Chapter 32
Chapter 32
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Vine
Chapter: 32
Chapter Title: Widerstand (2)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
< Interwar Period - Widerstand (2) >
November 5, 1938
Kreisau, Silesia - Breslau, 8th Military District, Eastern Germany
For a change, I had left Berlin for the weekend and come to Kreisau, a small town in Silesia.
In the original history, this land would be lost along with East Prussia after World War II, but for now, it was still German soil.
I was at the estate of the von Moltke family in Kreisau.
“Thank you for the wonderful meal, Count von Moltke.”
The House of Moltke was the family of the Imperial Chief of the General Staff, Helmuth von Moltke, one of the founding fathers of the German Empire, alongside Bismarck.
“Ah, it was a pleasure for me as well, Captain Schacht. I hope we can maintain a good relationship moving forward.”
The current head of the family, Count Helmuth James von Moltke, didn’t seem much older than me.
Europeans have a habit of recycling the names of their more distinguished ancestors. Makes things confusing.
“We just received some fine coffee beans. I prepared them for our esteemed guest.”
“Ah, thank you, Freya.”
“Thank you.”
The Countess poured the coffee and withdrew. The aroma was certainly different, as expected of coffee served by a family of such deep-rooted nobility.
As I savored the taste, Count von Moltke began to speak.
“...Lt. Colonel Oster and I share the same opinion regarding the persecution of the Jews, and we have collaborated on the matter a few times.”
Although he resided and conducted his business in Silesia, far from Berlin, he had apparently worked with the Abwehr on several occasions to help persecuted Jews escape to Poland.
That, too, had become difficult after the Anschluss, when Poland enacted the cruel measure of revoking the Polish citizenship of all Jews in Germany and Austria, denying them entry.
“You have done something not easily undertaken in times like these. Many question the persecution of the innocent, but few risk taking action. Shamefully, even fewer among those with the power to help them do so.”
My words were not mere flattery.
Despite the Nazis’ crazed propaganda, a surprising number of people in Germany at the time sympathized with or helped the Jews who were being persecuted and killed.
The image of a man beating his neighbor to death simply for being Jewish, a neighbor he had greeted with a smile just the day before, is, paradoxically, a symbol of the madness of the Nazi era precisely because it was so abnormal.
But those with the actual power to save them usually didn't step forward, afraid of losing what they had.
Oskar Schindler, who would have otherwise been just another corrupt businessman, is celebrated as a great man today for protecting Jews by squandering his own fortune, because it was just that uncommon and difficult a thing to do.
“Perhaps it is nothing more than the small self-satisfaction of a man who cannot ultimately change the times.”
Count von Moltke replied with a bitter smile, then continued.
“...Oster is burning himself out, driven by the idea that a man of conscience must stand against evil, but even he does not fully understand the system of democracy. He is not against it, but he feels no need for it. I hear, however, that you are different.”
Count von Moltke watched me as if trying to see right through me.
“The age of emperors and aristocrats has passed, but Germany’s democracy has failed. A few enlightened individuals and I often discuss how democracy might bloom again in Germany, but frankly, our expectations are not hopeful.”
A man of noble birth who would one day lead the Kreisau Circle, a civic force uniting democratic and social democratic factions, and who would ultimately be executed by the Nazis, was asking me for an answer.
“The resistance asks me for financial support, but I fear I might be funding yet another oppressive regime. As the son of former Minister Schacht, who supported the Nazi regime, I’m sure you understand my feelings.”
“Of course, my Lord Count.”
His concern was entirely understandable. He was a patron of a civic movement, not a man looking to secure a position in an emperor’s government.
The story of my father, who had supported the Nazis with all his might only to see them create a dictatorship and then cast him aside, must have left a considerable impression on him.
“I am concerned whether the armed struggle they intend to wage will truly benefit Germany. How large a place can a civic movement occupy among anachronistic monarchists and militarists? Will we ever see the day a government of the people is re-established in this Germany?”
He was still lukewarm about the resistance’s request for aid. That was why I had been sent here.
He had shown interest in me after hearing my story from Lt. Colonel Oster, but it was also because I was currently the most effective person in the resistance at persuading civic forces and democrats.
“To be honest, I did not come here simply to request financial support on behalf of the resistance, my Lord Count.”
“...Then?”
To the Count, who narrowed his eyes as he questioned me, I continued.
“The Weimar Republic, despite being imposed upon us by the Entente Powers, had many progressive systems in place. Yet it collapsed because it had too many loopholes that helped the very enemies of democracy to grow.”
Goebbels himself had once offered the most brilliant satire of democracy by citing how it had given the Nazis the very power to destroy it.
“But despite that, the Nazis have also sown the seeds for democracy to take root in this land. The German people no longer believe they must unquestionably obey the orders of emperors and aristocrats. They have also seen how a leader they elected can change the country.”
It may seem as though the collective will of the German people of this era was fanatically devoted to the Nazis and Hitler, but that was not the reality.
Despite the Nazis’ immense propaganda and oppression, all manner of resistance never ceased throughout the interwar and war periods.
