Accidental Nazi

by Ward Wagher

  “Congratulations,” Schloss said. “That was very well done. I am pleased.”

  “Thank you, Herr Partieleiter. Perhaps we could slip out the back door?”

  Schloss stared at Hess. “Excuse me?”

  “I am afraid if I stepped out among the crowd I would not know what to say.”

  Schloss glanced at Goebbels and then back at Hess. “If you think it necessary, we can do that. But wait until I can arrange our guards. I did not want to tell you before the speech, but there was an attempt on my life this evening.”

  Hess gulped and swayed on his feet. “That is terrible news. Who did it?”

  “We don't know. There was a gunman in another car.”

  Hess studied Schloss and Goebbels. “It seems someone is unhappy with you, Herr Partieleiter.”

  Schloss thought that was one of the more unnecessary things Hess had ever said. But he had little choice but to agree. He looked over at Rainer.

  “Karl, it might be a good idea to have security escort us from the back door.”

  “Jawohl, Herr Partieleiter. I have a guard at the door to the stage. I will send him up front and bring the guards back.”

  “Thank you, Karl.”

  “I was very pleased with the way you delivered the speech,” Goebbels said to Hess. “I did not realize you had such a speaking talent.”

  “I used to love to read speeches out loud when I was at the gymnasium. My favorites were those by Kaiser Wilhelm.” He gave Goebbels a sad smile. “I was never good at writing my own speeches. I liked the one I gave tonight, though.”

  “I would say you did,” Goebbels replied. “Judging from the response out there, a lot of other people liked it too.”

  Rainer opened the door. “A moment, Herr Partieleiter?”

  “Excuse me,” Schloss said.

  He walked over to the door. “What is it, Karl?”

  “We caught two men trying to slip a bomb under your car.”

  Schloss closed his eyes and sighed. “Well, thank God you caught them. That would have ruined our evening.”

  “Just so. What would you like to do with them?”

  “Do we have anyone who can sweat them?” Schloss asked.

  Rainer nodded. “I believe so.”

  “We need to keep this quiet as the grave, Karl. Perhaps these two will give us a thread to unravel.”

  “I understand, Herr Partieleiter. I will have them taken to the basement of the party headquarters. Since you increased your security, the SS swine do not come around the building much.”

  “Gently, Karl,” Schloss said quietly. “I am not ready to let the SS swine know that I know they are swine.”

  Rainer raised an eyebrow. “I believe I take the Partieleiter's point.”

  “No doubt. Come back for us when you have things under control.”

  Rainer nodded and pulled the door closed as he left the stage area.

  “Was there a problem, Herr Partieleiter?” Goebbels asked.

  “Just some trouble getting the security in position. I'm in no hurry.”

  “Are you having problems,” Goebbels asked, “or are you just more paranoid than is usual for you?”

  Schloss laughed. “That was certainly an honest question, Herr Goebbels. And the answer is yes.”

  Goebbels looked confused for a moment, then chuckled. “I guess that is an honest answer.”

  “My question to you Joseph, is should we get together with Rudolf and plan a follow-on to tonight's speech? If it plays as well as I think, it should get us started on the path to regaining the confidence of the people.”

  The propaganda minister cocked his head as he considered the question, then nodded. “A very good suggestion. I have been concerned about this particular matter since the Fuhrer's untimely death. We do not have to worry about elections, but I believe we must maintain the confidence of the people.”

  “Exactly,” Schloss said. “We should not leave something like this to chance – particularly when we have the opportunity at hand.”

  “You surprise me with your grasp of sociology, Herr Partieleiter.”

  Schloss shrugged. “To be honest, it is more a matter of paying attention to things.”

  “Whatever. But, I like your suggestion.”

  “Fine. I will ask Rainer to contact your office tomorrow.” He turned to Hess. “This is okay with you, Rudolph?”

  “Of course. I serve the party and the state.”

  The back door opened and Rainer stepped in.

  “We are ready, Herr Partieleiter.”

