|
Sophie Sommer Blog Entry |
|
May 27, 2022, 1:45:03 AM 5/27/22: r/SketchDaily theme, "Free Draw Friday." My character for my anthro WWII series this week is Sophie Sommer. She's a nightclub singer who becomes Lt. Gunter Hesse's (this guy's) TUMBLR EDIT: Well, this drawing was especially disliked. 😕 Wondering if it was merely because of my use of the word "mistress" (seriously?) or if it really is just that s**tty. I started typing up my longwinded post before I got bummed out over this so may as well keep going. I haven't much info on Sophie's history yet; most of her character development so far is in regards to Lt. Hesse. Hesse's history is currently a WIP but has developed significantly since my post about him (shared above), where I shared more about his personality than his history anyway. So, here's some new info, and how Sophie ends up tying in with it. Massive spoilers and a sad ending incoming. (Be aware that a few of these timeline details are still being smoothed out.) Hurgh this is a longie. Hesse is an orphan, raised as a ward of the state; as a child he's read numerous stories of heroes from Germanic myth and longs to become a noble knight, until being informed those don't really exist anymore; but maybe, instead, he can be a noble soldier defending his country. Upon coming of age he joins the military and becomes a Great War veteran who ends up in the hospital after being severely wounded. The person who carried him to safety, it turns out, was Louis Dobermann, a fellow soldier though the two didn't serve together. They're strangers. Dobermann is temporarily deafened while protecting the unconscious Hesse and ends up in the hospital as well, though again, in a different area. A young woman, Inga, visits the wounded veterans to offer a bit of support and encouragement, and meets Dobermann; when she tries to talk to him he says he can't hear her, so she starts teaching him simple sign language; on a followup visit she leaves him a book so he can teach himself, which he does, and the two communicate via a combination of this and written notes. The more Inga visits, the closer she and Dobermann grow to each other. Dobermann is able to walk around, so he and Inga wander the hospital and come to the ward where Hesse is; Dobermann mentions this is the man he rescued. Inga suggests they visit him, but Dobermann declines, saying he doubts Hesse will remember him, and looks like he needs his rest anyway. Inga visits other patients in the ward and day after day notices that Hesse, who regains consciousness, is always alone; a nurse informs her he has no visitors, no family; his entire unit has been killed. Inga introduces herself and offers to sit with him a while though he's perplexed by her presence ("There's something you want...?"); it's odd to him that somebody would visit just because. They get to know each other a little. Hesse's injury is bad enough that he remains in the hospital for quite a while, and is declared no longer fit to return to the front. Dobermann, meanwhile, recovers his hearing, and proposes to Inga; they haven't known each other very long, but he's kind of an intense type. Inga accepts, and goes to visit his estate...turns out this guy she assumed was just another soldier is in fact quite well off and is part of the upper class. Now, "Inspector Dobermann," as he's always been known in my story, has long had a very ambiguous role I've never clearly understood, and only lately has just part of it been clarified. He's not an actual inspector. This, presumably, is an honorary title somebody in authority grants him for some reason. I'm still not sure what exactly it refers to, if he's an honorary member of a police force or what, but this is the title he goes by in WWII and likely just before. He's actually a nobleman of some sort; I'd previously toyed with the idea of him being a disgraced(?) baron who'd been stripped of his title but allowed to retain his property. I've recently learned of the Prussian/German "Junker" class--people who owned great country estates with farmland. My story was already full of upper-class people who own big mansions/estates in the country for some reason. Dobermann's estate is especially impressive, surrounded by lots of open land, so it makes sense that he'd be a Junker; he has no farmland, though maybe that's just part of his inheritance that disappeared as his family lost influence. I even found, just now, a sort of German equivalent of the baron, called a Freiherr, which might fit, though I won't get that technical since it's all way over my head. I'm content for now theorizing that Dobermann is the last surviving member of an old Junker family that's lost most of its resources and influence though he's still wealthy and highly respected enough that various parties vie for his attention, including granting him his (pretty meaningless) Inspector title. Well, this is what Inga