have you belittle what I’ve done.”
Hitler’s facial expression became even more defiant as the exasperated doctor finally issued a thundering tirade of his own. “Who are these traitors you scream about? Your comrades lying here in bed, some near death? The generals? Do you think they’re traitors for not sending a million more men to be slaughtered? I’ve declared enough soldiers dead. No more, thank God!”
As if not hearing or seeing a thing, Hitler stared into the doctor’s eyes with a demonic glance that made the doctor shudder. Hitler screamed, “You ask who these traitors are? I’ll tell you so you’ll know now and forever. There are traitors in the navy who have mutinied and run up the red flag of Communism as we speak. They are the traitors. Communists and Jews, and I speak of them in one breath. You fool. As we talk, this naval mutiny at Kiel goes on. The Communists want to control the country, and behind them lurks the Jew. Yes, the Jew, the filth of the world, the rat that carries the flea that will lead to the plague that will destroy the world. The Jew: usurers, Communists, exploiters, profiteers, foreigners. Whenever we have misfortune we have a Jew in the background.” He paused, took a deep breath and went on. “In the new Germany, Jews will not be tolerated!” Already, history could note the budding fanaticism of Adolph Hitler and his pathological hatred of Jews.
This hate-filled, passionate oratory took the doctor by surprise. A Jew himself, he stifled his emotions. A chill went through his body. He suppressed the urge to respond as he noticed with some anxiety the soldier patients who listened with an oddly keen attention to the words of this zealot. Then he remembered his responsibility to the wounded men under his care. He forced himself to dismiss what he had heard as the ranting of a disturbed soldier who had been shell-shocked and demoralized by defeat. He changed the subject rather than confront him anymore. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes for a few seconds, opened them and said, “How are your eyes?”
Without varying the intensity of his voice, Hitler said, “My eyes don’t burn as much and I can see more now. Didn’t you hear how clear I can see?” he screamed.
The doctor had all he could do to remember his Hippocratic Oath. He thought of holding his wife in his arms. Then without saying a word, he examined the soldier’s eyes, added some soothing drops and said in a calm voice, “There, that should help your eyes. They’ll be fine.” He turned away and as he walked out of the ward, he thought who is this crazy man who so mesmerized the other soldiers?
It would not take long before he would learn…
During the war as one particularly ferocious battle wore down, a wounded and limping German soldier walked into a British soldier’s line of fire. Private Tandy raised his rifle and took aim. The soldier stared at Tandy resigned to the fact that he could be witnessing his own sudden death. But Tandy stated that after he took aim, he decided against shooting a wounded soldier, so he lowered his rifle.
Hitler nodded in thanks and limped off to history. In Hitler’s mind, this was another confirmation of his God-Given future destiny.
CHAPTER 8
Albert and Samuel World War I…1914-18
The tensions of the years of diplomatic and political stalemate in Germany’s relations with neighboring countries suddenly abated when war was declared in 1914. Finally it happened. The consensus was that this will be a short war.
An intense patriotic fervor overcame most Germans in 1914. Street rallies to support the war effort took place all over Germany. In Munich, at one of these rallies, a young man stood in the sea of cheering faces. With his fisted hand in the air, he screamed his support for the fatherland. This twenty-five year old vagabond named Adolf Hitler would later write: To me those hours seemed like a release from the painful feelings of my youth. A fight for freedom had begun, mightier than the earth had ever seen; for once Destiny had begun its course, the conviction dawned on even the broad masses that this time not the fate of Serbia or Austria was involved, but whether the German nation was to be or not to be.
At this young age and even before any political career started, Hitler’s thinking, as we have learned, related to future goals involving German hegemony was clearly manifesting itself.
At the war’s start, the German Kaiser announced that “This war will be over before the leaves fall from the trees.”
Eighteen year old Albert and Samuel, like most young men were not politically astute, concerned at this time with graduating high school and attending college. They were both approximately five foot nine inches tall with a swimming induced supple muscularity. Al had blue eyes and black hair, and Sam had brown hair and brown eyes. They were enthusiastic and excited about this “short break” before “we beat them.” Their parents were not of course, but they were seduced by the enthusiasm of the “short war” philosophy, and hoped that college would be delayed, but certainly not more than a semester…
Great Britain, France and Russia were eager to fight the “Huns.” They also felt that the war will be short. They were all in for a surprise.
Samuel concentrated on science and biology in high school in support of his medical career interest. Owing to his science subjects and obvious interest, he was assigned to the medical corps.
Albert, on the other hand, followed his father’s lead and desired to be a banker. Perhaps he might have hoped for assignment in a quartermaster’s office, but alas he was posted to an infantry unit. For both, college would have to wait, but not just the few months as the prophets foretold…
Archduke Franz Ferdinand heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne and his wife Sophie were assassinated on June 28, 1914 by a Serbian nationalist. Exactly one month later Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. Three days later, Germany declared war on Russia followed within two days by the German declaration of war on France. When Germany invaded Belgium, Great Britain declared war on Germany. Austria-Hungary declared war on Russia and Serbia declared war on Germany August 6th. It took about five weeks before all the nations involved in the war lined up for what they all hoped would be the ‘short war.’ On August nineteenth, 1914, the president of the United States, Woodrow Wilson, declared neutrality, hoping to “forever avoid European entanglements.”
The initial battle lines were established. This would be a two-front war: in the East, Germany vs. Russia; in the West; Germany vs. Great Britain and France.
One of the first battles of World War I took place near the Polish city of Allenstein (Olsztyn) in Northeastern Poland and resulted in a stunning German victory. The German army was so proud of their tactical victory with their smaller army (166,000 to 206,000 Russian soldiers that they changed the name of the battle to the Battle of Tannenberg (another nearby city) where the German army suffered a defeat during the middle ages. This was a German propaganda tactic to let the German people believe Germany had now become a powerful nation.
The leaders of the German army were Generals Paul von Hindenburg and Erich Ludendorff. Colonel Max Hoffman proposed the above successful, but risky tactic against the Russian army. After this decisive victory, the German army attacked another Russian army that had invaded German lands and killed or captured the great majority literally eliminating any threat from Russia. This allowed the Germans to concentrate against Great Britain and France where they had planned a tactic that they were sure would mean a decisive defeat and a short war.
Our two heroes of the story, Albert and Sam, were engaged on the French front. The change from teenager to realistic young men was a rapid transformation for the both of them. They became serious as the realization set in that death was all around them, and it could come at any time, and sometime it was totally unexpected; here you were one minute and
