|
Senta Werner Blog Entry |
|
September 9, 2022, 4:00:06 AM September 9, 2022, 4:00:22 AM 9/9/22: r/SketchDaily theme, "Hollywood/Free Draw Friday." (I did Free Draw Friday.) Two portraits today. This week's (second) character from my anthro WWII storyline is Leutnant (2nd Lt.) Senta Werner, sans garrison cap (top drawing), and with garrison cap (bottom drawing). She's kind of an odd character I need to come up with an explanation for since she doesn't completely make sense. Regarding her design, she's a Dalmatian, though she's mostly white. Her hair is cropped much shorter on one side than the other. And she almost never wears her cap, though I figured I should at least draw her in it. There'll be more about her later in my art Tumblr and Toyhou.se. TUMBLR EDIT: Senta Werner is one of my Trench Rats intermediary characters, probably predating 2000 somewhat though not by much. She has at least one adult scene written with Louis Dobermann, when I planned for the two to have a weird dominant/submissive relationship that is definitely no longer part of the storyline. (Fun fact I don't think I've ever mentioned, Lt. Gunter Hesse and Sophie Sommer now kind of fill this role, though nowhere near as extreme as the old scene featuring Senta and Dobey, which as I recall involved a riding crop. Eh, yep. Hesse is just dominant on his own and doesn't require any special props. Oh, right. There's also Maj. Jan Delbrück and Mirjam Zweifel, though that's more of an unhealthy guilt reaction on Delbrück's part and not something he's actually into (case in point, it eventually stops working). Hesse, he's genuinely a dom. Anyway. There's your weird "TMI" bit for the day.) Anyway. Originally Senta was meant to flirt with Dobey and he finally follows through but it isn't QUITE what Senta expected (she goes along with it anyway though she isn't terribly into it). A major change in the plot made this relationship obsolete--namely, the fact that Dobey actually ISN'T a widower as he was originally depicted. His "late" wife, Inga, is still very much alive, plus Dobey is in on this, and he's not the unfaithful sort, so while Senta DOES still try to flirt with him in the current storyline, he doesn't completely shoot her down but he doesn't follow through, either. (Dobey has a need to be diplomatic to maintain order in his household, and he isn't sure of Senta's exact loyalties, so he pacifies her by not outright rejecting her even though he has no interest in an affair. BTW, I didn't make this clear earlier, despite what I said Dobey is rather a dominant sort too, though he's not as committed to it as Hesse is with Sophie.) (For her part, Inga almost does cheat on Dobey one time during their "separation," when she kisses Josef Diamant; fortunately for her, Diamant declines to follow through even though he's very much in love with her.) So, while Dobey gives off an impression of sexual mystery to many of the women he comes into contact with, and he puts up with and sometimes even responds to their flirting, he remains faithful to Inga the entire time they're apart from each other after she fakes her own death. This is similar to the air of mystery he gives off regarding whether he sympathizes with the Nazi cause or not. He's just accommodating enough (and Aryan enough) that the Nazis assume he's a fellow traveler; but the truth is he f**king hates them and always has, though their role in forcing Inga into hiding especially rankles him. BUT, he has to keep them appeased so they don't look too deeply into either Inga's "death" or his own affiliation with Diamant's Diamond Network (Dobey allows the Network to continue using his property in their operations, keeping up what Inga had started, though he's not very enthusiastic about it and he doesn't really care for Diamant), so that includes letting them pay plenty of visits where they try to wheedle him into allowing THEM to utilize his property while he pretends to consider their offers but privately wishes they'd just buzz off. A handful of non-Nazi-affiliated Wehrmacht soldiers (plus one SS officer and definite Nazi, Hesse, who secretly loved Inga and so inadvertently helped cover up her "death") play a key role in making sure the pushy Nazis know their place. Dobey is a decorated Great War veteran (like Hesse), as well as one of the last surviving members of an old esteemed Junker family, so it's not too difficult for him to make an arrangement with the Heer (land army) to provide a few of their members for the protection of his property. After all, the Nazis are always pleading for access to it, so surely it's of great strategic importance, and thus deserves special protection? The Wehrmacht agrees and sends along various soldiers who for various reasons they've determined are better suited to protect the Dobermann property than to be in active combat. One of these soldiers is Sgt. Alger Holt, another Great War veteran who's getting a bit old for fighting but is better at diplomacy than the taciturn Dobey is. Another is PFC Konrad Helmstadt, who