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Else Dannecker Blog Entry |
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January 12, 2024, 12:00:37 AM 1/12/24: r/SketchDaily theme, "Free Draw Friday." This week's character from my anthro WWII storyline is Else Dannecker. She's the wife of Ernst Dannecker (her second marriage, as she was a widow) and mother of Gret Dannecker (by her first husband). The whole family situation is incredibly awful but Else is the only one who refuses to see or admit it. There'll be more about her later in my art Tumblr and Toyhou.se. Regarding her design, she's a Pomeranian. TUMBLR EDIT: I know little about Else as a person as she's not a major character, though what little I know isn't that good. She's the put-upon mother of Margarethe, Christof, Tanja, and Bernhard (one adult WIP of mine also mentions at least a few miscarriages and a stillbirth, I believe), whose soldier husband is killed early in the war, leaving her to care for the kids on her own. She gets a little money from the state for her and her husband's service to the Reich (she for having kids), but of course it isn't much to get by on. She does small jobs for others, mostly mending clothes, but as her only skills are those related to being a housewife, this doesn't help much either. She can't afford anyone to look after her children so she takes them with her everywhere, which is a bit of a hassle when bustling through the city as she can't afford a car or transportation. She works hard, and does her best, but never seems to catch a break. So of course it seems like exactly her luck when, her little family in tow behind her ("Straight line, Lieblinge!--single file, hurry now!"), her arms laden with that week's purchase of groceries, she turns a corner and slams straight into a man in uniform, knocking him to the ground, hard. His sword rattles and he lets out a pained noise before his head pops up and he fixes her with a livid glare. Else sees the Totenkopf on his collar and thinks, well of course, she'd knock down somebody who could snuff her out easily without a second thought. As if to confirm this, the SS man shakes a fist at her and snarls, "Watch where you're--!" before cutting himself off. Else doesn't wait--she drops the rest of her half-spilled groceries, knowing that the leather case of papers she made him drop is far more important, and stoops to start picking them up, apologizing profusely. She's worried about her children most of all, the thought of them having to be without a mother, wards of the state, as the oldest, Gret, is only fourteen. She hopes she can avoid being fined or sent to jail. The SS man barely pays any attention to her as she retrieves his documents, instead staring at her children, who are still standing in a little line behind her, blond, blue eyed, well behaved, the three younger ones peering out from behind Gret, standing in front. Else pays no attention either as Gret and the SS man look at each other; he seems to come to his senses only when she finishes collecting the papers in their case and grasps his arm to help him up. He blinks a few times as if emerging from a daze, shakes his head, accepts the case; "Watch where you're going next time," he mutters, though the rage seems to have fled him and he appears more flustered than anything. Else promises, apologizes, apologizes. She tells her children to pick up the spilled groceries, hurry now, hurry, and they obey as the SS man watches. Else, arms laden once again with their purchases, tosses off an extra string of apologies, and "Hurry now, Lieblinge, straight line, straight line!"--bustles off once more, the children following like the cars of a train. Else offers plentiful thank yous to the heavens that she isn't being marched off to a camp--yet. She doesn't notice Gret peer back over her shoulder, or the strange stare the SS man is still giving her. Else doesn't know that she came even closer to being sent to a camp than she thought. The nearest labor camp is situated just at the edge of the city, its crematorium chimney billowing black smoke night and day, and its commandant is Lieutenant Colonel Ernst Dannecker. I. e., the guy Else just knocked over. He's not interested in sending her to a camp, however. He's interested in Gret. A nasty family legacy in three generations: Margit Dannecker and Walther Dannecker Ernst Dannecker Gret Dannecker Gret's fate is sealed the moment Dannecker sets eyes on her. Gret senses this, but Else notices nothing. She's too preoccupied holding her family together. She's sure