marries into, and goes to live with him on his massive country estate. When the war ends in an armistice, Germany greatly reduces its military and many soldiers lose their jobs, Dobermann and Hesse among them. Dobermann decides he's done with military life; after all, he has his estate and a new wife to keep him occupied. Hesse is another story. He has nothing but a few savings, just enough to get by. Plus, he's still dealing with his injuries. He develops a morphine addiction, and finds himself growing ever more bitter and angry regarding how things have turned out; this, combined with his general isolation and lack of resources, makes him susceptible to the right-wing propaganda that starts seeping through the country, including the theory that Germany was "stabbed in the back" by enemies such as Jews and Communists and this is why they lost the war. He toys with the idea of joining one of the numerous paramilitary groups that emerge, but isn't in good enough shape to do much yet. One day Inga decides to check in on him since they've long been out of touch and she wonders how he's holding up; she finds him barely conscious following a near-overdose. He refuses medical aid, so she and Dobermann bring him to their estate to recover; Hesse is a pretty stoic sort, so he opts to just go through withdrawal on his own. He recognizes the debt he owes the Dobermanns for saving his life--not just once, but twice--and remains at their estate for the time being, hoping to find a way to repay their kindness. When the Dobermanns have a daughter, Adelina, Hesse grows close to her and she to him; he's one of only two people who refer to her not as Addy but as Lina, the other one being her mother. Dobermann is a rather distant sort, and Inga, though being very close to Addy, often ends up preoccupied with her husband's business, so much of Addy's time is spent in Hesse's company; she comes to refer to him as Uncle, though he may as well be her dad. The country's situation continues to deteriorate and Hesse finally decides to join the newly formed paramilitary Waffen-SS (this forms much earlier in my story than IRL), which also entails joining the Nazi party. The SS consider themselves a sort of modern order of knights, defending German honor--harking back to Hesse's childhood aspirations. Dobermann has misgivings, but lets him do so, and when war breaks out (again, earlier than IRL), Hesse returns to combat. He easily rises to the rank of Obersturmführer, or first lieutenant. His commanding officer is Vincenz Immerwahr (an Oberstgruppenführer, general, though I'm not sure if he's this rank yet when Hesse serves with him), a VERY new character who's rapidly developed a personality and a bit of history. Immerwahr is a sort of Hermann Göring type who lives the high life, collecting all sorts of art to decorate his big estate right in the middle of the city. Also, he's gay, and likes engaging in brief relationships with other officers in the Waffen-SS. He makes a move on Hesse, who promptly turns him down; Immerwahr isn't the pushy obnoxious type, so he respectfully backs off and doesn't try again. This leaves a rather bad impression on Hesse, however, and he reports Immerwahr to the Allgemeine-SS, who are in charge of investigating improprieties like this. An Allgemeine-SS officer questions Hesse a little bit and it basically ends up with Hesse being told that it would be his word against Immerwahr's, and considering Immerwahr's status, he'd best just drop it. Hesse realizes that even the vaunted, noble Schutzstaffel has its loopholes and dirty laundry, and begins to grow disillusioned. He's wounded in battle again, and this time is offered a transfer to...the Allgemeine-SS, for a much safer office job where he'll be investigating other SS officers accused of breaking SS customs and laws. In short, he'll be a rat. A recommendation from his commanding officer is required, and the irony of this being Immerwahr, whom Hesse had reported to the Allgemeine-SS for investigation himself, isn't lost on Hesse, who figures Immerwahr will laugh the request off. Immerwahr does laugh at the request--but only because he finds it ironic, too, and he appreciates irony. He writes a glowing recommendation that Hesse should be perfect for the job, and Hesse is in. One party particularly concerned about this turn of events is Inga Dobermann. Why? Because she's Jewish. Oops. She hasn't practiced in a long time, and it was just never important enough to bring up this fact to Dobermann before--so not even her husband or her own daughter know. Learning that old family friend Hesse, who even lives with them part time (the SS gave him his own apartment in the city) and often looks after their daughter, will be investigating alleged breaches of racial hygiene laws makes her very nervous. She gets a firsthand look at the unpleasant turn things are taking when Dobermann, who frequently