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Jakob Wolfstein Blog Entry |
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September 2, 2022, 3:00:10 AM 9/2/22: r/SketchDaily theme, "Free Draw Friday." This week's character from my anthro WWII storyline is Jakob Wolfstein. He's a pacifist sort who's been through a lot. An experiment leaves him with incredible strength and intelligence but he's good at hiding this from everyone else for a long while. There'll be more about him later in my art Tumblr and Toyhou.se. Not much to say about his design except that he's supposed to look rather thin and haggard. TUMBLR EDIT: Wolfstein is one of my "intermediary" Trench Rats characters who assumedly came into existence around 2000, as a bit character who was basically there to witness the brutal torture and rape LC Silver Rat undergoes while in Nazi custody. This is written out in an old, out-of-date adult scene which also features...ugh, guess I have to check...hm well, it's a bit different from what I remembered. It features the character who only recently acquired the name Sgt. Kaspar Lange, and the character who by now is SUPPOSED to be Dr. C/Kammler, yet in this text is referred to only as the "interrogator." Which doesn't sound like Dr. C. But that's who I picture now attempting the (unsuccessful) interrogation, since he's the one who sics Lange on Silver, and the other main possibility, Capt. Himmel, takes no active role in such things. (I don't think he's present during this incident. That could be an intriguing plot point.) Why is Wolfstein, another prisoner, present? This wasn't properly explained as far as I recall (I don't want to read through the outdated thing), but Wolfstein himself, in the scene, decides he has to witness what's going on, no matter how awful (and it gets pretty damn awful in ways I can't describe here), rather than turning away, so that if Silver ever gets the chance at justice, Wolfstein can clearly testify as to what exactly he had to endure. In the new version of events, he does still do this, but there's also a reason why he's there in the first place. So, let's get going. Jakob Wolfstein's (his first name is a pretty new addition) past is largely unknown to me. He and his family, including sister Johanna and cousin or family friend Noah Kirchheimer, attempt to escape when the Nazis come for them; Noah and Johanna succeed, but Jakob is captured, shoved in a truck, put on a train. He's brought to Maj. Konstantin Klaus's camp. Unlike Ernst Dannecker, commandant of the camp in the canine version of the city, Klaus isn't particularly known for cruelty or sadism; he doesn't tend to strike terror into his captives by merely walking past, the way Dannecker did. He's more practical, treats his job like a chore, and for the right price he can even grant privileges now and then. He's still a selfish Nazi a-hole but he can be reasoned with. Unfortunately, unlike Dannecker's relatively small labor camp, Klaus's camp is much bigger, and is a combination labor/extermination camp, meaning it has gas chambers. Like I said, Klaus is practical, and he doesn't have room in his camp for everybody who comes through. Selections on the arrival ramp are necessary. Adult women are sent to another camp. Pregnant women, children, the elderly, and the sick or infirm are sent left--to the gas. The rest are sent right--to work. Wolfstein stands in the selections line and since he'd heard rumors previously about what's been happening to his fellow Jews, he very quickly catches on to what "left" and "right" mean. He nervously makes his way up the line; the SS officer doing the selections barely glances at him before jerking a hand at the air--"Right." Letting out a breath, Wolfstein steps away from the line and into the camp proper. He's subjected to a terrifying, whirlwind process of official entry into the camp system by handing over the few belongings he still has in his pockets--"Don't worry, we'll keep an eye on them," the officer overseeing this part of the process says, as if he's said it a million times--being ordered to strip off all his clothes (humiliating), getting sent into a shower room (he briefly panics, thinking he's been sent to the gas chambers after all, until a belt of icy water strikes him and he and the others are ordered to hurry and wash up), haphazardly being issued striped uniforms and shoes (the officer here asks sizes, then hands over clothes while muttering, "Close enough"), having color-coded badges stitched on (Wolfstein gets a yellow star), and quickly getting numbers tattooed on their left arms (Wolfstein winces and turns away, not because it hurts, but because his faith prohibits tattoos, so this is yet another humiliation.) (Unless/until I change my character designs, male rats in my story don't get their heads shaved as they don't have hair, only fur. Female rats, and canines of both genders, do get their heads shaved.) He's completely demoralized and discouraged by the time he goes back out into the camp and is assigned a bunk for later and work to do. But, he reasons, at least he's alive. (Wolfstein doesn't yet realize something Josef Diamant, the canine creator and leader of the resistance group the Diamond Network, mentions in the story: Every camp is a death camp. Just some of them kill you more slowly than others, is all.) Wolfstein isn't especially strong or anything, but he's resilient, so he does his