These Fragile Regimes, page 4
part #10 of Parallel Nazi Series
“A change of subject?”
“Wives are allowed to do that.”
“Of course, my Dear. Having now heard your suggestion, I would like to have the Rainers visit.”
“This won’t interrupt your schedule, Peter?”
“As we were discussing, things are quiet right now. I would much prefer spending a weekend out here with you and Gratia rather than sitting in the office reading chloroform in print.”
“Good. I’ll arrange it if you don’t mind.”
“Oh, I don’t mind at all,” he said. “It’ll be fun to get together with Karl and Misty.”
CHAPTER FIVE
January 14, 1946; 8 AM
Reich Chancellor’s Temporary Office
Reich Chancellery
Berlin, Germany
The sounds of construction coming from down the hall distracted Schloss as he tried to concentrate on the morning reports. He fully approved of Gisela’s efforts to turn his office into something appropriate for a modern head of state but was impatient to see it completed. The work had consumed two weeks so far, and from his daily inspections, it looked like little had been accomplished.
“Binns!” he shouted.
Jan Binns scurried into the room. “Yes, Herr Reich Chancellor?”
“More coffee. And please close the door. The racket is getting to me.”
“Of course, Herr Reich Chancellor. And I have your coffee ready.”
The secretary filled a fresh cup and set it on Schloss’s desk, then placed the decanter on the credenza behind him. Binns pulled the door closed as he left the room.
“At least Binns is still efficient,” Schloss grumbled to himself.
He continued struggling through the report from Colonel Boetzel. He finally tossed it down in disgust.
“Binns!”
The secretary promptly opened the door again and stuck his head in the office.
“Yes, Herr Reich Chancellor?”
“This report from Fritz Boetzel is unreadable. Please ask him to come to my office at his earliest convenience. I assume you can fit it into the calendar somewhere.”
“If he is in town, I can fit it in this afternoon,” Binns replied.
“That would be fine.”
Binns quietly pulled the door closed as Schloss reached for the next document in the stack. This one was easier to read. Peter had sent over a report on the activities of the Japanese Shanghai Faction. Despite losing the gold stocks they had stolen from the Americans and English during the war, the Shanghai Faction was beginning to function like a genuine nation. They had set up banking regulations guaranteeing complete account privacy for the customers. They rapidly drew commercial trade houses to the city and seemed to be making strides in cleaning up the place.
Peter had co-opted a couple of writers from the Ministry of Information, who not only polished Foreign Ministry documents but taught writing skills to the diplomats. The payoff came in the meetings where Peter was not forced into extensive explanations of the documents. People were no longer confused when reading them. Schloss wondered if he could steal one of the writers to inject some sense into the papers coming from Boetzel’s office.
As he read the document, he used his pencil to place check marks beside each paragraph to avoid rereading the text. His friends made fun of his working style, but it was effective for him. He scribbled a few questions in the margins and then tossed the document into the out-box. He briefly pondered what he had read.
Sending Karl Rainer out with the Judaean freighter to Shanghai had led to his assistance in retrieving the gold for the Americans. He expected the resultant goodwill from the Americans and English to pay dividends for the next decade. It also gave Germany and Judaea more experience in the Far East, which would likely also be helpful in the years ahead.
Since Europe was at peace and the Germans and the English were carefully managing things, the Americans were now focused on the Western Pacific, specifically Japan and Australia. Schloss intended to remain friendly with the Americans and avoid events that would draw their attention back to Europe.
Gerhard Wicklein arrived for the first meeting of the day, and Binns ushered him into the office. He then returned with coffee and Kaffee-Kuchen on small dishes with forks. He placed them on the side table for Wicklein and on the desk for Schloss. He made sure Schloss’s coffee cup was filled and then retreated again.
“This is new,” Wicklein commented, picking up the dish.
“Binns has started experimenting with new items on his menu,” Schloss replied. “This is quite good.”
Wicklein sampled the cake and nodded approvingly. “It is good.”
“So, what is on your plate for this week, Gerhard?” Schloss asked.
“The Italians passed along information about some of the politicians in Vichy. They have been maneuvering to replace Pétain when he finally shuffles off.”
“And the old man is now close to 90, isn’t he?”
Wicklein nodded. “I think that’s about right. Obviously, Pétain can’t live forever, but he shows no signs of slowing down.
“We hear these rumors from time to time. I think it is one of the constants in Vichy. Everybody there is always scheming. I am concerned, however, because our man in France has not reported this.”
“General Oberg, right?” Schloss confirmed.
“Correct. These are things Oberg should be reporting, and he has not mentioned them in his monthly journals.”
Schloss tapped the tip of his pencil on the blotter as he thought.
“So, tell me, Gerhard, is it time to replace Oberg?”
“That’s where I wanted to get your advice, Herr Reich Chancellor. Oberg is a decent administrator. Occupied France is quiet and is actually more prosperous than Vichy. But I have always felt Oberg had his own agenda. And his intelligence people in both areas are subpar.”
