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Pov of Adam Dressler
16-25-August-1920
The streets of Reichenberg were full of protests because, apparently, the Kaiser had once again failed his people. Not only had the great humiliation taken place in the former territories of the Empire, where Austrians were being kicked out of their homes like dogs by the new governments, but he could not even guarantee the most basic thing one could ask of his government: stability.
The Kaiser did not control his own Parliament. Although he had won the elections, clearly showing that he still had the support of the people, he decided to yield to the slightest pressure from some minority sectors, mainly the socialists, and tried to reform the system to give minorities greater representation and guarantee a better democracy. Almost as if he were ignoring the reason why the Empire had exploded in the first place: there were too many power groups that only remained inside the Empire out of convenience.
And now he was surprised because no one supported him. Because not even the socialists were supporting his project, leaving him alone in Parliament, with no one willing to vote for his shitty policies, while the country continued falling into a spiral of decay without anything happening.
The German people were tired, hungry and without work, while we had politicians and aristocrats still fighting over minor issues about who should govern, proving the terrible chaos generated by democracy. Just when a firm leader was most needed to guide us through all the chaos created by the old leadership, it turned out there was no one capable of doing anything. And, if there was, he did not have the general support of the representatives, creating a total political deadlock in which practically nothing could be done.
And meanwhile it was the common people who paid for everything. We had to endure prices that never stopped rising. We had to endure the screeching of socialists and aristocrats, who complained about different things but never missed an opportunity to attack each other.
And slowly we watched our younger generations become corrupted by this system that had emerged after the war. The more desperate the situation became, the more people joined extremist organizations or began committing crimes, while the politicians continued with their negotiations, trying to fix everything, but taking their time as if nothing mattered.
As if the lives being lost also did not matter much while they played with their corrupt idea of democracy, precisely when what we needed was a great leader capable of uniting us.
And, unfortunately, the government's inaction was leading to the formation of large socialist and communist organizations that wanted to destroy everything we knew, and the first clashes between both sides were already taking place.
It was not the first day we had ended up shooting at the socialist militias that had formed in the city, for we belonged to the Freikorps.
Although I had joined the German army to fight in the Great War, had served with pride and participated in multiple battles, none of that had been worth much, since my advancement during the war had been almost minimal. And with the military restrictions suffered by both States, our presence in the army was cut short, since clearly only the troops most loyal to the interests of the government remained, along with nobles and officers who would continue their work of securing the regime.
So I ended up fighting socialists in München for some time, until the situation calmed down after we stopped a socialist coup attempt and the King of Bavaria managed to retain power. The same nobles we had helped kicked us aside and repatriated us to our country, and that was how I had returned to Böhmen.
And I had watched everything that was happening: the people fighting among themselves while the great culprits behind it all did nothing to remedy the chaos, because they were servile to their party interests.
So once again it had fallen to us to assume the work of the Freikorps inside Bohemia, while we had to fight not only against the socialists, as in Germany, or the Bolshevik militias, which were terribly armed and organized, but here we also had to fight the Czech militias.
Many of them simply wanted to leave the union of Austria and Bohemia, but of course, with the same ideals that had caused what happened in Bosnia, Croatia and Hungary, where they wanted to expel us from our homes so they could keep them for themselves.
So, throughout all this time, while the government insisted that nothing was happening and that it was trying to reach an agreement, the people had been forced to defend themselves by their own means against all those who attacked the Sudeten Germans.
''How are we on ammunition?'' I said, looking at the group leader while trying to observe what was happening in the city.
''Yesterday we raided a shipment of socialist contraband they had stolen from a munitions factory that closed recently, so we should be fine on ammunition, unless we have another big fight'' the leader replied while looking at the city maps as we continued thinking about what to do to prevent the socialists from reaching the city center to loot the churches.
''And why do we have to keep defending the churches anyway? They could also help us defend them. The churches want to be neutral and only accept protection without giving anything in return'' I said, annoyed by the refusal of the local churches to even help us pay for the bullets or rifles we were losing because of all this.
''Seriously, Dressler? You want to charge the churches? What would make us different from those socialists trying to loot them to score a political victory against the churches?'' said the leader of this branch of the Freikorps.
''But they should do something. We are being shot at for them, and they cannot sell some of the gold pieces they have inside to at least pay for bandages for one of ours when he is wounded or provide him with medical treatment? Clearly, they have a duty to fulfill. We cannot keep enduring this while everything falls around us and there is less and less help from the population'' I said, annoyed as I looked at the leader.
''I cannot demand that from them, Adam. You have to understand that, when this calms down, the government will start asking questions and the last thing we want is for them to point fingers at us and say we devoted ourselves to looting temples'' the leader said.
''Yes, I understand, but their survival depends on us and, even so, they contribute nothing'' I said, somewhat irritated.
''It is what it is, so just get ready because we will have to keep fighting like this. If the socialists got that contraband, they surely managed to steal something bigger to keep supplying their militias. And I do not even want to think about the Czech militias, who have the industrial heart of Prague, although without the resources I doubt they can keep all that industry running'' the leader said while nodding his head.
