Red Germany: Darkness over Europe

[Personguyfellow]

Hiler was a madman. I wouldn't put it past him to shout the names of states in a hoarse voice and then laugh hysterically. But what if he had come to power via another method? What if his evil had broken onto the world stage not through the lens of National Socialism, but by something darker still? The world (or at least HoI AAR readers) will learn the answer in:

Red Germany

Darkness Over Europe

[Personguyfellow]

Western Front
1918

Green fields and meadows. A beautiful sky, young German men singing. Suddenly, fire. Darkness. Hate. A dull shrieking noise that grew louder and louder until...

""Wake up, Adolf! Get moving, quickly!"

Hitler's trench reflexes kicked in immediately, and he rolled over. The shell narrowly missed him, showering him with mud, slime, and worse. "Heinrich!" Hitler called. "Are you still alive?"

There was no answer. Hitler tasted blood as he got up and looked back to where he had been sleeping seconds before. He wished he hadn't, because what he saw made him retch.

The young field officer- a small, bookish Prussian with a pinched face and spectacles who would have been at home in a school or a library in any sane world, kicked some dirt over him. "That's all we can do for him. Let's move, boys! We're retreating."

The men gave up ground resisting the enemy advance as best they could. Which effectively meant running, hunched over, for dear life. Suddenly Hitler felt a sharp pain in his side. He cried out and fell over. Than all went black.

When Hitler awoke, he realized that he was in a hospital. To his left, there was another bed with a dour looking soldier in it. "Stinks to be us, eh?" Hitler nodded agreement. "American shell. Left leg- I'll never walk again. In the Champagne. Yourself?"

"My side hurts." Hitler realized that was not sufficient. "We were across from a British unit. Northern France, mybe Flanders. I lose track. I'm Adolf Hitler , by the way."

"We all do, chum. I'm Yankel Leibowitz, of Frankfurt."

"Jewish?" asked Hitler.

The man nodded. "But those things mean nothing to me. I'm neither a Jew, nor a German, but a citizen of the world. That's Socrates, of course. But it could well have been Marx. Socrates was ahead of his time."

"Are you a Marxist, then?"

"And proud of it." The man rolled over to face Hitler, grunted and winced. "The dialectic predicts that the revolution is near in the world's most advanced nations. That'd be us. We held off the United States, Britain, and France all that time, and managed to defeat Russia in the middle of it. All thanks to the advanced proletariat of our nation- that's you and me, my friend. The people have never been stronger- but we're still working for a system that is against our own interests."

A glint appeared in Hitler's eye. "Yes, the Kaiser, that fool, he has sent us into war needlessly. The German people never faltered, but that man betrayed us."

"Yeah, the Kaiser's an imperial pig, but what can you do?"

"What you said. We could rise up. Bring the German people, the most advanced in the world, into power."

"It's too late for that, my friend."

"What do you mean?"

"The war's over, Hitler. We surrendered without losing an inch of German soil. Wilhelm fled to Holland. Luddendorf's in Sweden. They stabbed the German proletariat in the back, Adolf. They stabbed us in the back."

"Pigs." Hitler's eyes blazed in fury. "Dogs. Every last one of them. The German people are invincible. It is our leaders who are filth."

"So, Hitler, do you want to join the party? I could hook you up with a friend in Frankfurt."

"Well, to tell you the truth," Hitler looked truly embarassed, "I'd never give you people much thought before. I always thought" Hitler studied his bedpost "you were all a bunch of Jewish conspirators. But I've never heard anyone prouder of the German people and nation then yourself."

"Not the nation," Leibowitz chuckled. "Nations are inherently evil. But the people, yes. As you said, we are invincible."

"It is a possibility" Hitler admitted after some thought.

"Well, you don't need to decide immediately. We'll be here for a few weeks more. You'll have time to decide. And time to talk about this."

"Good" said Hitler. "I have many questions."

"Wonderful," said Leibowitz. "I have many answers, and even more time. The only thing I lack is anything else to do."

[Personguyfellow]

A few weeks later, Hitler was markedly improving and could walk around the room for short distances. Leibowitz would never walk again, but he was learning how to use a wheel chair.

