The Gathering Storm (The Sturmtaucher Trilogy Book 1)

by Alan Jones

As the guests tucked into the Sauerbraten, a beef dish marinated for days, then slow-cooked for twelve hours, accompanied by the traditional Bratkartoffeln, Knödel dumplings and Sauerkraut,

it's a looonnngg book. no wonder if it goes into this much detail about the food they were eating..

‘The Nussbaums have been with us for nearly fifty years and for two generations. They’re part of the furniture. I’m sure the National Socialists will not be the slightest bit interested in them. And my husband and my father-in-law do have a little bit of influence, you know.’ ‘That may be true, Maria,’ said Frau Böhm, ‘but times are changing, and in modern Germany, things may become somewhat different from the way they are now.’ Ruth couldn’t have explained how she knew, but she realised that these women who, on the surface, were good friends, disliked each other intensely.

‘You shouldn’t have spoken as you did earlier, in front of all your guests.’ The General wasn’t surprised that Canaris had mentioned his comments. He didn’t respond but waited for his friend to expand on his statement. ‘First of all, I know you consider them all as friends and that you can trust them, but these are becoming dangerous times, and you should learn to trust no one.’

If you must disagree, as many senior officers in the armed forces do, I would strongly advise you to be discreet about it. Sooner or later, they will take power, and they may not tolerate dissent.’

We knew that you and he were acquaintances and thought that it would be useful if he sounded you out before we made a formal approach.’ ‘And if I weren’t interested, I would never need to know anything about whatever it is you are proposing.’ The General smiled. ‘Quite. In our line of business, we do not advertise.’

‘What is that racket?’ he asked. The lieutenant stepped over to the one window that was open and closed it. ‘Glockengeläut und Dankgottesdienste, sir. To celebrate Herr Hitler’s appointment as chancellor. All the church bells in Germany are ringing, and they’re expecting big crowds this evening at the thanksgiving services. Will you be going, sir?’

The further up the tree you get, the less time you get to spend on the ground.’

‘He seems to have caught the imagination of a significant part of the population. Especially amongst the unemployed and the poorly paid. They see him as their saviour.

The parrallels with hitler and trump are terrifying

‘The thing is, Yosef, people are disillusioned. Unemployment is soaring, living conditions are worse than ever and our politicians are indecisive and do nothing but bicker and prevaricate. We are being bled dry and treated as pariahs by the rest of the world and our armed forces are emasculated. Is it any wonder that people see him as some sort of saviour?’

Almost all the slipways or dry docks harboured a vessel of the Reichsmarine, each of different size and at various stages of construction or repair. Men moved over them like ants on a discarded biscuit tin

I’m not a pig and I’m not dirty, am I?’ ‘You certainly aren’t either of those. It’s just people who become fearful when someone else is a bit different from them, with maybe a bit of jealousy thrown in. Many of our Jewish friends are successful and wealthy. People lash out when they aren’t doing quite so well themselves, with whatever insult comes to mind, so they call you dirty when you’re not. It makes them feel better.’

racism in a few sentences

The sad truth, the General realised, was that the people in real danger were the protestors.

‘Heinz, part of our job is to monitor the world outside the navy and the army and assess how events are going to impinge on the Reichswehr; to be their eyes and ears, in effect. We,

The speeches had been fiery and full of righteous fervour, only lacking the bible-thumping of the sermons delivered by hellfire-and-brimstone preachers. Instead, they inflamed the crowd with bile and hatred, and blind nationalism.

OMG it's repeating itself isn't it

It hit him that large swathes of the population were living in abject fear; trying to survive by keeping their heads down and hoping they wouldn’t be targets.

To remain silent is to side with the bullies

‘We went from a democracy to a dictatorship in a few short months, without so much as a whimper.’ ‘Because deep down, the German people don’t really like us, and if we’re the price they pay for putting Germany back on the world stage, they’ll give him anything.’