isn't exactly the hardened warrior type but is excellent at organization and coordinating things; he promptly assumes informal command of the staff and serves Dobey as a sort of majordomo. Hesse, an old family friend, is the only Nazi who assists in this effort of keeping his fellows at bay (largely because one of them was involved in the incident with Inga); him being in the Schutzstaffel lends him quite a bit more authority than the others. Then into this mix steps 2nd Lt. Senta Werner. Senta started telling me her tale. Some details are still quite vague, but it turns out she's one of a set of twins; her older brother is delivered stillborn. Senta, by contrast, is brought into the world shortly after, screaming her lungs out as if to make up for her brother's silence. Her mother is so grief stricken at her son's death that Senta's father has to name her. Her mother refuses to hold or nurse or even acknowledge Senta, so Senta's father has to take over caring for her, hoping his wife will come around soon and realize she has another child to care for. Well...that never happens. What we'd today probably call postpartum psychosis happens instead. Senta's mother won't handle the child, won't look at her, won't admit to her existence. The only times she does so are when Senta's father demands that she snap out of it and care for the girl; she reacts to that, screaming that Senta isn't her son, it's her son she wants. She then invariably shuts down and Senta's father is left caring for the squalling baby yet again. He has his wife sent to a sanatorium for treatment; she returns milder in temperament and at least acknowledges Senta's existence, but still never refers to her as her daughter, and still expresses hope that her son will return soon. Her temper eventually returns as well, so she spends quite a lot of Senta's early life in and out of institutions, and by the time she returns home hopefully for good--the doctors proclaiming they can do little else for her--she's practically a stranger to the young Senta. She's polite to the girl, but treats her like a mere guest in the house, and still makes comments about her son coming back. At least she's no longer prone to her angry screaming fits anymore, but that's pretty much the only positive thing. Once in a great while she experiences moments of brief lucidity where she seems to realize who Senta actually is...but in those moments, she expresses her disappointment that Senta isn't her son. Her son is the one who should have survived. This does a number on Senta. She realizes the only way she can earn her mother's love is if she's her own brother. Obviously that can't happen, so she does the next best thing. She gives up girly things, takes up boyish things. Eschews the pretty dresses and bows her father buys her, and spends her time roughhousing with boys; when they refuse to treat her as an equal, she starts picking fights instead, to try to prove she can be as tough as they are. She gets beaten up and humiliated a lot, which only gets worse the older she gets, because some boys get unpleasant thoughts in their heads when an adolescent girl challenges them. It's likely she has some equally unpleasant experiences trying to defend herself from groups of boys who tend to gang up on her, but she never complains about that. She always returns home battered and bloody and with her clothes torn and no matter how many times her father tries to tell her this needs to stop, she keeps it up, because the vacant look in her mother's eyes is maddening. She always cleans herself up, goes to bed, gets up, faces another day. Things begin to subtly change. She gets better at fighting off the boys who pick fights with her now because she was always such an easy target. She starts winning her fights. And they start backing off. Not only that, but some of them even tolerate her presence. Sure, she has to be loudmouthed and obnoxious and overcompensate for everything, but in return she gets what she's been looking for all along--respect. She's one of them. Well...that still doesn't make her a boy. By now she's in her teens and her options in Nazi Germany are limited. She can join the League of German Girls if she likes (this and the Hitler Youth, in my story, aren't as compulsory as IRL)...but any of the typical boyish activities her brother might have been allowed, such as joining the military, are off limits to her. Her father assures her she doesn't have to be a housewife--she can be an auxiliary, she can work in an office, she can marry an SS man, she can be of use to the war effort but that's not what she wants, she wants to be allowed to do the same things a boy can do. Just that she's in a society that doesn't allow that sort of thing, no matter how qualified she may be. Senta watches with bitterness and envy as her male companions go off to join the Wehrmacht or the SS. By now she knows how to fight, how to handle guns, how to rough it if she has to, but none of that matters. She grows despondent about feeling so useless. By now it