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Anthon Albrecht Blog Entry |
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April 25, 2025, 12:00:18 AM 4/25/25: r/SketchDaily theme, "Free Draw Friday." This week's character from my anthro WWII storyline is Anthon Albrecht. He's the disabled son of Fredrik and Lieselotte Albrecht and is deceased before the main story, though he's the main reason the Albrechts decide to bring Kolten into their home. There'll be more about him later in my art Tumblr and Toyhou.se. Regarding his design, the slashes to his ears are unintentionally self-inflicted. TUMBLR EDIT: Much of the background for the newly named Anthon (pronounced "An-ton") was laid already in Lieselotte Albrecht's entry, though a few details have mildly changed as his story has started to develop as a dynamic background character (he never appears in the main story) rather than a nameless presence. Some recap: The Trench Rats intercept a Nazi transport of their not-so-secret weapon, a test subject of Project Doomsday who has superhuman strength and resilience. This superweapon also happens to be HUGE and extremely violent: He can toss soldiers aside with a flick of his wrist and destroy everything in his vicinity with his bare hands. Even his Nazi guards despise and fear him, comparing him to the Berserkers of Germanic myth. So the Trench Rats consider it to be the best of luck to capture this superweapon and nullify it somehow. They attack the transport and engage the Germans in a brief battle near some old trenches. The superweapon, sitting in the back of the military truck, simply watches as if curious; while the Germans are distracted, a few Rats confront him with guns drawn and order him out of the truck. His ears fold back and he hunches on himself and starts looking defensive when one of the Rats, D-Day, steps forward and indicates that his fellows should back down, and he speaks to the superweapon in German, keeping his voice and gestures quiet and careful; after a moment the superweapon climbs out of the truck (it groans and rises as he leaves it) and follows the Rats. D-Day himself was once a test subject in Project Doomsday--thus his name--so it appears that he and the superweapon recognize each other. The fight gets more intense, so D-Day and the superweapon take shelter in a trench, but one of the Nazis spots the former and aims at him--he'd been soundly thrashed while guarding the superweapon and wouldn't mind if he were dead. D-Day jumps out in time to shield him from the attack--though he takes the bullets himself, and collapses back in the trench. The superweapon stares at him briefly before lunging up at the soldier with a roar. Everyone else pauses in their fighting to watch as he tosses the guy around like a ragdoll before sending him flying through the air and crashing to the ground in a heap. The Nazis decide to cut and run without their superweapon, though they do scoop up their battered comrade to take with them. One of the Rats spots D-Day lying in the trench and yells for help. The others gather, but he's some distance down, and the superweapon is standing between them. They again aim their guns at him and shout for him to back off; he doesn't move, but does seem to realize that they're looking at D-Day, as he looks at him too. He turns and approaches D-Day, reaching down for him as the Trench Rats yell louder--yet he doesn't grab D-Day and toss him like he did the other guy. He picks up the unconscious Rat and turns, cradling him so carefully he could be carrying a baby. He returns to the edge of the trench, looks up at all the guns aimed at him, then starts making an effort to climb up the trench wall toward them. He has to stop once or twice when the earth crumbles away beneath him but manages to gain his footing and hold D-Day up toward the Rats, who retrieve him and then step back as he clambers out of the trench himself. Then--more gun pointing and orders to put out his hands. The Rats cuff him; he snaps the restraints off without any effort. Rattled, they cuff him again and order him not to break the restraints; as D-Day is rushed off for medical attention, the remaining Rats usher the superweapon into their own vehicle--it creaks and sinks--and nervously place him in blindfold and headphones, taking him back to Headquarters and placing him in a cell. Over the following days, the Rats learn the truth about the Nazi superweapon: His name is Kolten, he's around twenty years old (he can't tell them his exact age, but his memory of certain events is a rough gauge), and he has the emotions and mentality of roughly a four- or five-year-old child. He spent most of his life in an institution before being selected for inclusion in Project Doomsday; although bright, curious, and capable of learning basic, repetitive tasks, he can't read/write or understand complex ideas, and even his speech--he speaks German, and some stilted, broken English--is very simple and straightforward. He answers the Rats' questions honestly, and aside from occasional reluctance, shows no tendency toward guile or deceit. Most striking of all, he's completely cooperative and docile, exhibiting no rage or violence whatsoever, and is even anxious to help "the little Rat" who saved his life. He sits for a direct blood transfusion and returns to his cell without resistance. The Rats are dumbfounded. Kolten's striped shirt provides a clue to what's going on: He bears a black triangle badge, with the word