September 19, 1939
Central Germany, 9th Military District Kassel, Frankfurt – Dietrich Schacht's Residence
"Will Oktoberfest be held, they ask. Haha. The Bavarians are sothing else."
I burst out laughing while reading today's issue of the Frankfurter Zeitung.
Oktoberfest. It's a famous beer festival held in Bavaria from late September to early October, well-known even in modern Germany, but it was an ill-fated festival that degenerated into a Nazi rally during their rule.
Bavaria, with its large Catholic population, was the birthplace of Nazism and had high support for the party. However, following the new governnt's exposés and the Holy See's endorsent, they imdiately switched their stance and began to wonder if they could hold a traditional Oktoberfest.
Incredible in so many ways.
"That's just how Bavarians are.
I wonder if it can be held?"
Claudia, being from Berlin, didn't seem too interested, but when you think of Germany, you think of beer, and when you think of beer, you think of Oktoberfest!
If I said that in the north or west, I'd probably get an earful about how that only applies to Bavaria, but with my Korean sensibilities still intact, it's the first German festival that cos to mind.
"It would normally be difficult during a civil war, but at this rate, it might be possible to hold it, even if a little late.
The birth of a new Germany, celebrated with a beer festival! Sounds very German, doesn't it?"
At my words, Claudia gave a small laugh and looked at , and we burst out laughing together.
"Well, I'll be heading out first. I'll see you in a bit, Host."
"Hehe, I'll see you in a bit, Spokesperson."
I gave her a light kiss and left the house.
The expressions of the people on the streets of Frankfurt were quite good.
The residents, who had initially regarded us with concern when the new governnt was established, were quickly reassured by our non-interference in their daily lives, unlike the Nazi regi, and returned to their routines.
It's so relaxed and peaceful that it's hard to imagine it was under Nazi rule until just recently, and that we're now in the middle of a civil war.
This was a considerable relief for , who had worried that Germany might turn into a hell like Spain when we first planned the German Civil War.
I never knew the collapse of the Nazis, which had seed nigh impossible, would proceed so smoothly. To think that the Nazi system, which appeared so solid, was actually a castle built on sand.
The unstable factor is foreign powers, but thankfully, Britain has no intention of making any risky moves ahead of its general election, and France is being dragged along with them.
As for Italy and Poland, whose military intervention is a concern, they are nations of devout Christians, so they would be reluctant to invade and ignore the Pope's support without a clear pretext.
That offers so small relief.
We must quickly end the civil war and secure Germany while they hesitate, and given the current situation, it doesn't feel like a distant prospect.
The problem lies with the Royalists, who are making unusual moves, and the Crown Prince, who is seeking a third path. As it happened, Colonel Tresckow invited .
I should be able to grasp the current situation from him.
-
September 19, 1939
Central Germany, 9th Military District Kassel, Frankfurt – Tresckow's Quarters
"Wow, Colonel. You're going to drop dead at this rate."
Arriving at the colonel's house, or rather his quarters in Frankfurt, I was horrified to see the ashtray piled high with cigarettes.
On closer look, his forehead was also starting to recede a bit…
The actor who played Tresckow in the movie wasn't bald, but what about the real historical figure? It's not like I've morized the photographs of every single person in the Wehrmacht.
"Hah, you're getting more impertinent by the day."
"Ahem. My apologies, Colonel. I overstepped."
I quickly apologized and sat in the seat he offered.
Tresckow stared at
intently before speaking.
"So, is your work progressing well?"
"Yes, well. It's going smoothly."
Hearing my words, Tresckow took a deep drag from his cigarette without a word and blew out the smoke.
What on earth was he about to say that required such a long pause? I had to swallow and wait.
"You know, when I think about it, you're quite sothing. At your age, I couldn't even tell my ass from my elbow."
"But Colonel, didn't you fight in the Great War? You shouldn't say such things."
He was born in 1901, ten years older than .
A man who had fought in World War I as a teenager and received the Iron Cross, an elite who had completed the General Staff course and had no worries about promotion, yet he had risked his life to rise against the Nazis.
Oster of the Abwehr, and Tresckow, who introduced
to the Black Orchestra.
These two n, who continued to help
even after the Munich Agreent, were the core pillars in the formation of the new governnt.
Tresckow gave a small laugh at my reply, then added another peak to the mountain of cigarettes already piled in the ashtray and opened his mouth.
"There's a ssage from the higher-ups."
Why were they sending a ssage through him instead of summoning
directly? I was starting to feel that sothing was off.
"They say they'll promote you to Lieutenant Colonel, so you should step away from this business and complete your course at the War Academy."
These "higher-ups" aren't the leaders of the new governnt.
It's the army, and specifically, a ploy by the Royalist Junkers.
"Do they really think I will accept?"
Hearing my response, Tresckow let out a deep sigh.
"Look, Schacht. You're still in your twenties.
