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Louis von Dobermann II Blog Entry |
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May 10, 2024, 12:00:16 AM 5/10/24: r/SketchDaily theme, "Free Draw Friday." This week's characters from my anthro WWII storyline are Louis (Gerhardt) von Dobermann II and Diepold (Gerhardt) von Dobermann. They're the sons of Adelina (von) Dobermann and Stephen Gerhardt. They appear only briefly in flash-forward at the very end of the story, long after the deaths of their namesakes (Louis von Dobermann and Gunter Diepold Hesse), when they return to the derelict von Dobermann estate to fix it up, seeking neighbor Katharina von Thiel's memory of how the place used to look. There'll be more about them later in my art Tumblr and Toyhou.se. Regarding their design, they're half German shepherd, half Doberman pinscher, but resemble their mother's side of the family more. They're twins, though obviously not identical. Louis resembles his grandfather Louis more (fawn and tan/rust), while Diepold takes more after his mother Adelina and grandmother Inga (black and tan/rust). TUMBLR EDIT: Louis II and Diepold aren't developed characters yet in their own right, as they don't appear in the main story, and so far play only a small role in flash-forward; their purpose is mostly to illustrate the story's theme of the continuity of family and repetition of history, something that shows up repeatedly, for example in Otto Himmel's history (see his parents' entry, then his wife's, then Johanna Wolfstein's). I got into genealogy shortly after this story popped abruptly back into my head, and then my dad died, so I found such themes appearing over and over again. Louis II and Diepold are born a bit after the story's end and the death of Louis von Dobermann and Gunter Hesse in Ultima Thule; at Gerhardt's suggestion, Adelina keeps her family name and passes it on to their sons so it doesn't die out, though they do include "Gerhardt" in their names, before "von Dobermann" (unsure if this is more like a compound surname or a middle name, I play fast and loose with German naming customs here, sorry). By then the von Dobermann family--having reclaimed the "von," dropped by Louis during the Great War--are living in the mountains, having vacated their family home, so the twins never live there. Von Dobermann's widow, Inga, partners with Josef Diamant some time after (von Dobermann, knowing Diamant loved his wife, gave his blessing for this before he died); she herself dies of early-onset Alzheimer's or some kind of dementia when the twins are probably around ten years old. She'd never stopped mourning her beloved Louis; at the end, she mistakes Diamant for him, telling Louis she loves him, while Diamant plays along. She then experiences a brief moment of lucidity, addresses him as Josef, and tells him she loves him, not long before she passes. Adelina isn't at her side when she goes; she arrives just afterward with her sons, heartbroken herself to lose both her parents so young. She latches on to Diamant as the only parental figure she has left; touched, he commissions a sculptor, who creates a statue to be shared by the von Dobermanns' graves: Louis and Inga, holding hands and gazing at each other. Louis's headstone bears a cross, Inga's a Star of David. Hesse, meanwhile, as a disgraced SS officer, has no official grave--his body remains in the collapsed Alpine Fortress--though Adelina still thinks of him when visiting her parents' graves. Before he died, Hesse tried to do the right thing for once, and did save them. Von Dobermann, Hesse, Inga, and presumably Diamant--as well as Gerhardt, and von Dobermann's neighbor and childhood friend Katharina von Thiel--all share something in common with Addy: They all lost their parents relatively young. (Hesse's parents died when he was still an infant so he never knew them, and he was never adopted so was raised by the state; most of the others were orphaned in their late teens/early twenties.) Family loss and grief are another recurring theme, even before I lost my own dad. Adelina and Gerhardt (and Diamant, who himself never stops mourning Inga) live to old age, so Louis II and Diepold don't have to experience this same loss. Life goes on in its own way, even if it breaks your heart. I don't know much yet, if ever, about the twins, as their own story occurs outside the scope of The Trench Rats, but they do reappear long after all these events, likely when in their twenties or so, meaning probably in the 1970s. By now the area they live in is under communist rule, though some of the families remaining in this area have ongoing arrangements with the local authorities to basically be allowed to live much as they did before this government was instituted; they're way out in the country (including the mountain town the von Dobermanns move to) and mostly isolated from city life anyway. Though von Dobermann does have a statue, Der Wächter Der Stadt, dedicated to him in the city square, and is considered a sort of local hero due to financial donations he and his family made to the city and the mountain town previously, as well as his and Inga's resistance efforts. (Diamant, the leader of the resistance movement and the one who recruited the von Dobermanns, declines recognition, resumes his old job of jeweler, and lets himself fade into obscurity.) Louis II and Diepold