isn't even entirely about her mother's acceptance anymore; she feels like she's failed herself. Senta's father hasn't been entirely disapproving throughout all this. In fact, he's been unusually accommodating, if not outright supportive. He's put up with all of Senta's activities despite them flying in the face of everything a Third Reich girl should stand for; he figures she'll come around eventually even if her mother didn't. Senta's sullenness over her lack of usefulness for the war effort, however, seems to hit her especially hard; she loses most of her antagonistic spirit and mopes listlessly around the house. Herr Werner is desperate to avoid a repeat of what happened with his wife. He has money, he has connections; he decides to make use of them. He goes to a friend of his in the Wehrmacht and asks for a favor. Is it possible Senta could be granted some sort of honorary military title? Just for show. He could make a generous donation if it'll help. His friend is dumbfounded by what seems like a joke request, but Herr Werner's money is quite real, and there's a lot of it. What harm could a silly little fake military title do? It's not like the girl is going off to fight or anything. He makes some calls, pulls some strings. It takes a while, and the greasing of a few palms, but they finally make arrangements. Herr Werner approaches Senta with the news that she can be granted the honorary rank of Leutnant, or second lieutenant. She'll get to wear a uniform with a lieutenant's insignia and everything. Senta's reaction isn't quite what he expected, though he really should have. She lashes out--what point is a military rank, a uniform, with nothing behind it? She doesn't want to be given the privilege, she wants to earn it. Herr Werner doesn't know how to react to this, but manages to inform his friend that Senta wants to train. At first his friend refuses to entertain the thought, but money is a good motivator, so he pulls yet more strings to allow Senta to receive private training. She wants to train with the young men but that won't happen, so she does her best to prove she can hold her own. And the few officers involved in the scheme have to admit, she's pretty good. She could definitely fight alongside the young men without any problems, if it just weren't for her gender. She completes her training and meets all the requirements the men would, and earns her honorary rank. She's quite proud of this, but again, it means little without a military posting behind it. This time, Herr Werner knows exactly where to look. He's acquainted with Herr Dobermann and knows about the other Heer soldiers who've obtained posts on his property; although Dobermann has a reputation for being forbidding and not too easily approachable, he also seems to be more lenient and openminded considering the sort of people he allows on his property, and gets away with bending the rules--he even employs a deaf Jewish doctor he allegedly bought from the labor camp commandant. If Senta can obtain a military post, surely the Dobermann estate is the place to look. Dobermann doesn't seem terribly thrilled when Herr Werner meets with him to make the request, but then again he never seems terribly thrilled about anything; after a little convincing (he's old-school German after all, the thought of a woman soldier is very odd to him) he agrees to grant Senta a post on his estate if the Wehrmacht requests it. They do so, and Herr Werner brings his daughter the news. Like Dobey, she's not very thrilled by what she views as a "fluff post"--fighting in combat is what she truly longs for--but this is where her father has to draw the line. He sternly informs her of the strings he's had to pull to get her this post (he doesn't mention the substantial bribes he paid--although, interestingly, Dobermann refused any such payment, seeming offended at the idea), and reminds her that, under the Reich, this is the best she can hope for, and it's definitely more than what most people get. Senta is still grudging and frustrated but knows he's right. She goes to her mother to share the news, dressed in her new lieutenant's uniform and all. Her mother stares at her with wide eyes. "Heer...?" she asks in an awed voice, and Senta nods, feeling a spark of pride; "What do you think?" she dares to ask. Her mother replies, "I think you're never going to find a good man if you keep playing the part of a boy." Senta finally takes the hint--there'll be no getting through to her mother. She'll need to find acceptance elsewhere. Swallowing her bitterness, she heads to the Dobermann estate to accept her new post. She's greeted by Private Helmstadt, who fills her in on all that's expected of her; she gets to carry a gun and sword (the latter being another benefit of her father's wealth), and to patrol the household and the vast grounds of the old farmstead, and yes, she's perfectly justified in shooting intruders if need be. She gets her own room and is allowed at the dinner table with the Dobermanns, Lt. Hesse, Dr. Schäfer, and the other