Lieutenant Colonel at that age is incredible. If you make it clear here that you have no intention of defying the army high command, you'll surely be given a key position after becoming a General Staff officer.
Most of the people who dislike you now are old-tirs. You have plenty of ti."
Co to think of it, he was Henning 'von' Tresckow.
We'd been comrades for so long that I'd montarily forgotten he was also one of the Junkers.
"But a ti like this won't co again for Germany.
Even if it looks like we have a complete grasp on victory now, we could also collapse in an instant, couldn't we? Are you planning to bring back the emperor after excluding ?"
Tresckow fell silent at my words. So I was right.
"Colonel, Germany is walking a tightrope right now. Britain, France, Italy, Poland. They're watching us because they lack a proper pretext, not because they lack greed."
Tresckow, who had been listening to
in silence, took out a cigarette, lit it, and put it to his lips.
"If we give them a pretext here, the risk of being invaded during the civil war is far too great. After the last war, Wilhelm II and the Hohenzollern Imperial Family have been perceived as if they were the main culprits of the Great War."
"That's just malicious propaganda from those Western bastards."
Tresckow replied, blowing out smoke and looking quite displeased, but I couldn't back down either.
"That's right. It's their despicable way of shifting bla.
Is Germany solely responsible for the last war? But because it was their sche, they too are not free from it. If we bring back the emperor now and re-establish the empire, they won't be able to stand by idly, precisely because of what they themselves have done!"
Tresckow exhaled a long stream of smoke and then crushed the cigarette in his hand into the ashtray.
"I know your words have a point. But just as you've thrown everything into this, the Junkers, who may seem old-fashioned to you, have also staked their loyalty and lives for the empire to stand here."
Having said that, Tresckow quietly pulled out a pistol and aid it at .
"I can't let a talent like you die a dog's death, so just go along with
here. I am truly sorry it has co to this."
-
September 19, 1939
Central Germany, 9th Military District Kassel, Frankfurt Radio Station
"When the Nazis ca for the Communists, I remained silent; I was not a Communist. Then, when they imprisoned the Social Democrats, I remained silent; I was not a Social Democrat."
At the radio station, a sermon by Martin Niem??ller, a famous Protestant pastor in Germany and a close friend of Walther Model, was in full swing, but Claudia wore a bored expression as she leisurely sipped her coffee.
Having seen the pastor, her father's close friend whom she had trusted and followed, praise Hitler after her father was murdered, she had beco cynical about religion itself and held a deep dislike for religious figures.
"Then, when they ca for the trade unionists, I remained silent; I was not a trade unionist. When they ca for , there was no one left to speak for ."
Dietrich Schacht didn't seem particularly attached to religion either, yet he had skillfully sought the Pope's support while also requesting the recruitnt of Protestant leaders.
She smiled softly as she looked at the ring on her finger. He was a peculiar man in many ways, but in any case—
While the pastor, who had insisted on giving a sermon instead of an interview, was chattering away, her rare mont of quiet contemplation was interrupted by a loud noise.
"What? What's going on?"
"What is this during a live broadcast?"
The uninvited guests who interrupted Pastor Niem??ller's broadcast were soldiers of the new governnt, specifically, from the old Wehrmacht.
"The broadcast is over!"
"Hey, what is this disrespectful behavior?"
Branch Manager Habenstein, who tried to protest, was struck in the abdon with a rifle butt and collapsed with a groan.
Only then did the radio station grasp the situation, and screams erupted as chaos ensued.
"From now on, this radio station will be managed by the German Military Governnt (Junta)!"
-
September 19, 1939
Central Germany, 9th Military District Kassel, Frankfurt, New Governnt Building
"W-What is the aning of this!"
Imperial Regent Ludwig Beck shot up from his seat, his body trembling with rage.
The new governnt building, filled with people working diligently, was defenselessly suppressed by the Junkers and their troops who had stord in without warning.
"We intend to return this new governnt to the right path, Regent."
Dr.
Goerdeler's reply to him was utterly confident.
"Infighting when we're on the verge of victory, just as things were finally stabilizing. You have a fine way of dressing up this madness."
Hjalmar Schacht's cynical remark, uttered without a hint of intimidation despite being restrained by soldiers, enraged Dr.
Goerdeler.
"'Our' victory?! Did you think we wouldn't know about your son's sche to instigate the people and re-establish that trashy republic in this land!"
Dr.
Goerdeler was not an aristocrat. However, he was a man who had risen through the ranks as a soldier and politician in the German Empire under the emperor and the nobility.
To him, the sight of Germany's devastating collapse due to the chaos and hyperinflation of the Weimar Republic period had deeply ingrained the perception that the republic itself was a malicious system forced upon them by Britain and France to destroy Germany.
"We did not throw away everything we built and our very lives just to rebuild such a weak Germany!"