has to put off Nazi requests for the usage of his property, visits the nearby labor camp and returns with Tobias Schäfer, a Jewish doctor; he'd just been slated for execution along with some other inmates, but, seeing his potential usefulness, Dobermann bargained with the camp commandant, Ernst Dannecker, for his release. (Dannecker requested an expensive tapestry in return.) Schäfer isn't only Jewish, he's deaf (one reason Dobermann was interested in him)--making him TWO things the Nazis deem incompatible with life. When Lt. Hesse meets him, he's disgusted and hostile; he tolerates Dobermann's decision, but makes it clear to Schäfer that he doesn't trust him, and will be keeping an eye on him. He even refuses to refer to him as "Doctor." Seeing this sort of open hatred from someone she considers a close friend is jarring for Inga, and she determines that she can tell no one about her own ancestry, not even her husband. Hesse isn't a complete a-hole, though. His cushy intelligence job still has its risks, and he somehow suffers a collapsed lung; Schäfer, now serving as the Dobermanns' in-home physician, treats him. He unfortunately also makes the mistake of giving Hesse morphine afterwards, and is anguished when Inga informs him why he shouldn't have done that. Hesse makes it through withdrawal a second time; rather than being angry, he's grudgingly grateful for Schäfer's treatment, and warms to him a little, even attempting to learn some sign language to communicate with him better. The two of them never grow close, for obvious reasons, though they do become uneasy friends, of a sort. Schäfer is also the one who introduces Inga to the Diamond Network. Inga ends up breaking down and confiding in him one day; she worries most for her daughter, being half Jewish, and her husband, who unknowingly broke the racial hygiene laws, so both of them are endangered as much as she is. She wishes also that she could do something, anything, to help. Schäfer cautiously directs her to a neighbor, who cautiously tells her about an underground organization of escaped prisoners and allies helping to shuttle persecuted persons out of Nazi Germany, as well as engaging in random acts of sabotage toward the Nazis. Schäfer learned of the group after assisting an injured member he came across near the Dobermann property, who put him in contact with the network's leader. This is Josef Diamant, a former inmate of the labor camp--he murdered Commandant Dannecker during his escape. Inga accepts the offer to meet Diamant herself, and like Schäfer and her neighbor, is recruited into the Network. Diamant is most interested in using her house: Turns out quite a few homes in my story are full of hidden rooms and passages, and the Network improves and modifies these to aid in refugee escapes. (The camp itself has such a passageway. Dannecker hid it...behind his tapestry.) The Dobermann estate ends up becoming a much-used safe house for the transport of Jews and other targets of the Nazis, right under the noses of Dobermann, Addy, and Hesse themselves, and none of them have any idea. The secret is partly blown when a random visiting Nazi stumbles across evidence of the Network and Inga shoots him. Of course, her connection to the Network, as well as her reason for being in it, can no longer be hidden from her husband, who's shocked not only to discover that his wife is Jewish but that a bunch of his own staff, including his physician, are aware of the Network's use of his home but he had no clue. He's accordingly pissed off about this, but instructs that Diamant take Inga into hiding and keep her safe while he and several trusted members of his household, including semi-retired Wehrmacht sergeant Alger Holt (Dobermann has some sort of odd arrangement with the military to help protect his property), dispose of the body and spread the story that Inga was killed defending herself. Addy and Hesse are convinced Inga is dead, and it hits both of them very hard; although Dobermann allows the Diamond Network to continue using his house, he largely withdraws from everything around him, and Hesse ends up taking on a larger role in Addy's life now that her mother is gone and her father, well, he may as well be. Although kind and caring, Addy is also lonely, impressionable, and quite naive; not only does she easily buy Hesse's lies that the trains that increasingly pass by at night are full of military supplies and not half-dead prisoners headed for extermination, but his ugly thoughts about Jews and Roma and others rub off on her, too (although he doesn't do that intentionally). It's sometime during this period, I believe, that Lt. Hesse meets Sophie Sommer. His master sergeant, Theodor Schulte (who saved Hesse from getting shot, after which Hesse helped get him promoted), takes him to the Mesmer Club, where "songbird Sophie" is the main attraction. Hesse isn't interested in