Heinrich Gerlach - Breakout at Stalingrad

‘But let’s assume, shall we, that you really haven’t noticed all this and that you’ve been jogging along quite happily in the belief that you’re free to think what you like. You wouldn’t be the only one. Plenty of others fancied that by giving up their Sundays to go out campaigning with the Brownshirts, they’d buy themselves a free pass for the rest of the time, and failed to notice how the poison kept on drip-dripping into every other bit of their lives all the same and how, little by little, they were turning into different people.’

Breuer had let his cigar go out. He knew that there were hidden, securely sealed corners of his psyche full of dangerously incendiary frustration and dissatisfaction at what had been going on over the past few years. Even he was deeply alarmed whenever he found his thoughts straying towards these explosive no-go areas, yet here, to his mounting horror, came someone riding at full tilt towards them, intent on breaking down all barriers.

‘Come, come, Wiese, you’re exaggerating,’ he said with calculatedly cool disapproval. ‘It isn’t as bad as all that! Okay, certain things could be better; I’ll concede you may have a point there. There are a few crazies out there who overstep the mark, for sure. Those things you mention are either the last hangovers from the time when the party was fighting to establish itself, or exceptions, or isolated instances…’

As he spoke, he recalled with unease that, not so long ago, someone had tried to assuage him using almost exactly the same words.

‘Remember, wherever there’s light, there’s also shadow,’ he continued. ‘But now’s not the time to be troubling ourselves with this. It only undermines our ability to resist. We should be thinking instead about all the greatness the Führer has brought us in just a few years: we’re a unified nation, an empire of all the Germans, which provides its people with work and puts bread in their mouths. We’re the envy of the world! And it’s appalling that all this is being jeopardized by this war, which no German wanted, that’s for sure. It’s a terrible thought that this war might never be won if everything comes unstuck here in Stalingrad.’

‘You’re right there, Breuer,’ replied the lieutenant. ‘It can’t be won. And what’s more it mustn’t be won!’

First Lieutenant Breuer sat bolt upright; the cigar dropped from his hand. He felt a cold and clammy sensation clutching at his heart.

‘Mustn’t…? What are you saying?’ he stammered. ‘Just think for a moment what you’re saying, man! You… You can’t be serious!’

‘I mean it. It’s vital that Germany doesn’t triumph in this war.’ Wiese repeated, unperturbed. ‘Have you any idea what’ll happen if this war ends with the victory on Hitler’s terms? Then he’ll have unlimited power. He won’t have to hide his true intentions from anyone after that. He can tear aside the last flimsy mask that’s still barely concealing the grinning face of Satan! I’m telling you, then the world will witness a spectacle that will make Nero’s ravings seem like mere child’s play in comparison. Lawlessness and immorality on a grand scale… selective racial breeding like we’re on a stud farm… absolute respect for force and brutality and exploitation of the weak as the overriding principle! Entire peoples will be exterminated or condemned to slavery just because they don’t have blond hair and their skin isn’t white. And what will become of our Germany, the “nation of poets and thinkers”, the embodiment of rectitude and legality? They’ll turn us into a nation of barbarians: a horde of rapacious savages, freeloaders and parasites! We’re halfway there already. Can’t you see that we’re all being turned into animals by this war – a war, let me remind you, that we started?’

Painfully aware of his inability to contradict Wiese’s audacious logic, Breuer was seized with rage.

‘I feel I don’t know you any more, Wiese,’ he said finally, fighting to maintain an appearance of calm. ‘The monstrous things that are coming out of your mouth… the German people aren’t just anybody! The German people and you and me and countless others, all human beings like us… Take our Dierk, for instance. He’s a thoroughly decent young man with a passionate enthusiasm for the cause. Do you think for one moment that he could ever fight for something he knew to be wrong? Germany’s made up of people like him! In those circumstances, how could the appalling picture you paint of the future ever come to pass? And besides, do you imagine the Führer would ever allow such a thing? He’s got a firmer grip on power than anyone in history. And you’re saying he can’t bring to heel the handful of animals that any mass movement inevitably washes to the surface? No, don’t go shaking your head at that, Wiese! When all’s said and done, the Führer is just a human being too, I know it for a fact. He has his faults, and can make mistakes like the rest of us. But the sufferings of this war will be a process of cleansing by fire for him, just as it will for our entire nation. We’ll come out of it purer and wiser.’

‘Hitler!’ the lieutenant guffawed bitterly. ‘Propaganda sets him up as this great, unapproachable graven image! All you see in him is a man who loves children, a warm-hearted public orator overflowing with love for his people. Try seeing him how he really is just for once! How does he appear then? Nothing but the product of one long string of crafty lies and extreme violence! First off, he breaks the Concordat with the Catholic Church. Then he gives a solemn pledge to respect the sovereignty of Czechoslovakia minus the Sudetenland – and promptly proceeds to invade and annex it. The Naval Treaty he signs with Britain – terminated because of German violations! The ten-year Non-Aggression Pact with Poland – broken! The pact with Stalin – shamefully violated! In the Night of the Long Knives in ’34, he murders his political opponents, including some of his oldest comrades-in-arms – simply slaughtered with no judicial process! Then he goes and signs a truce with the Church for the duration of the war, to great applause and fanfares! And what happens? Before you know it, the concentration camps and gaols are full of priests, the monasteries plundered and dispossessed! Here, have a read of this: it came first thing this morning. It’s a letter from my cousin in Eibingen – she’s a nun in the St Hildegard Convent there. Within the space of two hours, they’d turned all the sisters out onto the street and only let them pack small suitcases with personal belongings. Everything else was stolen, and the convent turned into a Nazi training college. Go ahead, read it! That’s Hitler for you! Anyone who hasn’t been cretinized by propaganda, anyone with eyes to see, can see him for what he is. But for many people nowadays, this man isn’t a person any more, no; they worship him as a god, as a second Christ, this—’

‘That’s enough!’ shouted Breuer, leaping to his feet. All his self-control was gone. ‘You’re forgetting yourself! You can insult who you like, but leave Hitler out of it! The Führer is far too important a figure to be touched by your pathetic criticism! I won’t stand for it, Wiese, do you hear? I won’t stand for it!’

When he gave his reply, Wiese’s voice sounded quite calm again, almost sad.

‘Fine, you get on your high horse if you want, Breuer. You’re only doing it because you know I’m telling the truth. It’s become crystal clear to me over the past few weeks here what the score is, so I have to call it as I see it. We’re not in Germany any more, in our nice, comfortable, peaceful bourgeois world, where there’s all sorts of ways of dodging unpalatable truths. We’re in a life-and-death situation here. We could all be wiped out tomorrow. There’s a premium on truth in such circumstances. You speak of Hitler’s successes. They’ve all been achieved through deceit and foul play. The German people aren’t any happier as a result. All that’s happened is that they’ve lost their sense of decency and honesty and sacrificed their good name. And what kind of successes were they anyway? Smoke and mirrors, nothing more. Promises of jam tomorrow! And now we’re picking up the tab for them with rivers of blood and tears. War, that was the answer to everything where National Socialism was concerned. The fact that we’re sitting here today up to our necks in shit is the clear and logical result of Nazi policies and ideology. And not just us, either, the whole of Germany’s in the same predicament – surrounded by enemies who want us dead. The whole world’s at war with us and hates us as the worst enemy of humanity!’