Algorithm - Book 1 - The Medallion

Chapter 10

Chapter 10

 

 

Herman felt cheated. When the blond, blue-eyed teenager, Gunther Thals, dressed in a neatly creased light brown uniform, finished his speech, Herman's face had turned a bright crimson and his knuckles, white. Gunther had described the joys and challenges of belonging to the rapidly growing and wildly popular Hitler Youth group, the Hitler Jugend. Herman stared at his secondary school classmates as everyone in the classroom applauded. He lived in a rural village far from big city life. The schools were small, typically providing no more than a sixth grade education, sufficient for the coal mining life awaiting most young villagers, while guaranteeing an opportunity to a few students who would have the privilege to move to the big city for a proper secondary education and a promising new life. It was 1937 and the nationalistic fervor which had swept up the country was in full bloom, even in the tiny village of Grőssenstadt, a suburb of Essen, seated in the coal-rich, industrial Ruhr valley of Germany. Herman despised the miner's life. Each and every evening he had witnessed his father trudge home, hunched over and exhausted, covered in soot from head to toe. It was a ritual, a miserable ritual. Mother would yell at him for not taking his boots off, yell at him to wash up and that supper was getting cold, and then she would sit at the kitchen table lit by a single bulb dangling from the center of the cracked plaster ceiling, waiting. He vowed to do anything with his life but be a miner. His grandfather had coughed himself to death at the age of 39. His father was nearly as old, and had the same wheeze—black lung, and everyone knew what it meant. Herman felt cheated. He could only look forward to a life of misery, a short life leading ultimately to an excruciating, consumptive death. That wretched existence was to start at the end of this school term when those not smart enough marched into the dusty sorting huts in the mines. Herman refused to see himself pulling out stones by hand from the crushed coal as it rolled by on endless conveyor belts.

When the applause finally died down, Gunther passed out sheets of paper. He went on to remind the class that as of earlier this year membership in the Hitler Youth organization was mandatory. Herman couldn't believe his ears. His ticket out of Grőssenstadt was being passed his way at this very moment!

***

Two years later Poland was invaded, marking the official start of World War II. Within the following year the German military machine moved briskly, expanding its rule without significant opposition and with successful campaigns as far east and west as Norway and France. Countries along the eastern front and Italy allied themselves with Germany, accelerating the march of fascism. Opposition from Britain and its allies was limited and of no real significance. It was a glorious time for Germany and Herman was overjoyed to be a part of it. Having moved out of his hometown to join the Youth in Essen, he found himself leading patrols in support of internal propaganda efforts. His company was also trained in warfare practices, a particularly exciting turn of events.

All was not rosy. His father died in a mining accident and shortly after, his mother went missing. Exactly what happened to her, he never found out. The war started to become grim at about the time the Allies began pushing through France and Italy, and the Russians decided it was in their interest to join the campaign. Herman's company of enthusiastic Youth was called up to the Essen fire brigades as well as help in recovery efforts following Allied bombing runs. After scrabbling through brick, mortar and human remains, Herman began to think that things weren't marching along as he had imagined. When his company was called up to active duty as part of the Waffen SS Panzer Division, he trained with other fifteen and sixteen year-olds to drive tanks and blow stuff up. Most of his comrades found this development most appealing, since this was a chance to actually do something positive for the Fatherland. This was an opportunity to be a real soldier, a chance to be a hero.