Erich Kästner put his hand on his son’s shoulder. ‘We all make mistakes. You’re a bigger person if you can admit to them. I also thought he was a breath of fresh air when I first heard about Adolf Hitler and his party. He’s extremely plausible, and he tells people what they want to hear. And he gives them a scapegoat.’

He paused again, looking around at the faces of people desperate for guidance, both temporal and spiritual. ‘I am leaving Germany with reluctance because, until recently, I regarded myself as German, and I loved this country. If it were just our leaders who were trying to impose their anti-Semitic views on the nation, I could live with that. But the German people; not all of them, but a significant proportion of them, are embracing those views and, in my view, it can only get worse.’

‘Just tell her the truth. That people are losing their jobs just because they are Jewish.’ He paused. ‘That’s not strictly true. Other people are losing their jobs, too, because they are opponents of the ruling party but, in a dictatorship, that is what nearly always happens, so it is easier to rationalise. But targeting Jewish people is just madness.’ ‘We don’t live in a dictatorship. This is Germany. We’re a democratic country. You might not like Hitler or the National Socialists, but the country voted for him.’

‘You talk to Antje,’ she said, handing him an olive branch, ‘but don’t tell her anything that might get her into bother.’ Erich Kästner thought that her words were more damning than anything he had just said.

‘It’s not just what they do to you at the time,’ she said, ‘it’s the way the feeling of fear eats away at you for days after.’ Yosef understood. Since he’d been beaten, he saw shadows around every corner.

She gave him a worried smile. ‘You too? It’s getting to the stage when I think everyone is looking at me.’ ‘Maybe we’re just overthinking it all. Surely everyone hasn’t become Jew-haters overnight?’ ‘Maybe they’ve always hated us, but only now do they feel they can show it.’

He’d fought in the Kaiser’s army and had seen the ruling classes at their worst, using whole battalions of men as expendable pawns in what was a game to them, designed to keep them in power whatever else happened. He’d been glad when the monarchy had been abolished by the victorious French and the English, and replaced by the Weimar Republic,

‘So where did you learn all this subterfuge and diplomacy?’ ‘I’m a general, you were an admiral. Subterfuge and diplomacy are just part of the job. You know as well as I do that massaging egos, ‘encouraging’ cooperation in people and ferreting away knowledge about friends and rivals was a big part of what we did.’

‘People are fed up with being poor. They want to get back some national pride.

‘You know, the man who gave the Spiegel eulogy,’ Josef said. ‘He’s been in Esterwegen since he was arrested in Altona. They shot him.’ A sadness coloured Miriam’s face, but she said nothing. Nowadays, these things are to be expected, like a man having a heart attack.

the alcohol slowly glued the group together, and loosened their tongues,

The problem is that people don’t seem to trust any group that they don’t quite understand.

The General wasn’t finished. ‘And conscription. To me, that can only mean one thing.’ ‘Which is?’ ‘War, at some point in the future. Expansionism in the short term.’ ‘You’ve put a lot of thought into this, haven’t you?’ ‘Yes, because I think it’s important. These people have a stranglehold on Germany, and they’re tightening their grip every day.’

‘For evil to flourish, it only requires good men to do nothing.’ Simon Wiesenthal, c.1960

How desperate must they be to ask for food from strangers?’ ‘They have families. They’re not too proud to let them starve.’ ‘No, they wouldn’t be. But it’s wrong.’ ‘Yosef, there have been soup kitchens for ever. Only a few years ago, it was the mass unemployed queuing up at places like this, and not just in Germany.’ ‘The difference is that these are all Jews, sir.’

It struck the General that the mood of the ceremony bordered on the religious, but a man, not a God, was being worshipped, a terrifying cult of personality.