  Goebbels glanced over at him, and looked back at Schloss. “And I should go find my minders. Until tomorrow, Herr Partieleiter.”

  Schloss nodded. “Until then.”

  Hess clapped his hands together. “Well. I should be leaving as well.”

  “Why don't you walk out with us?” Schloss asked.

  “Ahh. Yes. I think I shall. Thank you, Herr Partieleiter.”

  Schloss gave him a warm smile. Just continue to be as compliant, Herr Hess, he thought. The ideal situation is to manage Hess, Goebbels and Goering without backing Himmler into a corner where he will be strongly tempted to lash out.

  There was at least a half dozen guards in evidence when the car pulled up in front of the Schloss house. He assumed there were more around the back and decided not to be embarrassed about it. Peter was home from the Foreign Ministry and his reaction to the incident was one of deep concern. They sat in parlor, Peter with a snifter of cognac.

  “I won't try to minimize the danger, Peter. We were very lucky the gun jammed.”

  “How could something like this happen on the streets of Berlin? This simply should not happen. And thank you, Heinrich, for thinking quickly.”

  Schloss shrugged. “It all happened suddenly. I did not have time to think until after it was over. We were lucky.”

  “Nevertheless, some people make their own luck.”

  “We caught somebody trying to place a bomb under my car tonight at the meeting,” Schloss said. “I would not blame you, Peter, if you and Renate had nothing to do with me after today. I am dangerous to be around.”

  “Don't talk nonsense, Hennie. You are the only family Renate has. And you have always been very good to us. I grew up without siblings and I regard you as my brother. Besides, I am highly motivated to keep you alive and healthy. If something happened to you, Germany would probably go straight to hell.”

  “It may anyway,” Schloss murmured.

  Peter shook his head. “If anybody can stop these madmen, it is you.”

  “It's a tall order, Peter. The Nazi disease has infected the Fatherland root and branch. I don't know if it can be cut out without destroying the country.”

  Peter leaned back and swirled his cognac in the glass as he stared into its ruby depths. “Mein Gott, Hennie. A bomb? Who is doing this?”

  “Who do you think is doing it?” Schloss said.

  “Well, obviously it is not Hess. It's not the Foreign Minister. Goebbels doesn't have the resources.”

  “Right,” Schloss said. “That leaves Goering and Himmler.”

  “And Goering is in your pocket.”

  Schloss frowned and shook his head. Mrs. Marsden slipped into the room and set a cup of coffee on a saucer next to him.

  “Thank you Mrs. Marsden. That smells wonderful.” He looked at Schreiber. “Goering is not exactly in my pocket, Peter.”

  “But you are buttering his bread, right?”

  Schloss snorted. “That's a new one. But, yes, I am.”

  “Okay, that leaves Himmler.”

  “I had already reached that conclusion.”

  “And what are you going to do about it? Sooner or later he is going to get lucky.”

  “I have redoubled my security… or rather Rainer has. And I am watching for opportunities.” And he picked up the coffee cup and sipped at it with a sigh.

  “Opportunities?”

  “Let's just say that sooner or later one of us is going to st
ep in front of a bullet and it is not going to be me.”

  Schreiber leaned back and sipped his cognac. He seemed to ponder matters for a while before speaking again. “You know, Heinrich, I cannot put my finger on it, but you have changed.”

  Schloss set his coffee cup down and looked at his brother-in-law. Okay, where is he going with this? “What do you mean?”

  “I mean; you have always been a decent sort. I could never understand why you were so driven to climb the Nazi party ladder. There was this naked ambition, I guess, that really showed after your confrontation with Bormann.”

  “Go on.”

  “But after Hitler died, that ambition disappeared. Now it seems you are driven by a mission. You don't really care what happens to you. Do you understand what I'm saying?”

  Yes, I do, Peter, and there is no way for me to explain it. Schloss looked up at the ceiling of his parlor in Berlin and marveled again at the changes in his life.