nightclubs, which he considers rather trashy and degenerate; despite being a well-known gathering place for SS officers, the Mesmer Club is no exception. But then he hears Sophie sing--not regular nightclub fare, but real singing--and is instantly smitten. He returns to the club for every performance and hangs on Sophie's every note. She eventually takes notice of his rapt attention and visits his table; Schulte always conveniently excuses himself so they can talk and get to know each other. (Hesse asks why Schulte, a known womanizer, doesn't make a move on Sophie, and Schulte replies that she's Hesse's "type"--meaning, educated and sophisticated.) It doesn't even matter to him that "Fräulein Sophie," as the men call her, has a reputation for servicing various of the club's patrons; he's absolutely head over heels. He accepts an invitation to her private quarters, and things are going pretty well, until she passes out--she'd been nervous about the encounter, so got drunk ahead of time. Hesse decides not to take advantage of the situation, and departs. (Schulte rebukes him for this afterward: "What's it matter if she's awake or not? It's not like she'll know the difference.") Their next meeting goes much better; Sophie even admits she was so nervous because Hesse isn't like the rest of her patrons, and seems genuinely interested in getting to know her. Regarding the specifics of her work, Hesse claims that he has no jealousy, since he knows where he stands with her. The two begin a relationship, and Sophie even ceases her meetings with other club patrons to be with him exclusively. Most of the club patrons are the cat-calling, gropy sort but other than that they behave themselves, and Sophie knows how to put up with their behavior. A few are understandably disappointed when she cuts them off but such is life, they move on. One Unterscharführer (sergeant), who'd been persistently pestering Sophie, doesn't take it so well; he forces his way into her room and brutally assaults her. Hesse and Schulte realize something is amiss when she declines to perform later; she never misses a performance. Hesse visits her and sees her black eye; when he expresses concern about the dangers of her job, she replies, "Don't you face a lot of risks in your line of work?" Hesse had assumed that Sophie was merely struck in the face, until he notices how she winces when she sits down. Then, he's pissed. Although Sophie asks that he just let the matter drop, he instructs Schulte, who often does dirty work for him and has multiple connections among the lower ranks of the SS and the working class, to take care of the culprit, and make sure he knows it's for Sophie. Schulte obeys, and not long after, the sergeant is killed in an "electrical accident." There's no way for it to be traced back to him, but Sophie isn't stupid, she knows how the SS works. And, it turns out she doesn't care, after all. She also knows now the lengths Hesse will go to to look after her, and the two grow even closer than before. Although his job is important, Hesse is largely distrusted by his fellow officers. The rifts are especially great between the three different branches of the SS: the Allgemeine-SS (the administrative and intelligence branch), the Waffen-SS (the fighting/paramilitary branch), and the SS-Totenkopfverbände (the branch that oversees and runs the camps). Hesse hears rumors of an SS-Totenkopfverbände member, Sturmbannführer (Major) Jan Delbrück, allegedly being involved with a Jewish prostitute. This is pretty bad, but Delbrück being the second in command to the local camp commandant (Dannecker's successor) makes it especially bad. Hesse isn't thrilled but has to look into it. This leads to a VERY ugly confrontation at the Mesmer Club, in front of Sophie and E-V-E-R-Y-B-O-D-Y else, where both officers basically call each other's paramour a whore, and Delbrück demands a duel. (Yes, at least in essence, SS guys were expected to duel to defend their honor. No idea how often they actually did this, though.)* Hesse approaches Gen. Immerwahr to request the use of his house for the more influential citizens to watch the event, because yes, the SS decides to make the personal duel into a big exciting event, banners and torches and all. Immerwahr grants the request but takes the chance to inform Hesse of his Allgemeine-SS position, "You know absolutely everybody hates you now, right?" (Though he does follow this up with, "Granted, we don't join the Schutzstaffel to be loved.") Delbrück has the advantage of youth but Hesse wins the fight (just barely), though he suffers a mild heart attack immediately afterward (only Schulte knows about this). (And yes, I know this is reminiscent of my Ameni Chronicles serial.) Schäfer treats him when he returns to the Dobermann estate and suggests he try to take it easy for a few weeks. Presumably the stress of Hesse's job is catching up with him; he