Austerity or Death #9
That Saturday night, I stepped off the train at Munich Station with roughly thirty Communist Party members, Ernst Thälmann among them. All of us were in disguise.
The props—university student clothing—had been procured through the student protest networks. “Everyone, disperse in different directions. According to the plan, our Red Front Fighters Alliance will arrive around three o’clock. Until then, blend in, gather whatever intelligence you can, and avoid contact with Hitler and his vice-chairman at all costs. Understood?”
“Yes, Comrade Thälmann.”
“Stay sharp. Dismissed!”
Remember this: right now you are a female college student. At my age it isn’t even suspicious. After all, I entered university early because I never received a proper elementary education.
“Hoo…”
All I have to do is avoid running into Hitler. Just avoid Hitler…
I slipped into the crowd like any other student visiting for a tour. Every street leading into the city center had at least one propaganda poster plastered on the wall. The messages were crude and repetitive.
“The Jews are stealing the wealth of the German nation!”
“The Western powers that defeated Germany and the Communists seeking to destroy the race—Jews stand behind them all!”
Jews… To the Nazis, what exactly are the Jews? Germany was majority German, true, yet nearly a quarter of the population consisted of non-Germans. Any thinking person could see how absurd the claim was. Still, I decided to observe a little longer.
As I entered the square, a wooden platform rose above the throng. Behind it fluttered a single flag—red, emblazoned with the Nazi swastika. The atmosphere felt less like a political rally and more like an ordinary market fair.
“Are you a university student, miss?”
A man approached me while I was looking around. “Ah, yes. I came from Frankfurt.”
“Frankfurt? Then we’re from the same place. My name is Paul Joseph Goebbels. And you are?”
“I’m… Johanna.”
Who the hell is this guy?
“Since you’ve come a long way, would you mind keeping me company until the chairman arrives?”
The way he kept saying “chairman” made it obvious he meant Hitler. “I don’t mind.”
Since he seemed to be someone fairly high-ranking inside the Nazi apparatus, I decided to play along.
“So… what brings a lovely young lady all the way to Munich?”
Ugh, what a sleazy bastard. A wave of visceral disgust rose from the pit of my stomach—probably leftover instincts from when I had been a man.
“I was simply… curious. I wanted to see what kind of party this is.”
“So you’ve taken an interest in the National Socialist German Workers’ Party. Are you interested in politics, then?”
“Somewhat.”
“I see! Whom did you vote for in the last election?”
“Um… the Social Democrats.”
“The Social Democrats! Ah, another fine young woman deceived by their serpentine words.” Goebbels spoke as though he pitied me. “The Social Democrats seduce you with talk of welfare, equality, and reform. Have you never examined their policies in detail? State-led strengthening of education, nationalization of healthcare, nationalization of land. On the surface it sounds as if the state’s management will bring fairness to everyone, but in reality it does not. Because the ‘Jews’ who pull the strings of both the Social Democrats and the German Imperial Government siphon off every last benefit and credit.”
“…Jews? What evidence do you have for that?”
“Think about it. Karl Marx, whom the Social Democrats worship like an idol, was a Jew. The Rothschilds, the Warburgs, the Goldschmidt families—every supposed philanthropist funding the Social Democrats and the left—are all Jews. Doesn’t that strike you as odd?”
What kind of insane drivel is this…?
“Capitalism, democracy, communism—every one of them is nothing but a slogan invented by Jews to strangle the German people. They are merely dancing inside a grand Jewish scheme to exploit the German race.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
“What exactly is ridiculous?”
“Even if those people are Jewish, there are plenty of German aristocrats and industrialists…!”
“Yet none of them ever became as famous as the Warburgs or the Rothschilds. That is because the Jews are stealing the wealth that the German nation has rightfully earned.”
“B—”
I instinctively began to answer but barely managed to swallow my rage. Workers create value through honest labor; the ones who should be blamed are the capitalists who privatize the means of production and exploit that labor. How can you twist that into an attack on Marx and Jewish bankers—?!
“Haha, it makes your blood boil, doesn’t it? The thought that Jews are committing such heinous crimes?” As he spoke, he slid his right arm around my shoulders.
“H-hey—!”
“Did you really think I wouldn’t recognize you, you filthy red?”
“…!”
“Emilia Heinz, Communist member of the Reichstag. To walk straight into the lion’s den of your own free will—you’ve got guts, I’ll give you that.”
“H-how—!”
I tried to shout, but he had already clamped a hand over my mouth. Wait, this guy is a member of parliament too?
“Mmph—! Mmmph!!”
The midnight bells began to toll—ding-dong, ding-dong. Goebbels kept me pinned as several burly thugs appeared and dragged me up onto the very platform I had noticed earlier.
He seized the microphone.
The sudden speech drew the crowd’s startled gazes toward the platform. In the distance I spotted Thälmann. I’m screwed.
I’m sorry…!
“That’s right! That’s right!”
A few planted thugs in the crowd roared approval, and ordinary citizens began to echo them one by one.
“Mmph…!”
He gestured theatrically, as if the entire scene had been staged, and dimmed the lights. Out of that darkness stepped the man himself.
“The one and only leader who will guide the great German nation to glory—”
That mustache…!
He spread both arms wide and strode into the crowd.
Hitler needed no microphone; his voice boomed across the square.
“Heil!”
Goebbels thrust his right arm straight into the air, and the crowd followed like a single organism, roaring the salute.
They’re insane. Gooseflesh raced up my arms and over my scalp. The word Wahnsinn—madness—printed so dryly in history textbooks had never felt this viscerally vile.
So this is what Nazism looks like. The sensation was like regaining memories of the original body I had possessed.
“My countrymen!” Hitler continued once the applause and cheers died down. “What should we do with this Bolshevik red bitch who stands in the way of the German nation’s glorious destiny?”
What?
“Mmph…!”
You crazy— S-somebody save me! What the hell is this?!
“Kill her!” someone in the crowd shouted. Only one voice at first.
“Say it again!”
“Kill her!!!”
The cry spread like wildfire. Save me. Please, someone save me…!
“Hmph—!”
At that exact moment, a commotion erupted from the edge of the square.
“…What is that?”
“It’s the RFB! The reds are attacking the streets!”
They’re here!
“Tch…”
Hitler looked momentarily flustered. He snatched me from Goebbels’s grasp and hurled me to the ground.
“Ugh…”
Ow, that hurts…
“The damned reds have called their comrades! These barbaric thugs have finally launched their assault on us!”
Even now Hitler was trying to spin the situation to his advantage. He and Goebbels vanished from the platform without a trace. The crowd scattered. The Red Front Fighters Alliance clashed with the Nazi thugs and pushed their way toward me. They must have simply overwhelmed the enemy with numbers.
“Heinz!!!”
I saw Thälmann running toward me from across the square.
Ah… I never thought that face could look so beautiful.