Disclaimer: I don't own Hogan's Heroes or any of the characters; I merely borrow them and play with them for a while.
It wasn't how things were supposed to have turned out, Hochstetter ponders. Not even close to it. Germany should have been victorious, and National Socialism prevailing.
Yes, it was the way it should have been, but at the end that dream never came to fruition. Their enemies were too many, too strong, and too stubborn. Too stupid. Indeed, too stupid to realize what glories they could have shared in, if only they had embraced National Socialism with open arms, instead of degenerate ideas like Social Democracy, Communism, and the ugly beast known as democracy.
Democracy. Bah. He frowns upon such delusions. Everyone with half a brain can tell that democracies never work out in the end. People need to be led because they can't lead themselves, as history has clearly shown time after time again. Besides, the German people want a strong leader, as the last election held in pre-war Germany proved when the Party won a landslide victory.
But in the end, their efforts were all for nothing. All their hard work, their careful manipulations and orchestrations, are now in ruins, in pieces. And he isn't sure whether those pieces can ever be put together again. They simply shattered into too many and tiny shards as everything came down around them. And so the ideals they had fought for – some even died for – were shamefully cast aside. Denied. Defamed and denounced.
Everything abetted by their conquerors, of course. The self-righteous men in their uniforms and judges' cloaks, pointing their fingers and trying to place judgment onto them, the loyal supporters of the Third Reich who only did what duty and honour demanded. But now, they have been condemned into history as evil, inhuman beasts. Despite how they were only trying to save Germany from the rot and decay that had been eating it from the inside out ever since the Great War came to an inglorious end. But now they are the ones called evil.
Madness. Logic turned upon its head. And yet people are eating it all up.
Why can't they understand what they, the members of the Party, were trying to achieve? And the necessity of it?
He holds no doubt that one day the German people will regret this. Europe will regret this, once the rotten ideals of democracy have gained hold of all corners and layers of society, permeating the hearts of men with its alluring but deadly siren's song. But no one speaks of the moral corruption, the perverted mindset, and the decaying values that will inevitably follow in its wake.
Indeed, democracy promotes weakness and softness. It embraces mediocrity instead of fostering strength. It has no understanding of concepts like honour, bravery, and loyalty.
Besides, how can a country be run by its people, the common masses? The very idea is ludicrous – the majority are unfit to make decisions on behalf of their fatherland. They would selfishly choose the things that favour themselves rather than the nation as a whole. Only a select few are able set aside the wants and needs of the individual for the good of the country and its people, like it behooves a true leader.
And real leaders are forged by steel and fire and war. The citizenry with their petty, selfish concerns cannot be allowed to lead. They can be turned into useful members of society, but they can never be the ones who actually rule the country, as democracy dictates. No, that sort of task must be left to those who are competent enough to handle it.
Like the loyal members of the Party. They could have led Germany to greatness and glory. Turned her into a mighty empire that would have lasted a thousand years, her power unchallenged.
If only National Socialism had prevailed, the way it was meant to.
But it didn't happen, and now Germany is ruined. And not only because of the bombs and casualties and cities turned to rubble. Such wounds, though grievous, can still heal with time. No, Germany's real ruin is in how the minds of the German people have changed. Even towards the end of the war he could feel the shift in those around him – the unspoken-but-still-there disbelief in the ultimate victory. The doubts, the loss of will to carry on.
Traitors. So many of them. He thinks that if everyone had persisted in their beliefs in the Führer and the Reich, maybe they could have won, despite the odds. But so many officers were fickle – some even plotting from the inside to bring down those in charge and institute their own order. How could they expect Germany to win when they couldn't even keep a united front among themselves?
Yes, so many officers turned traitors towards the end. And even more did after the end. Cowards who would suddenly deny the values they had not long ago claimed to adhere to. Weaklings who would no longer stand up for what they believed in.
But he refused to be like them. No, Major Wolfgang Hochstetter was still a proud National Socialist and not afraid to show it. And so, he stood there in their courtroom, among their judges, refusing to deny or show regret for his actions as his trial was held. Everything he had done had been with the good of the Reich in mind, nothing more, nothing less. He had opted to speak in his own defense, refusing to let a lawyer put words into his mouth, so he could expose all the blatant lies and hypocrisy of those who stood there presuming to judge over him, a loyal German citizen.
Deep inside, he felt a strong conviction that he was doing what was right by refusing to cave in and tell his judges what they wanted to hear. It was the only honourable thing left now, sticking to his beliefs.
The consequence of that was a sentence of twenty years in prison.
And even then, as the verdict was read out to him by an old man wearing a ridiculous wig, he stood tall and proud, still convinced that it was all worth it.
Now, however, when his life has been reduced to iron bars and stonewalls and the dreariness of imprisonment, he isn't so sure anymore.