Jonathan Rabb - Rosa

It was almost completely empty. The soldiers were positioned in front of a large domed building at the far end of the street, rifles across their chests, waiting. The few pedestrians who remained on the street were doing all they could to find shelter inside. Hoffner managed to flag one down. “Madame,” he said as he tried to keep up with her. “Excuse me, but which is that building up there?”

The woman continued to move quickly as she looked at him: she spoke as if to a halfwit. “That building, mein Herr ? That’s the Landtag.” She shook her head in disbelief and hurried off. Hoffner stopped: they’re cordoning off Parliament, he thought. Why? He quickly made his way back to the restaurant and over to the matre d’. The man was relieved to see him back.

Hoffner said, “I need to use your telephone, mein Herr. ” Hoffner pulled out his badge: it might have said Berlin, but the word “Kriminalpolizei” was enough to stir the man to action. Hoffner nodded calmly over to Lina as he waited for the operator to connect the call.

“Yes,” said Hoffner. “Chief Inspector Barens, please.” Hoffner gave his credentials. “I’m aware of that, Frulein. This is of vital importance. Just connect me with the Chief Inspector.” Hoffner waited through the static until Barens finally came on the line. Hoffner said, “I’m standing a hundred meters from the Landtag building, Peter. What just happened?”

Hoffner could hear the mayhem in the background. “Hold on,” said Barens. There was a round of shouting before Barens came back to the line. “Nikolai, what are you doing near the Landtag?”

It was a meaningless question. Hoffner asked again, “Why are soldiers surrounding the building, Peter?”

There was a pause on the line before Barens said, “Someone’s shot Eisner. Half an hour ago. Eisner’s dead.”

Hoffner tried to stem his reaction. “Who?” he said.

“We don’t know yet. A student. That’s all we have.”

Hoffner asked the more dangerous question: “More than bad beer and pamphlets?”

There was another pause before Barens answered, “I don’t know, but I need you to tell me that you knew nothing about this, not even the possibility of this.”

“Of course,” said Hoffner with more conviction than perhaps was warranted. “What about Ebert?”

“So far, nothing. We’re waiting for a wire to confirm. It might already be here. I don’t know. Look, Nikolai, get yourself back to Berlin. We’ll probably be shutting down the main station in the next hour or so, and if you stay here, you won’t be of any use. Trust me. Safe trip.”

The line went dead and Hoffner handed the receiver back to the matre d’. Twenty minutes later, Hoffner and Lina were getting their bags from the hotel; forty minutes after that, they were on the last train heading north: Hoffner’s badge had seen to that, as well. It would mean that they would have to get out and wait somewhere along the way for the train out of Frankfurt, but at least they would be back in Berlin by tonight. Hoffner now had seven hours to acquaint himself with the men of the Thule Society and Joachim Manstein.

Notes on meetings, December 4, 1918, through January 18, 1919, Thule Society, as recorded by Kriminal-Bezirkssekretr Stefan Meier: December 4:Our first meeting outside the beer hall. We meet at the house of Anton Drexler, a locksmith in the employ of the railroad shops. Drexler is a small, sickly man who talks for over an hour about the “mongrelization” of the German people and the corruption of the socialist regime. He refers to members of the government as “the Jew Eisner and the Jew Scheidemann.” There are nine of us. I believe we are only one of several cells of “Initiates” meeting throughout the city tonight. Unlike Eckart, Drexler is a poor speaker. We are instructed to bring documented proof of our Aryan ancestry to the next meeting. December 9:Again we meet at the house of Drexler. Only four of us are permitted to remain once our papers are examined. Two other members of the Society are present but we are not told their names. One of them is a doctor. He takes a sample of blood from each of us. We are then given copies of two books written by Guido von List ( The Invincible and The Secret of Runes ), magazines published by Jorg Lanz von Liebenfels ( Prana and Ostara ), a directory of pan-German and anti-Semitic groups by Philipp Stauff ( The German Defense Book ), and the manifesto of the Armanist Religious Revival from the organization known as The Walvater Teutonic Order of the Holy Grail, written by Hermann Pohl. An excerpt from Liebenfel’s Ostara I, #69, makes clear the general thinking behind all of these writings: “The holy grail is an electrical symbol pertaining to the panpsychic powers of the pure-blooded Aryan race. The quest of the Templars for the grail was a metaphor for the strict eugenic practices of the Templar Knights designed to breed god-men.” December 13, 18, 24, 29:We meet at the house of the journalist Karl Harrer (founder of the Workers Political Circle and chairman of the German Workers Party [see below]). He is no better a speaker than Drexler and, over the four nights, takes us through the history of the Society (see below), the rituals of Rebirth and Order (see below), the Covenant of the pan-Germanic people (see below), and the hierarchy of the races (see below). We are each required to recite long passages from The Invincible and to exhibit physical stamina and strength by withstanding long periods of heavy objects being placed on our chests. January 5:We are taken to a house on the outskirts of the city, where we are given our first initiation rites. This includes full disrobement, the cutting of two Runic symbols into the underside of the left upper arm, and the laying on of hands by a man we are instructed to call Tarnhari. We are told that he is the reincarnation of the god-chieftain of the Wlsungen tribe of prehistoric Germany. We are now required to recite from memory passages from The Invincible and to pledge a vow to our racial purity. January 9, 14, 15:The rituals continue at the house of Rudolf Freiherr von Seboottendorf, where we are joined by seven other Initiates from around the city. Seboottendorf is a mystic trained in the art of Sufi meditation. Over the three nights, he leads us in sance-like rituals meant to contact the Ancients from the lost island civilization of Thule. Seboottendorf is the only one of us to make contact. January 18:We are brought to the lodge on Seitz Strasse and introduced to the members of the Thule Society. There are, by rough estimation, seventy men present. I am able to learn twenty or so of the names (see below).

Lina was still asleep when Hoffner turned to the final page. It was written in a different hand and detailed Detective Sergeant Meier’s apparent suicide on the twenty-fourth of January: he had hanged himself in his one-room flat. There was no evidence at present to contradict the coroner’s findings. Clearly, Barens was not convinced.

Disturbing as Meier’s death was, Hoffner was far more interested in the seventeenth name on the list. Reading through the paragraph was like watching the shattering of a glass in reverse, every shard swept up into perfect coherence:

Joachim Manstein, born 1882, Munich, degree in medicine, University of Berlin, 1905, married Elena Marr Schumpert 1907, two children, Magda 1908 and Tmas 1910. . Doctor of Neurology and Psychiatric Medicine at Prince-Charles-Theodore Hospital, Lecturer in same at Ludwig Maximilian University. . Served in 5th Cavalry 1915–1918 as frontline surgeon, received the Knight’s Cross of the Military Order of Maximilian-Joseph, and the Order of Merit. The “Blue Max,” usually reserved for Prussian officers, was awarded. . Signature member, along with Philipp Stauff and Guido von List, of the High Armanen-Order (1911). . Published articles include “Refutation of Judeo-Psychritic Origins” Prana, 1912), “The Pathology of the Mob-races” ( Ostara, 1913), and “The Specter of Judeo-Marxism” ( Iron Hammer, 1916). .