work the best he can, keeps his head down, doesn't draw attention to himself. The camp sometimes produces goods for the SS to sell, and business-minded Klaus keeps general track of which prisoners produce the best work the most quickly; Wolfstein is quite good at this, so every time there's a need for craftworkers, he gets assigned to this duty. He learns to sew, so when prisoners make SS uniforms, he can do that as well. Eventually he's permanently shifted from heavy labor to craftwork. He offers to stitch up the cuff of Klaus's coat when it's accidentally torn by another prisoner; not only does this spare the prisoner from a potential beating, but Klaus offers him privileges. Wolfstein turns this down. One of the kapos has already warned him that it's just as risky to be on the SS's good side as to be on their bad side, at least when you live in a camp; get along too well with the guards, and your fellow prisoners could become your new enemies. Wolfstein witnesses this happen with another prisoner, so he decides to eschew privileges, do his job, not get in trouble. At least he's alive. One day the camp doctors summon the prisoners to the medical ward and take blood samples from everyone. Wolfstein thinks little of this, such things happen often. But then he's summoned back and made to give another sample. The doctors confirm the results and have him escorted to Commandant Klaus's office. By now Wolfstein is getting very nervous, wondering if he's sick, and if he'll be sent to the gas chamber. Klaus, however, informs him he's being taken to a different medical facility: A doctor is running an experiment there, and Wolfstein has the right blood type required. "Will miss having you around, Jude," Klaus says, "you make good stitches." Guards bustle him off to a waiting truck, he's shoved in the back, and driven away. The only thing missing is the train. Wolfstein has heard vague rumors of "experiments"; Klaus's camp isn't really known for them, but the doctors supposedly do awful things in other camps. He's never been involved in any of this business. Now he's brought to a large building complex in the middle of the city, big enough to house its own small camp if it wanted, and taken inside to be processed again--stripped, cold shower, new striped clothes and yellow star, then a cold clinical room with a sort of bed/table in the middle and a cell to the side. The doctor, thin and sharp and with cruel eyes and glasses, calls himself "Dr. C" and tells Wolfstein he's participating in an important medical study, but that's the only information he gets. He's strapped to the table, made to drink something that almost makes him spit up, and an IV is placed in his arm. The doctor stands nearby and watches. Nothing seems to happen. After the IV bag runs empty, Wolfstein is disconnected and taken to a damp, dingy cell in another part of the building. Much different from the aseptic experiment room, it's mildewy and has nothing but a bare bunk with a blanket and pillow projecting from one wall, a hole to go in, a tiny window that lets in a tiny bit of light. He's given a bit of food and water and that's it for the day. He curls up under the threadbare blanket, head burrowed into the lumpy pillow, and shivers as he tries to go to sleep, thinking of his family and telling himself, at least he's alive. Over the next several days this process is repeated. A new party joins the observations--an SS captain with an unpleasant glare. He never participates, just watches. Wolfstein assumes he's some sort of supervisor; he and the doctor don't seem to like each other. Wolfstein is perplexed that the experiment seems to be accomplishing nothing until one day his guards put restraints on his wrists like they always do when transporting him from his cell and when he lowers his arms, they snap off. Everyone is startled, Wolfstein especially. They put on another pair and he's more careful this time, assuming it was a compromised pair, though Dr. C is interested when the guards mention this. He orders Wolfstein to break the shackles again. Wolfstein hesitates until the doctor picks up a cattle prod he keeps nearby--he jerks back, and again the shackles snap off. Excited, Dr. C orders the guards to leave, but calls the SS officer to come watch. He points at the exam table and orders Wolfstein to lift it. Wolfstein is positive he's about to get shocked with the prod as he stoops to grasp the bottom corner of the heavy metal table; hears the SS officer mutter, "What are you trying to prove--?"--then hears his voice cut off as the corner of the table leaves the floor. He abruptly drops it with a gasp, the CLANG reverberating through the small room. The captain is gawking and Dr. C is beaming. He's tested on various other things and the truth soon becomes apparent: Not only has his strength greatly increased, but so have his physical endurance (he's subjected to various typically torturous tests including being immersed in ice water, with few ill effects) and his intelligence. Mathematical equations which previously would have made no sense to him are now solved effortlessly. Dr. C had had his suspicions previously that the serum used in the IV infusions was only effective on a particular rare blood type and even rarer mutation--Wolfstein's results finally confirm this. He arranges for other members of the SS--which, by now, Wolfstein has figured out are funding the experiment--to come and