Chapter II- The Man in the Dark Coat
A/N: Given this one's short length, making it a two-chapter story might have been unnecessary, but it seemed to fit better so I went ahead with it. Slight cross-over between movies in this chapter- Herr Knopp, the Gestapo officer who appears in the 1993 movie "Swing Kids". I chose Knopp because the actor, Kenneth Branagh, gave him that perfect combination of a calm, subdued exterior but a fiery belief in the NSDAP underneath. That's just the sort of man who could have drawn almost any 1930's German teenager into the world of the Nazis.
With a sharp twinge of fear Dieter recognized him: Herr Knopp, the local 'representative' of the Gestapo. Dieter's joining the HJ had been just before a scheduled visit by the Gestapo, introducing themselves- and Herr Knopp as the local leader- as allies of the Hitler Youth. Men to be feared, yes, but also trusted and respected. So the Party said. Yes, some of Dieter's friends- and their parents- said the Party was not always right, and that men who answered to no one were not to the benefit of society. Yes, that was true. But none of them had been there any of the times Dieter's father had decided to add a few bruises to his son's slim frame. And none of them had been there tonight.
Dieter, feeling almost numbed now, simply told Herr Knopp what had happened. He spoke only briefly as he listened, adding, "So that's what those gunshots were about." When Dieter had finished, Knopp said, "Show me." An icicle of fear stabbed through Dieter. He didn't want to go back. He didn't want to see any of that, any of it, ever again. Some part of that fear must have showed, because Herr Knopp said, "There is no place in this world for the weak, Hellstrom. You were strong enough to face it once, you'll just have to face it again. Be strong, and be fearless. Now show me where it happened."
Dieter took a deep breath, steeling himself as he opened the door to his family's apartment. A handful of curious neighbors had emerged by this point, but one sight of the HJ boy accompanied by an SS major was all they needed. Dieter made it well enough through the parlor, but when he got to the kitchen and saw his mother, saw the bloody hammer… one second he felt like vomiting, the next he was vomiting, retching on the tiled floor next to the neighborhood Gestapo man. But he was not alone now; two others stood behind him, and distantly Dieter heard Herr Knopp say something about "clean up the mess". When Dieter had spilled up his dinner and subsided to coughing, Knopp set a hand on his shoulder. "You loved your mother, didn't you?"
Dieter managed to nod. He stood up, but could not look. Knopp nodded. "I understand. Believe me, I do. But the world that took your mother is ready to take your grandfather, your cousins- everyone and everything that you love. You have to be strong and fight against that. Fight against the Reds, against the old order- and help me, help the Führer, establish a new one." Dieter was allowed to withdraw to the parlor again, and Knopp took a seat across from him. Soon the two Gestapo men came downstairs with the pistol, and with Rudolf Hellstrom's body. A vehicle was called to take the bodies away; both would be buried properly, Knopp promised, but at Dieter's request not beside one another, as would normally have been done. As Dieter's father was carried outside by two doctors, employees of some government department Dieter didn't know, Knopp looked at Dieter and said something he'd never forget.
"I knew your father, briefly. We fought in the same unit, as young men. Hardly older than you. But the war broke your father, Dieter. It wounded him, in body and in spirit, and wounds to the spirit can be far more damaging than harm done to flesh and blood." Dieter stared at Knopp now, his eyes red and his emotions in uproar, but riveted on every word. Knopp went on, his voice now deadly serious, "We could have won the war, Dieter. But we didn't. And do you know why?" Dieter could not find the words. Acid thrown up from his stomach burned his throat, and he could hardly bear to talk. So he simply shook his head.
Knopp seemed to expect this, a lack of understanding; he wasn't surprised in the least. "Not many people know the truth- or want to face the terrible simplicity of it. That's true of many things, not just the war. But the truth of the war is simple: the Jews. It was the Jews who bankrupted our economy, gassed our soldiers, and saw our mighty fleet scrapped by the English at Scapa Flow. Working cleverly behind the scenes, of course, but they did it all the same." Now Knopp's eyes blazed with a cold fire, one Dieter had too often seen when he looked in the mirror after yet another beating. Knopp stood.
"No more dead mothers, Dieter. No more families torn apart by the shockwaves of unrest the Jews and communists delight in sending across a 'beaten' Germany. Because to the world, that's what we are; that's all they want us to be, ever again. We can be strong again- will be strong again. But Germany needs the Party, and the Party needs boys like you, who will lead us into the future one day as men." Knopp extended his hand. "Will you fight for the new Germany, Dieter?"
Dieter Hellstrom stood as well. Facing the black-uniformed Gestapo man, Dieter did not look at him with fear and secret loathing, as so many were inclined to do. All the rumors, all the stories of what terrible things these men did- all of it melted away. For Dieter such nonsense had ceased to exist. Instead, he looked at Herr Knopp with something more than respect. He looked at Knopp with something like love. And when Dieter shook Knopp's hand, his grip was firm and confident. The shake of a boy fast learning to tread the path to manhood, and tread it unafraid. And his answer was one word.
"Ja."
