited him; not that he ever allowed this ecstasy to get out of hand during interrogations beyond, perhaps, a tendency to overemphasize the anschnauzen technique. The larger proportion of those interrogated were Jews whose savings, business interests, and collateral property were the interest of the Party, and of course after 1933 there were more and more Jews to be interrogated. Working with women almost sent Drayst into hysterical blindness although, to his credit, he controlled this so well at work that no one ever knew the intensity of his feeling. It was afterward—afterward during the nights when he would lie alone in his room, remembering, sweating, and trying to breathe, he would have to get up, no matter what the hour of the night, put on civilian clothes and go out to find Jewish prostitutes. In Berlin he would move in the shadows of the Wedding district around the Stettiner Bahnhof, or in the Ackerstrasse, or sometimes, needing more variety, a hotel called the Danziger Hof, which was really a brothel.