Children to a Degree - Growing Up Under the Third Reich (3 page)

“I have a new book for you Karl. You may read it while your father and I talk.” His grandfather handed Karl an old and heavy volume of the history of the Mark Brandenburg, which was the county in which Berlin was situated. Karl was happy. He had never seen this book before and a book from his grandfather was a special treat. He hoped that he would be allowed to take it home.

While his father and grandfather discussed the war and the likelihood of air attacks from England, his mother talked quietly to grandma. 

“Why doesn’t your husband like little Willy?” she asked.

“Oh, never mind him,” answered grandmother. “It is not Willy. You should know dad by now. He likes to be in command. I think he is missing his soldiering days. Go in the kitchen and endear yourself to him. Brew him some coffee.”

Karl’s mother followed the advice and went into the kitchen. Grandmother sat next to Willy and showed him how to color the pictures. Like always, it turned out to be a very short visit. The grandparents expected and demanded noiseless obedience and the grandchildren were afraid of them.

Parents and their children would visit the grandparents, but never the other way around. Why would they visit grandchildren? They had done their job and raised their own children. Now it was the job of the next generation to raise theirs. Karl had never seen any of his grandparents in his father’s apartment.

Before Herr Veth said good-bye to his parents, he turned to his father, “Karl had a question concerning the reason for the war. I hope that you are able to enlighten him.”

The former cavalry officer looked at Karl, “Over here, Karl. You never have a single question without a follow-up. What else to you want to know?” He scrutinized his grandson, noticing the polished shoes and the straight upright posture. “I see that you are growing up,” he continued. “I will talk to your father about it and maybe I will permit you to visit me more often.”

Karl smiled from ear to ear. If he would be allowed to see and ask his grandfather questions maybe twice each month, it could turn out to be a treasure trove of knowledge for him. “I would like to know why we are having a war.”

“And?” prompted the grandfather waiting for the second question.

“I would like to understand the terms Nazi regime and pregnant,” Karl blurted out.

The white-haired officer looked at his son, who looked away.

“Thunder,” said grandpa. “These are loaded questions. But the answer to all three is nearly the same; Die Weichen sind im voraus gestellt.” (The switches are set in advance)

He looked at his son, “I guess you have something to tell me.”

Herr Veth went to the window and looked out to the courtyard to avoid looking at his father. Discussing with him that the family was expecting a third child was not on his mind.

“Opa, I know what switches are. But I don’t understand what you mean,” Karl was a touch muddled by what was going on between his father and his grandfather.

“That figures,” answered his grandfather. “I will take you for a short trip and show you.” He looked at his daughter-in-law, who was also busy studying the wall, “Have your son here tomorrow at 3:00 PM sharp. Not 2:55 PM or 3:05 PM. I expect your courtesy of respecting my time.”

Karl was more than happy to spend an afternoon with his Opa, who could see that Karl had another question.

“Yes, Karl?”

“May I bring a friend? His name is Harold and he has the same questions.” Karl knew that he was pushing the envelope. His father already shook hands with grandpa and his mother was out the door, holding his little brother’s hand.

“Yes, you may, Karl. But only if your friend is well mannered and only if he asks pertinent questions. I am not a baby-sitter for stupid kids.”

The next day, Karl’s mother delivered both boys at exactly 3:00 PM to her father-in-law. She had a little technique developed to comply with his Prussian punctuality by simply being early and then waiting in front of the apartment door until the time came to ring the bell.

The officer had waited in the hallway to see if she was on time and opened the door as soon as she touched the bell.

“Great,” he said. “Nothing personal, but the whole country does not seem to know what time it is. We need to set examples to instill punctuality in the boy.”

Karl noted that his grandfather was not shaking hands with his mother, but this was nothing new. He introduced Harold to his Opa.

“I will have the boys back at your place at 5:00 PM” he told his daughter-in-law, then shook hands with Harold. “Karl told me about you. If you have questions save them until I am done. It will save all of us time.”

