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Hedy Rader Blog Entry |
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June 24, 2022, 3:04:54 AM June 24, 2022, 3:12:35 AM 6/24/22: r/SketchDaily theme, "Lace/Free Draw Friday." (I did Free Draw Friday.) This week's character for my anthro WWII series is SS-Helfer Hedy Rader, without garrison cap (top drawing) and with garrison cap (bottom drawing). She's the secretary/assistant to Lt. Gunter Hesse (this guy) and he's never quite sure what to do with her. She has a really abrasive personality and is quite a stickler for rules. An officer named Friedrich often stops by Hesse's office to woo her but she always yells at him to go away, even though it seems they were briefly involved in the past. She's supposed to be a smooth-haired dachshund, though it's hard to tell given my characters have humanlike bodies. She's deliberately designed to look a lot like her personality, shrewish and short and frumpy and plain, and yes, those are buck teeth she has. There'll be more about her later in my art Tumblr and Toyhou.se. TUMBLR EDIT: Hedy Rader is another example of recent bit characters who appeared in my head, started to speak up a bit louder, then acquired just enough of a personality and background importance to require a name. I have a process lately, bringing up a few pages from my Internet history: Wikipedia pages on German surnames, German female names, German male names; a listing of German Jewish surnames from some old dictionary (these are especially complicated to me, since I want to distinguish such things in the story yet it seems lots of names can be EITHER/BOTH German and Jewish or SPECIFICALLY German-Jewish and the distinctions are unclear); if applicable, a page of SS ranks and their equivalents in the Wehrmacht and American military; and a page with the SS-Helferinnenkorps ranks. (After lots of digging, I finally found the latter on a foreign site...then lost it! But I then found the same info on the Military History wiki on Fandom.com and made sure to bookmark it this time.) From all this I cobble together a unique name (sometimes a bit too unique, looking at you, Vincenz Immerwahr, haha); since I'm basically picking a name from a website rather than growing the character into it organically, I often have trouble remembering these names for a while and have to consult my character list to remind myself. (Back when I used to try fitting in on writers' forums, someone jeered at me for admitting I had trouble remembering the spelling of a particular character's name--surely a good writer remembers such things. In that particular case, as I explained, this was a secondary name, PLUS that character's name was taken directly from mythology, so I hadn't chosen the spelling myself. They then switched to jeering at me for having more than one character whose name started with M, because this is a sign of sloppy writing and is way too confusing for readers. While I don't completely refute the latter point, I think they gave readers too little credit, plus, in this particular case, THE NAMES WERE TAKEN FROM MYTHOLOGY and that mythology just happens to have lots of M names. I didn't make it confusing all on my own! 🙄 I don't try hanging out on writers' forums anymore since in my experience, writers are far too snobby and rejecting a bunch for me to ever really be considered one of them. So, I write, but I guess I'm not considered a "real" writer. Not quite sure what I am since I'm obviously not an artist, either.) Anyway...I have no problem recalling Rader's last name as it's the same (yet spelled differently) as that of the main character of the TV police procedural Major Crimes. (A show that started out decent but then devolved into a weird blend of Catholic family drama and everybody suffering heart issues, said main character even interrogates a suspect to death--not the suspect, but the main character, I mean she has a heart condition and she gets so intense questioning someone she literally dies doing it. Despite doctor warnings, and leaving behind a family. The last several episodes went on without the main character. I never saw how it ended until years later in syndication, I just gave up on it as so stupid by then. Seriously, what was with all the Catholic stuff out of the blue, and everyone having heart attacks??) (Uh, sorry for all these asides, yeesh.) The first name eluded me but now I think of Hedy Lamarr so maybe that can be my mnemonic. (Oh! Ahhh! Ha! I just Googled Hedy Lamarr to be sure I got the spelling right and her full name is HEDWIG! Oh my, the Wikipedia German name listing didn't inform me of this that I can recall. Ha, Hedwig as a name would suit my character. Alas, her name's been set as Hedy. Ah well.) Rader's physical appearance came more clearly to me than new characters usually do. The words "rabbity" and "shrewish" were in mind. I needed to choose a dog breed and since she's short, runty, and frumpy, not "curvy" and busty like SS-Helfer Britta Azinger but awkwardly skinny and