Author's Note: Others own the Hogan's Heroes characters.
Beyond the End – Part 3
By Diane Maher
"AAHHH!!!! AAAHHHH!!!!" Klink shouted as he sat bolt upright in bed, clutching his chest. He was sweating profusely and horribly afraid. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness of his bedroom, he realized that he was in his quarters and that everything was all right. There was no riot and there had been no deaths. But what would today bring? Klink asked himself as fear gripped his heart.
Crawling out of his bed, Klink slid his feet into his slippers and headed for the bathroom. After a lukewarm shower, he put on his royal blue robe with the yellow embroidered hawk that his mother had given him for his birthday last year. Standing in front of the mirror, he looked at his reflection before he shaved and dressed for the day. So Wilhelm, the day has finally come. You must decide what to do and you may have no alternative, Klink thought wistfully to himself as he finished dressing.
Klink put on his coat and wiped the sweat from his brow before placing his cap on his head, picking up his riding crop and walking outside to hear Schultz's report at the morning roll call. As he crossed the compound, Klink looked at the prisoners in front of him. Looking down the rows at each individual face, he knew that to these men, this was a normal day in the life of Stalag 13. Finally, his gaze met Colonel Hogan's and his fear assaulted him once more. Klink realized that this day wouldn't be like any other.
"All prisoners present and accounted for, Herr Kommandant!" Schultz exclaimed in his usual loud tone.
Klink waved his hand carelessly towards the prisoners and shouted, "Dismissed!" He then turned and started back to his office. Before entering the building, he stopped, stood and looked around at the place he'd called home since his transfer here when the camp opened. I know now that my choice is right, Klink thought, his pride clearly paving the way for that choice.
As Klink entered his office a
few minutes later, he looked at his desk and around the office and saw the
pictures and the memorabilia, all exactly where they should be. Removing his monocle, he pulled a
handkerchief from his pocket and carefully wiped the eyepiece. As he sat at his desk, he unlocked and opened
the drawer where he'd hidden the Führer's order that had arrived yesterday and
pulled out the envelope. He had wanted
to make sure no one would find it.
Opening the envelope and pulling out the single, folded sheet of paper, Klink wished that when he unfolded the page and looked at the words, they would say, 'Free the prisoners, we have lost.' Instead, the words 'execute all prisoners' stood out as though they were the only words on the page.
Klink looked at his calendar and made a mental note of the date -- April thirtieth. He stood, went to the window, opened it and looked outside. The sun lit most of the compound now. He inhaled the crisp morning air before nervously returning to his desk. He looked at the rest of the mail piled there, but was so afraid of what he was going to do today, that he couldn't deal with any of it. Out of frustration, he threw each and every letter into the trash can until finally, all that remained on his desk was the envelope he'd received yesterday bearing the Führer's order.
Knowing he could no longer put off the inevitable, Klink sighed and said, "The time has finally come."
Klink called, "Schultz!" He stood, poured himself a glass of schnapps and downed it in one gulp. He felt the soothing warmth of the liquid as it slid down his throat.
Schultz came into his office and asked, "Jawohl, Herr Kommandant?" His gaze briefly went to the schnapps glass before meeting Klink's eyes.
"Bring Hogan over here right away, I need to speak to him," ordered Klink.
"Jawohl, Herr Kommandant," Schultz replied and left the room.
Klink opened his desk drawer and pulled out the loaded Luger that he kept there. He examined the gun's barrel, turned off the safety, and slowly turned it over and over in his hands. He felt the weight of world on his shoulders pending his upcoming confrontation with Hogan and the decision he had made about the Führer's order. A minute later, Schultz and Hogan entered his office.
"Herr Kommandant, Colonel Hogan is here as you requested," Schultz said as his eyes bulged when he saw Klink holding the gun. Schultz cast a furtive glance toward Hogan and noticed that his expression was one of surprise when he saw the gun in Klink's hand.
Looking up, Klink's expression was completely devoid of emotion. "Thank you, Schultz. Dismissed," responded Klink with a salute and Schultz quickly left the office. To Hogan, Klink said, "I'm sure you're curious as to why you're here."
"The thought had crossed my mind," replied Hogan warily as he looked again at the gun in Klink's hand and then the serious expression on Klink's face. Something was terribly wrong. This wasn't the same man he thought he knew standing in front of him. Hogan began to feel uneasy as he didn't know what to expect.
Staring at the gun, Klink stood and began, "You've been here a long time, Colonel Hogan."
"Yes," said Hogan. "Kommandant, are you all right? You seem to be distracted."
Klink looked at Hogan then and saw the concern on his face. "Yes. I am very distracted," he replied sharply. He turned and looked at the map of Germany where he had always kept track of troop movements, the gun still in his hand. "I know that the war is going badly for us. It is going very badly, in fact."
Hogan came and stood behind Klink and looked at the map. He commented quietly, "Kommandant, why…?"
"Why did I want to talk to you? Well…" Klink began. As panic gripped him, he took a deep breath to calm himself and pulled his tunic so that it was neat and tidy. When Klink turned in Hogan's direction, his gaze slowly rose to meet Hogan's and his gun hand was clearly shaking as he brought the gun to bear.
Shock gripped Hogan as he watched Klink point the gun at him. He saw the fear and anguish in the Kommandant's blue eyes and his first thought was to grab the gun away from Klink. But before he could, Klink clicked his heels together, came to attention, and said, "Colonel Hogan, I wanted you to know that as of right now, I am surrendering Stalag 13 to you." He then turned the gun around and handed it to the American Colonel butt end first.
"What?" asked Hogan, his eyes wide with shock. "What's the catch, Kommandant?"
"There's no catch. This is an unconditional surrender," Klink said nervously. When Hogan took the gun, for an instant Klink feared the American would pull the trigger and shoot him. Klink's eyes flicked to the gun which Hogan still held and for an instant wondered if he had just sentenced all the men in his command to death. However, Hogan didn't fire. Hogan must have noticed his nervous expression as he slipped the gun into one of his jacket's pockets. Klink stood to attention again and gave Hogan a proper military salute.
Hogan saw that Klink was serious and stood to attention and smartly returned the salute. Hogan's expression was one of bewilderment when he asked, "Why are you surrendering to me? Why now?"
Klink relaxed a bit before walking over to his desk and picking up the sheet of paper containing his order to execute the prisoners. He handed the paper to Hogan. "That piece of paper contains an order from Hitler. Read it," Klink said.
Hogan read the order, by the time he finished, his expression was incredulous. When Hogan looked at him, Klink saw the anger and pain in Hogan's eyes before he turned away. When he asked, "You've had this order and you've not obeyed it?"
Klink nodded and replied, "I'm not a killer. I just couldn't kill you and the prisoners here. This is an insane order and I refuse to blindly obey it."
"I don't know what to say…" Hogan began, his voice choked up.
"You're welcome," Klink said quietly. "I didn't know how I could defend you and the prisoners if someone came to make sure that I carried out this order. I've been agonizing over what to do about the order since I received it yesterday. I finally realized that I just wanted the war to end. Our troops are retreating before Allied might and I didn't want to see any killing here. The best way to achieve that is for me to surrender and for the prisoners to arm themselves if need be."
After a minute of silence, Klink asked, "So Colonel Hogan, what will happen to me and the men of my command?"
Hogan thought for a moment before replying, "I think we'll iron out the details of a peaceful transfer of power in Stalag 13 and then we can discuss how we're going to survive the rest of the war. I'm concerned about what will happen when someone comes to check out whether you're actually following Hitler's order."
