“There are hundreds of thousands of pages of discussions, arguments and dissertations in our time about it,” Thorne gave a sad, rueful smile of understanding sympathy. “People do PhDs on the ‘whys’ and ‘wherefores’ of how Hitler manipulated and held the entire German population spellbound… or at least enough of it to ensure political victories and entry to the Reichstag.” He took a sip at the steaming tea and shrugged. “Hitler was — is — a freak of nature that defies complete explanation. Had he been born at any other time in history or made a home in any country other than Germany, he’d probably never have reached the heights he has. Carl, in many ways you’re not exactly a man of your time: you think too much in deeper areas than many care to venture. You’d be more at home in my time, I think, than this one, but you’re still a German for all that. The part of Europe your country occupies has been fragmented, invaded and fought over for centuries — its geographical position alone on the European continent means that there have historically only been two true states of being for what’s now the modern German nation: divided and controlled by other nations, or unified and dangerous.
“Your ancestors have historically been raised under the continual threat of invasion or other pressures, and have developed as an incredibly ordered and martial people as a result. You only have to look at the histories of Arminius, right through to the Prussians and the formation of Modern Germany to see that, and that kind of heritage responds to order and direction… it respects strong figures that promise more of the same. Hitler used and abused that natural tendency as a nation.” He gave a wry grin as a thought occurred to him. “There’s an old joke in our time that claims the two greatest tricks Austria ever played on the world were convincing everyone that Hitler was German, and that Beethoven was Austrian.” He paused. “There’s all that… and then, some of it’s our fault too.”
“Your fault…?”
“Well… not my fault as such… the fault of Versailles and the Allied Powers is what I meant.”
“This is hard to understand,” Ritter countered with the hint of an exasperated smile on his lips now as Kransky listened to the conversation with great interest. “First you show me how terrible The Führer is, and what he will do to Germany and the world, and then you agree with him and his claims regarding Versailles.”
“Like I said… Hitler was in exactly the right country t exactly the right time for him to succeed. I’m speaking from the benefit of hindsight of course — no pun intended — but the vindictiveness of the Allied Powers after World War One and the imposition of ludicrous, impossible war reparations and restrictions under the Treaty of Versailles produced exactly the right conditions for the rise of the Nazi party. The economic depressions that hit the world during at the end of the 1920s weren’t restricted to Germany alone, but the unwavering insistence of the Allies over the continued payment of reparations exacerbated the problems in your country beyond belief. The arrogant occupation of the Rhineland by the French between the wars, and Germany’s subsequent loss of industrial capacity only served to make things worse again… and all of that no more than vengeance in retaliation for the First World War, vindictiveness over the German occupation of Alsace-Lorraine prior to that, and French defeats at German hands at the end of the last century. The only voice even resembling sanity at the time was that of Woodrow Wilson and the United States, and their ‘compromise’ was to reduce German reparations to the point they’d be completed in Nineteen Eighty-Eight!
“And then, once the Nazis actually gain power, those same arrogant Allies finally start to feel some long-overdue guilt about the way Germany was treated at Versailles and turn a blind eye while Hitler gets away with murder — literally — in the abolition of democracy, the deceptive absorption of Austria into the Reich, and outright invasion of Czechoslovakia.” He shook his head, vaguely feeling genuine anger regarding the explanation. “The British and the French declare war on Germany after your lot invade Poland, then do nothing for the better part of a bloody year! They might as well have ignored the Poles and left Hitler alone, for all the good that declaration did… and the whole world war might’ve been avoided in process, or at least postponed. Hitler never wanted a war in the west… particularly not one against Britain: the east was always his objective right from the start. Carl, Hitler may have fooled Germany into allowing him his dictatorship, but the Allies played their part in giving him the opportunity to deceive you all.” Thorne’s voice became quite grim. “Germans aren’t the only ones to blame for where the world is at right now, Carl, and Germans sure as hell aren’t the only ones to suffer as a result.”
“But it’s a German who now holds the best chance of restoring this world,” Ritter conceded with sullen certainty.
Thorne nodded in thanks as much as in agreement, knowing the man had reaffirmed the decision they’d hoped for. “We’ll have you passed back to your lines as they push forward,” he veered off on a slightly different subject and patted one of the large pouches of his webbing. “I’ve a bloody great white flag here big enough to — hopefully — make sure no one gets trigger happy… as soon as the fighting starts, you’ll need to hole up toward the rear lines here and allow the battle to push past.”
“I am glad you’re so certain this is going to work.”
“As certain as I can be… war’s an unpredictable business after all…” Thorne was interrupted at that point as Davids poked his head from the turret of the Matilda and called out to him. He excused himself and clambered up onto the rear decking of the tank. Grosvenor and the rest of the tanks around them were dug in almost to the level of the turret ring, and the hull was now low enough to make it a relatively simple task to step up to the turret.
“You said you had kids?” Kransky asked softly as he stood alone with Ritter. He knew little of the man’s history, but recalled what Thorne had said back at Lyness regarding him being the father of Kurt Reuters in Realtime. He couldn’t help but wonder if that ‘boy’ might’ve been one of those he’d been referring to.
“There’s a young boy and an infant my wife and I have taken into our care…” Ritter began hesitantly, a little surprised by the unexpected question.
“Their own family is dead?”
“Murdered by the SS at their home near my airfield… his mother and sister both…”
Utter shock registered on Kransky’s face as the penny dropped. “Jesus, you’re talking about the St. Charles’ farm?”