see what he can do. And Wolfstein gets a very bad feeling. When Dr. C orders him to show off his abilities, he refuses. Won't break his shackles, won't lift heavy objects, won't do the math. When Dr. C shoves his hands in ice water, he soon jerks them back out as if it hurts. The officers look increasingly skeptical as Dr. C gets increasingly desperate. "PERFORM, verdammt!" he hisses, but Wolfstein plays dumb, even when the doctor starts hitting him over his back--the blows don't hurt nearly as much as they should, but he flinches from them anyway. The SS officers finally leave, unimpressed; oddly, the captain, who'd witnessed Wolfstein's abilities earlier, says nothing to clear the matter up. Dr. C starts beating and whipping Wolfstein so severely that the blows finally start to hurt--obviously there's a limit to the serum's effectiveness, and the doctor draws blood. The SS captain intervenes to stop the beating, arguing that it wouldn't do for him to kill his one successful test subject; the doctor at last relents, albeit still incredibly angry. The officer assists Wolfstein into the neighboring cell and closes it, though he does give Wolfstein a small towel to dab at the blood leaking from his back; "Danke," Wolfstein says softly. Dr. C decides to leave Wolfstein in this particular cell, which means he gets to witness everything Dr. C's other test subjects are put through. Everything. Wolfstein had resolved himself to enduring his own pain; having to watch others in pain, while he can do nothing, is a uniquely cruel form of torture. The doctor also comes up with a different way to prove Wolfstein's capabilities to the SS; he straps Wolfstein down, invites them again to watch, and pulls out a scalpel. Then proceeds to make two cuts across Wolfstein's chest and a longer cut down the middle--vivisection cuts. He carefully pulls back the bleeding skin and fat just a little bit. The SS captain looks a little green while the others seem impressed. Wolfstein just feels too violated to put up an act. The officers are considerably more enthusiastic when they leave, and the project is ensured further funding. Dr. C smugly stitches Wolfstein back up and puts him back in his cell. Wolfstein huddles in the corner and cries silently to himself. It doesn't seem like such a good thing to be alive anymore. Dr. C loses some interest in him as he expands his search for other suitable test subjects, since, despite the promising results, it simply won't do for the most successful subject to be a Jew. Dr. C needs an Aryan subject. Unfortunately, the necessary blood type and mutation are so rare that it takes him a long while to find another subject. One day Wolfstein overhears the doctor and the SS captain arguing heatedly; a blood type test has come back as a match, and apparently, it belongs to the captain's son. From the sound of it, the young man is mentally slow and living in an institution--a highly unusual situation for an SS officer to be in, as such people are regarded as "life unworthy of life." Dr. C argues that he would be the perfect test subject for this project. The captain angrily retorts, "He's my son--he's YOUR nephew! How dare you tell me this is best for him! How dare you think this is what your sister would want!" Wolfstein at last realizes these two are brothers-in-law. The argument ends in a stalemate, Dr. C failing to convince the captain to hand over custody of his son. Shortly after, however, Wolfstein notices the captain doesn't come around anymore, and when he's in his old cell (he's sometimes kept there when no one is in the experimentation room, and now that Dr. C is focusing on other things he isn't always forced to watch), someone new is brought in. The new captive is tall and well muscled but relatively young, still in his teens; he keeps his head down, and though his voice is unusually deep, his speech is simple, halting, tentative. He wears a striped outfit like Wolfstein but instead of a yellow star, he has a black triangle with the word "Blöd"--stupid. As he's put in the cell, he asks if "der Hauptsturmführer" will come to visit him; Dr. C brusquely replies that Hauptsturmführer Himmel is too busy with other things to come visit. He leaves, and Wolfstein watches the hulking teenager sit and huddle into the corner of his cell, hugging his knees to his chest and suddenly looking quite small. In the dimness he thinks he even sees his eyes glimmer with tears. For as big and intimidating as he is, he's still little more than a boy, and now he's alone. As this new prisoner is subjected to the same tests Wolfstein went through, the two of them get to know each other just a little. His name is Kolten, and he's quite curious about Wolfstein, pointing to his yellow star and saying, "Jude...?"; when Wolfstein confirms this, he frowns and says, "You don't look like a Jew." Dr. C and the guards, as well as the caretakers at the hospital he lived in most of his life, have of course said lots of things about Jews, and he's surprised to learn most of them aren't true. Wolfstein isn't at all like he'd been led to believe he would be. Wolfstein is saddened when he points out his black badge and almost proudly proclaims himself "stupid" because all the doctors have said so. So it must be true. Wolfstein points out that what the doctors told him about Jews wasn't true, so perhaps he's not stupid after all? Kolten falls silent at that, and retreats. He refuses