Blöd--"stupid," or intellectually disabled. Kolten's only worth to the Nazi regime is his rare blood type that makes him a prime test subject for Doomsday; if not for this, he would likely have been exterminated by now. Lance Corporal Mahogany Rat provides an additional bit of information from a contact of his who keeps up to date on all the latest medical and scientific journals. The psychiatrists have deemed Kolten to be stupid and "slow," though the technical term for his condition is most likely something called autism. He's adult, but his mind is that of a child. He displays various odd behaviors which hint that, despite his intellectual disabilities, he's not actually stupid; he has a brilliant recollection for directions, layouts, maps, and, to the Rats' chagrin, he plots out the exact directions of his blindfolded trek through Headquarters. He has a photographic memory and can re-create drawings and even entire conversations detail for detail, word for word. Yet alongside all this is a strangely childlike simplicity; shiny objects and lights mesmerize him, and he contentedly draws on the floor of his cell and stares at the pictures in a book that's given him. The one flash of temper arises when the Rats try to remove his black badge; he defends it and yells stridently that it's his, it tells him who he is. Gold Rat finds a solution: He presents Kolten with a new badge--bearing his name--and offers to trade. Kolten hesitates only briefly before tearing his black badge off and relinquishing it to Gold, accepting the new badge in return. The Trench Rats determine that, separated from his Nazi handlers, Kolten is not a threat; he never had the choice to be a weapon, and he has no desire to harm anybody. He just wants to draw and look at pictures, and play with building blocks. His violent rages are basically temper tantrums, and he always expresses remorse afterward. Despite this, however, the Rats decide it's not safe or feasible--or humane--to keep him confined in Headquarters, and they seek an alternate arrangement. Mahogany suggests contacting a German couple he knows: The Albrechts live in a large house out in the country, they despise the Nazi regime, and they're in a special position to know how to handle someone like Kolten. Mahogany is reluctant to go into detail--Fredrik Albrecht shared information with him, which he promised he wouldn't tell others without permission. If they explain the situation to the Albrechts, though, perhaps they'll be able to help. Semi-retired farming couple Fredrik and Lieselotte Albrecht are rather reluctant to converse with their Trench Rat visitors at first--they aren't interested in being part of the resistance--but they listen to the Rats' proposal to temporarily house Kolten. They seem perplexed until the Rats describe Kolten's condition; Lieselotte's eyes grow wet, and Fredrik briefly excuses himself. The Rats sit in awkward silence for a bit until Fredrik returns and says he and Lieselotte need to think it over first. Sensing that they're wavering, Gold tells the other Rats besides Mahogany to go along. After they're gone, Fredrik asks Mahogany, "You told him? About Anthon?" Mahogany swears he didn't, and Gold confirms he has no idea who Anthon is. Fredrik hesitates; Lieselotte says, "Anthon was our son. He's not with us anymore." And Fredrik sits again and haltingly explains. Anthon Albrecht showed very obvious signs of disability early in life, and specialists his parents brought him to declared him severely intellectually impaired, warning them he was unlikely to ever live a normal, productive life. They urged the Albrechts to place him in an institution, yet they balked at the idea--"Who just gives up on their own son like that?--like he's not even worth the effort?" Fredrik says--and they returned home, knowing they were in for a struggle, yet vowing to face it head on. "Children aren't supposed to be easy," Lieselotte adds, "we could bear the hard work. You work hard for your child, ja...?" Anthon never learned how to speak, how to read, how to care for himself. He would sit and rock back and forth, making indecipherable noises, always looking distracted and lost to the world; he was oblivious to his surroundings and even to his parents, responding only minimally when they washed or dressed or fed him. And yet, "He knew we were there, I know he did," Lieselotte insists, "even if he couldn't say it, I know he felt and saw us and loved us. You don't need words. A parent just knows." Fredrik adds that Anthon was prone to screaming fits that to outsiders would have looked chaotic and senseless, but "There was always a reason. Like when a baby soils itself, or wants a bottle, would you get upset with a baby for doing what a baby is supposed to do? Anthon could not speak but he could scream. There was always a reason. You don't get mad. You find the reason. He would calm down then." His voice cracks when he says, "Anthon was a good boy." Boys, however, grow up to become men; and Anthon took after his father, growing into a tall, well-built teenager, still with the mentality of a baby. His tantrums increased in frequency as his needs grew more complex ("Tell me," says Fredrik, "does even a normal teenager know what he wants half the time? I'm not sure poor Anthon knew why he was upset"), but now, they were accompanied by violence; Anthon started punching his legs and clawing at his own ears during his screaming fits, and would end up bloody and sobbing by the time