Wehrmacht guards. As for her fellow Heer members, they tend to remain late at the dinner table, drinking and smoking and swapping stories, and there are also afternoons and evenings spent relaxing on the spacious veranda, hunting and sporting outings, horseback riding, occasional parties...it's all a bit cushy and relaxed for Senta's tastes, but she gets used to it, and judging by the number of high-ranking Nazis who frequently visit, it genuinely is an important job. Plus Herr Dobermann is a widower, and he's eligible. Senta doesn't really intend it--she's always been too busy proving she can do all the things a man can do to try to find a man for herself--but her mother's words still sting, and Herr Dobermann is quite handsome, tall and fit and blond haired and blue eyed, basically the perfect Aryan. Senta has quite good Aryan looks herself and thinks she'd make a much better match for him than his deceased wife, who had black hair and brown eyes (Dobey's daughter, Adelina, takes after her, something both she and Senta find unfortunate). Despite him being old enough to be her father, she decides to try to catch his eye. The mistake she makes is assuming he holds all the same views as his Nazi peers...and underestimating just how rankled Addy Dobermann can get, vying for his attention. For, similar to Frau Werner, Dobey is a rather cold and distant father (not intentionally, he's just not the warm loving sort, especially without the mediating influence of his wife), and Addy is constantly doing everything she can to try to earn his love and acceptance. Now that she has Senta to compete with, well, she doesn't like that at all. She does, however, also long for companionship--homeschooled her entire life, and an only child, she's never had any real friends--and female companionship in particular, now that her mother is gone. Senta is her rival but she's also a potential friend, being not much older than Addy, so the dynamic between the two is quite complicated, and Senta would far rather do without it. She does warm to Addy...a little bit. Most of the time she ridicules the young woman's naivete (especially her hopeless crush on Lt. Hesse), but whenever anyone else tries the same, oddly, she feels compelled to stick up for her. She's not used to being around somebody weaker than herself. An especially clear example of this is when they and some others visit the estate of Hesse's boss, Col. Rupprecht Heidenreich, for a day of leisure, and Heidenreich's wife, Eva, comments on Addy's resemblance to her mother, and how much her mother resembled a Jew. (Nobody present is aware of it, but Eva's observation is actually spot on--Inga Dobermann is Jewish.) When she adds that the Jew in question was sent to the gas chambers, Addy is sufficiently alarmed. Senta interrupts to tell Eva that she talks too much, and adds that she's not afraid of an "old hag" like her. The intimidation effort fails when Eva just smiles and says Senta should be afraid of her, but Addy secretly appreciates the attempt. Anyway, that still doesn't prevent Senta from occasionally making moves on Dobey. He's not around or willing to stay put to engage in idle chatter that often, so she has to be strategic in her timing to meet him. He puts up with her somewhat awkward attempts, and is actually rather more polite than he has any need to be, but he never accepts her thinly veiled offers. Yet he doesn't outright refuse, either, so she wonders if there might be hope. She's only human though (well--sort of), and gets tired sometimes of the lack of progress. While waiting for Dobey to ever come around, she focuses on another target. PFC Helmstadt isn't quite the kind of material she's looking for (he's never served in combat, for example), but he's also Aryan, fit, and handsome, plus he's much closer to her age. Thing is, he seems to have a serious stick up his a** and isn't the sort to engage in a fling. Well. At least, in theory. When she accosts him walking down the hallway one day, grabs and pulls him into a vacant room, and starts undoing his tunic, he does protest, but not for long. The two of them start to carry on a very casual relationship--definitely no feelings involved, kept secret from the rest of the household (though a few figure it out), and they continue to criticize and ridicule each other the rest of the time. Helmstadt especially is just as uppity as ever despite engaging in this very unseemly behavior; for example, he goes along with it when Senta pulls him into a closet one day, but after they step back out he hisses at her under his breath, still buttoning his clothes, "NO more closets! I told you! In a bed, in a bedroom, like civilized people! Not degenerates!" (Him using the term "degenerate" should be a big red flag but anyway.) Senta is as suspicious as the rest of Sgt. Stephen Gerhardt when he's assigned to the household after being wounded, though she has no way of knowing he's actually a Jewish-American spy trying to determine which side of the conflict the Dobermanns are on. Just like