Everyone in the room stopped talking, and Q listened in growing horror at how quickly the political situation in his country was coming unraveled.
Today, Monday, February 27, 1933, the Reichstag building in Berlin, the capital of Germany, was set ablaze in an event that is being deemed arson.
Our reporter in Berlin confirms that a mentally ill Dutchman has been arrested. He was found hiding inside the burning building.
The main chamber of the building was completely engulfed in flames when authorities arrived. No word yet on what was used to start the fire.
Our man in Berlin has forwarded the following statement by Hermann Göring, the second most powerful man in the current Nazi regime, regarding today’s events.
“This is the beginning of a Communist upheaval. They will start a revolution now. We cannot miss one minute to strike back!”
German President Paul von Hindenburg, at the urging of Chancellor Hitler, has been asked to issue an emergency decree suspending all civil liberties in order to counter the illegal and horrific actions of the Communist Party.
Chancellor Hitler himself spoke to the people shortly after several additional arrests were made. “Now, there will be no mercy. Whoever is against us will be slaughtered. The German nation will not understand if we are kind. Every Communist will be shot, wherever we find him. The Communist members of parliament have to be hanged tonight. Everyone will be arrested who works for the Communists.”
We will keep you apprised of the situation, but it appears that Germany is getting ready to declare war on its own citizens. I’m sure I’m not alone in asking how they have come to a conclusion about who set this fire so quickly. Maybe because this event was orchestrated by the Nazi Party to gain support and legitimize their dictatorship and unconstitutional takeover of the government last month.
This is another setback in the French-German relations, and I’m sure our government will pass a statement soon.
Q’s colleagues stared at him, eyes wide open, waiting for his reaction. “Well…it seems our mutual concerns about Hitler and the Nazis have come to pass.”
Despite the horrific news, he found it amusing at how differently the news had been presented to the French people. In Germany, the virtues of the government to take fast and decisive actions would have been celebrated, the perpetrators of this crime painted as monsters.
And it seemed that the rest of the world wasn’t quite sure if the rhetoric coming out of the Nazi leadership was to be believed. The radio speaker had even insinuated a plot by the Nazis.
“How could Göring and Hitler accuse the Communist Party of this act? What was the evidence? What about the Dutchman?” Everyone had questions to ask.
“Because it benefits them to do so,” Q replied, still reeling from the impact of what he just learned.
Later in his hotel room, he thought a long time about the implications and what would come next.
The shocks continued the next day when the Reichstagsbrandverordnung was passed. Hitler had succeeded in getting the civil liberties and all constitutional rights of the German citizens revoked.
“What does this mean for your countrymen?” Antoine asked the next morning over coffee as the report came in.
“Basically, it means that the SA now has the right to arrest anyone without giving a reason. There will be no legal protection or any chance of defending oneself against false accusations.” A shiver ran down his spine as Q remembered when he’d been accused of high treason last fall. Under these new laws, he would have been shot on sight, or worse.
“So, the authorities will arrest everyone they suspect has ties to a political party other than the Nazis?” another colleague asked in horror.
Q nodded. “That’s what it sounds like.”
“But where will they imprison that many people?”
Q was wondering that himself, but he didn’t have an answer.
The next day he was due to leave Paris, but his colleagues didn’t want to let him go. They generously offered for him to stay and said they’d help him find a job in Paris.
“Although your French is awful,” Antoine grinned, “I’m sure any company involved in nitrogen research would gladly employ you if you come recommended by anyone of our group.”
“I appreciate your offer, I really do, but my place is in Berlin.”
“It’s too dangerous for you to return to Germany. I’m sure your stay here would be considered as opposing the government.”
Q had weighed the risks most of the night. He was worried that his past accusations might come back to haunt him. Everyone and anyone suspected of supporting the Communist Party would now be open to prosecution.
But in the end, he knew he could be of the most use to his friends in Russia, and for peace, if he returned to Berlin. As much as he wanted to stay safe in Paris, he wanted to do his bit to help overthrow the Nazi regime. And he could not do that from inside France.
“Thank you, my friend, but I must return home.” He left in the evening to return to Klosters, once again thankful the Russian agent had arranged to disguise his trip as a skiing vacation. No one would suspect him of engaging in any subversive activity in Switzerland.
When he boarded the train two days later to return to Berlin, he passed the time by reviewing his accomplishments the last few days. He’d been able to help the French scientists with their problem detecting a rare nitrogen gas, and he knew they’d prepare their country to defend itself in the upcoming war. A war that was inevitable at this point. In exchange, he’d learned many things he could use for his current projects.
Q leaned back in the empty train compartment and watched the beautiful countryside passing by. The train was driving north alongside the Rhine River, passing breathtaking scenery. Steamships traveled the brownish river, fast ships going downstream and slowly trudging ships going upstream. Green, forest-covered hills rose to both sides of the river, and every now and then, they passed a marvelous castle high up on the mountains.
The cradle of German culture. He remembered the legend of the beautiful siren Lorelei sitting on the cliff high above the Rhine and combing her golden hair. With her strikingly beautiful voice, she attracted shipmen and caused them to crash on the rocks.
