David Perkins - Hitler's Astrologer

People usually don’t read this part of a book . This is sad, for in the case of many books, screenplays, and movies, the story behind the story is just as interesting.

I wish I could tell you all the story of how this story came to me, however this space is for all those I must give my deepest THANKS – for what you are about to read would not be possible without the assistance, encouragement, guidance and love from those I am about to mention.

Family first – to my brother Lucian who since I was little has been, and still is to this day, the perfect role model for good character and success, and who I continue to look to on ‘how to do’ something. To my sister whose guidance has allowed me to navigate my journeys into the spiritual world and of the heart – a role model to the world for the idea of unconditional love. Of course, to Mom and Dad who raised me to be healthy in mind and body, and are now in the spiritual world. To my daughter Amanda who is my pride and joy that gives life meaning. THANK-YOU – I love you all.

To Peter & Tonye-Marie, who helped me “make it” in other areas so I could finish this story, God bless you both for inspiring me to get to the next level, and to our school librarian, Sheryl Rossi, who has loved books all her life (and even made a special place for me in our library for me to finalize this book during my lunch breaks).

No matter where I’ve lived or how many years since the time I’ve seen him last, to my best friend of all time (before 1 stgrade, actually) Douglas R. Wilkins, who besides being instrumental in finalizing this story for you, is also instrumental in this story transforming into a film version – which Hitler’s Astrologer is now an international award winning screenplay.

Last, but certainly not least, I must thank GOD, who had me playing chess in a Hamburg park that introduced me to the only man living in 1984 who could tell the inside story of how the Third Reich used astrology and the occult. It was meant to be.

As president of the Holocaust Survivors Group of Southern Nevada, I first came into contact with David when he called our organization expressing his wish to interview holocaust survivors within our group who felt comfortable doing so, to gain insight for a book he was writing. We later met, where I learned of David’s research into this little known story about an intriguing character of history that until now, I have never heard about. However, I was surprised that David was actually more interested in our group’s story, and his questions showed he not only desired information about our experience, he truly wanted to understand our experience.

Since that time David has invited myself and my friend to come speak at the high school he taught, which was difficult for me to consider at first as I have never spoken of my experiences in public before. However, now this experience is a yearly occurrence, for he felt my story not only assisted in constructing the historical accuracy for this book, but also is a lesson that needed to be heard by all, especially students of the 21 stCentury.

I would also like to share with you that it is our story that gave David the idea that an item, such as his book, that reaps the rewards of humanity’s fascination with the Third Reich, should also benefit the people who suffered the most under this brutal regime, so with this thought in mind, he offered to contribute a portion of the profits of this book to our Holocaust Survivors, for which our organization is most grateful.

If David approached the rest of the book with the sincerity, detailed research, and consideration to the facts as when interviewing our group, I’m sure you, dear reader, are in for an in-depth historical portrayal of this little known, behind the scenes glimpse into the dark forces that made up the most evil institution in world history.

Captain Best Payne and his partner lay face down in the half frozen mud hastily covered with loose branches and dead leaves within their reach. Before leaving the Dutch city of Enschede, local intelligence informed them this stretch of the Holland – German border had very few, if any, patrols. This information was either unreliable, or someone was misinformed. Crunching boots and occasional shouts in German now filled the dark, thickly wooded forest like a machine with a mind of its own.

They would change the schedule on the day we go in . Payne thought, recalling the training, memorization, and study dedicated to this mission. Six months of work and we may get caught within six minutes after crossing the border. Shit.

Frustration and fear flowed from thought into the rest of his body. The sporadic shouts in German became louder. Both minds calculate deeper realms of possibilities. Was it a change in schedule, or did they know we were coming? Payne wonders if he will ever see an English soccer game again. His eyes close. An image of his father drifts into his imagination.

A new sound accelerates their already quickened heartbeats. A sound telling both Welshmen their chances of getting caught just increased ten fold.

“Dogs!” Riley whispered.

As threating barks and excited shouts grow louder, both Payne and Riley hear a loud crack above them, as if a huge tree branch above them suddenly gave way. For several seconds, dead silence.

“Raus! Raus!”

Riley Stevens and Best Payne remained perfectly still. Heavy boots crunching in the snow multiply and completely surround them. A splash of snow from one of these boots spray on Payne’s nose.

Easy, easy. Payne remembered in training how a member on the opposite team looking for him, only inches away, did not see him. Just because they’re close doesn’t mean they see me.

More shouts. But directed at at him , or Stevens? Or both ? The taste of beer had in Holland before slipping into Germany returned to his mouth. His thoughts strayed from beer to the barmaid who always flirted with him at a pub in Fishguard. He never kissed her.

A heavy thump on his back surged pain throughout his 160-pound athletic body. Caught. Their mission to assassinate the mythical voice whispering prophetic advice into the ears of Nazi leaders was over.

“Raus… Raus!!!”

Did they get Riley, too?

Goebbels was happy. Once again his wife Magda showed another sign of pure genius which he would get credit for. Moments like this reassured him this marriage – arranged by Hitler himself – was indeed advantageous to his personal goals.

The most recent tension in his marriage started just after the fall of Poland. Ironically his feelings for her paralleled his feelings on the military issues he had to deal with at any given time. Screaming under the surface of his normally cool, controlled speaking manner was the question he had for both Magda and the Nazi party in 1939:

What next?

Sitting in his spacious office in the Reichstag, he analyzed Magda’s current idea with the astuteness learnt while living at a Franciscan boarding school as a young man in the Netherlands. How far he had risen since those horrible, lonely, and deprived days after the First World War. A war he was not allowed to fight in due to a deformed right leg. A war, even when it was over, he pretended to have participated in. A war allowing him to claim the limp caused by untreated osteomyelitis as a child was instead from combat.