“You’re not buying this, Wolf. You think our boy in there has sold me a pup?”
“No, I don’t. I think Weiss has told you exactly what he believes to be true, but I think its bullshit. It’s precisely what he’s been programmed to believe in case he was ever captured.”
“Why do you think that?” asked Fournier.
“The route that Weiss has described is exactly the route taken by those Allied airmen who, having bailed out in Europe, were making their way to Gibraltar via Spain. That route used to be swarming with the Resistance in order to assist them and to help them evade the Gestapo. I speak with some authority on this matter.” He cast a knowing glance at Sybilla. “They may not be the Resistance any more, but those brave men and women are still there, and their hatred of Nazis hasn’t diminished. That route would be too dangerous for a fugitive Nazi.
“All of that said, thanks to Agent Skadi here, we have some good leads,” continued Rahn. “If it’s not too presumptuous, I think a stakeout on the Strasbourg warehouse is called for. Paul, if your men can catch one or two of them in there, we may be able to get more information. As to the real route and destination, I doubt very much that they are heading to Toulouse, but they may well be making for Marseilles. That place is so cosmopolitan a Scotsman in a kilt could walk around openly and no one would take a blind bit of notice.”
“I will speak to the brigadier. I’m sure he will want to work with the SDECE on this. You were going to tell us about Thule-Gesellschaft that Weiss keeps mentioning.”
“Paul, could I have a sheet of plain paper, a pencil and an eraser?” Rahn asked.
Fournier nodded to detective Hans Schuster sat at a nearby desk, who immediately scurried off to comply.
“The Thule-Gesellschaft is a secret German underground society. Its main aim is to create a unified European state led by Aryan Übermenschen. The basic concept is drawn from the writings of German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. Writing in the late nineteenth century, he described in Also Sprach Zarathustra the gradual development of a race of supermen or Übermenschen. The Thule plagiarised this completely out of context and distorted it, introducing the notion that the Übermenschen already existed in the form of Aryan Germans and Scandinavians, and therefore anyone who did not fit into the profile must, by definition, be Untermenschen or subhumans.”
“So, who or what was Thule?” asked Sybilla.
“Thule was a mythical land where, at the dawn of civilisation, the Aryan people emerged and spread to Scandinavia and Germany. It is generally associated with northern Scandinavia, probably Norway.
“The Thule was formed at the turn of the century but really came into its own immediately after the First World War. What brought the Thule to prominence was the fact that half a dozen or so of its members formed the Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, the DAP, which developed into the NSDAP or Nazi Party as it came to be known.
“Here, let me show you something,” Rahn said, taking the drawing material from Schuster. He drew two concentric circles, made some adjustments and did some rubbing out, and produced the following diagram:
“This is the insignia of the Thule-Gesellschaft,” said Rahn. “Now, if I just make a few adjustments, shorten the arms just a little and colour it in … Now look at this, let me turn it through forty-five degrees. Do you recognise it?”
“My God!” exclaimed Sybilla. “The swastika!”
“That is how the swastika came into being. You’ll read nonsense about runes, Sanskrit and religious icons, but the symbol as used by the Nazis was developed by Doctor Friedrich Krohn, a very active member of the Thule, who used the Thule insignia as his inspiration, in exactly the same way as I’ve shown you here.”
“This Thule,” said Fournier, “is it a dangerous organisation, in your opinion?”
“Not in the sense that they will start another world war,” said Rahn. “I don’t think that was ever their aim. After Hitler joined the NSDAP, the Thule seemed to lose control. No, they are much cleverer than that. Insidious. They will infiltrate big companies and organisations and bring about change in that way. Their aim hasn’t changed. They will strive to build a united Europe led and controlled by Aryan Germans, Übermenschen.
“But why do they want to help Müller?” asked Sybilla.
“I’m not really sure,” Rahn responded, shaking his head. “They have, for a long time, assisted Thule members, Nazis and non-Nazis, helping many to escape from Europe, but in Müller’s case I’m puzzled. Our best information is that he wasn’t a member of the Thule. That then begs the question, why are they helping him? I can only assume that Müller has something the Thule want. It could be a physical object or objects, or it could be information. Either way, they are willing to take risks to protect him.”
“Wait a minute …” Sybilla was running her hands through her hair, frowning and thinking hard. “Was Müller ever in Hitler’s bunker in the last days of the war?”
Rahn nodded. “He was one of the last ones out, he stayed almost to the end. Do you have something?”
“Probably not,” said Sybilla, “it’s just that Dan …” She glanced up at Fournier. “My colleague in Berlin,” she explained, “is working on a theory that some treasure—or information relating to some treasure, stolen loot or some such—was smuggled out of the bunker after Hitler committed suicide. Could this be a link to Müller and the Thule?”
“You may have something there,” said Rahn. “You need to contact Dan and let him know that the Thule are involved with Müller and are probably hiding him and helping him to escape. Remind him about Müller’s presence in the bunker. I expect he