The lyrics to the legend had become a well-known folk song, and he whistled its melody.
Die schönste Jungfrau sitzet
dort oben wunderbar;
ihr gold'nes Geschmeide blitzet,
sie kämmt ihr goldnes Haar;
sie kämmt es mit goldenem Kamme
und singt ein Lied dabei,
das hat eine wundersame,
gewaltige Melodei.
Den Schiffer im kleinen Schiffe
ergreift es mit wildem Weh;
er schaut nicht die Felsenriffe,
er schaut nur hinauf in die Höh'.
Ich glaube, die Wellen verschlingen
am ende noch Schiffer und Kahn;
und das hat mit ihrem Singen
die Lorelei gethan.
(find the English translation in the Acknowledgements)
He sneered. The NSDAP party was like a siren, distracting everyone with her alluring song and ultimately causing the whole country to crash. After witnessing firsthand how the news reports were being twisted by the German leadership, he feared things were about to get much worse.
Any sense of morality was stripped away by the unconstitutional revoking of the German constitution. The government was no longer lawful, nor did they have any restrictions being placed upon them.
A sense of freedom flooded Q in recognizing that fact. He had always prided himself on being a man of ethics and high morals. But faced with a lawless government intent on stripping all rights and liberties from the people who might oppose them, he no longer felt morally bound to act within their law.
Before this day, he had only given his own intellectual property to his Russian friends, but now…he was actively thinking about engaging in what any intelligent person would deem industrial espionage. An
d he didn’t feel the least bit guilty. The Nazi regime had to be stopped. At any cost.
Chapter 13
Hilde sat at her desk, wondering why all of the employees had been called to attend a meeting. Since January, the threat of firings had increased every day, driving tensions high and creating an atmosphere of fear.
Every morning, she entered her office with a knotted stomach from the sheer amount of negativity inside the company. People didn’t smile and greet anymore. Instead, they ducked their heads and silently walked by. Nobody stopped longer than necessary at the water cooler or gathered beside the coffee urn for a little chat. No, everyone seemed to be frozen by fear, trying to work as hard as possible to impress their superiors.
She glanced at the clock, and her stomach tightened as she saw it was only a few minutes until the meeting was to start. Taking a deep breath, she left her desk to join the other employees as they gathered in the large meeting hall.
No one dared to talk aloud, but the nervous whispers told Hilde everyone was afraid they were about to be fired in one large group. She was quite confident. She processed the insurance claims, and her department was swamped with work. They surely wouldn’t fire her. She bit her lip. Surely.
Erika waved her over. She worked in the accounting department and had often mentioned that the company wasn’t doing as poorly as the managers made it seem. At least the company managed to still make a small profit every month.
A few minutes later, the director greeted them somberly and started his speech: “As most of you know, times have been hard, and while we have done our best to cut back on expenses, we have now come to the point where we are forced to prune the company of dead wood. We have spent a considerable amount of time looking over our current employees, and I’m proud to say that we will be continuing with the right people in place to be successful in the coming months and years.”
Hilde was stunned. The director was speaking about firing people and seemed to be happy about that fact. Her stomach churned as his words replayed in her head, but before she could wonder about whether or not she’d done enough to keep her job, the director continued his speech.
“I know this decision means some extra work for the remaining employees, but I’m sure every one of you will proudly make this small sacrifice for our nation and our Führer.”
The devil! What is this man talking about?
“We have decided to free our company of the heavy burden of all employees who don’t belong to the superior Aryan race. You are to retrieve your personal effects and pick up your final paycheck at the recruitment office within the hour.”
A cacophony of voices arose, but the director had already stepped down from the podium and disappeared. Hilde glanced around at the stunned faces of her co-workers. Some wore smug sneers. Others – the fired ones – wore a look of desperation that clawed at her heart. The majority looked shell-shocked. They avoided her eyes and looked down to the floor. Head ducking seemed to be the new ability to master.
Hilde whispered to Gertrud, “Can you believe this? They fired everyone independent of their job title or their tenure with the company. Just because of their race.”
Erika didn’t seem to mind. She had some exciting news to share. She found Hilde and Gertrud amidst the multitude of people and joined them. “Girls, we have to celebrate! You’re looking at the new head of the accounting department.”
Gertrud raised a brow. “How’s that?”
“Everyone else except me and the two interns have been laid off, so it was only natural I’d get the promotion.” She beamed with pride, and her happiness would have been contagious if it weren’t for the dire circumstances.
Hilde couldn’t hide the disgusted grimace she knew was settled on her face. “What’s wrong with you? How can you be happy now?”
Erika merely shrugged. “You have to take the opportunities when they appear. I can’t do anything about the company’s decision, so I do myself a favor by going along with it. I would never have been promoted so fast if it weren’t for this lucky serendipity.”
“Lucky?” Hilde hissed, unable to hide the emotion seizing her system. “Don’t you even care that the people you’ve worked with have lost their jobs? And for no other reason than being Jews?”