he wore himself out. Fredrik and Lieselotte did all they could to soothe and calm him, but the day finally came when he lashed out, fracturing Fredrik's arm, and they realized they couldn't keep themselves or him safe from himself on their own anymore. With great reluctance, and more than a few tears, they contacted a psychiatric facility they'd heard of in the city, and requested a visit. A doctor in a white coat arrived with his team at the appointed time. He was polite, kind, knowledgeable; he met and assessed Anthon, listened to the Albrechts' descriptions of his behavior, seemed genuinely sympathetic. He told them this was a big decision and he knew they weren't making it lightly, they'd surely exhausted all their options before reaching this point, and admitting they couldn't provide their son with the help he needed didn't make them bad parents. He promised them, after they implored and asked repeatedly, that Anthon would be in the best hands now, and he would do everything he could to help him. His clinic was state of the art, he had an excellent team, they'd dealt with other patients much like Anthon (the Albrechts were surprised yet hopeful to learn that their son wasn't the only one), they could surely help him with his issues. He reassured them that they'd see Anthon again soon, and called the rest of his team to escort Anthon outside to the van. Fredrik asked them to wait a moment, left, and returned with a toy: a small model train engine. He pressed it into Anthon's hand, murmuring tearful apologies to his son, promising he would see him again and that he and Lieselotte loved him. They both stroked their son's face and kissed him farewell before the doctor and his team led him out and into the van, departing the farm for the city. Fredrik pauses in his story--his eyes have grown wet, and his voice falters. "I'd like to show you something," he says, and leads Gold and Mahogany to a large room. It looks to have once been a dining area or a parlor but has since been converted; the large table is crowded with a miniature landscape through which wind numerous toy trains, of various types, with multiple cars. The Trench Rats approach and look the scene over with curiosity. "I made it myself, of course," Fredrik explains, "worked on it for years until my fingers got a bit too stiff to do any more. Yet it was the only thing Anthon ever truly cared to give his attention to. He loved the trains! We would take him to the station when he was little and he would stare and stare. Whenever he heard one in the distance he'd just sit still and listen. I set this up for him and he would arrange and rearrange it for hours. This was the one thing that gave him joy. His eyes would just light up. When he was older this was the one time we knew we never had to worry about him hurting himself or getting upset. Knowing he would be going away and not have this there to comfort him..." He swallows. "I gave him his favorite toy engine to take with him. Something to remind him of home. The doctor said it was all right. He carried that little toy away with him. I almost couldn't wait until I saw him again." Fredrik's eyes flood and he lowers his head, rubbing at them. Lieselotte touches his shoulder and continues the story. They had asked if they could visit Anthon at the clinic, yet the psychiatrist said it was best not to confuse Anthon by making him think he could be going home before it was time. They were assured yet again he was in the best hands, and the clinic would contact them when they had news of improvement, which was sure to happen. The Albrechts settled in to wait, hoping that when they next saw Anthon he would no longer harm himself. "This is the only thing we truly wanted, do you know...?" Lieselotte says. "We didn't mind that he never spoke, never looked in our eyes. We didn't mind that we had to wash and clothe and feed him, that he couldn't do chores, that all he could do was play with his trains. We didn't mind! He was our son and this is what we knew, what we always knew. As long as he was content and not hurting himself, we didn't mind everything we had to do for him. You do everything you can for your child, this is what parents do. So he wasn't like others' children. So? He was ours. All we wanted was for him to not hurt himself anymore. We could handle anything, everything else." The weeks went by; Fredrik contacted the clinic once, was told all was progressing well, though it was bound to be a lengthy process and he didn't need to worry. They bided their time, continued tending to their small farm, though the silence wore on them. Lieselotte broke down crying to herself now and then--"I miss him so much!"--and more than once, Fredrik second-guessed his decision to leave Anthon in the clinic's hands. He would rub the splint on his wrist and tell himself it had to be for the best. And then, one day, mail arrived; an old truck rumbled up the long drive and a courier appeared on their porch with a package. Lieselotte signed for it and brought it inside, calling Fredrik when she noticed that the return address was the clinic. They opened it at the breakfast table; Lieselotte furrowed her brow as she pulled out the toy train engine Fredrik had given Anthon. "The doctor said he could have it, why would they send it back?