HETALIA IS A MANGA BY HIDEKAZ HIMARUYA
1940
A grenade exploded too close to Norway, making him lose balance. He got up wobbling, with an ear ringing, but looked for his gun. He was not going to surrender, not now, he still could...
He was surrounded by at least half a dozen Germans, and he shot as many as he could. He missed some times due to his state, but he got to wound one in the leg. Only when he was attacked from behind, using the butt of their gun, he finally stopped fighting. The world turned black.
When he woke up, someone was tending his wounds. Norway spent some time with his eyes closed, unable to open them, whining without opening his lips, turning his head a bit, until he finally opened his eyes little by little. Fortunately, the light in the room was dim, so it didn't hurt his eyes, but he still needed some time to distinguish the forms of the furniture around him—and see that the one who was extracting shrapnel pieces from his torso was no other than the one who had started all that mess: Germany.
Norway opened his mouth and tried to stand up, but it brought him so much pain he barely moved. Germany also prevented him from doing so.
"Please, not yet. You are in no condition."
"What are you doing here?" Norway was barely able to mutter.
"What do you think I am doing?" Germany replied, not taking his eyes off his labor. "You should stay still. I don't want to hurt you."
"Sure you don't..." Norway grunted, and spat on his face.
Germany's reaction to this was extremely calm: he took a handkerchief from one of the pockets of his suit and cleaned himself in silence, his face not showing anger at all. Norway was sure he would now sink his finger in the wound, beat him up or something of the sort, but he didn't. He just finished tending the wound.
"I know I have been a bit...violent. But there are changes which can only be produced using force, making sacrifices."
Germany stood up and handed Norway his shirt.
"You are stronger than you look. It will heal in no time."
With that, he left the room, leaving Norway alone to rest. To lament about his situation, actually. Now he was in the hands of that disgusting Nazi.
Germany was right. His wounds healed in very little time and now he was ready to face whatever the occupier had in store for him. Norway knew of the hell Poland was going through, what was happening to Czechoslovakia, to France. Probably Denmark was going through the same at that moment, and England, who had tried to help him, would do well protecting himself. Sure he couldn't expect much kindness from the Axis, and so prepared himself to endure death and repression.
But Germany surprised him with his behavior.
His people did not bring the massacre he expected. Sure the Jews he could find were deported and made disappear, but the locals, Norway himself...For them, Germany started building. It was as if he wanted his cities and towns to be rebuilt after destroying them. His soldiers respected his people and Germany respected Norway. From the very moment Norway was forced to surrender, he did not become a prisoner, but...He wasn't sure of what he had become. He could move freely, he was not watched all the time or forced to work. Although he always refused, Germany would often invite him to eat with him. Compared to so many others, he was being treated like a prince.
So Norway accepted one of these dinners together, just to find out what is going on.
"What are you scheming, Germany?"
Germany tucked his napkin into his collar and glanced at Norway with a small smile before revealing what they were going to eat: roasted duck.
"I thought it was clear by now." He simply said, offering Norway to serve himself first, but since the Nordic didn't seem to want to eat, he cut a few pieces for his own plate.
"I mean involving me. Why are you doing all this, building things, acting nice to my people, inviting me to roasted duck?"
"Nordics and Germanics are not that different. In fact, I am quite convinced that we all descend from the same man, Germania...Whenever I find myself in the North, I feel at home."
"I live here and I'm not sharing." Norway frowned.
"I do not intend to steal your home from you, don't worry."
"Then tell your army to leave."
Germany smirked as he started cutting the duck to eat it.
"If you want me to join you or something, you are losing your time. I am not a Nazi." Norway said.
"You are looking at this the wrong way. I did not want to possess you because you had different ideas from me and wanted to beat them out of your head. No. As I said, it is all about family. I believe you and I are not that different. But you...you've got something special."
Germany chewed his food and made a pause to clean his mouth before speaking again.
"You did not go through the same corruption as I did. We are the embodiment of the feelings of our people, their spirits, also their health. Our body mirrors everything that happens to our citizens. After the war, too many of my men died. My women were single or widowed, and the situation was very hard. So many of those who got to find someone either used contraceptives or got abortions. Very few children were born, and I could feel that, how my body grew...old, weak. Who had the resources or the madness to conceive in such circumstances? Those who didn't make me stronger, but weaker: lazy people, crazy people, homeless, drunks, Jews...Undesirables who contaminated my pure Aryan blood. That is, until my general Himmler found a way to solve it. Encouraging the procreation of the strongest, fittest, purest, because they have the key to my vigor and health."
A new pause, this time Germany drank from his glass of wine.