decides to give up looking into Delbrück's case, largely due to Sophie's reaction toward the duel: When Hesse insists he accepted the challenge to defend her honor, she snaps, "Honor? Honor is something men made up to impress women! You really think we care about such things?" Ouch. (BTW, despite insisting she's not interested in such masculine nonsense, Sophie does secretly go to watch the duel. Delbrück spots her afterward and apologizes for calling her a whore. When Sophie says, "It's all right, Herr Delbrück, I've been called much worse," Delbrück replies, "And that's exactly why it's not all right," and leaves before she can respond.) Ah. Something I've forgotten to mention is that by now, Adelina Dobermann is a young adult...and her feelings for Hesse being a sort of uncle have changed to other feelings entirely. She's grown up under the Third Reich's perspective for not only what the ideal woman should be--motherly, loyal, devoted to her husband--but for what the ideal man should be as well, and to her, Hesse fits that description to a T. She starts imagining the two of them as a good German couple...if only she herself fit the ideal. Thing is, Addy is rather short, brown eyed, and black haired...like her mother. (Well, Inga wasn't short, but whatever.) Everyone remarks how much they look alike. Addy accidentally spots Hesse and Sophie together and immediately realizes she's everything that Addy is not--taller, blue eyed, blond, and beautiful. Not that Addy is ugly, she's just not Aryan in appearance, and she's not Hesse's type. She often stares at herself in the mirror and agonizes over her looks, wishing so much that Hesse would see her as something other than a niece. Her behavior grows reckless, with her falling in the water and Hesse having to dive in and pull her out. He's sympathetic when she tries to express her feelings, but can only ever see her as a young family friend, and Addy is crushed inside. Two other Wehrmacht soldiers staying at the estate--young Nazi Wilhelm Volker, and Stephen Gerhardt, who is actually an American Jewish spy recently in league with the Diamond Network--try to cheer her up, but she's too heartbroken, and starts growing cynical and distrustful like Hesse originally had, since she's starting to get the sneaking feeling that everyone's been lying to her and things aren't as normal as they seem. A brief, alarming encounter with a Sinti Roma man who seemingly appears out of thin air in the house one night to stab to death another Nazi officer who tries to attack Addy, then vanishes along with the body, doesn't help settle her unease. (Unbeknownst to Addy, Hesse already suspects Network members are gaining access to the house somehow, though he can't figure it out. Addy also has no idea Hesse is responsible for the murder of an entire family of Network collaborators, and shot one of the Dobermanns' neighbors in the head when she refused to reveal their hiding places. He's been up to all kinds of nasty s**t, basically.) The war drags on and things start to come to a head. Several others, such as Gerhardt, Schäfer, and Holt, try to warn Addy that things aren't as they seem, and that includes her beloved Hesse and everything he stands for. Gerhardt goes as far as revealing his identity to her, and Dr. Schäfer reveals the hidden passageways in the house; Addy realizes how the Sinti man gained access. She meets Josef Diamant and several other members of the Network, including Lukas Mettbach--the Sinto in question--and they try to explain that the world the Nazis have constructed around her is a lie; the secret lies in the trains she loves hearing pass by at night, which Hesse insists are full of soldiers and war supplies. Unable to believe that Hesse is lying to her, yet also knowing someone must be lying, Addy escapes to the city. She runs into Delbrück, who wonders why she's so upset; when she explains why, he offers to show her the truth, if she thinks she can handle it. All he has to do is show her the camp--the prisoners' bunks, the prisoners themselves, the crematorium--and explain that the people arrive on the trains, and leave through the chimney. Well, surely they did something to deserve it?