practically bosomless, a dog known for being long and awkward looking seemed suitable. Bonus is dachshunds have long noses and I pictured Rader with a long nose; also, they seem to have an attitude, which Rader has, so there we go. I could already picture her plain drab hair, her perpetually hostile facial expression, and her absurd buck teeth; all of this goes with her personality, but more than that, I wanted to counter, at least a bit, all the highly attractive, athletic, blue-eyed blond-haired people surrounding her, in particular her boss, Lt. Gunter Hesse (blond hair, blue eyes, tall, well muscled, he's about as Aryan as Aryan can get); because take a look at photos of Nazis, even SS members, sometime. Most of them didn't really look like that. Plenty of them were downright un-Aryan. (Looking at you now, Dr. Mengele.) Oh, plus, the highly attractive and relatively even-tempered Hesse being assigned this awkward, unattractive, ill-tempered secretary who has no problems screaming at him (or rather, going into another room and screaming) about his two-fingered typing habit is kinda funny. Rader: "What are you doing?" Hesse: "Typing." Rader: "That's not how you type." Hesse: "This is how I type." Rader: "...But that's not how you're supposed to type." Hesse: "This is how I type." Rader: *pause* *starts fidgeting as if she has to pee* "Would you like for me to type?" Hesse: "Nein, I know how to type." Rader: "Obviously you don't." *pause* *starts fidgeting harder* "Are you sure you don't want for me to type?" Hesse: "I'm fine, danke." Rader: *returns to her office* Hesse: *starts typing a new line* Rader: *screams incoherently from the other room* Rader's personality is stereotypical "über-Nazi" (even more than Hesse--ironically) but her appearance isn't. Lots of inter-office sexual drama occurs in my version of the SS--all branches of it and offices (see: Katja Haring's entry)--and considering that both Hesse and Rader are single and eligible (Hesse is actually involved with nightclub singer Sophie Sommer, yet is technically single, plus it's up in the air whether the SS would consider Sophie suitably Aryan), I can easily imagine their fellow Allgemeine-SS officers poking fun now and then that maybe they should hook up. Another intentional attempted bit of humor is that Hesse really didn't want a secretary. He hates being "waited on"; he went through a long period of recuperating from a war injury and resented needing help, so he doesn't take well to people doing things for him when he feels he should do them himself. (A notable exception to this is his master sergeant, Theodor Schulte, who loyally follows his bidding, but that's because Schulte handles the "dirty business" Hesse can't do on his own.) Yet he also believes in being courteous to women. So, he has no idea what to do when his boss, Rupprecht Heidenreich (yep, I had to look him up to remember his first name--he's very, very, V-E-R-Y loosely based on Reinhard Heydrich--and I don't know his rank just yet), comes to his office one day to present him with two gifts: a new, electric typewriter (I Googled and while these did exist in this time period, they seemed to be rare still, plus the "SS typewriter" (yes, that was a thing) that's sort of a plot gag--Heidenreich gently rebukes tech-unsavvy Hesse for manually typing out "SS" rather than using the special key intended for that purpose--doesn't seem like it was electric, oh and by the way, here's an article about the SS typewriter)...and a new secretary, Hedy Rader. Hesse has no need for either, yet he can't just tell his boss no thanks, and he doesn't want to be rude to Rader (who asks in monotone what can she do to serve Kamerad Hesse), so...he asks her to make him some coffee. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ "I will make you the finest pot of coffee in the Reich," Rader vows, salutes, and departs his office. Because yep, that's just how she rolls. Nonplussed, Hesse then tries to figure out the typewriter. (I'm pretty sure at some point in the story somebody says, "Have you tried turning it off and then on again?") Rader is very strict following rules, even more so than Hesse, who often has to tell her to tone it down. She apparently can't be intimidated that easily, and frequently criticizes and squabbles with her superiors in the Allgemeine-SS, who are often cowed by her. (Even Heidenreich, who thinks nothing of ordering mass executions, avoids her.) Schulte is the lone exception who dares to fight back, and the two are an even match when it comes to screaming in each other's face. She comes across as quite prudish and humorless, never joining in with the others' joking and sexual comments and in fact usually expressing disdain for such unseemly behavior, though she's not quite as repressed as she presents herself. At one point Schulte interrupts their latest argument (over how it's most appropriate to refer to Hesse--Schulte prefers "Boss," while Rader insists on the more proper "Kamerad") by aggressively kissing her--"THERE!