"Surely, not all kinds of people are valid for this important task. Only those who are pure Aryans, certified by the SS taking a look at their ancestry. We encourage women who are pure to stay in our facilities, where they will be safe from the stigma of being single mothers and will be well treated until they give birth in good conditions. Then, the baby is put under the care of an elite family who will educate them in our high values. We have found some promising children in Poland and Slovakia. We make a selection, of course, but those who are certified are put under our wing and away from their decadence. But we also...produce those children, let's say. If we breed horses to preserve their good traits, why not humans too? It is even more important to give the world our best individuals, isn't it? That, Norway, is where you intervene."
His blue eyes gazed at Norway in a way that made him shiver.
"You Nordics are also Germania's descendants. You have the purest blood in all of Europe. Even purer than mine. Yours was untouched. It would be a pity if your beauty and good health were lost on all those people the allies defend and those monkeys who come from Africa to help them. Himmler and I want to help you. We brought a better design from your cities and for your people. Our men. My SS men are good men and represent everything we need as nations. You have really beautiful and strong women. You shouldn't see my soldiers as monster who came to destroy you. I instructed them personally to be kind."
His hand touched Norway's and the boy trembled.
"I will be kind to you."
Norway removed the hand. He tried to say something, anything, but words just didn't come out. Why didn't they come out?
"This occupation will not last long. Only the necessary. And if you are collaborative, things will be much easier for you and me." Germany stood up and walked to him, to kneel before him. He took his hands and again Norway felt as if they poured freezing water on his back. "I don't want to hurt you, I really don't. I want to help you. You are what I am fighting for. You are the perfection I strive for. If I am doing all of this, it is because there are things in this world worth protecting. You are one of them. Tell me you understand. Say you are willing to let me help you, and I will give you the world once I conquer it. My empire is not just for me. It's for us."
Germany did not look as corrupted as he claimed. In Norway's opinion, he embodied already that Aryan perfection. The pale skin, the blue eyes, the blond hair, the strong complexion, the attractive features...What did he look like in his finest years, when he was completely pure? If his women procreated with his men, what would come of it? What effect that would have on Germany?
...What was he thinking?!
Germany took one of his hands and kissed it. Feeling his heart skip a beat, Norway grabbed the knife from the table and pounced on him. Germany was in clear superiority in a mano a mano combat. He easily pushed him to the table, completely wrecking the fine-disposed dinner. Then, he leaned forward, leaving Norway no room to move, almost not to breathe. He got so close he could feel his warm breath in his face.
"That is what I'm talking about..." He muttered. And his lips pressed against Norway's.
Norway left out a muffled protest, but he could barely move. The shivers returned stronger than ever, his whole body felt electrified...
...NO! HE WOULD NEVER BE HIS!
He still had the knife in his hand. Grunting like an animal, he stabbed Germany in the eye with it and pushed him off him, to run out of the room. But where did he think he was going? Germany himself knew he had no place to go, that was why he calmly removed the knife from his socket and, shaking his head at his stubbornness, cleaned the room up.
He was sure of his victory. Soon all of Europe would be at his feet. Norway would learn to accept him. He just needed time.
After all, the SS already had Norwegian volunteers for the birthing programs...
Germany was a liar. He promised puppet president Quisling he would leave soon, as soon as circumstances allowed him, but the truth was that Norway was now a colony of Germany. Property of the Nazi regime. But the Nordic nation continued to receive privileges...and proposals.
Norway kept brushing his skin covered in soap. He rubbed with so much force his paleness was turning red and it was starting to hurt. Yet, he kept doing it.
He felt so, so dirty...
1945
Thank God, all things, even the bad ones, come to an end in life. Germany and his goons were so sure of their victory they made some fatal mistakes. Rubbing America and Russia the wrong way were some of them. A series of losses and Italy switching sides made him desperate enough to make mistakes which got him cornered and beaten up. Unable to find an escape, Hitler shot himself in the head, hidden in a bunker in Berlin, and without his führer, the one who made him what he was and gave him direction, Germany had no moral to continue. Japan was still standing, ready to fight for death at the Pacific, him against the world if it was necessary, but Europe was now liberated and Norway could finally recover freedom and see his brother and friends.
They did not suspect how deep war had affected Norway until those 'German girls' were made public.
Whores. That's what they were. Women who had sold their bodies to the invaders. Who married them and willingly became their breeding livestock in exchange of food and safety, while everyone around them suffered and risked their lives for their country. They betrayed Norway and like traitors they were punished.
During his visits, Iceland saw some of them. Women whose heads had been shaved and were insulted, kicked, spat on and pointed at in the streets. That was what was going on in France, Hungary and all places where the Germans had mingled with complacent natives. He suspected they joined the soldiers and other collaborators at the concentration camps created for that Nazi scum.