He led the way to the nearest subway station and bought a ‘seven station roundtrip ticket’ for the three of them. Karl and Harold did not talk to each other. The demeanor of the cavalry officer did not invite any kind of conversation.

They had to change trains at the Zoo Station, then went on to the Gleisdreieck Station, which was the major intersection of trains in Berlin. It was the place where subway trains crossed rails with S-Bahn rails and long-distance trains. S-Bahn stood for Stadtbahn, (city trains).

The S-Bahn operated like the subway on electricity, while steam locomotives powered the long-distance trains.

The sheer maze of intersections of different rails looked like an unsolvable puzzle to the boys. When they arrived at the station, Karl’s grandfather led the way across exposed rails to a narrow control building that stood between the tracks. It towered about two stories above the crossings and the top floor featured windows in every direction.

“Anybody home?” he shouted when he opened the door to the stairway.

“Of course, Herr Major,” answered a voice from above. “I saw you crossing the tracks, Herr Major. Good to see you again.”  The voice belonged to a man in the dark blue uniform of a Switch Master. It was obvious to the boys that the men knew each other.

“What brings you here, Herr Major?” the switch master wanted to know.

Karl’s grandfather pointed to Karl and then to Harold. “Forget my title, Gustav. This is my grandson Karl and his friend, Harold. They want to know about the function of switches and I could not think of a better place to teach them.”

He pushed the boys toward a window in the direction of the main platform of the station. They could see people milling in every direction as they boarded different trains.

“Listen carefully,” the Major started to explain. “Berlin is presently a city of four million citizens. People by the hundreds if not by the thousands use public transportation every day. But, there are only a limited number of platforms to accommodate the boarding of the trains. As the trains leave the station, they are routed through switches to the rails that carry them to their destinations.

“This routing is accomplished by Gustav, the switch master; a man with 20 years of practical experience, who is setting the switches. Once the switch is set, the train cannot help itself but follow the rails.” The old officer paused for a moment and looked at Karl, “You asked why we are having a war. I answered because the switches had been set in advance. In this case, I mean that the switch leading to the present world war was set by the peace agreement that was dictated to us at the end of the war 1914 to 1918, which we call now the First World War. The trains, meaning the citizens of this world, are always in motion and the trains will always follow the tracks, which are controlled by the switch masters. Any questions?”

“Yes,” answered Karl. “I think I can follow what you said. But tell me, is our Fuehrer, who declared the war, is he the switch master?”

The Major almost puked in disgust. “You have to ask Gustav here how much knowledge it takes to understand the system. It takes years and years of experience to understand what you are doing when you set a switch. The unsettling problem is however, that anyone, with or without experience, can operate a switch. Go ahead Gustav, show the boys.”

Harold and Karl watched as Gustav pointed to a distinct location on the tracks. The boys could discern a switch and Gustav pushed a small toggle switch on the board in front of him. The boys saw that the big rail switch activated and the rails interlocked in a different way than before. Shortly thereafter, a train left the station and followed the track over the switch to another set of rails.

“Wow,” said Harold, “I understand what you are saying Herr Major. If I were to start playing with the small toggle switches, I would activate all kinds of large switches down there and if I don’t know what I am doing, I would cause all kinds of havoc.”

“Excellent,” said the Major. “You got it. But I see that Karl is still not satisfied.”

Karl shifted his weight from one leg to the other. “I understand that the main switch for the war was set by historical actions. At that time, Hitler was still a private in the army. I also understand, from reading my books that he somehow came to power by feeding the emotions of the people.”

“Exactly, your power of comprehension is admirable. What is your question?” The major was proud of his grandson.

“If Herr Hitler is not a switch master with experience, but nevertheless came to the switch board and is now setting all the switches that will cause actions and reactions …. Where is this leading to?”

