Griffin W.E.B. - Honor Bound 03 - Secret Honor

Two days later, Heydrich handed him an envelope con taining a great deal of cash.

"Consider this a confidential allowance," Heydrich said.

"Spend it as you need to. It doesn't have to be accounted for. It comes from a confidential special fund."

With his new position as First Deputy Adjutant to Reichs fuhrer-SS Himmler came other perquisites, including a deputy. Heydrich sent him-"for your approval; if you don't get along, I'll send you somebody else"-Obersturmfiihrer

Erich Raschner, whom Heydrich identified as intelligent and trustworthy. And, who "having never served in either the

Waffen-SS," he went on, "or the Wehrmacht, has been taught to respect those of his superiors who have."

Raschner turned out to be a short, squat, phlegmatic Hes sian, three years older than von Deitzberg. He had come into the SS as a policeman, but a policeman with an unusual background.

For one thing, he had originally been commissioned into the Allgemeine-SS, which dealt mainly with internal security and racial matters, rather than the Waffen-SS. Later, he had been transferred -to the Sicherheitspolizei, the Security

Police, called the Sipo, of the Reichssicherheitshauptamt or

RSHA (Reich Security Central Office).

Early on in his time with von Deitzberg, Raschner made it clear that as von Deitzberg was judging him for a long-term relationship, Raschner was doing the same thing. Von

Deitzberg understood that to mean that it was important to

Heydrich for them to get along.

Two weeks later, Heydrich asked von Deitzberg for an opinion of Raschner, and von Deitzberg gave him the answer he thought he wanted: They got along personally, and

Raschner would bring to the job knowledge of police and internal security matters that von Deitzberg admitted he did not have.

"Good," Heydrich said with a smile. "He likes you, too.

We'll make it permanent. And tonight we'll celebrate. Come by the house at, say, half past seven."

At half past seven, they opened a very nice bottle of Cour voisier cognac, toasted the new relationship, and then Hey drich matter-of-factly explained its nature.

"One of the things I admire in you, Manfred," Heydrich said, "is that you can get things done administratively."

"Thank you."

"And Erich, on the other hand, can get done whatever needs to be done without any record being kept. Do you follow me?"

"I'm not sure."

"The confidential special fund is what I'm leading up to,"

Heydrich said. "I'm sure that aroused your curiosity, Man fred?"

"Yes, it did."

"What no longer appears on Erich's service record is that he served with the Totenkopfverbande," Heydrich said. The

Death's-Head-Skull-Battalions were charged with the administration of concentration camps.

"I didn't know that."

"You told me a while ago you were having a little trouble keeping your financial head above water. A lot of us have that problem. We work hard, right? We should play hard, right? And to do that, you need the wherewithal, right?"

"Yes, Sir," von Deitzberg said, smiling.

"Has the real purpose of the concentration camps ever occurred to you, Manfred?"

"You're talking about the Final Solution?"

"In a sense. The Fiihrer correctly believes that the Jews are a cancer on Germany, and that we have to remove that cancer. You understand that, of course?"

"Of course."

"The important thing is to take them out of the German society. In some instances, we can make them contribute to

Germany with their labor. You remember what it says over the gate at Dachau?"

" 'Arbeit macht frei'?"

"Yes. But if the parasites can't work, can't be forced to make some repayment for all they have stolen from Ger many over the years, then something else has to be done with them. Right?"

"I understand."

"Elimination is one option," Heydrich said. "But if you think about it, realize that the basic objective is to get these parasites out of Germany, elimination is not the only option."

"I don't think I quite understand," von Deitzberg con fessed.

"Put very simply, there are Jews outside of Germany who are willing to pay generously to have their relatives and friends removed from the concentration camps," Heydrich said.

"Really?"

"When it first came to my attention, I was tempted to dis miss this possibility out of hand," Heydrich said. "But then I gave it some thought. For one thing, it accomplishes the

Fiihrer's primary purpose-removing these parasitic vermin from the Fatherland. It does National Socialism no harm if vermin that cost us good money to feed and house leave

Germany and never return."

"I can see your point."

"And at the same time, it takes money from Jews outside

Germany and transfers it to Germany. So there is also an ele ment of justice. They are not getting away free after sucking our blood all these years."

"I understand."

"In other words, if we can further the Fiihrer's intention to get Jews out of Germany, and at the same time bring Jewish money into Germany, and at the same time make a little money for ourselves, what's wrong with that?"

"Nothing that I can see."

"This has to be done in absolute secrecy, of course. A number of people would not understand, and an even larger number would feel they have a right to share in the confi dential special fund. You can understand that."

"Yes, of course."

"Raschner will get into the details with you," Heydrich went on. "But essentially, you will do what I've been doing myself. Inmates are routinely transferred from one concen tration camp to another. And, routinely, while the inmates are en route, members of the Totenkopfverbande remove two, three, or four of them from the transport. For purposes of further interrogation and the like. Having been told the inmates have been removed by the Totenkopfverbande, the receiving camp has no further interest in them. The inmates who have been removed from the transport are then pro vided with Spanish passports, and taken by Gestapo escorts to the Spanish border. Once in Spain, they make their way to

Cadiz or some other port and board neutral ships. A month later, they're in Uruguay."

"Uruguay?" von Deitzberg blurted in surprise. It had taken him a moment to place Uruguay, and even then, all he could come up with was that it was close to Argentina, somewhere in the south of the South American continent.

"Some stay there," Heydrich said matter-of-factly, "but many go on to Argentina."

"I see," von Deitzberg said.

"Documents issued by my office are of course never ques tioned," Heydrich went on, "and Raschner will tell you what documents are necessary. You will also administer dispersals from the confidential special fund. Raschner will tell you how much, to whom, and when."

"I understand."

"We have one immediate problem," Heydrich said. "And then we'll have another little sip of this splendid brandy and go see what we can find for dinner."

"An immediate problem?"

"We need one more man here in Berlin," Heydrich said.

"Someone who will understand the situation, and who can be trusted. I want you to recruit him yourself. Can you think of anyone?"

That had posed no problem for von Deitzberg.

"Josef Goltz," he said immediately. "Obersturmbann fiihrer Goltz."

Heydrich made a "give me more" sign with his hands.

"He's the SS-SD liaison officer to the Office of the Party

Chancellery."

Heydrich laughed. "Great minds run in similar channels," he said. "That's the answer I got when I asked Raschner for ideas. Why don't the two of you talk to him together?"

In addition to his other duties, Heydrich had been named

"Protector of Czechoslovakia." On May 31, 1942, he was fatally wounded when Czech agents of the British threw a bomb into his car in Prague.