Schloss scraped his teeth across his lower lip. “I suppose my main concern is that Oberg’s job straddles two different government functions. He is technically the Gauleiter of occupied France and reports to me directly. But he also has police functions as well as the intelligence brief. That should report directly to you.”
“I understand,” Gerhard said. “I suppose it follows that we should normalize our occupation and create a new Reich state and appoint Oberg as Gauleiter France, or whatever we want to call it. It would follow, then, that the intelligence and police functions would fall to me as a federal operation. Obviously, he would retain local policing authority. But I would worry about the reaction to something like that.”
“Reaction from Oberg, or the French, or the rest of the world?” Schloss asked.
“All of the above.”
“Precisely my concerns. And the upcoming elections will complicate things, as well. If we normalize the relationship, the people in the occupied territories will select their legislature and minister-president this fall. Are we ready for that, Gerhard?”
“So, the elections will not just be for the national government, then?” Gerhard asked.
“Correct,” Schloss responded. “Adenauer is developing the plans for the elections and wants to extend them all the way to the village level.”
“I had not heard that. Has there been an announcement?”
“Something should be coming out by the end of the month, so keep it confidential for now.”
“Of course.”
“That being said,” Schloss continued, “I think we should pull the intelligence function directly under you. Oberg is clearly not managing that well.”
Schloss scribbled a note on the pad in front of him. “I will have Oberg come to Berlin for a meeting. I can have Binns handle the notifications. Let’s call it a review of the occupied territories or something. We can arrange for him to meet with me, and I’ll give him the bad news.”
“He has been a bit surly in his communications with me,” Wicklein commented. “I don’t know if it is because of my age or what.”
“That would probably be it,” Schloss agreed. “But it would not excuse him. You are the Reichsprotektor, and he needs to know his place.”
“I understand that. But remember that Gauleiters were appointed by Hitler, and most of them think they are a law unto themselves.”
“But I am concerned that I may be forced to remove him, and I don’t have a replacement at hand.”
“You have a valid concern,” Wicklein said. “Will we really allow elections in France?”
Schloss shook his head. “I don’t know. We are exploring home rule options for Poland, Moravia, and the low countries. France is a special case. Pétain would like to move back to Paris and control the entire country. I think Oberg would like to extend his control to Vichy. There are multiple ways we could set off an explosion.”
“Mein Gott,” Wicklein sighed. “What will you do, Herr Reich Chancellor?”
“I am reluctant to make decisions before the elections. And the current arrangement works fairly well. But procrastination carries its own risks. Let’s just get Oberg to Berlin, and maybe we can educate him on the pitfalls he faces.”
“And maybe the other Gauleiters will understand who holds the whip hand.”
“I am not optimistic about that,” Schloss replied.
Schloss and Wicklein continued their discussion for another forty-five minutes, and then Schloss took lunch with Gisela. His first meeting of the afternoon was with Colonel Fritz Boetzel, who was the director of the Wehrmacht Cryptologic Bureau. Binns had thought to extend a courtesy invitation to Heinz Guderian, the Reichsmarshall. Guderian decided to attend the meeting as well.
“Thank you for coming so promptly, Herr Colonel,” Schloss said. “And hello to you again, Heinz.”
Binns had the two men seated across from Schloss and plied them with the remaining Kaffee-Kuchen. Schloss took a sip of his coffee before continuing.
“First of all, I thought it would be a good idea to have a meeting for you to update me on the status of our coding operations.”
“Of course, Herr Reich Chancellor,” Boetzel stammered. “It was in my report to your office. Did you receive it?”
Schloss smiled. “That would be the other part of the meeting. Your report was just about unreadable, so I decided we should speak directly. Which item would you like to attack first?”
Boetzel’s mouth hung open as he struggled to answer. Guderian looked over and then rolled his eyes.
“Herr Colonel,” Guderian said, “the Reich Chancellor puts on his pants the same way as you or I. Just tell him what he needs to know.”
“Of… of course, Herr Field Marshall. In summary, we have an update to the Enigma machines ready to roll out, but I am getting resistance from the user organizations.”
“Resistance in what way?” Schloss asked.
“They are telling me it’s too expensive to replace the machines, and besides, it’s unnecessary.”
“Who is they, Herr Colonel?”
“The OKW, the Foreign Ministry, and the Commerce Ministry.”
“I have not heard about this,” Guderian confessed.
“Is this something you should have heard about?” Schloss asked.
“Maybe, maybe not. But it does concern me.”
“Okay,” Schloss said. “The colonel has standing instructions from me to report directly when he encounters resistance to necessary upgrades. This was when Goring was the Reichsmarshall.”
“I understand,” Guderian said. “I think I would like to instruct the colonel to include me in those reports. This is a critical function, and we cannot allow it to be compromised.”
“How long has it been since we updated the equipment?” Schloss asked.
“We completed the most recent update two years ago, Herr Reich Chancellor,” Boetzel replied.
“Do you have a standard for how often to revise the equipment?”
“The policy requires a mandatory review of all cryptologic equipment and procedures every five years unless circumstances dictate more frequent review.”
“And what circumstances require you to review and update?”