to discuss it further, though Wolfstein can tell he's definitely wondering about it. One day, Capt. Himmel mysteriously returns--Wolfstein isn't on hand to witness exactly how and when, but he does notice he has a bandage covering his throat, barely visible under his collar, and he speaks in barely more than a whisper now. He starts visiting Kolten diligently; Kolten is sulky at first, but soon forgives. Himmel often sneaks him candies; once when he notices Wolfstein in the neighboring cell, he gestures him to come closer, holding out his hand, palm down. Wolfstein uncertainly holds out his own hand, palm up, and Himmel deposits several chocolate coins. Wolfstein is startled at first, then his eyes tear up and he barely manages to thank him; Himmel, nonplussed by the reaction, leaves without a word. Kolten, misinterpreting Wolfstein's tears, gently tells him the coins aren't real gold but are candies: "You peel off the gold, and you eat the chocolate." Wolfstein wipes his eyes dry and thanks him as well. Wolfstein starts to get a stronger hint that something is up between the doctor and the captain when Himmel appears in the experimentation room one day, sets a bottle of saline solution on the counter, and starts furtively searching the cabinets and drawers. Wolfstein has a suspicion that he's seeking the serum used in the experiments, which is kept in a small locked and refrigerated compartment; he taps his bars to get Himmel's attention, silently points at the metal sinks, then at the refrigerated cabinet. Himmel examines the sinks for a moment before locating the key hidden underneath; he quickly climbs up to the cabinet, unlocks it, and pulls out certain vials, studying their labels--uses a syringe to empty their contents, and replaces it with the saline--puts everything back exactly as it was. Wolfstein watches this all with intense curiosity. He gestures at Himmel not to open the door until a guard has walked past, then the captain leaves as if he were never there. In following days, Dr. C expresses frustration that newer versions of his serum, meant to work on a greater variation of blood types, are completely ineffective. Wolfstein is stunned by the realization that Capt. Himmel is sabotaging the medical project from the inside. During Wolfstein's captivity, other test subjects come and especially go, but only one other displays successful results like his and Kolten's. Nazi soldiers bring an American prisoner of war to project headquarters; they captured him while attacking a tiny group of soldiers who'd recently arrived from the United States to keep track of Nazi Germany's activities. By sheer luck, he has the right blood type and mutation; and he's of sound mind and suitably Aryan stock, which makes him far preferable to both Wolfstein and Kolten. Wolfstein witnesses as the American soldier is strapped down as he once was and given the infusion. After several moments he starts convulsing violently and eventually falls still, not breathing; the SS major who accompanied Dr. C and Himmel to the experiment awkwardly says, "Better luck next time," and departs. Dismayed, Dr. C approaches the soldier, wondering aloud what went wrong, when he suddenly draws a loud breath, startling Dr. C and Himmel. "Subject Doomsday," as he's soon nicknamed--after the name of the medical project, translated from Weltuntergang--does respond positively to the original serum, after his initial frightening experience. He displays impressive gains in strength, intelligence, and resilience, but what strikes Wolfstein the most is the physical and psychological conditioning--or torture--Dr. C puts him through, to make him compliant. He effectively erases most of Doomsday's memory and retrains him to speak only German, and to refer to him as "Doktor-Vater" (Doctor-Father), a behavior he also instilled in Kolten, though not so much in Wolfstein (as Wolfstein prefers to remain silent rather than directly address him). Doomsday is successfully broken down and built back up into the perfect super-soldier which is the final intended result of Projekt Weltuntergang; he remains passive and placid when interacting with Dr. C, but when activated--he's programmed to respond to commands from doctors only--he can quickly and effortlessly subdue any of the soldiers Dr. C orders to try to take him on. Getting a look at Doomsday's empty eyes and knowing exactly what he's capable of, Wolfstein is filled with dread. If Dr. C manages to tweak the serum enough to get it to work with different blood types, there'll be nothing that can withstand an entire army of Nazi super-soldiers. So far, Himmel's piecemeal efforts to sabotage the experiment are the only thing preventing this from happening, and Wolfstein can tell from Himmel's own uneasy looks that this ruse likely won't last for long. A shred of promising news reaches them, however. The Nazis may have overstepped their bounds by taking an American POW to experiment on. Wolfstein overhears the guards murmuring about a battalion of soldiers recently arrived from the US; initially the Germans think they're seeing ghosts from the Great War, until it becomes clear this is a psychological ruse to give the Allies time to establish their own headquarters and make plans to rescue their captive comrade. The Americans, known as the Trench Rats, ally themselves with the various resistance groups, such as the French Champere's men, the Romani Didrika's