he has no way of knowing their viewpoints are more closely aligned than he'd think. Like Dobermann, Senta despises the Nazis, including Hesse; though she usually bites her tongue, she lets an insult slip now and then. Hesse ignores her comments toward him, but has to rebuke her once or twice when she offends visitors. She's rather surprised that yet another newcomer to the estate, Sgt. Wilhelm Volker, the only one of their main group--besides Hesse--who actually belongs to the Nazi party, takes her insults in stride, not even bothering to report her. He's not an official member of the household, he just likes Addy Dobermann though she barely notices he exists most of the time. He doesn't have the same holier-than-thou attitude the visiting Nazis have and is perplexed by, yet courteous to, Tobias Schäfer, the Jewish doctor who serves the household. (Hesse is polite to Schäfer too, though it took him a good long while to reach that point and he was quite an a-hole toward him at first.) Although he parrots a lot of the standard Third Reich ideals, he isn't completely obnoxious about it, and he seems to quickly pick up on what is and isn't acceptable in the household--for the most part, the residents and staff heavily frown on hateful talk, with even Hesse refraining from discussing SS business while under their roof. In short, the Dobermann household is a sort of haven where the war almost seems to not even be taking place, and you can think all the nasty stuff you like, but bringing it out into the open isn't really done. Senta knows most of this is because of Dobermann and Addy--Dobey simply dislikes such talk, while Addy, despite being somewhat indoctrinated by Hesse, is largely unaware of the true horror going on in the outside world. Senta thinks it's pathetic that they all protect her so much, but actively participates...since she's never technically served in the army either, it's likely she's also not fully aware of the extent of things yet. (In contrast, Gerhardt and Hesse are both fully aware of what the Nazis are doing with the camps and trains.) Another thing she's unaware of is Gerhardt's connection to the Diamond Network, a resistance group led by former camp prisoner Josef Diamant. Diamant is especially despised by the Nazis, particularly the SS, for murdering one of their own, Ernst Dannecker, the commandant of the labor camp he escaped from with Dannecker's stepdaughter and several others. (Yeah, Dannecker was a douche to everybody and was molesting his own stepdaughter and flouting numerous SS rules and literally nobody else but his wife liked him, but still.) Hesse is active in the investigation to find Diamant and hold him responsible but so far Diamant has been good at staying a few steps ahead; he even taunts Hesse from afar, leaving numerous graffiti mocking him and his master sergeant, and sending a self-firing gun disguised as a toy SS officer to him. (Clockwork weapons are his specialty.) Hesse rejects the toy so Addy takes it; when it does go off it just misses hitting her and Senta. Senta is impressed by how clever Diamant is to keep evading the SS so long (she's amused that despite their massive numbers and skills, none of the three branches of the SS can seem to pin down this one Jew who was never even a soldier), but Hesse is just pissed off. Meanwhile Gerhardt has established contact with Diamant--he's literally right under Hesse's nose, often sneaking around on the Dobermanns' property via a system of hidden passages which are one thing the visiting Nazis hope to make use of themselves: The Dobermann estate is a key part of the Diamond Network's escape system, and despite not knowing this, the Nazis DO know there are hidden passages and they want to use them, too. Most of the residents know of the passages but don't know the extent of them. Many of them--Senta, Helmstadt, Volker, Hesse, and Addy included--don't know just HOW involved in the Diamond Network the Dobermann estate is. Turns out Inga Dobermann was a part of it, and Dr. Schäfer, and Wehrmacht sergeant Alger Holt, as well as most of the household staff. Those not in the know are mystified as to how Diamant obtains such intimate knowledge of goings-on there and elsewhere (he has a secret operative in the household of a Waffen-SS doctor, and another attached to the SS-Totenkopfverbände who run the camp) when he's working literally from the inside--on one occasion he even disguises himself as an SS officer and makes contact with Addy, escaping undetected until Addy's description of him stirs Hesse's suspicions. (No known photos of Diamant exist, so those who never interacted with him have only a description to go on: Tall, black haired, brown eyed, ID number on his left arm, with a scar from an injury Dannecker inflicted on his right hand so now he uses his left hand. He also picked up Dannecker's habit of terrorizing people with Russian roulette, so he carries around a big revolver.) Hesse is infuriated that Diamant has access to the Dobermann house, but can't figure out how since he