Without arguing much more, we simply resumed our watch duties, hoping to control the socialist militias that seemed to grow in number every day with the chaos inside the State.
''ATTENTION, ATTENTION! Karl von Posen, the Devil of Masuria, has published a book!'' shouted a newspaper boy, drawing the attention of all of us present.
''The nobleman from the Baltic?'' said one of my men, who remained staring at the boy working in front of the local newspaper's printing press.
Taking out some coins I still had in my pockets, I approached the young boy, placed them in his hands and took one of the newspapers. I began to read, and it did not take long for the other Freikorps men to come closer and look at the paper from behind me.
''And who is the Devil of Masuria?'' one of ours asked, somewhat nervous about asking.
''Has this man been living under a rock or something?'' one of my men said, beginning to laugh a little.
''A German hero, famous both as a commander and as a soldier, and for being the only one who did not accept the damned treaty imposed on us, the one that has us living like this, while all the other nobles kept their mouths shut as our people suffer constantly'' I said while reaching the part about the supposed book that had been published.
Finally, I reached the part of the newspaper that interested me. With everything happening inside the country and in the Sudetenland, it was quite normal that this was not on the front page, considering that the front page spoke of a politician who had been struck by a grenade thrown through a window and had died along with his family.
Or of how a fight in Prague ended with dozens wounded and several dead, although it seemed to have been more of a lynching carried out by Czechs against some local Germans.
''There… Frustrated Victories: Why Germany Lost the War'' said one of the Freikorps officers, pointing with his finger at the line about the book that appeared in the newspaper.
''The defeat did not come from the ordinary German soldier. It did not come from the Jews, whom the army is trying to blame. There was never a Dolchstoßlegende of the size the army is trying to paint. The socialist or Bolshevik plots never materialized. Most German institutions supported the war and their Kaiser. The unions, workers and soldiers marched to war'' I read aloud, since I knew some could not read very well.
''The defeat was formed from within Germany over years. The institution of the nobility was what failed Germany, but not all of it. Men such as Kaiser Wilhelm and the Crown Prince, the Duke of Württemberg or the Prince of Bavaria were among those who tried the hardest to make the changes that were necessary to win within the army. But the Junkers and nobles who had entrenched themselves inside the military institutions, avoiding every innovation that went against their chivalric ideals, were the ones who sent millions of our brothers to the grave.
The OHL placed chains on me so they could shine, condemning my men to die even when I was willing to spill my own blood. But Paul von Hindenburg always wanted to be at the center, to be the German hero, to be the one who secured the Kaiserreich. And now we are all paying for his ego.
The Junkers, the German nobility, were so entrenched in their powers and privileges that they prevented anyone outside their circles from advancing. They were also the ones who refused to make the necessary changes: they opposed agrarian reforms to modernize agriculture and refused to make changes in their factories to make them more efficient. Germany was plagued by errors because of its bureaucracy and the protections of the nobility.
A great pity that good rulers such as the Kaiser became puppets of those who had sworn to serve them, since the dictatorship of Hindenburg and Ludendorff stripped him of practically all power to direct the war or even to sign a peace that perhaps would not have been a great victory, but would have been better than what we have now.
Now all we have left are those: victories on the battlefield frustrated by the reality of the treaty.
Do not fall for their lies. The officers and their military dictatorship cost Germany the victory'' I said, finishing reading part of the newspaper.
When I finished reading, I saw the faces of my men. They looked extremely angry, and I understood them. Everything we were suffering was because of that group of imbeciles… every death, because of them.
''We have to buy the book… I do not have much money, but…'' I said, looking at my men, who immediately began searching their pockets and giving me some of the coins they had left.
Clutching the coins my men had handed me, I went and bought the rest of the book, which apparently was much longer and explained far more about all of it. It explained German industrial failures, many of the times the OHL had sabotaged the war effort, as well as the OHL's aggressive demands on the Ukrainian granaries and the way the war had been planned.
We would have starved during the war if Karl had not made the effort to prevent it. In several pages of his book, he also explained the atrocities he had had to commit in Ukraine to protect the German people, as well as the production failures caused by the OHL's centralized management of the economy.
There was no way to deny certain facts, since all of us had seen how the front worked, and much of what he said was simply the purest reality.
And that filled me with rage… so many efforts and sacrifices we had made, only for a group of incompetents to sabotage us so they could present the victory as theirs and end up handing us a defeat.
I quickly began distributing the book and writing down everything I could in order to spread it, since not everyone could afford to buy it. Although it was cheap, not everyone had anything to spare with the inflation.
So I spent all the time I had available in front of the typewriter, trying to make sure everyone knew what had happened and to discredit the representative of the area, since he had been elected with the votes of the soldiers despite having been part of the problem.
''Adam… the socialists are moving. They ambushed the Hauptmann and are trying to attack the center. We have to move'' one of my men said.
Without thinking, I grabbed my rifle.
''Our struggle has only just begun'' I said while loading ammunition into my rifle.
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If there are spelling mistakes, please let me know.
Leave a comment; support is always appreciated.
I remind you to leave your ideas or what you would like to see.
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