--like make Germany lose the Great War? No such thing, Delbrück replies. They were just born the wrong people, and the Nazis decided they weren't worth living. Surely, then, not all SS men, like Hesse, are aware of this? "Fräulein," Delbrück replies, "we all know. The SS are responsible for all this." Addy flees the camp in terror. At some point during all this, Sophie gives Hesse some news. Yep, THAT news. Neither one of them actually says anything, they just look at each other and can tell. (Schulte, sitting nearby, gets the message too.) She worries that to him this might not be good news, but he smiles at her, which speaks volumes. Somewhat later, as they take a walk in the city--a rarity, since both have made a point of not appearing publicly in each other's company due to how inappropriate their relationship might seem--Hesse...well...I'll just leave this still-rough exchange here: HESSE: *kneels & takes out a ring* SOPHIE: *eyes widen* "What are you doing?" HESSE: *puts it on her finger* SOPHIE: *glancing around nervously* *under her breath* "What are you doing? What are you doing??" HESSE: "What does it look like I'm doing?" SOPHIE: "Everyone can see!" HESSE: "Let them look. You had to see this coming." SOPHIE: "Herr Gunter, think this through." HESSE: "I already have! The entire time we've known each other, I've thought it through." SOPHIE: *tries to take off the ring* "I want you to sleep on this. Before you do something foolish." HESSE: *grasps her hand to stop her* "I already have. You haven't given me an answer." SOPHIE: "Gunter, you barely know me." HESSE: "I know enough. I know what matters. I'll ask the SS, but you have to answer me first." SOPHIE: "You're not the first to ask. I know your people. All your regulations and laws. It's easier to fight the Red Army than to marry into the SS." HESSE: "They'll accept you. Look at you. You're perfect." SOPHIE: *frank look* "You of all people know you can't tell just from looking at a person, Herr Gunter." HESSE: "I'll find a way." SOPHIE: "And what if they don't accept? What if they tell you nein?" HESSE: *pause* "Then I'll choose you." SOPHIE: *long stunned silence* "You'd...give up your life, for me?" HESSE: "You don't know this by now?" (Hesse's choice of ring, incidentally, is kind of a foreboding harbinger. He obtained it from Immerwahr, who saw him eyeing it and told him to take it (knowing full well what he wanted it for), saying what need has he of a woman's ring? Through a convoluted series of events, Immerwahr ended up with this in his collection; this is in fact the ring Josef Diamant, who was a jeweler before the SS tortured and sent him to the camp, made as part of his plot to kill camp commandant Ernst Dannecker. So, Hesse is proposing with a ring connected to the murder of a fellow SS officer...a ring made by the Jew who's the leader of the same underground movement Hesse has been trying to destroy. Basically, Hesse's archenemy. Really not a good choice there, Hesse.) For some reason, Lukas sneaks into the Dobermann house again one night, and stabs Hesse repeatedly; he's scared off before he can complete the act, and Schäfer manages to save Hesse again. (Addy, still not quite able to believe he's the awful person the Diamond Network insists, spends a lot of time at his bedside.) This could be a learning moment for Hesse, especially with good news on the way, but he's too infuriated to think straight. He vows to kill off Lukas's entire family. Thing is, Lukas has no family--they've already been killed off by the Nazis. That's no deterrent for Hesse, though. As soon as he's able, he heads to the labor camp, where he knows Dr. Mengele is visiting. Is he able to wait around for the next trainload of prisoners to arrive, Hesse asks?--because he has it on good authority that among them is a large group of Sinti Roma captives, and Mengele loves experimenting on Sinti and Roma. The implication here is that Mengele will claim these prisoners for himself, do horrible things to them, then kill them all off...and Lukas's actions are the cause. Fuel for the fire is that Lukas himself is one of Mengele's subjects who survived (though he's pretty messed up because of it). Hesse might not be able to kill Lukas's actual family, but he does help kill off a bunch more of his dwindling people, and in such a way that Lukas has himself partly to blame (by his reasoning). Pretty skeezy. After another confrontation between Addy and Diamant, where she rails about the nasty Jews and Zigeuner and how they've ruined her family, Diamant demands that she accompany him to a neighbor's home, where he wants her to meet somebody. She reluctantly goes. The neighbor is startled to see both Diamant and Addy there, but Diamant says that it's the right time, so the neighbor leaves the room. She returns with the housemaid, whom Addy, Hesse, and others had seen fleetingly in the background before; she and Addy look at each other, though, and she says, "Lina?" Her hair has been bleached blond, but her eyes are still brown, and she's still Inga Dobermann. Addy doesn't know whether to be overcome by joy, or grief, or confusion, or fury about yet MORE lies, but Inga insists it was the only way to keep the family safe--her as being a Jew, Inspector Dobermann as breaking Nazi racial hygiene laws, and Addy as being half Jewish--all three of them could be sent to a camp far worse than the local one. Addy learns as well of both her parents, the family physician, Sgt. Holt, Sgt. Gerhardt, and much of the rest of her home's staff being connected to the Diamond Network, and, well...it's a lot to take in. Some more stuff happens. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ This is all still spilling out of my head, recall? Anyway, Hesse and the others close to the Dobermann household, who AREN'T in on it all--Sgt. Volker, Lt. Senta Werner, and PFC Konrad Helmstadt--are just as caught off guard when Inga returns to the estate and reunites with her husband. Volker and Senta are mostly just...WTF. Hesse is a real mess of emotions--I'm sure some part of him is glad to know his old friend Inga is still alive, but that's overshadowed by his bewilderment about all the lies, and growing anger about the REASON for the lies--Inga, and Adelina, being something he absolutely despises. Helmstadt's reaction is the most unexpected. He spends the entire series as a prim-and-proper, rather mousy, unobtrusive but frequently helpful unit in the household, fixing others' problems and keeping things running smoothly while remaining in the background. Numerous times he helped Hesse and the others hold the pushier Nazis at bay when they demanded access to the property, and he always seemed annoyed by their presence, barely tolerating Volker, for instance, while getting along with Schäfer. Yet upon learning the truth about the Dobermann family, mousy proper Helmstadt just explodes. He screams at Dobermann, whom he'd devoted his services to so faithfully, for being a "race traitor" who's consorted with "filthy Jews," and pulls his gun, but is shot by Volker--THE ACTUAL NAZI--who has already been wounded by Diamant. Hesse also draws his gun with the intent to take the entire family into custody, but hesitates when Addy jumps into his line of fire--he can't bear to shoot the little girl who called him Uncle all those years. Diamant shoots Hesse, instead. He, Gerhardt, Schäfer, and the family flee while Volker, Senta, and Holt stay behind to delay any of the approaching Nazi forces from following. Schulte arrives and is grief stricken to find his boss and good friend Hesse dead; he hurries to the Mesmer Club to warn Sophie to flee before the Allies arrive, since they'll see her as a Nazi collaborator. He offers to take her to safety for the good of her and Hesse's unborn child, but she refuses--without Hesse, she has nothing. Schulte angrily leaves--and is promptly shot dead by one of the club wait staff, who is a member of the Diamond Network. Hearing the shot, and knowing that whoever it is will come for her next, Sophie pulls a box out of her dresser drawer. Inside is an odd gift Hesse had given her--a silver-and-black pistol with the SS runes engraved on it. (IRL I haven't found any evidence of such an "honor weapon" in the SS--daggers and swords were their thing--but I guess it exists in my story.) She knows her "knight in black armor," as a fellow club singer had referred to him (Sophie, too, grew up on stories of noble knights rescuing maidens), won't be coming to rescue her this time...so she sits on the bed, closes her eyes, and places the gun to her head. When the Allies finally arrive, they find Schulte, then Sophie, as well as a message written on Sophie's mirror. It says, simply, Nazi-Hure..."Nazi whore." (Due to the very very weird events of Ultima Thule, this isn't actually the VERY end of Hesse's story, though it is the end of Sophie's.) *Here's more about SS duels. You can see I took a lot of liberty with my version: The SS was no longer answerable to the normal courts; centuries of European legal history were pushed aside; the SS man had his own code which he defended jealously and of which the dagger was the symbol. After the Röhm affair the SS was removed from the jurisdiction of the SA Courts of Honour and in November 1935 Himmler laid down: "Every SS man has the right and the duty to defend his honour by force of arms." So the duel, that hallmark of aristocratic arrogance, was resurrected. Subject to the agreement of the Reichsführer, every SS man was henceforth entitled to challenge another to a duel. In his usual precise headmasterish manner Himmler laid down the details in an order. The injured party, he prescribed, must "within 3-24 hours, Sundays and holidays excepted, initiate steps to demonstrate that he intends to obtain clarification or satisfaction." If he fails to obtain satisfaction or should satisfaction be refused him, he should warn his opponent "that he will revert to the incident through his representative (his second), from whom the opponent will hear further." A second should "where possible, be of equivalent rank to the party challenged," should "in principle appear in uniform," was to issue his principal's challenge to a duel and agree upon the weapons to be used. Written communication by the second was "only permissible in exceptional cases" and must "invariably be made by registered letter." --The Order Of The Death's Head: The Story Of Hitler's SS by Heinz Höhne [Sophie Sommer 2022 [Friday, May 27, 2022, 1:45:03 AM]] |