doesn't know all of the hidden passages. Senta doesn't care one way or the other for Diamant but it sure is amusing how he's frustrated the mighty SS. (Why does Senta hate the SS? Well, most of them are self-righteous a-holes. But they're also in charge of enforcing all those lovely rules that prohibit Senta from doing her own thing. I. e., like with PFC Klemper, they hold her back. So yeah, she hates them.) Gerhardt's operations with the Network help uncover a particularly nasty scandal that rocks the SS, the murder of yet another of their own, the aforementioned Rupprecht Heidenreich, who just happens to be in charge of SS intelligence. It looks like the Diamond Network is responsible, but it was actually his own wife, Eva, and the Waffen-SS doctor the Network has been spying on, whom she'd been having an affair with. Not just Hesse, but Senta and Addy and Volker too, grow more disillusioned as the Allies draw closer and the war comes to a head; the ideals they'd lived by seem to matter less and less, and definitely don't help in the current situation. Not to mention the rampant corruption in both the SS and the Wehrmacht; Senta is shocked and dismayed when her father reveals he basically bought her military position--he thought he was doing her a favor, but she would rather have not been allowed in the Heer on her own merits than allowed in on false pretenses. Learning that Herr Werner has just become even more mired in Nazi politics (previously, he hadn't been that interested) disgusts her, and she's tempted to turn her back on the Third Reich--what have they done but hold her back, anyway? Strangely, when she mentions her disillusionment in passing to her mother, Frau Werner gets the ghost of a smile on her face and murmurs, "Now you see it, see through it. Just how empty it all is. Noise and violence and nothing. Your brother would've died for nothing." Senta is stunned to realize her mother, despite being indoctrinated in and formerly admiring Nazi ideology, has since seen the truth of it as well, even while her husband, previously not much of a believer, has become much more of one. Finally Senta and her mother see eye to eye. Things finally come to a climax when it's revealed that Inga Dobermann is still alive: She'd accosted a Nazi officer wandering the household when and where he shouldn't have, and when he threatened her, she shot him. Dobermann, Diamant, and Holt engaged in a coverup--tricking the ignorant Hesse into assisting--to send her into the Diamond Network while faking her death. When she returns to the estate, it causes a huge stir; Hesse, who'd been in love with her, actually hesitates taking the Dobermanns into custody, but Helmstadt doesn't hesitate at all. Despite his loyalty to Dobermann, his long-running attitude of disdain toward Hesse and the Nazi visitors to the estate, as well as his lack of official affiliation with the party, it turns out he's as fanatical a "true believer" as the rest of them, and he pulls out his gun, screaming at Herr Dobermann for being a race traitor who had the gall to marry and father a child with a "filthy Jew." Even more surprising is when Sgt. Volker--the ACTUAL Nazi--intervenes to help the Dobermanns escape. In the chaos, Hesse and Helmstadt end up dead, Volker is wounded, and the Dobermanns, Schäfer, and Gerhardt flee the estate. Senta decides to remain behind with Volker and Holt to help protect the remaining staff from the advancing Nazis, as well as try to slow them down in their pursuit of the Dobermanns; both she and Volker seem confused by their own choices, but stick to them. They fire out the windows at the Nazi forces drawing close and buy the Dobermanns some time before the estate is overrun. WELL! This part of the scenario literally just formed in my head as I took a brief break! So some details still need ironing, but funny how this happens!--this part of the story did not exist a mere hour ago. Anyway, the estate does get overrun, and Senta, Volker, and Holt, being the ones who directly fired on the incoming troops, are tongue-lashed by the commanding officer as being potential traitors who are sure to be court-martialed after the war's end. In the meantime, they're disarmed, restrained, and confined to the horse stables while the house is searched. (This must be when Master Sgt. Theodor Schulte finds Hesse dead and hurries back to the city to try to warn his mistress, Sophie, to flee before the Allies arrive; and meanwhile a few of the Nazis attending bundle up Hesse's and Helmstadt's bodies and spirit them away, in preparation for events in the sequel story, Ultima Thule.) While sitting in the stables, gloomily contemplating the prospect of facing a firing squad or being hanged like Eva Heidenreich, they hear somebody softly laughing; a thin, strange man with a shaved head, bare feet, striped shirt, and black triangle patch with a "Z" creeps in and looks them over, saying with a smirk, "It looks like...what's that saying?...the shoe's on the other foot?" Senta retorts, "At least we have