--he'll be so sad without it," she murmured, perplexed, as she reached for the other item in the package, a small box. Fredrik pulled out and opened the letter that accompanied the two items and started reading it as Lieselotte retrieved scissors to cut the twine holding the box shut. She lifted the lid and grew even more confused--"What is this, why did they send this to us--?" she asked, just as Fredrik grasped her arm; she looked up at him to see that his face had gone white and his hands were shaking. "Leave it, step back," he urged before she could ask him what was wrong, "Leave it, leave it!" He managed to pull her away from the table as she grabbed the letter from his hand and he hurried to shut the box. This was for the best, as a moment after, she fell to her knees with a wail just as strident as any Anthon had ever let out. Fredrik knelt beside her as they cried. Lieselotte falls silent now, sniffling. Gold hesitates for what he hopes is a respectful enough length of time before tentatively asking, "What was in the box...?" Lieselotte just covers her eyes and weeps. Fredrik swallows and murmurs, "Anthon...Anthon's ashes were in the box. At least...this is what they said. But by now, I'm not even sure it was really him." He explains to the stunned Gold. The letter was one of condolence, briefly mentioning how Anthon had succumbed to a quick but serious illness, how they'd done all they could to save him yet it had been fruitless. His body had been cremated and returned to them. The letter was strange, Fredrik says, very vague and lacking in details, the greeting was generic and didn't address them by their names, or even mention Anthon's name. "If it hadn't been for the toy train, I wouldn't have had any reason to believe it was genuine." Still, he needed answers; he traveled to the city and demanded entrance to the clinic to speak with the doctor. His persistence paid off and he was allowed in. The same doctor who'd promised him that Anthon was in the best hands, he'd see him again soon, seemed not to even remember who Anthon was, until Fredrik waved the toy train at him and raised his voice--"You said! You said this place was state of the art, he'd get the best treatment, he'd come home! What happened? How could this happen?" The doctor claimed to remember now--"We have so many patients"--and explained that Anthon succumbed to acute appendicitis which progressed too quickly for them to save him. Fredrik fell silent as he added that this was for the best; Anthon was profoundly disabled and disturbed, he would never live a productive life, never be able to contribute to society, he would always be a drain on resources, a useless eater. "Useless...?" Fredrik whispered; "There's no shame in it, none of this was your fault," the doctor assured him, "these things just unfortunately happen. We do what we can, then we have to move on. This is a blessing in disguise; I know you and your wife will need to grieve, yet your son isn't suffering anymore, and he won't be using resources better left for those who might improve and contribute to society. Your loss won't be for nothing. You have your lives back, and your son is finally at peace." He wished Fredrik farewell; Fredrik stared at him mutely for a moment before allowing himself to be escorted out. He didn't protest, didn't raise a fuss, just left as quickly as he could. "I can tell from the look on your face, you want to ask me, why didn't I argue, yell, make that smug doctor regret his words?" Fredrik tells Gold; "And I don't blame you, I wanted to, so much. I'm not a violent man but I nearly wanted to throttle him. Telling me my son was better off dead! That he was useless, that I should be happy to be free of him! But...I noticed something, when I looked at him, when I was just about to make him regret his horrible words. He was wearing this pin, this little pin on his white coat." He points at his breast. "This odd little pin. It had a symbol I've seen before on it. Two lightning bolts, side by side. I hadn't paid attention before, this I regret more than almost anything now, but on my way out I looked at the gate outside the clinic, and ja, I knew I had seen it already. That same sign was on a banner outside the clinic gate." "An SS-run clinic," Gold says. "This wasn't the thing that made me not fight back, though," Fredrik says, "it was what that doctor--mein Gott, was he even a doctor?--said about how our Anthon died." "Appendicitis," Gold says, then furrows his brow when Fredrik falters and lowers his head, wiping his eyes; he looks to Lieselotte instead. Lieselotte swallows, touching her husband's arm. "Anthon had his appendix removed when he was a child," she says, and Gold feels a chill pass over him. "They murdered our son," Fredrik murmurs, "I just know it. He wasn't sick, he didn't die. They said he was useless, and they killed him." His shoulders shake. "I've done a little asking, a little looking. Just enough to not attract attention. He probably wasn't even there being treated all that time. They probably killed him right after he arrived. That van! That van they took him away in. Maybe...maybe not that van. But one like it. Do you know what they do in places like that? Do you know you can commit suicide in a closed space, breathing in a vehicle's exhaust? They can rig something like that. The van that drives you away, just make a few tweaks and it can also kill you. A gas chamber you can drive from place to place. They say it's like going to sleep. I've looked a little further, though. It's not like going to sleep. They suffer, it hurts. My Anthon suffered. And I handed him right over to them. I killed my son." He puts his head