“Our inventory of the current Enigma machines shows us that we are missing two of them. One was in use with the Wehrmacht during the northern Russia incursion. The other was assigned to the Kriegsmarine, but they have not been able to account for it. I particularly worry about what happened to the machine in Russia.”
Schloss pondered what the colonel had said and then looked at Guderian.
“Do you have any questions, Heinz?”
Guderian nodded. “I have one question. Who wrote the policy?”
“I did,” Boetzel immediately replied. “I know my activities sound self-serving, but we have no one else in the bureau who is competent to write something like that.”
“And your report to me was in fulfillment of my directive to let me know of any resistance to your activities, correct?” Schloss asked.
“That is correct, Herr Chancellor.”
“And your recommendation is to replace all of the Enigma machines?”
“Yes, Herr Reich Chancellor. We routinely send out new encoding disks at least annually. But any nation with competent cryptologic scientists could reverse engineer a machine. It’s a short step from there to figure out the configuration of the disks if they were to analyze our coded traffic.”
“I think I understand,” Schloss said. “I cannot make a decision on your recommendation today, Herr Colonel. However, we will consider it and let you know the decision.”
“Thank you, Herr Reich Chancellor.”
“Thank you for coming in today. I want the Reichsmarshall to remain behind.”
“Of course,” Herr Reich Chancellor,” Boetzel said as the three men stood.
After the hapless colonel exited the room, Schloss waved Guderian back to the chair.
“I have not followed the activities of Colonel Boetzel,” Guderian said. “Most of the OKW does not like him. Of course, they do not like me that well, either.”
“I am of two minds, Heinz. Replacing all of the Enigma machines will be expensive, and I don’t want to do it. However, the thought of that missing machine sitting in the Kremlin or Dzerzhinsky Square terrifies me.”
“It scares me, too,” Guderian said. “And it just occurred to me that you skipped the second item on the agenda for the meeting.”
Schloss paused and then looked at Guderian in surprise. “So, I did. I was planning to speak to him about the poor writing coming from his organization. Do you have someone who can take him by the hand to effect some kind of an improvement?”
Guderian grinned broadly. “You are speaking of a problem that is endemic in the Wehrmacht. But yes, I will work on that. My suggestion is that we do not want Colonel Boetzel to lose heart. He is diligent and competent.”
“Oh, I completely understand,” Schloss said. “I suspect he is almost irreplaceable.”
“Perhaps not irreplaceable, but finding another mathematician with his skills would be difficult.”
“And see if you can get a good assessment of his proposal. I don’t want to replace the machines, but if necessary, I will beat the council until they agree.”
Guderian chuckled. “We haven’t had a good fight in the government council for a while.”
“I suppose we could argue about how to divide your body.”
“I take the Reich Chancellor’s point.”
“Get out of here, you scoundrel,” Schloss laughed.
CHAPTER SIX
January 16, 1946; 5 PM
Salon Doré (Golden Room)
Élysée Palace
55 Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré
Paris, German Occupied France
Higher SS and Police Leader Carl Oberg studied the man sitting across from him in his office at the Élysée Palace. Pierre Laval was viewed by many as an enigma. Laval considered himself a French patriot but was despised by many for what they thought was a craven obeisance to the Nazis.
Oberg knew the man as the foremost collaborator, as the Nazis defined the term, between the Vichy regime and the German Reich. Officially, Germany honored Laval for his service. And Oberg admitted the dumpy-looking Frenchman was effective in his role. And this made everyone’s life easier. Yet, Oberg could not avoid his contempt for someone who had sold out his country, regardless of the reasons.
“Do you expect any major changes in policy should the Reich Chancellor be replaced after the elections in the fall?” Laval asked.
“That remains to be seen, of course,” Oberg responded. “If something like that happens, the new chancellor would be Konrad Adenauer, a man whom I do not know and know little about. However, I understand Herr Schloss is developing a long-term external policy that would be unlikely to shift in a change of government.”
“And how would that policy be expressed towards France? We know that Schloss has explored home-rule in Moravia and Poland. Would he favor something like that here?”
“You already have home rule, Herr Laval. Marshall Pétain maintains a reasonably efficient government, and we try to bother you minimally,” Oberg stated. “You are allied with the Reich but have an independent foreign policy.”
“I speak of the occupied territories, of course,” Laval responded. “Do you foresee a time when all of France might be reunited?”
Oberg removed his glasses and rubbed his nose. “I cannot answer that. Confidentially, I believe the debate within the government is whether to incorporate the occupied territories in two or three German states or formalize the current arrangement. The Reichsprotektor confided to me that Herr Schloss is reluctant to disturb the status quo.”
“To be very honest, Herr Oberg, we know that Pétain will not last forever. There have been conversations around what will happen when he leaves the scene.”
Oberg leaned forward and tapped his index finger on the desk. “My concern is that I am able to maintain the current quiescence in the occupied territories and Vichy France. Other than that, I do not particularly care how you people manage your government.”
“But if the transition gets messy, I cannot guarantee the quiescence, as you call it. There are people in our government that deeply resent German suzerainty and look for opportunities to do something about it.”