“Certainly, I feel badly, but I’m also being practical here. I have to think about myself. Besides, the company doesn’t want them. They should go somewhere else. Someplace where no one will care they’re Jews. The Führer says we’re better off without them.”
Gertrud put a hand on Hilde’s shoulder and sent her a better-keep-your-mouth-shut look. She swallowed down her sharp answer and merely scowled at Erika, who was unconcerned by her friend’s disapproval and advised, “You should be thankful you weren’t fired. Stop whining over the fate of other people. Everyone needs to be looking after themselves these days.”
Then she turned and walked away, already practicing the determined walk of a head of accounting. Gertrud grabbed Hilde’s elbow and dragged her toward the stairs. “I’m not happy about this any more than you are, but Erika is partly right. Don’t talk about your disapproval or make waves. Not one word. You don’t want to appear as a Judenfreund who sides with the Jews, or you could end up getting hauled away by the SA. Most of us are shocked at what just occurred, but we’re also glad we got to keep our jobs. Look around you. Many of these people have families to provide for.”
Hilde nodded, following Gertrud as everyone filed back to his or her desk. She listened half-heartedly to the whispers, frustrated and feeling powerless as she heard more than one person mentioning it was the Jews’ fault that Germany ached under the grip of the Great Depression.
“The Jews have been stealing our jobs for years now. We didn’t ask for them to come here. We’ve been too nice, allowing them to take German jobs. It’s time for us to rise up and take back our country. They should all go back to where they came from.”
Hilde tried to keep her silence, but her colleagues were talking such nonsense, she couldn’t resist trying to reason with them. “You’re not being fair. The Jews have helped Germany in many ways.”
“Really? By taking our jobs?”
“We welcomed them with open arms at one point,” she argued.
“Well, now we want them to leave us alone. Instead of destroying our country, they need to go home and fix theirs.”
“Most of them don’t have a home to go back to. Their families have lived in Germany for many generations, or has that completely skipped your minds?” She was growing agitated at the absurdity of what was coming out of her colleagues’ mouths.
She entered her department, and her heart broke a little when she passed the glass door to the treasury department and saw Adam Eppstein standing in front of his desk with sagging shoulders. The normally cheerful man was a picture of misery, and hatred for the Nazis rose up inside of her. Adam Eppstein had been the one to train her when she first joined the company. He’d soon been promoted to head of treasury, and Hilde had always valued him as a fellow employee, boss, and human. His only fault was being a Jew.
“Herr Eppstein, can I help you collect your things?”
He said nothing, still in shock, staring blankly into the air. When he didn’t answer or move, Hilde located a box and collected his personal effects from his office and desk. She glanced around and asked, “Anything else?”
He shook his head and finally seemed to wake from his state of shock. “Fräulein Dremmer, what am I supposed to do now?” he asked, fear and uncertainty on his face.
Hilde’s heart went out to him. She knew he and his wife had three small children, the youngest one just two months old. With everything else going on in the country, he was unlikely to get a new job soon. What could she tell him?
“Herr Eppstein, I’m sorry, but maybe you should use this as an opportunity to get out of the country. See this as a silver lining and take your family someplace else.” She lowered her voice. “Someplace safe.”
“Where?” he a
sked brokenly, fighting back tears.
“How about Switzerland? The Swiss never get involved in these wars. There are lots of banks, and with your treasury experience, you should have no trouble finding a job.”
Adam Eppstein gave her a sad smile and then shook his head. “I wish that were possible, but my oldest son just started school. He is the best in his class. It was difficult enough to find a school that would take him.”
“I understand your concern for your family, but how will you feel when you can’t feed them? Maybe uprooting them is the lesser evil in this situation.”
As he closed the door to his office for the last time, Hilde walked with him down the hallway. “Do you really want to stay in a country where they treat you like horse dung?”
“Fräulein Dremmer, this is my home. I was born here. My parents were born here, my wife and her parents…my children. I have nowhere else to go.”
Chapter 14
Q visited his mother, Ingrid. He had avoided visiting her before his trip to Klosters and Paris because she had a way of knowing what went on in his head. Since he was a child, she’d always known when he lied or even when he’d attempted to avoid certain topics. And his intelligence work was definitely a topic he wanted to avoid. It was better if she knew nothing about it.
Today was no exception, and his plan to recount only the skiing portion of the trip failed miserably. Over a cup of freshly brewed coffee, she stared at him and asked, “What are you not telling me, son?”
“Mother, there’s nothing else.”
She squinted her eyes and responded, “You’re touching your earlobe, Wilhelm. You do that when you try to hide something from me.”
Why did he blush like a schoolboy? He was a grown man and didn’t have to report to his mother anymore. But because he loved her dearly, he didn’t want to lie to her. “Mother. You’re right. But I can’t tell you. It’s better if you don’t know.”
She stared at him for several long moments, then seemed to come to some internal decision. “Don’t get yourself into trouble, Wilhelm.” She patted his hand and changed the topic. “What inventions are you currently working on?”
Unrelenting: Love and Resistance in Pre-War Germany Page 7