that, unless he decides to lodge a complaint, she'll never see the SS officer again. So of course she's surprised to run into him a second time, in the park she takes her children to visit to get a bit of fresh air and play. This time, he's considerably less menacing, considerably more friendly. Asks how she's doing, hopes she didn't hurt herself in the fall. Apologizes for not helping gather her groceries. Introduces himself as Ernst, listens to her shyly introduce herself as Else. When she introduces her children, Dannecker greets them all, though it's Gret's hand he holds the longest, and he offers the teenager a smile as he stares her in the eyes. Else doesn't notice. Her heart is fluttering...she thinks maybe she's falling for Dannecker, herself. She happens to run into him a few more times; it doesn't occur to her he's carefully planned all these "coincidences," himself. He invites the family on an outing--all of them. Else had figured her time as a wife was over with the death of her husband, so for a man to show interest in her, and not be scared off by the fact that she already has a family, surprises her. He's attentive to her children and the sight makes her heart sting; she regrets that they have no father to look after them. He buys the children gifts--adorable new outfits for Tanja and the boys, a beautiful dress for Gret--and Else feebly protests that he shouldn't spend such money on them. He assures her it's nothing, the SS pays him a decent salary, and besides, growing children need new clothes. Else wavers; the four of them really could use them. He lavishes the children with more clothes and toys and expensive lessons and they grow fond of him, well, except Gret, who maintains a little distance, but she's always been a quiet, moody child. Dannecker then presents Else with a gold ring. Honestly--she'd been hoping for this. Why else would he be paying her family such attention? Yet she'd been trying to convince herself it wasn't true; what could he possibly see in her? She protests again but he insists, and she lets herself be worn down. Dannecker slips the ring on her finger and Else stares at it, eyes glimmering. Everything is a whirlwind. The SS approves the marriage--and the adoptions. Dannecker brings them to his own, much bigger house to live. Else doesn't have to worry about working, about struggling to make ends meet or putting food on the table, ever again. That's his job now. All she has to do is tend house, care for the children, be a decent SS wife. Else tries not to break down crying, she can't believe her luck. Her heart still aches for her deceased first husband...but that starts to fade. Dannecker is such a kind and loving husband, such a devoted and attentive father. She's barely known him a couple of months or so yet falls head over heels for him. She doesn't know that, after about a year, her husband starts paying far more attention to Gret. That there's a good reason Gret never smiles at all the lovely dresses he showers her with. Else rebukes her, tells her to show more gratitude, even while Dannecker says it's all right, he doesn't mind, that's just how some teenagers are and Gret is just such a darling girl otherwise that it doesn't matter, he loves her anyway. Else adores how patient and understanding he is. She doesn't know how at night, after spiking her drink, he confides in Gret that he looks forward to the day she can be his bride instead--his true goal all along--so he no longer has to waste any time on "that fat old cow." When Dannecker brings Gret a black dress with white accents and she appears at the breakfast table in it one morning...the dress and the matching ribbons in her hair and her tall black boots...finally, finally, Else feels a strange, uncertain twinge. She can't place it at first, why Gret's new outfit unnerves her, until Dannecker, beaming proudly, pats an empty chair and says, "Come, sit beside your papa." As soon as Gret obeys, it strikes Else: Gret's dress and boots match her husband's uniform almost perfectly. She's even wearing a little silver Totenkopf brooch, similar to the ones on Dannecker's cap and collar. Dannecker has bought his stepdaughter an outfit that makes her his perfect little mirror image. Else stares, feeling a creeping sense of dread, as well as something she can't name...she's surprised to realize it's jealousy. She then promptly turns away and shoves the horrible thought out of her head. Her Ernst is so good to her, and to the children. He saved them from poverty. He spoils them so much when he doesn't have to. Other