men, and the Diamond Network, and at last stage an attack on the Nazis while Subject Doomsday is being transported. Wolfstein learns what happened later. Doomsday is rescued--yet another member of his former unit, which has been subsumed by the Rats, is captured in return. Teal Rat, as he's nicknamed, quickly becomes Dr. C's whipping boy despite his supposedly protected Sonderhäftling (special detainee) status, largely due to the doctor's fury over losing his best test subject. He and Wolfstein never get the chance to directly communicate but Wolfstein witnesses much of the torture and mistreatment he undergoes, and a lot of it is similar to what he himself went through. Dr. C even needlessly tests out the serum on him, which is incredibly painful. Although Dr. C largely breaks Teal down as he did Doomsday, Wolfstein can tell from his frustration that he never succeeds in getting the Trench Rat to reveal confidential information to him, such as the location of their headquarters. However, the Nazis manage to obtain this information through other means (an American spy for the Waffen-SS, though Wolfstein doesn't know this), and attack Trench Rat Headquarters, killing about a third of their number and taking their sergeant and corporal captive. Wolfstein sees little of Sgt. Camo, as he's given Sonderhäftling status and shortly after moved to a different area; Cpl. Drake, who is Jewish (and apparently also gay, as the star badge he's given is yellow and pink), is granted no such status, and subjected to a lot of the same treatments Wolfstein went through. The two prisoners do see each other in passing but never get to directly interact. Wolfstein hears rumors about some of the treatments Drake receives which even he himself didn't go through, such as a sort of sensory deprivation torture, and psychological manipulation like what Teal went through. He's also subjected to the serum--again, needlessly. By now Dr. C has become so angered over his inability to engineer an updated serum (thanks to his brother-in-law's efforts) that he simply throws every awful torture he can think of at his subjects (Kolten is the lone exception, being protected by his father) while he agonizes over the project possibly losing its funding. Not long after, Wolfstein hears of Camo successfully escaping, an incident which fills Dr. C with rage. Capt. Himmel is considerably less upset by what should be considered a humiliating loss--Wolfstein suspects he himself was involved in the escape. Despite their devastating losses the Trench Rats rally, gaining a new sergeant and corporal and recruiting new members in addition to strengthening their ties to the resistance groups. While Kolten is being transported, similar to Doomsday, he's captured by the Americans and taken back to their headquarters; something interesting that Wolfstein learns is that Subject Doomsday himself, now rehabilitated and re-nicknamed D-Day, plays a pivotal role in this. Dr. C flies into a fury on hearing of the loss of yet another of his most promising test subjects, and further takes it out on Teal. Wolfstein mostly avoids such treatment, kept almost all the time now in his "honor cell" next to the experiment room; he notices that Himmel's reactions to Kolten's capture are torn. On the one hand he's obviously in grief over the loss, yet on the other, seems slightly relieved that Kolten will no longer be subjected to Dr. C's treatment, and presumably will be treated better by the Americans. Unfortunately, the Nazis score a major victory in capturing the Trench Rat most highly wanted by the SS, a lance corporal codenamed Silver. Silver, one of Doomsday's and Teal's original unit, has earned the nickname "Der Silbergeist" (feel free to correct me if I'm getting the German wrong, which is quite likely), or the Silver Ghost, due to his habit of sneaking into project headquarters and snapping the necks of any guards he comes across, stealing documents, and departing again leaving nothing but bodies behind. He again breaches HQ but this time the Nazis are alerted to his presence by Teal, who starts screaming his nickname. (For his role in Silver's capture, Teal receives moderately better treatment. The irony is that as soon as Silver saw him--by then Teal was presumed to be dead--he was ready to abort his mission and rescue him, but never got the chance. In other words, Teal betrayed his potential rescuer, and prevented his own rescue.) Silver is brought to the experiment room next to which Wolfstein is housed, and Wolfstein thus witnesses all the horrific treatment he receives--by now Dr. C has given up all pretext of "scientific experimentation," and moved straight into pure torture. He recruits Sgt. Lange, a Nazi especially well known for his brutality, to beat Silver as well as violently sexually assault him; Silver manages to bite and seriously injure Lange's hand, but in return is even more brutally assaulted, beaten unconscious, and left for dead, without giving up any useful information. Wolfstein huddles in his cell with his head in his hands, racked with grief over what he witnessed, when he hears a sound, and is stunned to see Silver move, just slightly--he's still alive. When he shows signs of trying to work one of his restraints loose, Wolfstein takes a chance, and tosses him a shiv he's been working on for his own use. Silver manages to cut one of his wrists free and continues until he's able to push