Overthrow the Cabinet #8
“Hii, haa…!”
I was losing my mind. Completely insane. I didn’t have time to think about anything else. I just ran like a madwoman without looking back. Thankfully the alleys were narrow and full of side paths, so I managed to dodge the bullets and keep evading them, but I knew I couldn’t keep this up forever.
“Kek…”
My throat was starting to burn. It was even worse because it was spring. I forced myself to take deep breaths, silenced every sound I could, and slipped into hiding.
“I’ll go this way. You take the right.”
What do I do? Is there anywhere I can hide…? Even if I hide, they’ll find me right away! By now the Red Revolutionary Front must have realized I’d disappeared. Who the hell were those guys? They weren’t police, that much was certain. Were they Nazis? Were they really trying to kill me?
I knew that getting caught would be the end, but my legs refused to move. Still, standing still would only make things worse. Should I keep playing hide-and-seek with them…? The thought had barely crossed my mind when—
“Chairwoman!”
My comrades found me before the bastards did.
The entire country of Germany was thrown into chaos, far beyond the city of Frankfurt where the incident had occurred. The Frankfurter Zeitung covered the story as urgent breaking news.
Emilia Heinz, Chairwoman of the People’s Front and Member of Parliament for the German Labour Party, was attacked yesterday at approximately 3 p.m. by three armed assailants wearing police uniforms. All three were carrying firearms and appear to have intended to assassinate her. Chairwoman Heinz narrowly escaped with her life. The three assailants were immediately arrested by police who rushed to the scene.
Reading about myself like this sent a shiver down my spine. It was clearly my story, yet it somehow felt like it was about someone else. I had been genuinely terrified that day, but after twenty-four hours it already felt like someone else’s nightmare.
And yesterday had been ridiculously busy.
“Heinz! Are you all right?!”
Of course I had immediately reported it to the real police and rushed back to headquarters with the Red Revolutionary Front. Both the Communists and the Social Democrats were in an absolute uproar.
“Yes… for now. I wasn’t injured, at least…”
“My God… the police have finally gone mad!”
“It wasn’t the police, Thälmann.”
It definitely hadn’t been the police.
“They did things no state-employed police officer would ever do… Who in their right mind would try to assassinate a sitting member of parliament? There’s no law that could punish them for it, so they’ve been nitpicking at every little thing instead.”
“I’m saying this because I can no longer trust the police, Heinz. You almost died—do you not realize that?!”
“I do! I know, but…”
“Chairwoman Heinz! Is it true you nearly died?!”
The Social Democrats, who had heard the news late, burst through the door in a panic.
“They say the police attacked Heinz! That bastard Chancellor has finally crossed the line!”
“The police? They’ve truly lost their minds.”
“No, wait a moment. I keep telling you it wasn’t the police.”
I didn’t particularly like the police, but facts were facts.
“Someone wearing police uniforms attacked me. I’m certain they weren’t actual officers. There’s no way police under Brüning’s command would do something like that.”
Both Thälmann and Wels stared at me in confusion.
“Chairwoman Heinz, if that Red Revolutionary Front comrade hadn’t found you when he did, you would not be standing here right now.”
“I know! But it really wasn’t the police. I’m telling you the truth. Someone was clearly impersonating them.”
To the two of them, it must have looked like I was defending the police. Well, I suppose it could seem that way…
“Impersonating the police? Who would do such a thing?”
“Who else? The National Socialists acting on Hitler’s orders, obviously.”
By then my mind was already made up. In the official statement released the same day, I strongly asserted that the Nazis must have been involved, and the press printed that as well.
The victim, Chairwoman Heinz, is convinced that this incident was carried out by members of the National Socialist German Workers’ Party (NSDAP) wearing police uniforms. While concrete evidence has not yet been produced, her strong assertion reflects the deep distrust the German left holds toward National Socialism. Adolf Hitler, leader of the NSDAP, is a man with a criminal record for leading an uprising. He currently serves as a Reichstag deputy under the German National People’s Party…
Of course there was no physical evidence, and aside from me, no one else had any real suspicion either. But there was only one reason I was so certain.
Because they were Nazis.
The far right were people who would stop at nothing—no matter how dirty the method—if it served their political goals. For example, suddenly trying to assassinate the opposition leadership in a time that was neither wartime nor a state of rebellion.
Chancellor Heinrich Brüning and Interior Minister Joseph Wirth vehemently denied any involvement by the municipal police in the incident. Indeed, the three individuals arrested after the assassination attempt were confirmed during interrogation to have no affiliation with the government police force.