stepparents aren't nearly as generous and loving. She adores him. She depends on him. She needs him. She'd be nowhere, nothing, without him. He loves Gret so much he bought her a special dress so she could look like him. That's all. She pours him some coffee--"Danke, Liebe," he says, before returning his attention to Gret--and sits back down to her own breakfast, telling herself to show more gratitude. Else, like everyone else in the vicinity, hears the alarm start sounding at the labor camp one day. She panics even more than she otherwise would, as Dannecker had gotten into the habit of taking Gret with him there, and today is one such day. It's quite a while before she can get any info on what's happening, as the camp goes into lockdown, the adjutant remains within, and all is confusion. An SS representative finally, breathlessly arrives to deliver the awful news: There's been a prisoner escape. Dannecker is dead. And Gret is missing. Else collapses in tears. Her perfect family, shattered in an instant. A widow yet again. Her daughter gone. It doesn't feel real, yet it is. She begs for answers, for action, yet little comes. The SS does put up posters with photos of both Gret--"VERMISST"--and the escaped prisoners--"GESUCHT"--yet they have no photo or likeness of the ringleader and Gret's supposed kidnapper, a Jewish criminal named Diamant, to make into a sign. Days pass...Dannecker's funeral passes, with Else wailing her eyes out (she's given a new dress sword, as Dannecker's was missing from his body when found)...the Allgemeine-SS gathers info...suspicions grow...and eventually, Gret's VERMISST posters are taken down, and quietly replaced. Else recoils with horror when she spots a new poster of her daughter with the word GESUCHT upon it--along with an order to shoot on sight. She tears it from the post, and heads straight to the camp, demanding to speak with whoever is in charge now. The guards attempt to put her off but at last a major arrives and rebukes them--"Let her in, you dumbf**ks, she's the widow"--and they open the gate and he waves her in. "Sturmbannführer Delbrück, der Adjutant, Frau Dannecker," he says, "follow me, bitte," and leads her to the administration building. Here in her husband's old office she meets a lieutenant colonel who grasps her hand in both of his own--his hands are big and he towers over her even more than Dannecker did--and says with great sympathy in his voice and eyes, "Frau Dannecker...Obersturmbannführer Hasso Reinhardt, der Lagerkommandant. I'm so sorry for your loss. Kamerad Dannecker was a good...he'll be greatly mis...ah, his absence is noticed." Else pays no attention to the new commandant's hesitation, just holds up the poster of Gret and launches into a tirade. "What is the meaning of this?" she demands. "My daughter? 'Gesucht'? Like that criminal Jew who carried her away! 'Shoot on sight'--? Who did this? What does this mean?" As she rails, Commandant Reinhardt's look grows more and more uneasy. "Ahm...you haven't been notified of the change in Fräulein Margarethe's status...?" he gingerly asks; "Change--? Status--? What are you talking about?" Else nearly yells. Reinhardt hems and haws a little and tries to convince her to go speak with the officer in charge at Allgemeine-SS headquarters, but she grows even more strident until the adjutant steps forward. "Frau Dannecker," he says. "The SS investigation found convincing evidence that your daughter conspired in the escape and went with the prisoners willingly." When Else, momentarily struck dumb, asks what sort of evidence, Delbrück adds, "Fräulein Margarethe likely participated in Kamerad Dannecker's murder." Else is mute, then whispers that that can't possibly be true, then says they must be wrong, then cries that Gret loved her stepfather and he loved her, then screams that they're wrong, they're wrong, the evidence is wrong, they're trying to cover something up, they're trying to smear her Ernst. Reinhardt tries asking, "Frau Dannecker, how well did you really know your husband--?" and Delbrück outright says that there were some sort of rumors circulating through the camp about his relationship with Gret, but Else won't hear it; "You're just JEALOUS!" she screams at Reinhardt, who blinks--"You just want my husband's job! You want to smear my Ernst and my Gret! To cover up your incompetence!" Even as she says it, she knows it makes no sense--Reinhardt is new here, apparently uninvolved in the whole affair, he would've had no reason to be jealous and he would have played no significant part in the