decide they'd like to reclaim the old estate, which fortunately still belongs to the family--technically, Adelina--and wasn't seized and destroyed by the Soviets like many other Junker homes. For many years the manor house was maintained by a skeleton crew of help staff, though in more recent times it's pretty much boarded up as the staff moved on. Adelina, still too sore over the loss of her parents and Hesse, has paid the estate a few visits, but never moved back in, choosing to remain in the mountain town which welcomed her family with open arms at the war's end. Louis II and Diepold are quite different in temperament--the former being aloof, taciturn, and reserved much like his namesake, the latter being warmer, a little more sociable, and idealistic, like their grandmother Inga--yet they both agree that they want to see and experience their old family home the way it once was, before they were born. This part is hinted at in Katharina von Thiel's entry: Katharina is on hand, still living on her own estate, over the years as Addy and Gerhardt marry (Addy combining their names so the von Dobermann name doesn't die out with her) and have twin sons, naming them Louis and Diepold (the latter named after Hesse's middle name); as Inga continues her new life with Diamant by her side; as Inga's health declines, her memory fading (she mixes Diamant up with Dobermann toward the end), before she too passes on; then as Louis and Diepold Gerhardt von Dobermann, young men now, return to the old Dobermann estate, hoping to restore the semi-neglected manor to its former beauty. Katharina, by now elderly but just as sharp as ever, is glad to meet the young men who look and act so much like Louis and Inga in some ways. They ask if she can help them out, by telling them what it was like before. Katharina replies that of course she would love to. She says the house once had a lovely solarium...they can start there. (This part itself is a repetition of history, from when Katharina and Louis were teenagers, their parents hoping to pair them off together; Katharina had requested that Louis show her around his home, starting with the "lovely solarium.") The von Dobermann solarium dates back to at least the time of von Dobermann's mother, Ilse, who spent many hours cultivating plants and flowers from all around the world; it fell into neglect shortly before she and the rest of the von Dobermann family succumbed to the flu, and was in a sorry state by the time von Dobermann and Inga married and moved into the home following the war. Inga asked permission to try to revive it, and von Dobermann consented to get her anything she needed. The solarium was rejuvenated during their marriage, and Adelina spent much time wandering and daydreaming among the lush plant life. Unfortunately, it was abandoned and left to go to seed yet again following the von Dobermanns' flight to the mountains, before the manor itself was boarded up. Louis and Diepold take it upon themselves to restore it all to the way it was before; as their grandparents are both deceased, and they're reluctant to ask their mother, they seek out the nearest surviving neighbor who may remember the place in its former glory, Katharina von Thiel. Katharina welcomes the two into her home. She was always dear friends with their father, despite the two never hitting it off romantically, and is glad to meet his grandsons. She's elderly by now--around her seventies/eighties--but just as sharp minded as ever, and is as enthusiastic about the old estate being fixed up as they are. She agrees to tour the house with them and describe how it used to be. The trio make plans and head first for the solarium. Despite its withered state, it's even more impressive than they'd thought, for a huge, live tree arises in the middle, through all three stories of the house (the solarium occupies the upper two floors) and up past the roof; its top is visible from the outside, yet the twins figured it was growing in a courtyard. The solarium literally wraps around it. Katharina says it's unlikely Ilse planted it, as it was full grown even back when she tended to it, so either some even earlier member of the von Dobermann family placed it, or it's just always been there, and the manor was built around it. Diepold muses that the tree must be well over a century old. Katharina claims that von Dobermann once told her it's an ash tree, repeating what Ilse had told him, that it harked back to the old legends of the great tree which connects all the worlds; Inga, not coming from the same sort of old Prussian ancestry as he did, never really understood its symbolism, but did understand its importance, and tended to it as lovingly as Ilse had, though the tree seems to have done fine on its own. Louis and Inga were from two vastly different worlds--one never would have guessed they would be compatible--yet despite the barriers between them, they understood and complemented each other. "I wish you had had the chance to see them together," Katharina says. "But I can tell they both passed on their best to you." When Diepold says he'd like to fix up the solarium a second time, Katharina smiles--"Ja, I had a feeling there's a reason why you remind me of your grandmother"--and promises to dig through old photos and records of how it once looked, and try to find the right plants to order. Louis, meanwhile, takes it upon himself