--something else for you to think about!" Rader is briefly struck mute before mumbling, "Back to work," and hurrying back to her desk. A while later, she asks if she can go out for lunch. "You never eat out," Hesse says, perplexed, but grants her permission and she leaves. A moment after that, Schulte pops in long enough to say, "Going out for lunch, Boss, be back in a bit," then leaves. Hesse is all ಠ_ಠ In another intended scene where officers from the different branches gather (likely at General Immerwahr's estate, so, probably before the duel scene), Major Delbrück, browsing the bookshelves, pulls out a volume--"Smut!"--and starts reading it aloud to the others. SS-Helfer Azinger giggles but when Delbrück comes to the word "throbbing," Lt. Col. Reinhardt hurriedly tosses the book out the window. Immerwahr arrives, is informed of what happened, and asks if the book was any good. Delbrück replies, "Well, it had the words 'moist' and 'throbbing' in it, so it must have been good." Azinger laughs. Heidenreich starts musing, "I bet I could write smut. It looks easy enough. And we could always use the funding. Do you think there could be a market for that?--SS smut?" Dr. Arzt (another newish character, and yes, his name does translate to "Doctor Doctor") replies, "I'm pretty sure there's already a market for that," and Azinger cackles. At that point Rader makes a face and lets out a disgusted sound, stands, announces, "I must go and walk off the stench," and leaves the room. Then pops her head back in and snaps, "Kamerad Schulte!" Schulte sighs, says, "Excuse me, Kameraden," and follows her. So yes, that goes on for a little bit. Then there is poor lovesick Friedrich. He's not enough of a character to have earned a full name or even a proper rank just yet (I assume he's Hesse's inferior, so he might be an Untersturmführer, second lieutenant), so he may very well remain just Friedrich. One day while Rader is away from her desk, an unfamiliar SS officer arrives at Hesse's office and demands to speak with Kameradin Rader immediately. Hesse, not used to being bossed around so, calls her anyway. As soon as she sees the other officer, though, she gasps and hurries off to lock herself in a utility closet. Friedrich follows and pounds on the door--"Come out, Kameradin Hedy, my love!" at which Rader yells back, "GO AWAY!" Hesse stands by and watches as the two go back and forth for a few moments, Friedrich professing his undying love and insisting they were meant for each other, Rader repeatedly shouting for him to go away; at one point she opens the door long enough to snap at him, "It was ONE mistaken night of passion! Nothing more!" then to her boss, "Kamerad Hesse! Make him go away, bitte!" This is about as much as Hesse can stand anyway, so he firmly orders Friedrich to leave. "I will honor your request, Kamerad," Friedrich says, "but I will never give up on you, my beloved Hedy!" he yells over his shoulder as he departs, to which Rader responds, "Go away! GO AWAY!!" It's sort of a running gag for Friedrich to keep returning to the office like some weird but harmless stalker, and for Rader to yell at him to go away and Hesse to order him to leave. At one point in the story, though, Hesse accidentally spots the two of them...otherwise occupied...at his desk and so eventually Friedrich must wear down her resistance somehow. (This scene ends awkwardly with Friedrich exiting Hesse's office and spotting Hesse seated at Rader's desk, boots up and giving him a look; they both say, "Hallo, Kamerad," to each other, and Friedrich nervously departs. Then Rader exits and Hesse asks her to please call someone to come sanitize his desk. Rader blushes but obliges, and Hesse suggests she keep any further such activities out of the office. "There are more hormones here than in a girls' school!" Heidenreich exclaims when word of the incident reaches him, and lets out his loud trademark goatlike laugh.) Despite their personalities not exactly meshing, Rader is definitely loyal to her boss, vehemently defending him against perceived attacks from others even as she feels free to criticize him herself. For example, Hesse's mistress, Sophie, unexpectedly visits him at Allgemeine-SS headquarters to argue with him about accepting the challenge to a duel, then slaps and humiliates him in front of everyone else and leaves; Rader offers her support. Rader: "Would you like me to slap her back for you, Kamerad Hesse...?" Hesse: "Nein, I would not like you to slap her back." Rader: "I will, if you want me to." Hesse: "Nein!" Rader: "Let me know if you change your mind." Being a secondary character, Rader hasn't any significant backstory yet to explain why she's who she is. This could and likely will change; she's already developed a bit more of a dynamic with surnameless Friedrich beyond merely "GO AWAY! GO AWAY!" So at some future point I may end up dumping some more info about her, but that day isn't today. [Hedy Rader 2022 [Friday, June 24, 2022, 3:04:54 AM]] [Hedy Rader 2022 2 [Friday, June 24, 2022, 3:12:35 AM]] |