  “I do not feel any different,” Schloss said. “I suppose watching the Fuhrer's airplane turning into a ball of flame forced me to look at my priorities. Life is just too short to focus on one's self. Does that make sense?”

  Schreiber smiled. “Does anything make sense? I gave up getting answers from the church long ago. The theologians cannot even agree on who God is.”

  Schloss shivered. Is there a God, and did He cause this? “All I can say, is that there must be an opportunity to make Germany great without murdering millions of people and regimenting the whole country. That is what I am striving for.”

  “And that is why we are here,” Peter said simply.

  And Schloss decided to change the subject. “Tell me about your project at the Foreign Ministry.”

  “We are attempting to engage in a back channel conversation with the Americans. We are hearing through our sources that they are getting ready to freeze our assets in their banks.”

  “That would be very bad.”

  “Indeed. Von Ribbentrop thinks it would be very hard to step back from the precipice if this happens.”

  “I think the Foreign Minister is right,” Schloss said.

  “I think he is, too. The question is whether we can get them to postpone the action.”

  “What do they want? I mean, actually?”

  “They want exactly what they say publicly,” Peter said. “We halt all attacks on cargo vessels in the Atlantic, regardless of nationality.”

  “I wonder if they would accept a quid pro quo,” Schloss mused.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Suppose we suggested, unofficially of course, that we would only attack legitimate men of war in the Atlantic, and they would give us leave in the Mediterranean?”

  “We have not done well in north Africa,” Schreiber said.

  “More to the point, we will not solve our Jewish problem without turning the Mediterranean into a German lake. I am not sure we would be able to send them through Turkey to Palestine.”

  “Pardon me, Hennie, but you have not spoken of this before. You wish to send the Jews to Palestine?”

  Schloss cursed himself for not thinking. “Well, does that not make sense?”

  “It is audacious is what it is. That will shift the political balance of the entire region.”

  “I need someone to bounce ideas off of, Peter. You are just about the only person I trust.”

  “I... I must give this some thought. So... you are thinking of sending all the Jews in Germany to Palestine.”

  “Greater Germany as well.”

  “Is that possible?”

  “It had better be, Peter. Otherwise, Himmler will feed them to the furnace.”

  “I believe he would, too,” the other man said.

  “Believe it.”

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  July 3, 1941, 10 AM

  Reich Chancellery, Berlin

  “So tell me once again, why this change in strategy?” Himmler demanded.

  Schloss looked around the table. Goering was intent on the conversation, since the armed forces were heavily involved. Ribbentrop paid careful attention. He was responsible for communicating with the Americans and wanted to catch the nuance. Goebbels paid close attention, but then he always did so. Hess appeared to be engaged, although Schloss thought his vacuous expression was not encouraging. Rainer was focused on the notebook in front of him as he carefully transcribed the discussion.

  “Number one,” Schloss held up his index finger, “we do not want the United States to enter the war. Secondly, we need to focus on our most serious strategic weakness.”

  “And that is?”

  “Oil. We have known for a decade we did not have the petroleum resources to fight a prolonged war.”

  “Then why did you cancel Barbarossa?” Himmler asked. “The entire purpose of the move was to capture the Baku oil fields.”

  “We already had agreements with Stalin to sell us oil. Why take that risk. We would use more oil in that conflict than we would recover from the fields, assuming we even managed that.”

  “I grow weary of your defeatism, Herr Partieleiter.”

  “I prefer to call it realism, Herr Reichsprotektor.”

  “Please,” Goering held up a hand. “I would like to hear what Herr Schloss has in mind.”

  Schloss was rather surprised that Goering interrupted Himmler. The Reichsmarshall was identifying more with Schloss recently. Schloss wondered if that would obligate him to protect Goering when the crunch inevitably came.

  Himmler sighed. “Oh, go ahead Schloss. I feel like no one is listening to me today.”

  “The Americans demand that we stop sinking vessels headed towards England. If they enter the war, our problems increase by orders of magnitude. I am suggesting we promise to limit our attacks to English warships and pull a majority of our U-boats into the Mediterranean.”