‘Well, he’s a great orator, if a little strident, and he didn’t say much today, surprisingly, apart from declaring the Games open. His speeches are the key to everything he does. He never writes anything down these days, but when he speaks, it’s up to those under him to translate his words into legislation. He likes to have each department overlapping and conflicting, vying for his attention; it keeps them on their toes. They run around like frightened rabbits, desperate to be the

ones in favour; even Himmler, on occasion, needs to fawn to him, although he has more autonomy than most.’

The army should be setting an example.’ ‘The army are not the party. We have a degree of independence.’ ‘But surely the armed forces should obey the government?’ ‘That’s true, but the armed forces’ first duty is to the citizens of the nation.’ ‘I don’t understand.’ ‘Let’s say the government put the country in an untenable position of danger.

Should the army follow them blindly, or should it say, enough is enough?’ ‘That’s treason,’ she said. ‘Not necessarily.’ He wondered how the conversation had reached this point.

‘but a significant proportion of the German people support all of this; the rampant nationalism, the desire for a greater Germany, the sabre-rattling and making you, the Jews, the scapegoat for everything that was wrong with Germany. They welcome it with open arms, and it shames me.’

‘You know what they say. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.’

the godfather?

We should give serious thought to leaving.’ Her eyes clouded. ‘You know we can’t. Until we all agree to leave. And my parents won’t, I’m sure; neither will yours.’ ‘They’re stubborn. Like you.’ She gave a tired smile. ‘So, what do we do?’ she said. ‘We do as she asks. Say nothing. Do nothing. Hide in our little hole.’ She cringed at the bitterness in his voice, but she knew he was right.

‘Did you see our star?’ Mama Weichmann asked. Miriam nodded, closing her eyes. It had been a shock to see the yellow paint daubed on the front door of the flat. The Star of David. ‘It was a neighbour from downstairs,’ the old lady said. ‘He’s some sort of official with the NSDAP.’ ‘Is he allowed to do that?’ ‘He said it was his civic duty.’

We know it’s hard for you but as I told you before, we Jews have been treated like this for centuries, and we’ve learned to bend in the wind, like a blade of grass.’

‘I’d say that Adolf read it right. Neither the English nor the French had the stomach for it. And without them, there could be no attempt to resolve the problem at this end.’ ‘But he’ll push for more, surely.’ ‘Yes. Success will inflame his desire to do one better, again and again. It’s like sex. The more you get, the more you want.’

wasn’t the National Socialists or the government who threw the bricks and lit the fires of Kristallnacht, although they stood back and let it happen. It was the German people who smashed and burned our homes, shops and synagogues.’

‘Perhaps, sir, but with reluctance. I’m not sure we could settle there. I know it sounds ridiculous, but some of those fervent Zionists, who extol the virtues of Palestine and our duty to go there; they’re as narrow-minded as the NSDAP.’

Very prophetic given the Palestinian genocide

two frightened people clinging to each other to shut out the world, and all its pain.

‘It will be no different from working with the Goyim.’ ‘But he’s a Jew. How can he live with himself?’ ‘Don’t worry. He’ll be able to justify it to himself. These people always do.’

‘Yes. I’ll telephone her from Warsaw.’ The General heard his son’s laughter at the end of the line, and it didn’t sound forced. He hoped it wouldn’t be the last time he heard it. ‘Goodbye,’ he heard himself say, ‘And God bless.’ ‘See you soon. Goodbye.’ The line went dead, and the General replaced the receiver on its cradle.

Memo: Geh.KdoS. ABW 31/08/39 CAC0842.1 For Attention Only: General Erich Kästner, Abwehr, Kiel office, Abwehr. From: Vice Admiral Wilhelm Canaris, Chef der Abwehr.

The British fleet has mobilised; all leave has been cancelled and all naval ships have been made ready to go to sea. [END]

the admiral continued, ‘there will be things that take place in this skirmish, and in the bigger war that is coming, that won’t sit well with you. Don’t try and stop them all; they will squash you like a bug. Make a note of them, and tell only me, or your father.’ Franz’s stomach tightened, and he tasted bile at the back of his throat. ‘The Jews,’ he said.