More than anything else, Hitler wanted to humiliate the French, just as they had humiliated Germany after the Great War. He wanted to expand Germany. Of course, that was always part of the plan, but he had gained Austria, taken back the demilitarised zones, taken the Sudetenland. Now he wanted Poland. Most of Poland belonged to Germany in any case, but the time was not right to reclaim it. If he had only waited until Germany had achieved its full power and economic potential, the Poles would have come cap in hand and begged to be part of the great German Empire. Rather that, than succumb to the Bolsheviks.
As for the Jewish question, the Jews had lost their citizenship and had been removed from any positions where they could sabotage the growing power of the Reich. That was all that needed to be done at that stage. Later they could be resettled in other countries, perhaps the Middle East or Africa, but that was for later. Himmler and Heydrich’s ‘Final Solution’ was a barbaric blunder which, instead of being a solution, had become a major part of the problem.
If only the Thule members could have restrained Hitler. It would only have taken another five years, and Germany would have been dominant in Europe and even challenged the United States for world supremacy. Otto Han and Fritz Strasser had split the atom in 1938. Werner Heisenberg and his team at Kaiser Wilhelm Institute were well advanced in the construction of a uranium reactor, five or six of which would have provided an abundant source of cheap energy, independent of the oil from the USSR and the Middle East. As well as producing energy, the reactors would also have been a source of fissionable material which, when combined with the heavy water already isolated and developed by German scientists, would have produced a weapon of unimaginable destructive power. Werner Braun had already completed plans for a long-range rocket, the V4, which could deliver the new Armageddon weapon.
Maria sighed. If all the funding that had been wasted on the pointless war had been channelled into scientific research, Germany would, by now, have had a standing army of two million men, ten thousand battle tanks, four thousand aircraft including jet fighters and, more importantly, two hundred V4 rockets that could reach any point on the planet. A single one of those could destroy an entire city. Germany would have stood tall, the unchallenged and untouchable master of Europe.
Instead, all we have is ruins with half the country polluted by Bolsheviks and the other half playing host to American and British soldiers.
But it will change, and it is changing. We have to start again from scratch, but the Thule has been busy. Most of the major industries have survived the war and are being revitalised by strategically placed Thule members using money secreted in Swiss banks. We will still conquer Europe, but this time without a shot being fired. Already, Walter Hallstein is promoting the idea of a community of nations in Europe which will grow into the United States of Europe with Germany at its head. Thanks to the Thule-Gesellschaft, Germany will rise again, and one day the Aryan race will dominate Europe.
Müller crept downstairs, hoping not to disturb Maria as it was barely 5 a.m. As he passed the living room door, he noticed it was slightly ajar.
“Herr Gruber?” Pushing the door open, Müller entered. Sitting by the window in the semi-darkness was Maria.
“Frau von Sindelsdorf, I was trying not to disturb you,” said Müller apologetically.
“That was most considerate of you, Herr Gruber, but I have been awake for some time. I have prepared a packed breakfast for you to eat later this morning. It’s on the table in the kitchen.” Smiling, she added, “I won’t detain you; I know you need to get back to your pigs.”
Müller grabbed the brown paper package from the kitchen table and made his way to the front door. He pulled on his heavy boots, which he had left there in order not to mark Maria’s highly polished floors. Pulling on his overcoat, which hung on a hook on the wall, he fished out the gloves and hat stowed in the pockets and was ready for the Bavarian winter. Shouting a cheery Auf Wiedersehen, he closed the door behind himself and crunched his way through the snow to the gate, turning down the lane as he exited.
In accordance with Maria’s advice, he had not trimmed his beard that morning. He would let it grow wild as she suggested. It was as well to take her advice in these matters, as she had significant experience in helping ex-Nazis disappear.
Maria Orsic had once been regarded as the most beautiful woman in Germany. She had come to prominence just after the Great War when she had become leader of the Vril Gesellschaft, a society of occultist women who wore their hair long, often to their waist, and were regarded as mediums. The Vril, an offshoot of the Thule, was taken very seriously by a number of people in senior positions in the Nazi party. Hitler would have none of it and had eventually banned both the Vril and the Thule, but Himmler was a genuine disciple, hanging on every word Maria said.
During her séances, Maria had made many outlandish, indeed other-worldly, claims and had described fantastic contraptions. It was all nonsense, of course, but some of her descriptions resonated with engineers and scientists. One such machine was a flying disc, powered by a ‘mercury’ engine which could take off and land vertically. The concept was taken seriously in some engineering circles, and some prototypes were constructed. An aircraft
