Armageddon (7 page)

“I don’t see it that way. Do you know anything about Rombaden?”

Sean’s face narrowed in thought. “In Schwaben Province. Landkreis of Romstein. Sits on a big bend on the Landau midway between the Black Forest and Munich. One of the most fanatical Nazi strongholds.”

“That’s a good start,” Hansen said. “There’s a report up at Document Center by a professor in Germanic studies. He was born and raised in Rombaden, was an inmate of Schwabenwald Concentration Camp in ’35 and ’36. Came to America after his release. Start reading it.”

Sean was too caught up in the sudden challenge to weigh the enormity of the task.

“You’ll want Dante Arosa for your counter-intelligence, no doubt. The two of you go to Shrivenham and pick your team. Rombaden has an A1 rating. Take anyone you want. Any questions?”

“Why Rombaden? Why not Regensburg or Essen or Hanover?”

Hansen adjusted his specs and began to read the papers on his desk. “I have a peculiar affinity for the place. My mother came from there.”

Sean got up to leave. “Funny damned war,” he said.

“O’Sullivan.”

“Yes, sir.”

“One more thing.” Hansen opened the top drawer, palmed a pair of gold oak leaves, and threw them on the desk. “I wore these very same ones, years ago. Maybe they’ll bring you better luck. Stick them on your shoulder ... we don’t want any of your Englishmen to outrank you, Major. ”

Chapter Nine

C
ONFIDENTIAL

PRELIMINARY STUDY FOR MILITARY GOVERNMENT

CITY OF ROMBADEN/LANDKREIS OF ROMSTEIN, GERMANY

LOCATION:

Southern Germany. State of Württemberg. Province of Schwaben. Landkreis (County or District) of Romstein. The City of Rombaden is built along the north bank of the Landau River 100 miles west of Munich; 60 miles east of the Black Forest; 30 miles due north of the Swiss/German border at Lake Constance. The Landkreis (County) of Romstein contains the City of Rombaden and continues on the south bank of the Landau into rolling foothills and farmlands. Both the city and district are surrounded by typical German forests covering 30% (about national average) of the land. Most famous is the Schwabenwald Forest.

GENERAL BACKGROUND:

First settled by Celtic Tribes two thousand years B.C. One must approach the history of this area in a context of /and as a segment of German history. For 3500 years there was no Germany, per se. There were Germanic Tribes, States, Princedoms, Kingdoms, Duchies, Landkreise all ruled by a local rank of royalty or nobility. At one time in German history there were 350 separate self-governing royal entities.

Germany, therefore, has been a collection of royal alliances heavily influenced and dominated by church alliances. Germanic tribes have sat between the Slavic world on the east and the Roman world on the west and south.

From time to time certain Germanic areas dominated the others. Prussia and Austria stand out, and personalities such as Charlemagne and Frederick the Great emerged. Nevertheless Germany did not become a united nation until Bismarck published his Elms Dispatch in 1870, a mere 70 years ago. Germany was the last land in Europe to become a nation, the last to colonize, one of the last to industrialize and the last to overcome the ravaging ruination of the Thirty Years War (1614–48).

German history has been a long bloody series of wars interlaced with power plays of royal and religious alliances inside her borders and of pressure outside her borders.

The Rombaden/Romstein District, for example, has been invaded by the Teutons, Romans, Goths, Huns, Vandals, Bavarians, Franks, Burgundians, Saxons, Bohemians, Prussians ... among others. The Rombaden/Romstein District has sent armies into the field against the Danes, Swedes, Mongols, Magyars, Wends, Turks, French, and Italians ... among others.

A common error is to lump all Germans together as similar persons. Germans are as different in background and behavior as is a Bostonian from a Texan—an Iowan from a New Yorker.

The Province of Schwaben, wherein Rombaden/Romstein lies, has a fiercely proud tribal-like closeness. From Schwaben emerged the branches of the Hohenzollern and Hohenstauffen families that have dominated the German royal line. The Schwaben League and Schwaben Princes have been mutinous, engineered many revolts, and have been in the balance of power plays throughout their history.

Rombaden/Romstein has always identified itself with the Catholic side of the religious struggle. The area had nearly always been in the Holy Roman Empire until it was dissolved after the Napoleonic Wars. It might be noted here that the Holy Roman Empire was neither Holy, Roman or an Empire, but a constantly shifting alliance of Germanic Kingdoms, Princedoms and Duchies with the Papal powers.

