One old man was enraged. He stood by the entrance to block 3, wearing a flat cap and a dirty grey suit, shouting at anyone who passed. “How could they be so stupid? Who will help Germany now in her hour of most need?”
Looking white as a sheet, Anton joined his small troop. With the troop leader, Ludwig, at the head, the column of six marched about aimlessly in their uniforms giving Hitler salutes to anyone they met.
Gretchen told Oskar what had happened. She got no response. She doubted that Oskar knew who Adolf Hitler was anymore. She made a meal for her husband and put him to bed early.
“I’ll be home in an hour,” she said, kissing his forehead.
Oskar gave her a weak smile.
She left the apartment and made her way to the allotments, where Hans was in his cabin listening to his radio. He welcomed her inside and offered her a beer. She accepted eagerly; she hadn’t seen a beer for six months or more.
Hans’s iron leg rested on the wall, his right trouser leg tucked under his thigh.
He smiled at her. “I thought you might come.”
“How could I stay away? Tell me how you feel.”
He took a drink from his bottle, wiped his mouth and said, “Free, that’s how I feel.”
“Really?”
“Of course. I thought we’d never see the back of that madman.”
She sat on the wooden kitchen chair and tasted her beer. It was warm – and flat – but the taste of hops was welcome. “I thought you were a committed Nazi. The way you always give the Hitler salute, and you never said anything against the Party.”
“That’s what I wanted everyone to believe. But I have no time for the murdering bastards. Look what they took from me.”
She glanced at his empty trouser leg. “I felt sure you must have regretted what happened to you, but you never said anything.”
“And you thought I was one of them?”
“What else was I supposed to think?”
“It wasn’t safe. You know how dangerous it was to say anything. All we could do was speak the Nazi line and wait for this blessed day.”
A couple of beers later, a slightly tipsy Gretchen stood outside on the warm soil of Hans’s vegetable plot. Hans stood beside her, his iron leg re-attached. Most of the other allotments were deserted, but three had happy people, shouting and singing in celebration. There wasn’t a Party member to be seen anywhere.
At 18:45 the music on the radio in the cabin stopped, and a voice announced that there had been an attempt on the life of Adolf Hitler.
Gretchen’s brain froze. An attempt?
The announcer said the Führer was alive and would address the German people sometime in the next few hours. “Stay tuned for the voice of the Führer.” Gretchen’s spirits sank. A look of horror washed over Hans’s face. He hurled his beer bottle against the wall, barely missing the window. It bounced against the wall slats and fell into the soil, refusing to break. The nightmare was not over; the war would continue.
14
Crestfallen, they returned to the cabin to hear what the Führer had to say. Within an hour, he came on. His voice was rough, but it was unmistakably the Führer speaking.
“My fellow Germans! Yet another of the countless attempts on my life has been planned and carried out. I am speaking to you so that you can hear my voice and know that I myself am not injured, and so that you can hear the details of a crime which is without parallel in German history.
“A very small clique of ambitious, unscrupulous, criminal and stupid officers formed a conspiracy to do away with me and at the same time to wipe out virtually the entire staff of the German High Command.
“The bomb which was planted by Colonel von Stauffenberg exploded two meters to my right. It seriously injured a number of my colleagues who are very dear to me; one has died. I myself am completely unhurt apart from a few minor skin abrasions, bruises and burns. This is clear confirmation that Providence wishes me to continue my life's mission as I have in the past. For I can solemnly state in the presence of the entire nation that since the day I moved into the Wilhelmstrasse my sole thought has been to carry out my duty to the best of my ability. And from the time when I realized that the war was unavoidable and could no longer be delayed, I have known nothing but worry and hard work; and for countless days and sleepless nights have lived only for my People!
“At the very moment when the German armies are engaged in a most difficult struggle, a small group formed in Germany, as happened in Italy, which thought that as in 1918 it could now deliver the stab in the back. However, this time they totally miscalculated. The claim by these usurpers that I am no longer alive, is at this very moment proven false, for here I am talking to you, my dear fellow countrymen. The circle which these usurpers represent is very small. It has nothing to do with the German armed forces, and above all nothing to do with the German army. It is a very small clique composed of criminal elements which will now be mercilessly exterminated.”
Gretchen tuned out. The Third Reich would continue. As long as this madman was in charge, there was no prospect of peace, no possibility that their suffering would end. For this man – this merciless monster – would lead the people of Germany to utter annihilation rather than surrender. Drunk with power, he would never admit defeat. Not until every man, woman and child in the country had been sacrificed on the