himself up and undo his ankle restraints, slipping down from the table and limping to Wolfstein's cell. Although barely able to move and in a great deal of pain, he starts working at the lock; Wolfstein repeatedly begs him to flee, but he finally gets the cell open, and the two furtively make their way through the building, Wolfstein helping Silver to walk. Their shared knowledge of the security holes in the building allows them to successfully escape, and they manage to work their way out of the city and to the countryside. In the woods, however, Silver at last loses consciousness and collapses; unsure what to do, Wolfstein stays by him. When he hears the noises of people approaching, he arms himself with all he can find--a tree branch--and stands over Silver to try to protect him. He knows he can almost certainly beat the s**t out of whoever appears, due to the serum, but doesn't want to reveal his status as a successful test subject of Project Doomsday unless absolutely necessary. The people who emerge from the trees aren't Nazis--they're Didrika's men. Didrika is the female Romani leader of a partisan group which aided the Trench Rats following their attack by the Nazis; they maintain a hidden camp deep in the woods. Seeing this older skinny guy armed with only a stick, they jeer at first, until noticing his tattoo and yellow star; then they ask what he's doing out on his own. Realizing they aren't Nazis, Wolfstein pleads for their help, telling them he has an injured Trench Rat in his company. They mock him over that, thinking he's delusional, but then notice what he's standing over, and hurry forward to get a better look. They know who Silver is by his reputation, and quickly bundle him up and transport him to their camp, Wolfstein following. Wolfstein is introduced to Didrika and her second-in-command, Boris; he explains the situation, requesting privacy to tell Didrika alone about the exact extent of what Lange put Silver through. Didrika provides Wolfstein a place to rest, but he refuses to eat until he knows Silver is in good hands. Didrika promises to take good care of Silver and have their own doctor tend to his injuries while her men get in touch with the Trench Rats, and Wolfstein reluctantly takes a few bites. Shortly after, a small delegation of Trench Rats arrives with their own doctor; by then Silver has regained consciousness though he's still in too rough shape to get around on his own. Didrika introduces them to Wolfstein, and he requests to accompany them so he can be sure Silver is tended to. The Rats are somewhat reluctant to bring an outsider to Headquarters, but upon learning that Wolfstein has potential knowledge of Project Doomsday, being a test subject himself, they agree to bring him along. (Wolfstein withholds the information that he's a SUCCESSFUL test subject.) Silver and Wolfstein are both brought to the medical ward. The Trench Rats' chief surgeon, Burgundy, gives Wolfstein a checkup, taking his pulse, looking at his eyes and ears, listening to his lungs; despite his years of poor treatment, he's in relatively good health, just somewhat malnourished. He asks Wolfstein to remove his striped shirt so he can further look him over; Wolfstein does so rather hesitantly. Burgundy is struck dumb when he sees the vivisection scar on Wolfstein's breast; "What is this?" he asks, stunned, to which Wolfstein quietly replies, "Science." When Wolfstein puts his shirt back on, Burgundy takes a scalpel and cuts the threads holding the yellow star in place, removing it; he seems perplexed when Wolfstein requests to keep the badge, but gives it to him. While in their custody Wolfstein assists the Rats on a few occasions, both by providing information and in other ways. He gives them Himmel's name--"the SS officer who whispers when he speaks"--as Himmel is already known to them, though he refrains from revealing Himmel's role in sabotaging Project Doomsday. One of the Rats gets pinned under heavy machinery at one point and Wolfstein briefly hesitates before joining the other Rats in attempting to lift and move it; when they all stare at him afterward, he meekly reveals his role in the project as "Subject Zero." Papers Silver stole mentioned the project's first successful subject, but they'd assumed this was Kolten; it becomes clear Dr. C--whose real name is Dr. Kammler--conflated Wolfstein's and Kolten's results in his reports to try to fudge over the fact that the project's first success was a Jew, the better to convince the SS to continue funding the experiment. This makes three "true" successes that the Rats know of: Wolfstein, Kolten, and D-Day, though only D-Day is considered a true success by the Nazis, as he's sufficiently "Aryan" and not mentally disabled. Burgundy expresses no surprise, but plenty of disgust that Kammler would lie about his own test results to keep his project afloat: "He's nothing but a quack, peddling quack science." When asked why he concealed this fact, Wolfstein expresses shame over having such abilities--given the means by which he obtained them, he wants no part of them, and dislikes the possibility of anyone seeing him as nothing other than a test subject. Burgundy argues that he can subvert the Nazis' intended purpose for him by using those abilities against them, an idea that gives Wolfstein pause; this is exactly what he saw Himmel doing, and he'd had no idea he could do it himself. Wolfstein requests