Among the ardent Royalists, many simply wanted to revive their aristocratic privileges, but there were also those like Dr.
Goerdeler who truly believed it was patriotic. In fact, it was for this very reason that they could see no other path.
"After all the hardship we went through to establish this new governnt, to make things like this. What on earth are you trying to do?"
To Ludwig Beck's dejected question, Dr.
Goerdeler answered as if it were obvious.
"We will establish order by declaring the revival of the empire in this Germany.
We must bring His Majesty the Emperor from the Netherlands. Imdiately!"
"Britain and France are watching with their eyes wide open, and you want to make such a gamble in the middle of a civil war! As Imperial Regent, I cannot agree!"
"You will have to agree."
Ludwig Beck's eyes widened as he saw the man who interjected while entering the room.
"F-Field Marshal! Your Excellency, with this outrageous group…"
"Outrageous group? They are patriots."
The man who had entered was August von Mackensen.
Still dressed in the hussar uniform of the German Empire era with a stylish Totenkopf (skull) hussar hat, he was a full thirty years older than Beck and a hero of the Great War who held the rank of Field Marshal.
Even Ludwig Beck, who served as a spiritual pillar for the active Wehrmacht soldiers, could not help but show him respect.
"Think about it, Beck. We are currently in a civil war against the Nazis. If we were to end the civil war and then try to bring back the Kaiser, that is when they would surely not stand by."
It wasn't that the Royalists were completely thoughtless.
"But right now, don't we still have so use to them? They wouldn't want to hand Germany back to Hitler by rashly antagonizing us here. Therefore, now is the only chance to bring back the Kaiser."
In the end, their perception of reality was limited by their failure to consider that, unlike Hitler who had not yet started a war, the Kaiser they sought to bring back was effectively treated as the war criminal who started the Great War.
-
September 19, 1939
Central Germany, 9th Military District Kassel, Frankfurt – Tresckow's Quarters I stared intently at the pistol aid by Tresckow and opened my mouth.
"Colonel, do you truly believe this is the right path?"
"Schacht, they have their reasons for doing this.
Don't think that the path you believe in is the only right one. We too are n who have thrown our lives away for this Germany.
Can't you trust us and leave it to us?"
Though he was aiming a gun at , Tresckow looked more tornted than I was.
"You said sothing similar before. Just before the Munich Agreent, after Halder had
transferred to a frontline unit."
Tresckow said nothing.
Because the man who had asked
to trust him, saying I wasn't the only one prepared to lay down his life, had ultimately failed to carry out the great undertaking.
"Colonel, you are the one who worked with
the longest to create this new governnt.
I dare to ask. Is your choice now, their choice, truly the best one?"
"Schacht, I…"
"This new governnt was not built by them alone! If you crush what countless people achieved by staking their lives and beliefs to oust the Nazis, simply because it doesn't align with your own beliefs, how is that any different from the Nazis themselves!"
Tresckow let out a hollow laugh and slamd the pistol down on the table with a thud.
"This is shit. A truly shitty situation. Do you have a plan? I even gave you a heads-up, so I pray you weren't foolish enough to be unprepared."
"Hoo, I need to use the phone, Colonel."
In the brief mont I waited after requesting the operator, I spotted a soldier monitoring us through the window.
"Damn it, did you know about that?"
As I quickly ducked and asked, Tresckow also looked out the window and grimaced.
"It seems the higher-ups think I've been tainted by you and can't be trusted."
As I waited anxiously, the call connected.
[This is Abwehr Deputy Director Oster.]
"Colonel!"
[Schacht! The Junkers have made their move! The radio station and the governnt building have been seized!]
Damn it, they were far bolder and faster than I thought! Perhaps I underestimated the Junkers.
"Hoo, please execute Operation Freiheit (Freiheit - Freedom)."
[Director.
A request to execute Operation Freiheit.]
Just as Deputy Director Oster was relaying the request to Director Canaris, the line went dead.
"Damn it!"
And then, a rough knocking began at the door.
"Colonel Tresckow! Apprehend Major Schacht at once! Our orders from above are to apprehend you as well if you refuse!"
Tresckow let out a deep sigh, rose from his seat, and picked up his pistol.
I reflexively reached for my own, but he strode over and opened a passage leading to the basent.
"Colonel Tresckow! If you do not cooperate, we will break down the door!"
As the soldiers' shouts ca from outside, Tresckow gestured with his chin.
"What about you, Colonel?"
"If I go too, who's going to buy us ti?"
There was no ti to delay. I quickly started down the stairs.
There was a slight hesitation on Tresckow's face as he watched
go down, but his gaze soon beca calm.
"Thank you, Colonel."
"The moral value of a man is determined only by his readiness to sacrifice his life for his conviction."
Amid the loud banging, as if they were about to break down the door at any mont, Tresckow smiled as he closed the passage door.
"I didn't co this far just to beco a man of no value."
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