At last they reached the point where Hitler could push Leibowitz's wheelchair around outside. As they walked, they discussed politics and ideology. "So, Yankel, what about these Bolsheviks? How could the Slavs of all people beat us to a worker's Utopia?"

"Well, they haven't." Leibowitz looked sour."Lenin and his crew are trying to jump start an inauthentic rebolution. Communism cannot come through force. In so doing, he has had to make terribel compromises. For example, in federating the so-called 'Soviet Union', he has smashed the Marxist ideal of the state of the world's people. Our goal is not to have a Belorussian worker''s paradise, a Dansih won, even a Jewish one and so on. There can be only one state- the state of the people."

"Then these Mensheviks have it right, do you think?"

"They're better, but not by much. If they won, Russia would be run by beliievers in communists who sort of twiddled their thumbs and waited for Russia to advance to a state ready for revolution. In this case, I wish the most reactionary imperialists would win the Russian Civil War. A falsely communist Russia will only tarnish our sterliing reputation in the advanced countries and delay the world revolution."

Hitler appeared contemplative. "So, in other words, you believe that a reactionary regime is better than a falsely progressive one. What should a true people's regime do internationally if one ever took hold here in Germany?"

"Well, our first task would be to liberate the other advanced nations. Only then should the rest be shown the truth. And, of course, to keep our distance from the false communists. Most importantly, of course, to obliterate the concept of the nation state, as these so called "Soviets" have failed to do." A pause. " Wh so many internationalist questions today, Adolf"

Hitler grinned like a boy who has kept a secret he desperately wants to tell. "I'm writing a book, Yankel."

Leibowitz considered this with interest. "On internationalist progressivism?"

"Among other things. I'm going to call it 'My twenty year fight with arrogance and stupidity'".

Yankel guffawed.

Hitler looked insulted. "What?" he harrumphed.

"Sorry, Adolf. It's just that that's the silliest, clumsiest title I ever heard. Hpw about just 'My Fight'"?

"Mein Kampf." Hitler tasted it. "That might work, Yankel. That might just work."

[Exterous]

Nice start! I esp like the title post. Nice touch

[Henry v. Keiper]

I have a hunch at what's approaching us...

[Flashblade]

Very interesting and well written! I do have little problem with the idea of Hitler becoming a Marxist, maybe that bullet should have hit him in the head... a coma would explain things rather nicely!

[COEBAOTAUTROTFU]

Very intresting , your wording painted a picture in my head, Adolf, not hating JEWS, wow , I will be keeping my eye on this AAR

[Dan Cook]

Wow a commie Germany? Never seen this before. Keep up the good work.

[Black_Rattler]

Very interesting, I like the idea of Hitler and jews working together...But being jewish I just cant picture that...

[Fuhrerdammerung]

This is an amazing concept...

[Mettermrck]

Whoa...intriguing concept, personguyfellow. I look forward to more.

[Morpheus506]

Dun dun dun!!

I like. When's the next update coming?

[COEBAOTAUTROTFU]

Add more I have already waited, 8 hours, I guess I am impatient, everybody read my AAR it is about ICELAND (see my sig for link) I am ready for You Hitler that works with Jew story sounds good

[Personguyfellow]

I'm Jewish myself. There are intriguing stories about how Hitler was friendly with a Jewish doctor before the war, and how he may have had Jewish blood (among other things, Shicklgruber, the original family name, was often a Jewish name).
The basis for the scenario is that Hitler's hatreds for Slavs, the West, the "vons" and military leaders, etc., could have translated into other avenues. The next post will be up in a few moments.

[COEBAOTAUTROTFU]

I didn't know that, About the docter! I guess I do now

[Personguyfellow]

1920
Frankfurt

The German Communist Party meeting was a fairly dry affair. A dull speaker or two quoting Marx and Engels, some talk about the war and the "stab in the back", other talk about the imperialist capitalist oppression of the workers. Lost of drinking, smoking, and card playing. A few people turned their heads as a small, almost comical looking man with a thin mustache walked into the room, pushing a veteran in a wheelchair with one trouser leg hanging limp sickeningly short of where it should.