The major looked at Gustav before he answered, “It will lead first to the answer of your second question. You asked me what the Nazi regime is about. The Nazi regime has been dreamed up by Hitler, who is using and exploiting the Prussian obedience, which is instilled in most Germans, to his advantage and for his purpose. The Nazi regime will lead by necessity to untold misery and eventually to utter chaos. There is no question about it because it is led, controlled and commandeered by a totally incompetent paperhanger. This man is obsessed with ideas of power and control.

“Secondly, the Nazi regime is doomed to failure because it manipulates our people to eventually fight the whole world.  The army system is undermined by Hitler’s charges, like his storm troopers. His charges killed the leaders of the SA, the very people who helped Hitler to power, by setting fire to the Reichstag.”

The white-haired former cavalry officer stroked the few remaining hairs on his head.

“Of course, and true to form, Herr Hitler denied all responsibilities. Matter of fact, he claimed it happened because we don’t have sufficient police structures. So, he proceeded by inventing a new one and called it the Secret State Police.” (Gestapo)

Again he stopped and reached for Gustav’s coffee thermos.

“This police structure is being used to spy on the German people under the pretext of saving the people from enemies within. This is why you see now the slogans all over Berlin, ‘Careful what you say. The enemy is listening in.’ Herr Hitler wants the people of this country to spy on each other and to report on each other. A simple practice, which right now is being used to eliminate any dissidents.”

He took a sip from the hot liquid. “And finally, he installed brutal SS commandos to get rid of experienced officers in our Reichswehr army.” The ex-major was not finished but he had to catch his breath once more.

“And now, he replaced our Reichswehr Army with the Wehrmacht, which seems to still be the old guard. But boys, make no mistake about it, the switches are already set and the Wehrmacht will be controlled by the SS, and will eventually give in to them.”

“Easy now, Major. You know where this kind of talk will lead you,” Gustav interrupted the tirade of the Prussian officer.

“You are right Gustav. But I had to make a point to these boys. They have already been prompted by the Nazi teachers to spy and report on their neighbors and on their parents. What do you expect me to do? Keep my mouth shut?” He was still agitated.

“Please calm down, Opa. Thank you for teaching us something totally different than what Herr Halama is teaching us. But what about the pregnancy term? How does that fit into the switches and all that?”

Gustav smiled when he heard the question. “Let me answer this, Herr Major. The answer is simple. When a couple wants a baby it cannot demand it in an instant to appear here on earth. The couple has to plan for it. In other words, it has to set certain switches in motion for the baby to materialize. The time between setting the switches and the arrival is called the pregnancy term.”

“Whoa,” said the Major, “this is explaining it rather delicately.”

Karl wanted to ask a follow-up question, but his grandfather waved him off, “Not today, Karl. Maybe next time.”

Harold had a question of a different nature, “I am not questioning your explanations, Herr Major. But, if this is all true what you have told us, and I believe it is, how come people like our teacher and all the Nazi’s around us love the Fuehrer?”

The old cavalry officer looked at Harold, “Smart question, my boy. Our beloved Fuehrer employs the technique of all charlatans who never produce anything. He could not produce a simple salami because he would not know how to make one. So, he does what?”

He looked questionably at Harold, who shrugged his shoulders, unable to think of an answer.

“Come on Harold, it is not a hard question for a boy of your intelligence. Karl? Your turn.”

Karl ventured a guess, “He promises something?”

“Correct,” said the Major, “When you are unable to deliver, you start promising. Nothing new about it. It has been done for ages. All the religions that promise salvation are a perfect example. You can promise anything you want, if you are not kept accountable to deliver.

“Hitler promises riches, employment, free medical care and prints money without any backing. He promised freedom for the Saarland, the Sudetengau, Austria and  Elsass Lothringen, as well as the free city of Danzig. Why? Because he wants their resources as well as their manpower. Once they are under his control, his power grows. Think about it.”

He patted Gustav on his shoulders and shook his hand. He said Auf Wiedersehen and not Heil Hitler when they left the control building.

“Thank you, Opa,’’ said Karl when they arrived at home. It was exactly 5:00 PM.  Harold also shook hands with the Major and hurried to get home to digest what he had just heard.