information on his family--he has no idea if they're dead or alive--and LC Mahogany Rat, who keeps the Trench Rats' records, looks into it. Mahogany gets in touch with a contact he's made in the Abwehr, the Wehrmacht's intelligence service, many of whose members are opposed to the Nazis. The officer recognizes Noah Kirchheimer's name as a member of the Diamond Network, and sets up a meeting at a safe point. Noah and Wolfstein are reunited; shortly after, he's reunited with his sister Johanna. Wolfstein had assumed they'd been captured shortly after he was; they'd assumed he was dead as well. Wolfstein thanks the Rats and decides to assist their efforts by also joining the Diamond Network. When Noah and Johanna urge him to take it easy and recuperate first (he's still quite thin, haggard, and frail looking), he responds by taking hold of the bumper of Noah's big work truck and gradually lifting the corner of the truck up over his head. He explains to the dumbfounded pair that he was a test subject in Projekt Weltuntergang, and was a success. If he can use his abilities to help the Network, then he will. After the war, Wolfstein participates in the coordinated effort to permanently end Project Doomsday, now repurposed and renamed as Project Ultima Thule, accompanying the others--including other Doomsday subjects D-Day and Kolten--into the mountains to confront the surviving Nazis keeping the project running. Shortly before this, he'd become aware that Himmel--who was tried before an Allied military tribunal and stripped of his rank and honors before being set free--had taken up residence in an abandoned country mansion not far from where Kolten was staying with the elderly couple who'd taken him in at the Trench Rats' request. This couple, the Albrechts--as well as Kolten, and Ratdog, who formerly worked for the Wehrmacht before siding with the Allies--express concern about Himmel's health and state of mind; aside from his daily visits to Kolten, since the war he's seemed to withdraw more and more from the outside world, and is thinner and more sickly looking every time they see him. Wolfstein decides to visit, walking to the house in snowshoes and pulling along a sled of food. He needs to break into the house as the door is barricaded; within he finds the massive parlor cold and dark--despite it being the depths of winter, the roof and several windows of the house damaged, the fireplace is unused and he'd seen no smoke coming from the chimney. He brings the sled to the kitchen and starts getting out the food. Hearing a noise, he looks up to see Himmel peering suspiciously into the room, wielding a stick; he says that he's staying there, hinting that Wolfstein is trespassing. Wolfstein lowers his hood and Himmel recognizes him, lowering the stick though still seeming confused. Wolfstein explains that he's brought food; when Himmel murmurs that he doesn't eat meat, Wolfstein replies that he'll have to bring more fruit and bread next time. They head back into the parlor where Wolfstein starts a fire and they sit on the couch to eat. He surreptitiously looks Himmel over; the former SS officer is very thin, gaunt, and pale in his oversized greatcoat, his eyes glassy, and he has what looks like a neglected injury to his leg so he walks with a distinct limp. Wolfstein can't get any clear answers about why he's in such a state, as Himmel brushes off all his gentle attempts at questioning; realizing he'll likely stop talking entirely if he gets too pushy, Wolfstein backs off, but insists on visiting again with more supplies. Himmel seems reluctant, but doesn't raise a fuss. Wolfstein returns to the homestead some time later with his sister Johanna. She takes over bringing food and supplies to Himmel, as he seems more willing to talk to her; after some time Wolfstein suspects they've started a tentative relationship. This is confirmed when she doesn't call him or Noah to pick her up one night and instead stays at the house; they arrive the next day, and Noah confronts the two, intimidating Himmel--who shows no inclinations to defend himself--and demanding that Johanna return home. In the truck, however, when Noah mocks Himmel's son, Johanna exits and returns to the house, apologizing to Wolfstein as she goes. Despite Himmel's occasional kindnesses toward him during his captivity--and knowledge from Noah that he and his group were the ones who tended to Himmel after an attempt on his life orchestrated by his own brother-in-law (the reason for Himmel's abrupt absence and the injury to his neck), and then convinced him to sabotage the project from the inside--Wolfstein still doesn't completely trust him, and Noah is especially hostile, insisting, "Once a Nazi, always a Nazi." Although Wolfstein tries to keep a wary but open mind, Noah refuses to accept the relationship, and while Johanna isn't present, he goes to the Albrechts' and starts to argue with Himmel. He attempts to escalate it into a fight, but Kolten intervenes to protect his father; only Himmel's own intervention stops him from killing the other man. Kolten breaks down sobbing and begging not to be returned to the institution he grew up in as Himmel tries to comfort him. The Albrechts insist that Noah leave, and he does. When Wolfstein and Johanna hear about the incident, they're angered--Johanna especially, when Himmel refuses to speak with her again. She cuts off contact and a rift opens in the family. Himmel