Leaving the wheelchair-bound friend in the front near the speakers podium, Hitler to the party boss in the corner of the room. After a moment's quiet discussion, the boss nodded and said "why not?" No one noticed this. A few minutes later the speaker concluded with the usual "workers of the world, you have nothing to lose but your chains!" This would have been rousing had the men in the room not heard it many times.

Hitler approached the podium. A glint was in his eye. "People of Germany," he bagan, in a fairly soft voice. A hush largely settled over the room, as the party members liked to give new speakers a chance. In a minute or two, they would go back to playing and drinking. Some people still were playing in the back.

"People of Germany," Hitler continued. "Many of you, like myself, fought in the recent futile war of capitalist imperialst nations." An overly hearty chorus of hear-hears greeted this, but settled down again. "Our Kaiser took us to war for the affairs of nations, for the expanding of his capitalist imperilist workers domination." Suddenly Hitler's voiced sharpened. "But we fought like the invincible people that we are! Despite constant treachery from our so-called leaders, we were able to defeat Russia while holding off the other three advanced states for FOUR YEARS!" The crowd applauded at that. War rhetoric was rare in the communist party, except opposition to it, but the veterans and war industry workers felt a stirring as Hitler deftly wove the war memories into his communist speech.

"The invincible people of Germany would have conquered regardless, but we were STABBED IN THE BACK!" Loud cheering now. Hitler had the crowd hooked. This was typically an argument of the radical reactionary nationalists, but Hitler made it a worker's message. "The German people must master our own destinies, because next time we must fight for the people! And next time, WE MUST NOT LOSE!" The crowd was on it's feet now, cheering and clapping. Hitler continued to glare forward, and the awed crowd sat again.

"We must establish a true worker's state in Germany. THE Worker's State. The People's Union, there can be no other. A mixture of the nation state and the worker's state will only create a more reactionary imperialist state still, like the Slavic charade in Russia today." This was certainly not what the Frankfurt party was used to, but Hitler had them all hooked now. Even the party chair.

"We must start TODAY. Our destiny, the destiny of the People, is OURS! And we start to master it RIGHT NOW! We must be heard across Germany. We must unite behind TRUE COMMUNIST IDEALS!. We must begin here, in the most advanced nation in the world. And then we must be prepared for the next war. Because next time, we will fight for THE PEOPLE'S DESTINY. And next time, we must not lose!"

The crowd went wild with adulation. Hitler passed through it like Israel through the Red Sea, untouched, untouchable. He marched over to the wheelchair, and the crowd parted for him. "Excellent one, Adolf. This is my friend I was telling you about. "

A middle aged Jew with large spectacles stood and held out his hand. "I have never heard such a statement of the peole's ideals! I'm Ernst Appelbaum, a progressive publisher here in Frankfurt-am-Main."

"Herr Appelbaum." Hitler's grip was almost impossibly firm and confident. His gaze penetrated straight into the publisher's eyes. "I have a manuscript I would like you to take a look at. It elaborates on may of the ideas mentioned in my speech today."

"It's good stuff, Ernst, believe me." Leibowitz knew, as he had helped Hitler edit it. He had developed some of the intellectual theories in it. But he could not write with Hitler's... fire.

"I have no doubt." Appelbaum was sweating with excitement. "Herr Hitler, I will have this published and distributed across the nation, across the world witin weeks. If I have to postpone every other project I'm working on, I will do it."

"Thank you, Herr Appelbaum. I have full confidence in my supporters." Hitler turned, breking his hypnotic eye contact. "Now if you will excuse me, I will get some rest. Good evening, Yankel, Herr Appelbaum". Hitler turned on his heels and left the room.

[Black_Rattler]

1 word

WoW

[Katmandu Wizard]

Good stuff. I'm quite hooked. Carry on!

[Fuhrerdammerung]

This is phenomenal. I can't wait to see how your Germany is in 1948.
Are you gonna make any other government changes to other countries?

[Henry v. Keiper]

This is very well realized.