I... never meant to become what I am now... I was in it for the science... My colleagues? I'm not sure I can say the same for them...
I was inducted into the army at 17, just like all men in Germany. I learned basic English in primary school as an elective. In the army, I was taught how to shoot, I learned to ride horseback, I hunted... It was all perfectly normal at the time. None of us really had any idea what was actually going on...
I like to consider myself lucky that I never saw the front lines. I was trained to be a doctor. When I finished medical school and got my medical license at age 21, I was given unlimited funding, all the patients I could ask for, and granted permission to perform any experiments I so wished. At that age I was still a reckless teenager with millions of ideas. It couldn't have been a better time for me. I discovered many things about the human body during my time as I doctor in the regime, many of which are common knowledge today.
When the war ended, I began work as a trauma surgeon in Stuttgart. I worked in that disgusting hospital for six months. I was so blinded by what I thought back then was genius that I let my own crazy ideas get the best of me. Working in those labs with the regime had made me numb to regret, I had no respect for dignity and no compassion for human suffering. They were products to me, every last one of them! Nothing but experiments, test subjects! They weren't people, they didn't have feelings! Their screams meant nothing to me!
Eventually my ideas put me in mortal peril. These days I look back and laugh at my mistakes, because I know I'm safe from persecution, but the memories of what I've done still haunt me, even if I don't show it.
The patient came in with a severe blood clot in one of the major arteries, and it was my job to clear it. Routine procedure, I've done it about ten times, but I had gotten sick of routine. I missed being able to express myself through my passion, to show myself what I was capable of. I told the patient that when he woke up, he would feel like a brand new man.
I wasn't wrong...
They revoked my medical license, tore it up right in front of my face. I ran from that hospital before they could even call security on me. I moved to a small neighboring town called Rotenberg, and lived there for... ten years, was it? Well, I did develop a... reputation... there, as well...
So, on the night of the mayor's wedding, I decided to leave the town. Aside from the human body and medicine, birds absolutely fascinated me. They still do. Homing pigeons in particular, because, no matter where they are, they always know where their nesting grounds are and never fail to return. I knew the mayor would have them at his wedding, and I just had to have them.
The caterer left the keys right in the ignition. It was his own mistake. I took that van and all the birds in it and had it shipped overseas. I couldn't stay there anymore. Not with so many people still looking for me, even after all that time.
So I moved to American, became a refugee. I was contacted within a few days and offered a contract. Unlimited funding, a state-of-the-art laboratory, a renewable source of test subjects, and immunity to the law... I didn't know what that meant at the time, but I accepted, mainly because I was reminded so much of my old job back in Germany and wanted to relive my glory days.
Yes, I have my regrets. I'm not proud of what I've done when I was working with the regime, but I don't act like it never happened.