  “And what purpose would that serve?” Himmler asked.

  “We close the Mediterranean to English shipping and the Royal Navy and we can ensure our supply lines to North Africa. We can then secure Palestine and conclude a treaty with the King of Iraq. If he demurs, we can march on the Persian Gulf. If we control that area, we have an essentially unlimited supply of oil indefinitely.”

  “That's very ambitious,” Himmler said. “And how is this less risky than attacking Russia?”

  “I can answer that, if I may,” Goering said. “The English are at the end of a long supply line in the Middle East. They simply do not have the lift capacity to support a war if we control the Mediterranean.”

  “But they have Egypt,” Himmler pointed out.

  “They do. But if they cannot supply Egypt, it withers on the vine.”

  “What about the Turks?” Hess asked.

  “Good question, Rudolf,” Schloss said. “They are currently neutral. If we take Palestine we will surround them on three sides. I believe they will not feel adventurous. In fact, if we engage them further as a trade partner, they should not be a bother.”

  “What do you have in mind then?” Ribbentrop asked.

  “We upgrade the Berlin-Baghdad railroad line through Turkey and the Balkans. It gives the Turks a transportation artery, and give us an additional supply line into Iraq. Something Germans can manage.”

  “As opposed to the Italians,” Goering said.

  Everyone around the table snorted or shook their heads. As an ally, Italy was almost more trouble than it was worth. The joke was that the Italians had given Mussolini the job of supreme leader so he would leave them alone.

  Schloss shrugged. “Their rail system is pretty solid, and we can use their ports.”

  Hess nodded as he appeared deep in thought. “If we control the oil fields in the gulf, do we discontinue our synthetic oil plants here?”

  Schloss had to remind himself that though Hess was flaky, he was far from stupid. He had asked a very good question.

  “I think we need to continue building a synthetic petroleum infrastructure. We have huge coal resources of which we can tak
e advantage.” Schloss paused. “And we will need it if we do not succeed in the Persian Gulf.”

  Himmler slapped his pen down on the table. “First you tell us we must go into Arabia because you fear losing to the Russians. Next you say we might lose there. You completely baffle me, Herr Schloss.”

  “If we had gotten into the habit of creating fallback positions, we would likely have troops in London today, Herr Himmler. In war, one always plans for failure. The English are not simply going to lay down their arms and invite us in. They will be as strongly motivated to stop us as we will be to advance.”

  Himmler turned to face Goering. “And you are in favor of this?”

  “I believe the idea has merit, Herr Reichsprotektor. We have contacts in Baghdad. We could easily finish the last section of the Berlin-Baghdad railway. A six-hundred-mile road from the Mediterranean coast across the Trans-Jordan to Baghdad would be more of a challenge, I think.”

  “It sounds like madness to me,” Himmler replied. “We ought to go after the Russians.”

  “If we control Iraq and the rail lines, it would be easier to strike east towards Baku than through the Ukraine,” Schloss said.

  “Schloss, I think you are taking our focus off of what makes Germany great,” Himmler said.

  Schloss straightened up in his seat. “What are you talking about?”

  “These foreign adventures will distract us.”

  “And what is making Germany great, if I may ask?”

  “Why controlling more of Europe and purifying our stock of people. The Fuhrer developed the plan and published it in Mein Kampf. Going after Russia was the logical next step.”

  “Does anyone else feel this way?” Schloss asked.

  It grew quiet in the room. Schloss was surprised no one spoke up for Himmler. Himmler looked increasingly surprised as he glanced around the room. Finally, he threw his pen down on the table.

  “It is pointless to talk to any of you.” He stood to his feet and walked out of the room.

  Schloss looked over at Rainer, who nodded at him and quietly got up and followed Himmler. Hess reached over and slid Rainer's notebook over and prepared to continue the notes.

  “It is perhaps unwise to push him so hard, Herr Partieleiter,” Goebbels said.