The perception that Germany was united in its support for Hitler and Nazism exists only because the Nazis relentlessly suppressed those who thought otherwise.
It was so bad that some even claim Germany was thoroughly outmatched in intelligence warfare against the Allies and the Soviet Union because it had to divert its resources to surveilling its own internal opposition.
The vast majority of those countless opposition forces were only purged after the failure of Colonel Stauffenberg and the Black Orchestra’s Operation Valkyrie in 1944.
Conversely, this meant that without an absolute pretext like an assassination attempt on the head of state, their forces were significant enough that they couldn't be easily eliminated, even when their opposition to the Nazis was plain to see.
“I intend to turn the paradox of democracy they mocked right back at them. And I have no desire to see another totalitarian regime take the place of the Nazis once they are driven out. To achieve that, we need more than just funds; we need greater help.”
“...Is such a thing truly possible?”
Is it possible?
“If we do nothing now, it will remain impossible. I can’t give you any guarantees. All I can do is use everything available and try my best, but I do not believe it is without possibility.”
“Haha... You are quite reckless, Captain.”
The Count laughed, but then continued.
“You must have a blueprint, yes? I do not bet on words alone. I am a businessman, you see.”
“Of course, my Lord Count. ...I think you will be pleased.”
I’d be disappointed if you didn’t ask, considering how busy I’ve been preparing it.
-
Having annexed Austria and the Sudetenland, the Nazis began to openly and forcibly repatriate foreign-born Jews.
However, Poland, where anti-Semitism had been even more severe than in Germany before the Nazi era, refused to accept them, going so far as to invalidate the passports of Polish Jews in Germany and Austria immediately after the Anschluss.
But the even more insane Nazis were not about to respect Poland’s measures. They used their secret police to forcibly drive Polish-born Jews to the Polish border.
Countless Jews were thrust into a miserable limbo, stranded in the borderlands between a Germany that had abruptly expelled them and a Poland that barred their entry.
On November 7, the rage over this desperate situation finally exploded when a Jewish boy in France shot a secretary at the German embassy in Paris.
-
November 9, 1938
Munich, Bavaria, 7th Military District, Southern Germany
In Munich, the birthplace and home of Nazism, a ceremony commemorating the Beer Hall Putsch—or the “revolution,” in the Nazi Party’s terms—that Hitler had instigated fifteen years prior was in full swing.
Amid the fervent cheers of the Munich residents, which pleased the high-ranking Nazi officials, the sharp, clear voice of ‘Dr.’ Joseph Goebbels echoed through the hall.
“Here, in the very place where our great beginning was forged, on what should be our most joyous day, I cannot contain my grief that Germany is shrouded in sorrow! The proud son of Germany, Secretary Ernst vom Rath, was a sincere and fine young man who did nothing more than serve his fatherland!”
Goebbels continued.
“And yet, that cursed Jew shot him, an innocent man! Right now, at this very moment, that German patriot lies between life and death. And still, the Jews claim they are innocent!”
Cries of “Damn Jews!” erupted from all corners of the hall in agreement.
“Shamelessly, the Jewish press has spread lies that we abuse them! They must learn that there is a limit to our patience! That one day, we will silence those filthy mouths that speak only lies, that we will...!”
As Goebbels’s speech reached a fever pitch, his secretary rushed to his side.
“D-Doctor!”
Goebbels, annoyed at the interruption, cut his speech short and listened to his secretary, then turned back to the podium.
“...Proud people of Germany. Our nation’s son, the proud Secretary Ernst vom Rath....”
As every eye fixed on Goebbels, they watched his expression shift distinctly from sorrow, to anger, and then to hatred.
“...has passed away.”
A murmur swept through the hall as everyone offered condolences for the deceased. But Goebbels seized control of the room with a sharp voice that instantly captured their attention.
“An innocent son of Germany has been so cruelly murdered by the Jews! What crime did he possibly commit! To the Jews who have trampled upon our mercy, our patience, with a cold bullet, why must we tolerate them any longer!”
In an instant, Goebbels’s rage and hatred spread to the people who had just been mourning the dead.
“The Jews have proven why they are the enemies of Germany! Now, we, the great German people, must show them that their evil grasp can no longer enslave us!”
“Kill the Jews!”
“For vom Rath!”
Seeing the crowd respond to him with frenzied agreement, Goebbels stoked their hatred and fury even further.
Hate, hate, only hate was their strength.
“We, the proud Aryans, will no longer be playthings in the hands of those wicked demons! We have no more patience! The moment to silence the Jews who have only spoken lies is now! Germany, awaken!”
“Revenge!”
“Death to the Jews!”
As the Germans in the hall descended into a frenzy, Goebbels declared with hate-filled eyes.
“Today, we will erase the stain of the Jew from this land. With blood and vengeance!”
The start of the great massacre of the Jews that would lead to the Holocaust, Kristallnacht—the Night of Broken Glass—had begun.
< Interwar Period - Widerstand (2) > End