I told you it wasn’t the police. But that didn’t change the fact that Brüning still had to take responsibility.
Chairwoman Heinz also stated: “In a country where the police cannot be trusted, the citizens have nowhere to turn. The Brüning cabinet must take immediate responsibility for turning a blind eye to violence in the streets and resign.”
I planned to confront him about this—whether by marching straight into the Chancellery or summoning him to the Reichstag. If the Nazis really were behind it, they seemed to be placing enormous hopes on the next election… If the next general election were held, unless they resorted to outright fraud, a People’s Front majority would be all but guaranteed.
The streets of Frankfurt had descended into complete pandemonium.
“The government must immediately reveal the truth behind the attack on Chairwoman Heinz! Reveal it now!”
“We will not tolerate the right-wing scum who trample on the law!”
There were citizens and People’s Front parliamentarians defending me, but there were also others.
“Everyone! That woman called Chairwoman Heinz is trying to pin an assassination attempt that was almost carried out by her own political enemies onto the National Socialist German Workers’ Party! There is not a shred of evidence or basis for anything she says! Wouldn’t it be far more believable to say this was an internal purge within the People’s Front ordered by the Social Democrats? Do not be deceived by her baseless victim-playing!”
The Nazis were flatly denying all involvement. To be honest, there was no concrete evidence that the Nazis, the fascists, or the conservatives had done it—just as they claimed. I had simply drawn the most logical conclusion any victim of an assassination attempt could make.
It had to be the Nazis. For now I had only offered it as a possibility, and whether they had done it or someone else had didn’t really matter. If this forced Brüning to resign and triggered a general election, it would actually be a blessing in disguise.
Under Thälmann’s strong “recommendation” (which felt more like coercion), I was forced to remain at party headquarters for three or four full days. During that time, I sharpened my blade for the coming attack on Brüning.
---
“You idiots…!”
The day after the incident, at the Barlow Palace in Munich.
“I told you to kill that woman, not turn her into a martyr!”
Adolf Hitler was livid, screaming at the top of his lungs.
“Your only job was to shoot one frail little virgin who has never even held a weapon. That was it. And you couldn’t even manage that? You got caught by the police?! All you’ve done is prove your own incompetence! Is this the level of our glorious National Socialist German Workers’ Party’s Sturmabteilung? Did you think I poured all that money into you for this?!”
“Please calm yourself, Chairman. Someone outside the building might hear.”
While Hitler was berating the SA Chief of Staff Otto Wagener, Paul Joseph Goebbels, one of Hitler’s closest aides, whispered at his side.
“…You’re right. Pepper, just how exactly did you train them to produce this kind of result?”
“My apologies. I will strive to do better in the future.”
The sparks flew onto Franz Pfeffer von Salomon, Supreme Leader of the Sturmabteilung, as well. Formally, von Salomon held equal rank with Hitler in commanding the SA, but in his blind rage Hitler paid no attention to such details.
“If something like this happens one more time, I will cut both you, Pepper, and you, Wagener, from your positions. Understand?”
He took a breath to calm himself.
“What is the public’s reaction, Goebbels?”
“They seem to be listening to that bitch for now, but since the assassins left behind no evidence tying them to our party, Heinz will soon be exposed as a liar.”
“That’s fortunate. No loose ends, Göring?”
“None whatsoever.”
Hermann Göring, the party’s deputy leader, answered from where he sat beside Hitler.
“Good. No matter what it takes, that woman Heinz must die. Because she exists, the Social Democrats and the Communist reds are joining forces. Until now they were too busy fighting each other, but if they unite, far more citizens will fall into their hands. We must kill Heinz by any means necessary.”
He turned to the man seated on his left.
“What about the Schutzstaffel? Are they ready for such an assignment, Himmler?”
Heinrich Himmler, Supreme Commander of the Schutzstaffel—Hitler’s personal elite guard, whose existence was barely known to the public.
“The command structure is not yet perfect, but if the sole objective is assassination, they possess more than enough organizational capability to succeed, Mein Führer.”
“Good. We will entrust the next plan to the SS. I have two orders for you, Himmler. First, kill Emilia Heinz. Second, make sure every trace is completely severed.”
“I will keep them in mind.”
“You may go.”
The fact that Emilia Heinz’s next goal was “the great unification of the left” was an open secret, known even to the conservatives. The German left had to be prevented from uniting. Heinz had to be eliminated before she could fully merge the Social Democrats and the Communists into a single organization. Even if she became a martyr in the process, her death would sever the will she had created. Hitler firmly believed that while the left might mourn her, they would not follow in her footsteps once she was gone.