investigation--Delbrück has obviously been here longer but he's merely the new adjutant, he had no reason to envy Dannecker's position either. The Allgemeine-SS likely had nothing to gain, aside from preventing the SS from gaining a black eye--a prisoner escape is bad enough, a prisoner escape aided by the commandant's own stepdaughter is absolutely sordid--yet all that does is confirm that Gret is involved after all. There's no way out of it. Else turns and flees the camp in tears, refusing to believe it, yet not knowing what else to believe. ("Poor woman," Reinhardt murmurs after she's gone, "finding out like this. This could have gone so much better had someone kept her filled in!" "Could've gone worse too, Kamerad," Delbrück says. "Oh?" asks Reinhardt, "--and how, aside from her daughter being dead? Poor woman is a widow, and her daughter is the reason why!" "Kamerad Dannecker is the reason why," Delbrück replies, lighting a cigarette, "and ja, she's a widow now--so she still gets his house, and widow's benefits." Reinhardt gets a sour look, though it's true.) Else spends her days in tears and mourning, her other children trying to console her, but she can't be consoled. She's positive the SS is concealing something, and isn't searching hard enough, either for her dear Gret or for the monster who made off with her. She hardly eats or sleeps. So she hears clearly the soft knock at the door late one night. She creeps to it and asks fearfully, "Who's there...?" Then gasps, heart leaping into her throat, when a voice softly says, "Mama--?" Else unbolts the door, stifles a cry, throws her arms around her darling Gret and practically drags her into the house. Showers her with kisses and squeezes, sobbing, "My Gret, my Gret! My sweet baby! You're alive! The horrible things they've been saying about you. I knew it wasn't true. My sweet girl, you're back, you're safe. I'm so glad!" Gret is wearing a sort of raincoat with a hood up, though it's not raining. She hugs Else back, eyes full of tears, but says she only came to see her, she can't stay: "They're looking for me, Mama, didn't you see the signs?--they want to kill me." Else reassures her that all they have to do is go to the authorities to get everything sorted out, she knows that the story of Gret being a conspirator is nonsense, "I know you loved Ernst and he loved you, it was that criminal who took you away from me! Did he hurt you--? Ah Gret!--are you harmed?" But Gret shakes her head--"Nein, he didn't hurt me, Mama, he helped me, he's been keeping me safe." Else thinks she must have misunderstood--"Ja, my Ernst, he tried to keep you safe, it was that monster, that murdering Jew who tried to hurt you--?" Yet Gret just shakes her head harder, raises her voice--"Nein, Mama! Herr Josef helped me!" "Herr Josef--? Who's Herr Josef?" Else exclaims, bewildered; "Herr Josef," Gret says, "Josef Diamant. He's not a murderer! He saved me." Else recognizes the name of the prisoner behind the escape, the one who has no photo. Gret is admitting she went with him willingly--after he killed Dannecker. "But...why?" she gasps, letting go of her daughter, taking a step back. "How? He killed Ernst. Why would you go with him? How did he save you? What did he save you from?" Gret furrows her brow and also takes a step back. "Mama, you...you don't know? He saved me from Papa." Brief silence...then it quickly gets ugly. Gret doesn't go into detail, but what she does accuse Dannecker of is awful enough: "Almost every night, Mama. For three years! He'd put something in your drink so you wouldn't wake. Then come to my room. He said he wanted to divorce you someday and marry me. He said it was why he married you in the first place, so he could get to me. He didn't love you, Mama. He was the monster! Herr Josef helped me!" Yet Else refuses to believe it, she can't believe it, never, not her Ernst--"Why are you saying these horrible things?--after all he did! He saved us from that awful life! He'd never! Why are you lying like this, did that Jew force you--? Did he threaten you to say this? Did he tell you to lie--?" Gret looks stricken and her eyes well up; "Mama, I'm not lying, I swear. How can you think this, why would you think I lie?" "You've always been an ungrateful girl!" Else snaps, shaking a fist so she cringes back; "Never acting like you care! No matter how good he was to you! The dresses and the lessons and the toys! It would be just like you to make up such a story, to spite him!" Gret's eyes spill over and she opens her mouth to protest, "Mama--!"