Rombaden/Romstein has been ruled or dominated by the Von Romstein Family. They are minor Schwaben nobility of the Hohenstauffen Line. The head of the family has usually held the rank of Markgraf or Graf (Count).

Rombaden City has been totally or partially destroyed at least a dozen times. War has ruined it ten of those times. Rombaden was destroyed twice during the Thirty Years War. It was so badly mutilated that the city never fully recovered from it for hundreds of years (nor did all of Germany for that matter). Rombaden was destroyed twice again during the Peasants’ Uprisings, which were particularly bloody in Schwaben.

Rombaden was destroyed during the Napoleonic Wars.

Rombaden was destroyed twice during the series of wars between Prussia and Austria.

Rombaden was destroyed twice by fire.

Rombaden has been partly or almost completely depopulated by plagues a half-dozen times during the Middle Ages.

We must bear in mind that the story of Rombaden is not alien to the story of most German cities and that very few American cities like Atlanta, have ever been ravaged by war.

In addition Rombaden/Romstein has been traded, sold or bartered to consolidate royal marriages, peace treaties, etc., a dozen times.

A detailed history shows that this district has been in over 600 different alliances.

A never ending series of disasters has marked German history. Rombaden has rebuilt itself after each catastrophe with typical German energy.

GENERAL DATA:

ROMBADEN
(Roman Baths) Population 90,000. With Romstein District, 150,000. 85% Roman Catholic. The city was named for the Roman bath antiquities found in the thermal springs in the environs. It is distinctly Schwaben in its tradition, singsong dialect, dress, etc. A great provincial pride exists. However, there are unmistakable influences of nearby Bavaria, particularly in Rombaden’s architecture.

Rombaden stretches along the northern bank of the Landau. Two bridges cross into the Romstein District on the south bank. Between these two bridges is an enormous Rathaus Platz (City Hall Square) which is about a half mile in length.

The square is surrounded by dominating buildings. On the east side is Marienkirche (Mary’s Church) of cathedral proportions. The single onion-dome tower is only slightly shorter than Munich’s Marienkirche. The baroque interior is considered the most magnificent example of the period in all of Germany. The church was rebuilt in 1670. On the west end of the square opposite the cathedral is the Rathaus (City Hall), a square Renaissance-type structure from the seventeenth century. Under the Rathaus is the Ratskeller (City Hall Cellar or Restaurant), which is a customary meeting place in German towns. This particular Ratskeller was the scene of early-day Nazi rallies. The half-mile long northern boundary of the square is lined with a series of buildings: the Rombaden Medical College and Research Institute and Hospital; the Roman Kunsthalle (museum); the famous puppet theater and the Opera House. The museum, incidentally, holds innumerable treasures of German masterpieces ranging from Dürer to the modernist Paul Klee.

There are three statues on the square. The statue of the Virgin Mary stands before the cathedral. Before the Opera House is the second statue—Hinterseer, the poet, and Rombaden’s most famous son. It was he who wrote the
Legend of Rombaden.
The third statue stands before the City Hall, depicting two characters from the
Legend of Rombaden,
the mythical god Berwin and the goddess Helga.

This mammoth square, capable of holding most of Rombaden’s population, was the scene of much Nazi pageantry.

The central business district fans out behind the northern edge of the square.

The industrial section is along the river bank. There is the big Romstein Machine Works owned by the ruling family. It is actually a complex of a half-dozen factories and is the economic backbone of the area. Since the Hitler era it has been engaged in arms manufacture and aircraft motors. Much of the factory has been moved underground since the war. It is believed to be manufacturing V-2 rocket parts. It is believed, further, that almost all of the labor consists of slaves imported from occupied lands.

There are other factories, mostly of a light-industry nature, on the river front: A brewery, a small barge-construction yard and a leather works. There are a number of the generation to generation shops in crystal cutting, the manufacture of the famous Rombaden puppets, a toy factory, etc.

Rombaden is known for its gay life. A large source of the town’s income comes from the fact that it has been an overnight stopping place for Landau river-barge pilots. To facilitate their entertainment there is a three-block-long street of beer halls, bars, small hotels and brothels known as Princess Allee, which has a reputation of being a “little Hamburg Reeperbahn.”