resists all efforts to communicate, aside from his visits to Kolten; he even rebuffs Noah when he tries to make amends. Noah asks Ratdog to contact Drake Rat, who along with Wolfstein was involved in Project Doomsday, and was liberated by the Trench Rats at the same time that Himmel was captured. (Like the Wolfsteins, Drake is Jewish.) Drake agrees to speak with Himmel. He afterward visits Wolfstein and Noah with a box of letters. He explains that these were letters Himmel's late wife, Dagmar, left on his pillow before he'd return to the military base every day, and letters Himmel himself had written to her after her death and during the war, to try to keep himself sane despite his crushing depression and loneliness. The letters make two things clear: The first is that Himmel's interactions with Noah and the Wolfsteins mirrored what had happened when he and Dagmar were courting and her brother, Dr. Kammler, disapproved of the union so much that he tried to pick a fight with Himmel (Dagmar saw Himmel hit her brother; only a deli owner who witnessed Kammler throw the first punch proved his account of Himmel attacking him first to be a lie). Kammler blamed Himmel for Dagmar's death in childbirth as well. Himmel had already been prone to dark moods (he'd been contemplating suicide when his first meeting with Dagmar interrupted this), trying to warn Dagmar against getting involved with him in the first place as he'd felt almost like he was cursed; these events, followed by doctors diagnosing Kolten as "stupid" and forcing Himmel to relinquish custody of him to an institution, just confirmed his thoughts, and when history seemed to repeat itself with Johanna, he decided it was best to isolate. Only the thought of Kolten being left on his own kept him alive, though he'd been having second thoughts about even that, suspecting he might be better off without him. The second thing is that Himmel never actually believed in the ideals of the SS; he joined just as the Nazis were starting to target the mentally disabled for execution, in the hopes that membership in the organization would protect his son--surely they wouldn't target family of their members. This turned out to be incorrect, though Himmel's employer, Maj. Jäger, did "overlook" the fact that Himmel had a disabled son while evaluating his application. Kammler attempting to murder him to gain custody of Kolten for his experiment just strengthened his resolve; with advice from the Diamond Network, whose members happened to find him and save his life, he sabotaged the project in the hopes of discrediting it and Kammler in the eyes of the SS. Ironically, both Noah and Wolfstein had helped him with this. When Himmel was captured by the Trench Rats, all he'd requested in exchange for telling them everything he knew about the project was to visit his son one more time. All his actions since his wife's death had been to protect his son, at any cost. Now that Kolten is safe, he'd had little left to live for and was willing to just slowly starve or freeze to death in the old house, though his relationship with Johanna had sparked something. Noah returns the letters to Himmel, who at last cautiously allows him inside. Noah--and Wolfstein--don't understand the SS, but they understand the drive to protect family. Wolfstein allows Noah to do this on his own to make amends, then he and Johanna visit. He can tell by the way the two embrace that while Himmel might not be in love with her--that feeling is for his deceased wife only--he does love her, and by now it's obvious he has no desire to harm anyone. Johanna's kindness toward Kolten is the thing that drew Himmel to her the most; Noah apologizes to Kolten as well, and seems surprised when Himmel forgives him, though Wolfstein understands it perfectly. He contacts the others who've remained in Germany--former Diamond Network members, former Heer, Trench Rats--and they draw up plans to fix the deteriorating mansion Himmel's been living in. They show up en masse in early spring when the snow has finally begun to melt and drip through the roof; Himmel is confused by their arrival, and protests when they make their intentions clear, but they refuse to take no for an answer. Even Kolten comes over from the Albrechts' house to help. Under Wolfstein's guidance the house is made habitable again, Sgt. Gold Rat even bringing in the books Himmel had collected while he had an office in the SS (after his trial Himmel had declined to take any personal belongings but his box of letters and a single book Johanna had given him, Frankenstein, while he was recovering from his slashed throat, and Gold had ordered the rest put in storage) and putting them on the shelves. Kolten's belongings are also brought over from the Albrechts' and a special room set up for him like at his original residence, for him to work on his building-block structures and drawings. By the time summer arrives, most of the work is done, and Himmel and Kolten and the Wolfsteins spend their evenings on the veranda enjoying the warmth after so many months of cold, a time of ease after so many years of struggle. Wolfstein never takes a partner or starts a family, but he does take vicarious pleasure in Himmel's and Johanna's interactions with Kolten and the numerous children they adopt afterward. It's odd, but he and the former SS captain become good friends. [Jakob Wolfstein 2022 [Friday, September 2, 2022, 3:00:10 AM]] |