--when another voice suddenly says, "She's telling the truth!" Else and Gret freeze, turn to look. Standing in the doorway is Else's older son. "Christof--?" Else exclaims. "Why are you out of bed--?" He ignores the question, instead stepping into the room. "She's not lying, Mama," he says, voice cracking a little, but he takes a steadying breath, pulls himself up. "She's telling the truth. Papa...Papa wasn't a good man. I know you loved him, but he wasn't good." Else's fingers curl. "How would you know?" she hisses, though her heart is twisting in knots--she doesn't WANT to know. Christof struggles a bit to summon the words before saying, "I...I woke up one night...and I walked by Gret's room. Papa was in there. I saw." He looks at Gret. "I'm sorry, Gret. I'm sorry I did nothing. I'm sorry I never said. But she's telling the truth, Mama. He wasn't a good man." Else feels her world falling apart. Not only has she lost her husband--TWO husbands--but now she's losing her fond memories of him, as well. It's more than she can bear--and she makes the fateful decision NOT to bear it. "Then...you must have seduced him!!" she yells, her own voice cracking. Gret gets such a look that Else can tell her words have stabbed straight through her heart--"M-Mama!"--but now that it's out there, she refuses to take it back. "My Ernst!" she cries. "My one! The one who saved us. I loved him. I needed him. What will I do without him?" She starts sobbing. "And you took him away! You and that miserable Jew! You probably seduced him, too! Got him to help you! Little whore! Everything Ernst did for us. Everything he gave us. I loved him and you TOOK HIM AWAY!" She raises her fists, taking a step toward Gret so Gret again steps back, Christof grasping her arm. As she does so, her raincoat falls open and something clanks. Else's stare drops to Gret's waist. Affixed awkwardly to her belt is a long black-and-silver scabbard, a silver pommel jutting out, a silver knot hanging from the crossguard, little SS runes adorning it. Else stares at this a moment, eyes wide, before whispering, "Your stepfather's Ehrendegen...?" All the air leaves her lungs and she struggles to suck in a ragged breath. "You..." Her fists clench tighter and her lips draw back, baring her teeth, her eyes brimming with tears and hate. "Get out," she grates. "Get out of my house! I never want to see your face again. If you come back here...I'll...I'll call the authorities...and you can go back in that camp yourself! GET OUT!!" She turns away and storms into the parlor, hurling herself in Ernst's favorite chair, wailing in rage and grief. She pays no attention as Christof drags Gret back to her room, digs out a suitcase, fills it with clothes, some food, all the money he's saved. Grabs Gret's hand--she's too numb to act on her own, still reeling from what just happened--and hurries her down the hall, pausing only momentarily when they see Tanja and Bernhard peering out at them. "Come on," Christof urges, and leads her out the back door, gasping and throwing up his hands when an emaciated man steps out of a shadow, pointing a revolver right at his head. Gret steps in front of him--"He's my brother"--and the stranger lowers the gun. Brother and sister embrace briefly--"Anything you need, find me," Christof murmurs, "Love you. Always," and "Love you," Gret says back with a break in her voice; the man with the gun, spotting the suitcase Christof dropped, retrieves it and says, "Come on. Let's go," and Gret and Christof let go of each other, she pulls her hood back up, and they disappear back into the shadows, leaving Christof behind. Gret never returns home. Christof keeps his promise, and whenever she needs something he can provide, Diamant reaches out to him and he provides it. He's the only one of Gret's family who believes her. Else forbids Christof from ever mentioning her eldest child again--Gret is dead to her, she may as well have died the moment Ernst did--and after making sure Tanja and Bernhard know very well who was responsible for taking their stepfather away from them, she forbids them from talking about her as well. They're good, obedient children--they have no reason to question their mother--so Gret's face, name, and existence vanish from the Dannecker family home as if she never existed. Else makes her choice--Ernst--and clasps their marriage portrait to her breast and cries her eyes out every night. Dannecker never loved Else. Yet Else loved Dannecker, and she's the only one to truly mourn him once he's gone. [Else Dannecker 2024 [Friday, January 12, 2024, 12:00:37 AM]] |