The pre-lenten ball of the Medical College Students is a riotous affair drawing artists from all over Schwaben and Bavaria for a week of unabashed revelry. No less bombastic is the November Beer Fest in which the city Hall Square is covered by several enormous tents. A half-million liters of beer are consumed along with staggering amounts of wine, schnaps, and Schweinwürstchen.

To counterbalance these various orgies there is a splendid opera and symphony season, puppet theater, innumerable scientific seminars at the Institute and other cultural affairs.

Rombaden has its own unique pageant based on the
Legend of Rombaden,
which is a thousand years old. In medieval costume there is a re-enactment of the story of the legend. The climax is the reading, by a dozen actors, of Hinterseer’s epic poem. This takes place before his statue, for upwards of a hundred thousand listeners.

ROMSTEIN DISTRICT
(Roman Stone)
Upon crossing the two bridges you enter the District. It is dominated by the Von Romstein family, the Von Romstein estates and the Von Romstein castle. The area has been under such domination for eight centuries.

The family’s personal estate covers nearly 100 square miles and includes its own private forest for hunting.

There are three main farming villages named after leading Von Romsteins; Ludwigsdorf, Sigmundsdorf and Ottosdorf.

The castle is an exquisite structure of seventy rooms and holds an untold wealth in art treasures. It sits back six miles from the river on the first of the rolling hills in the proximity of Ludwigsdorf.

Ludwigsdorf is also the entrance village to the Schwabenwald Forest, which has gained notoriety as the site of the Schwabenwald Concentration Camp. It was one of the first political prisons opened by the Nazis in 1934. The entire forest area is controlled by fanatical Waffen SS. (At the time the writer of this report was an inmate, 1936–37, there were some 6000 political prisoners, several priests and pastors included. The most famous inmate at the time was the old Social Democrat, Ulrich Falkenstein. It is not known if he is still alive.)

Also on the south bank of the river, somewhat removed from Rombaden, are some forty or fifty medium to large estates belonging to the wealthy and upper crust of the area. In this area are also a dozen hotels built around the natural hot springs. The Germans are ritualistic in their belief of the great curative powers of the spas. The center of this upper-class activity on the south bank is the Kurhaus, a gambling casino and rather muted version of the bawdy Princess Allee across the river.

Rombaden/Romstein has many “typical” German characteristics.

There is idol worship, tribalism, revelry and mysticism.

There is the pagan ritual of the Nazis.

As a contradiction there is strong Catholicism, a cultural and educational life and a modern industrial complex.

This tug of war, this paradox, runs deeply in the German character. It is particularly easy to see in Rombaden/Romstein. Rombaden, indeed, is representative of the eternal German, who is looking for himself and is an enigma to himself as well as to the outside world.

CURRENT POLITICAL DATA:

The Von Romstein family dynasty has been the absolute power for eight centuries. The current family head, Graf Ludwig Von Romstein, ascended to the hierarchy after a distinguished flying career in World War I. He is an intimate of Hermann Goering. The middle brother, Baron Sigmund Von Romstein, has been Oberburgermeister (Mayor) of Rombaden for nearly two decades. Count Ludwig himself is the Chancellor of the District so between the two of them they control the political apparatus. A younger brother, Kurt Von Romstein, is the Nazi Gauleiter (District Leader) but it is not certain that the older two are actual Nazis.

Graf Ludwig Von Romstein, like many Germans, was bitter and disillusioned by the Versailles Treaty. His “class” had little faith in the strength of the Weimar Republic. His district, like most of Germany, was not self-sustaining in food and had to manufacture to live. The depression, inflation, lack of food and restrictions of the Versailles Treaty wreaked havoc in the district and gave rise to a strong Communist Party.

Graf Ludwig Von Romstein gambled with the Nazis. The younger brother, Kurt, was made an active Nazi. We are certain that it was at the Count’s insistence as “family” duty.

With Hitler’s ascent and the rearmament, the Romstein Machine Works was one of the first to profit by huge contracts. New economic prosperity, laid directly to the Count nuzzling the Nazis, and with the Count’s own brother as Nazi Gauleiter, the Rombaden/Romstein area turned into a fanatical Nazi stronghold equal in fervor to Munich, Nuremberg and the Eastern German States.