"Please...Please, sir...He was my husband..."
That woman had the nerve to address him. She looked for her nation's sympathy among the furious crowd. She was young and very pretty, even if her head was bald and had been mistreated. A baby was crying in her arms.
Norway gazed at it. The baby shook its head and he could see for a second a pair of blue eyes.
"Mister Norge..." The woman sobbed.
Iceland saw how his older brother held the woman's stare but did not give her the compassion she looked for, but a wrath even greater than the one the people were showing. For a moment, one of the coldest countries seemed to have risen from the depths of hell.
"I want everyone to know that these German girls are not my people, nor their disgusting offspring. You hurt me. You betrayed me. I want you out of my house. Out! All of you! Join the Germans, if you love them so much!"
The mob around them cheered and kept on harassing the woman. «You heard what he said, bitch, no one wants you here!», «Rot in hell with the Nazis!», «Norway will be far better without you!». The lady, bursting into tears, got up from the floor and protecting her child tried to get out of the circle to escape, but the circle grew smaller, more vicious. Norway grabbed Iceland's hand to leave. Unlike the youngest, he didn't look back.
2007
Norway had just finished a phone call when his president came into the room. And he brought quite shocking news.
"You have been sued at the European Court of Human Rights."
Norway needed a second to digest that.
"...Me?" He asked, placing a hand on his chest.
"Yes. You."
"What did I do?"
"Depriving thousands of children from their childhoods, deporting them, allowing them to be harassed." The president replied. "But it's alright. It happened during World War II, that prescribed too long ago. The judge will not admit it."
"World War..." Norway drummed his fingers against the table, thinking.
"Don't you remember? The Lebensborn Program."
Norway went completely still, the drumming stopping all of a sudden. His gaze was lost somewhere in the office.
"..."
"Yes. That. Most of the women who went through that are dead by now, but the children are still here and want a compensation."
The president sat in front of his nation.
"You dodged a bullet but I think you should still apologize."
Norway remained silent for some more time.
"...Nobody apologized to me..." He finally said.
"I know you suffered during those dark times, but they suffered even more. Those children were innocent, it's not their fault that their fathers..."
"They are the product of something twisted and wrong."
"Still not their fault. How many of those women were forced? There are so many children of Nazis in Europe, all around the world, those people..."
"They were not forced!" Norway snapped. "They did it because they wanted to! Because they were cowards and bad women! They preferred surrendering to the enemy than fighting, like everyone else! They acted like prostitutes! They contaminated me with that Nazi blood!"
"Norway, you surprise me, talking in such terms." The president frowned.
"You think I'm being harsh? You have no idea. You..."
He was not a member of the European Union. He didn't have to see Germany as often as his Nordic brothers. But he still had commercial relations with him. He surely had changed. Germany himself had said so many times that he let Hitler and his men fill his head with horrible ideas. He had apologized for all the damage caused, all the pain and destruction. He had tried to make amends. He was a new man. But every time Norway saw him, he remembered those blue eyes on him, telling him about the perfect race they could preserve together, Germany's men and Norway's women...the two of them together...his hand touching his skin...
...And he felt filthy again...
Remembering that baby with blue eyes, the thousands of 'racially perfect' children in his home, made him touch his skin feeling it was covered in dirt, unconsciously, like a reflex.
"...Sure. I have no idea." The president said. "But what I know is that thousands of your people have grown old and died thinking you hate them. Some became criminals and have problems because they got nothing but hate. People with good traits, perhaps people who could have done great things if they had had the chance."
His people...
Norway sighed, still not looking at his president.
"...I promise I'll think about it."
2018
"I had never seen him so close..."
Norway smiled internally, hearing those women who were setting everything up for the televised announcement. They were young, probably some of those internship youngsters, and sure they were delighted to be there, so close to their nation. They tried to be discreet, but Norway could hear them talking; talking about him.
"Wow, he doesn't look like he's a thousand years."
"And to think he was once a viking..."
"Who would have said it."
"Look at those eyes."
"He's perfect."
Norway's amusement ended suddenly. Again, he was hearing Germany.
"You are the perfection I strive for..."
Feeling his hands on him, the taste of his lips...
The dirt he left on them, which no soap could remove...
"On air on the count of three...two..." The director suddenly said.
Norway took deep air and forced himself to place his hands on his lap.
It was time to clean that dark spot...
THE END
It is unknown how many children were born from the Lebensborn program, since the Nazis destroyed most of the documentation related, but it is known that 200,000 children were the product of this eugenic project. One of them was Anni-Frid Lyngstad, founding member of the famous music group ABBA.