shoes, Zigeuner." Their odd visitor is Lukas Mettbach. One of the prisoners who escaped from the camp along with Josef Diamant, he's now one of the core members of the Diamond Network, and has already earned a reputation in the Dobermann household as the guy who sneaked in one night and nearly stabbed Hesse to death. He also helped plant the seeds that led Addy to start doubting the fairytale stories Hesse used to tell her about the SS and the purpose of the trains that pass by all the time. He's come to steal the horses the Dobermanns were forced to leave behind, and found Senta's group in addition. He asks which horse belonged to "that SS trash" and Holt points out a gray mare named Gewitter; "Gray mare?" Lukas muses. "Figured an overcompensating pr*ck like him would have a big black stallion!" He locates Gewitter's stall--"Hallo, beauty"--and makes soft whistling and chucking noises, stroking her and giving her a sugar cube. The way he treats the horses as he removes each from its stall makes it clear how much he loves the creatures. (Lukas comes from a family of horse breeders, ironically, the same as Col. Heidenreich. Heidenreich DID own a big black stallion, BTW, named Blitzschlag. Guess who was overcompensating?) Senta grouses, "So we're going to just sit and watch this happen--?" to which Volker, weak and in pain, replies, "I mean, are we in any position to stop it?" "Smart man," Lukas says, tossing something onto the ground near them--it's Volker's swastika armband, which he'd removed and tossed away earlier; Lukas makes a point of letting Hesse's horse trample over it as she walks past. He stops near the trio and pulls out a knife; Senta and Volker, remembering what he did to Hesse, pull back, but all he does is cut their restraints. He tells them the location of a nearby hatch that opens into a tunnel that will lead them off the Dobermann property; "Good luck, you'll need it," he says, and leaves with the horses. The trio find the hatch and disappear within, escaping the estate; at a safe distance they part ways, Holt heading off on his own to offer a potential distraction (he's the oldest of the three and reasons that he's "just about done anyway"), Senta and Volker going the other way to try to get Volker some medical attention. Senta can't think of anywhere else; she heads to her home. Senta's father is surprised to see them, but lets them in and brings Volker some supplies to tend to his wound. He expresses relief that they're all right, considering what happened at the Dobermann estate. His comments confuse Senta--the Nazi attack only just happened and news spreads slowly, so how does he know of what occurred already? It soon becomes clear that Herr Werner had heard rumors of Inga Dobermann still being alive (this rumor likely got out after Diamant took Addy to meet her mother where she was hiding at a neighbor's home, a little bit previously--unsure of the timeline), and of her involvement in the Diamond Network, as well as her reason for being involved--and ratted the Dobermanns out. Senta is stunned that he would do such a thing, especially with her being stationed there, but her father insists the Wehrmacht wasn't after her, they were after Dobermann and his "Jew bitch" wife. Senta retorts, "That Jew bitch is the mother of my friend!"--meaning Addy Dobermann; she's a bit surprised to hear herself call Addy her friend, yet there it is. Herr Werner just gets an unpleasant look and says, "Then that makes your friend a Jew, too." While they're arguing, Senta's mother cautiously enters the room, asking what's going on, but her husband tells her everything's fine and brushes her off. Father and daughter argue a bit more, Herr Werner expressing disbelief that Senta has sympathy for obvious traitors, Senta expressing disbelief at the sort of person her father has become. Senta finally makes a comment that goes too far--"They're (the Dobermanns) far better people than you'll ever be!"--and then gasps when Herr Werner slaps her across the face. Then gasps again when Frau Werner smacks him in return. Frau Werner: "How DARE you! If you touch her like that again I'll kill you myself! You didn't raise a coward but you are one!" Herr Werner: "You've BOTH gone mad! I should've left you in that hospital!" Frau Werner: "Better to be there than here with you! You have no idea. No idea what I think of you! Noise and violence and nothing. Mindless! Obedience! Our son is better off dead than growing up to this." Herr Werner: "What's happened to you two...?" Frau Werner: "WE haven't changed. YOU'VE changed. Coward! Empty! Sieg Heil! Keep your mindless salute. You touch our daughter again, I'll cut your throat!" Senta realizes now's probably as good a time as any to get the hell out of there, and gently tugs her mother's arm, urging, "Mama, come on," and they and Volker leave. Mother and daughter have a small conversation on the way out. Frau Werner: "Senta, who is this young man...?" Senta: "Ahm...Wil...this is Wil." Volker: "Feldwebel Wilhelm Volker, Frau Werner. Hallo. Good to