in his hands and breaks down sobbing as a tearful Lieselotte tries to tell him it isn't his fault, and Gold and Mahogany again sit in uneasy silence. After Fredrik's grief abates, Lieselotte looks at the Rats and says hesitantly, "This young man you mentioned...you say he's like our son?" Gold and Mahogany explain that Kolten appears to have a similar condition, though not as severe as Anthon's; "He can talk," Mahogany says, "he can't read, I don't think he could be left on his own, but he can care for himself, with a little help." The Albrechts ask what he's like; "Bright," Gold says without pause, then adds, "He isn't stupid. He can learn." And "Sweet," Mahogany says, blushing when they look at him and adding, "He seems to like to do the right thing. He has temper tantrums sometimes, and...he can be violent, I won't lie. But he doesn't mean it. He always says he's sorry afterward, he doesn't want to hurt anyone. I wouldn't have suggested you take him in if I thought you wouldn't know how to handle him." "My wife and I need to discuss this a bit," Fredrik says, and the Rats give them their privacy for a brief while. They eventually return and say they would like to give Kolten a chance. The Rats reassure them the arrangement is likely to be temporary, until a more suitable place can be found, so they won't be stuck with him indefinitely; the Albrechts don't seem to mind this, rather, they want to know if there's anything they should get for him, what does he do, what is he interested in? Gold says he likes making drawings--remembering the ones he made on the floor of his cell--and that although he can't read, he likes looking at pictures in books; he'd asked if the Rats had any books about castles. "Building blocks," Mahogany blurts out, "he also asked for building blocks. Maybe he would like those." These details make Lieselotte's eyes grow damp: "Like a little boy," she murmurs, and Fredrik reiterates that they'll take Kolten in, just call and let them know when he's on his way. They'll prepare a place for him. Kolten's introduction to the Albrecht household is given in Lieselotte's entry. True to Mahogany's prediction, they quickly learn how to handle his fits, which are usually triggered when someone touches the blocks Fredrik made for him, set up in the old room Anthon's trains once occupied. Other than this, he's indeed sweet natured and bright, loving helping around the homestead and doing chores just as much as looking at picture books and playing with his blocks. He thrives living under the Albrechts' supervision, and they feel almost as if they've been given a second chance to care for and protect someone, even though they couldn't protect their son. They're apprehensive when Captain Himmel, an SS officer captured by the Trench Rats, requests to visit Kolten, who he apparently oversaw while Kolten was involved in Project Doomsday--and then they're stunned to learn that Kolten is Himmel's son. Even more astonishing is that Himmel claims to have joined the SS solely in an effort to protect Kolten from being killed the same way Anthon was. The Albrechts are skeptical, yet Himmel repeats this claim at his trial by an Allied military tribunal. Fredrik attends, wanting to know the truth; he hadn't wanted to believe Himmel, yet the statements he makes under oath--that he would do anything to protect his son--convince him. Himmel returns for Kolten after his trial, yet decides to let him continue living with the Albrechts while the neighboring house he takes refuge in is fixed up for permanent habitation. Even after Kolten moves in with his father, he continues to visit "Aunt Lieselotte" and "Uncle Fredrik" and do chores for them, considering them family. Otto Himmel--stripped of both his SS and his original military rank and honors--isn't what the Albrechts expect from a member of the same organization that killed their son. He's soft spoken, intelligent, modest, and polite; it's clear where Kolten learned his manners and morals, the two even share the same physical mannerisms. Lieselotte finally feels comfortable enough telling him about their son. Himmel's sadness and empathy are palpable; "I'm so sorry," he says, and offers to pray for Anthon. Lieselotte isn't particularly religious, but is touched by the gesture. She and Fredrik also learn of a brief exchange when Gold Rat returned Kolten's black badge to Himmel, explaining that as a child, he too was told he was "stupid" and slow, and seeing Kolten claim this as his identity brought back painful memories; Himmel thanked him for his kindness, and said, "No child should ever be called stupid." The Albrechts watch from a distance as the new Himmel household grows, a handful of orphaned children--including Alwin, another boy much like Anthon--joining Himmel and Kolten and a woman named Johanna. More than once the couple is awakened by the sounds of them playing outside; "It's not so bad a noise to wake to, is it...?" Lieselotte reasons, and Fredrik again fixes up the big room, setting up Anthon's old train set and inviting the Himmel children to come play whenever they like. They have a soft spot for Alwin especially; he doesn't play like the other children, but seems content to sit on one or the other's lap, rocking back and forth slowly and making a soft humming sound. "He likes you," Alwin's brother Hugo says, and Lieselotte and Fredrik look at each other, eyes wet, and smile just a little. [Anthon Albrecht 2025 [Friday, April 25, 2025, 12:00:18 AM]] |