to see to restoring the rest of the house. One of the first tasks is to retrieve a missing tapestry, as family photos show that an antique tapestry of an angel, hanging in a hallway, was once one of a pair, the other tapestry featuring a devil. Louis discreetly asks around, not wanting to alert his mother to what he's doing; after a while, he receives a letter from a name he doesn't recognize, Hasso Reinhardt. Herr Reinhardt informs him that he was the last commandant of a labor camp that once existed at the edge of the city, and spent about twelve years in prison for his crimes. He knew Freiherr von Dobermann in passing, and he knows how the tapestry went missing. The last he knew, it had been hanging in the administration building of the camp, concealing a tunnel entrance that was once used in a prisoner escape. According to what he was told, von Dobermann had given the tapestry to the previous commandant, Dannecker (AKA "Der Teufel"), in exchange for a prisoner von Dobermann saw as he toured the camp: von Dobermann effectively bought a person for the price of a wall hanging. "I know it sounds horrendous, when put this way," Herr Reinhardt writes, "yet your grandfather saved that prisoner's life that day." He tells Louis to get in touch with Tobias Schäfer, the former prisoner in question, to confirm the story and try to figure out where the tapestry ended up after the camp was liberated. The von Dobermanns know Schäfer already: He served their grandparents' household as family physician after his rescue, and still lives in the city. He confirms the story, and helps Louis get in touch with some Allied soldiers who scoured the camp for valuables before it was destroyed. It's likely the tapestry was mistaken for prisoner spoils and was taken into custody in hopes of finding its original owners someday, in the slim chance they're still alive. The authorities look through storage and manage to locate the tapestry; upon verifying that it has indeed belonged to the von Dobermanns for generations, and wasn't stolen from a dead prisoner, it's returned to its rightful owners, and placed back on the wall beside the angel. Louis and Diepold stand and stare at the restored tapestry for a few moments; "It's hideous," Diepold finally says, and Louis agrees. They go back about their work. It takes time, and money, but Louis and Diepold at last restore the old estate to much the way it once was. The simple farm no longer functions, and it has no more live-in staff, but it looks nearly identical to the old photos and accounts they've browsed. They use Katharina as a gauge to determine how well they've done; when invited within, she clasps her gnarled hands and beams, eyes damp. "Perfect," she says, simply; "Just perfect." The twins head home to finally tell their parents what they've been up to; Gerhardt suggests they not fill in Adelina yet, just ask that they all go to visit the old estate for the day. Adelina is uncertain why they're suddenly interested, but agrees; although she loves her old home dearly, she's avoided revisiting it since her mother's death, so the state she finds it in upon their return stuns her. Her eyes tear up as she meanders the halls, now straightened out and swept and free of dust, the rooms bright and airy and reopened, the windows and doors thrown wide, everything fully functioning again. The large library has been sorted, books brushed off and put back in order, musty furnishings freshly redone. Her room, her parents', Schäfer's, Hesse's, look as if they've been empty but a moment. They save the solarium for last; Adelina puts her hands to her mouth and lets out a soft sound when she sees the great ash again, young new plants and flowers surrounding it and once again filling in all the empty spaces. It still has a long way to go, but it's getting there. Adelina turns to her husband and sons and embraces them. Louis and Diepold move into the manor to properly care for it. They hire a new help staff, reopen the big kitchens, employ farmers to work some of the land and tend to livestock again; during the war the estate was well known for its small batches of eggs and dairy products. It's opened for the public to view, which, with von Dobermann being a local hero, many are curious to visit and see the place where he once lived. Aside from the solarium (of course), the feature that draws the most attention is the network of hidden passages weaving throughout the property; visitors are allowed to step into the passages, peering about in wonder at the lengths the von Dobermanns once went to to aid in the resistance. Louis describes the features of the house and property--bringing life to the place--while Diepold tells stories of his family and their associates and all they did--bringing life to the people. They're careful to not let crowds overwhelm the estate, though it does become a popular site to visit. The twins, having enough family money to get by, spend part of the small admission fees and related earnings on maintaining the property, and donate the rest to the city and the mountain town. For a long time it looked as if the von Dobermann name, or at least the legacy of der Wächter der Stadt, would die out with Louis and Inga; yet their daughter and grandsons, and their descendants, manage to keep it going for a good long while. [Louis von Dobermann II 2024 [Friday, May 10, 2024, 12:00:16 AM]] |