meet you." Frau Werner: (to Volker) "Hallo." (to Senta) "Where did you two meet...?" Senta: "Could we discuss this at a better time, Mama...?" SURPRISE, while I was taking another small break this part of the story formed! Here we go... They go to stay at Volker's place while figuring out what to do next. "I don't suppose you know any of those Network people...?" Senta asks Volker, who just smiles ruefully and replies, "Funny, I was going to ask you the same thing." Frau Werner overhears this, and hints that she may know someone in the Network who can help. Turns out a doctor at the hospital she visited most recently (she still needs occasional help) is connected to the Network, and when she'd confided some of her concerns in him, he'd offered his assistance; Volker asks if this was actually the sort of assistance he'd meant, at which Frau Werner produces something she says the doctor gave her and she's kept concealed on her person ever since--a jack of diamonds card. Josef Diamant's nickname is the Jack of Diamonds. Senta expresses her confusion: "But Mama, I thought you believed in all this (Naziism)...?" "I thought I did," Frau Werner replies, "but in hospital, I heard some things." While staying at one of the various clinics she's frequented over the years, she'd once heard a few Nazi-sympathizing staff referring to the patients as "useless eaters" and "life unworthy of life"; realizing how precarious her own situation was, she'd started trying to think of ways to protect herself and get away if she needed to. Hearing her husband say he should have left her in the hospital just confirms her fears. She isn't sure if the doctor in question is still at his clinic, given the chaos building in the city, but they decide to travel there anyway. They're in luck as the hospital staff are still there, though they're evacuating the patients and packing up their papers, getting ready to leave themselves; Frau Werner convinces the nurse at the front desk to let her in to speak with the doctor by feigning an anxiety attack and claiming just a few words of reassurance from him will put her at ease. They're allowed to go to his office, where he too is gathering up his belongings. He's stunned to see Frau Werner--especially stunned to see she has her daughter with her--and immediately expresses concern; Frau Werner briefly explains the situation, and asks if he can put them in touch with anyone in the Network who can help them out of the city to safety. The doctor (I'll have to give new guy here a name, le sigh) opens up a passage hidden behind a bookshelf. ("Am I the only one without any hidden tunnels in my house??" Volker exclaims.) This will take them to a safe point usually monitored by the Network, though he can't guarantee anyone will be there, given the current state of things. Before they can enter it, he scoops up some medical supplies and gives them these, along with some American money ("Don't ask," he says when Volker wonders where he got it), and wishes them well; he closes the bookshelf behind them, and they manage to make their way to the safe point, where Network members soon arrive to spirit them away. As they leave the city, Senta says to her mother, "Mama, you and that doctor...did you ever...?" Frau Werner exclaims, "He's a doctor--I'm a patient! You can't think such things." "I know, Mama," Senta says, "it's just that...I never even saw you look at Papa that way!" Frau Werner hesitates before replying, "Neither of us ever did anything inappropriate." Yet Senta can tell there were definite feelings between the two. The trio make it to the countryside and take up residence in a small but decent cottage. It's near some farms, so both Volker (after he recovers from his injury) and Senta take odd jobs helping out to get by until everything's settled down. (The Allies never come looking for them; they never committed any war crimes, anyway.) They learn that the Dobermanns, Dr. Schäfer, and Sgt. Gerhardt made it to the mountains on the horses Lukas brought them, while Josef Diamant was briefly captured and placed on a train by the SS but was liberated by the Allies shortly before reaching a death camp, and he got back in touch with Lukas and the other Network members. I don't think these two play a role in the followup story (not sure yet)...but they have plenty of good opportunity to grow on each other. Senta ends up finding herself a good man after all. Not only that, but while visiting the city Volker happens across the doctor who'd helped them--no longer a doctor, as his clinic's been shut down--and invites him to join them for a meal, and it's obvious he and Frau Werner--no longer Frau Werner, as she cut off all contact with Herr Werner, and none of them have bothered to find out what became of him in the war's final days--have grown on each other, too. It isn't the family any of them imagined they'd end up with, but it suits them just fine. [Senta Werner 2022 [Friday, September 9, 2022, 4:00:06 AM]] [Senta Werner 2022 2 [Friday, September 9, 2022, 4:00:22 AM]] |