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“You’re not getting in?”
“They know my face. You take it. Go to the meet point. I’ll find my way there. Go!”
Without another word, Helldorff sped away. Bauer drew one deep breath of satisfaction before sprinting in the other direction.
41
Vacant flat
Ludwigstraße
NINETY MINUTES LATER, LOOKING much the worse for wear and out of breath, Thomas Bauer met Peter Helldorff on Ludwigstraße, near the University of Munich, by the vacant flat where Fritz Gerlich worked.
“Any trouble?” Bauer asked.
“None,” said Helldorff, handing him the bag. “I drove around the university most of the time, waiting for the hour to pass. Let’s get inside. You must be freezing.”
Bauer had no coat, just the black sweater he wore over his repairman uniform. It had helped that he had jogged almost the entire way here, taking a circuitous route, staying off the main streets. Perhaps being overcautious, but who knew how quickly it would come to light that someone had emptied the safe? And the man who had been in Hitler’s office would be the obvious suspect.
They entered the apartment building, where a single naked light bulb illuminated the wooden staircase. “The last time I walked up these stairs, Fritz nearly shot me,” Bauer said as they climbed up to the second floor.
Gerlich was awaiting them in the chilly, dark flat. The temperature inside was cold enough for the men’s breath to linger in puffs thick as clouds.
“You got it?” he asked.
“We got it.” The bag in his hand, Bauer followed Gerlich into the bedroom where he worked at an old rickety table. Gerlich handed them both flashlights. “No electricity or heat,” he apologized to Helldorff.
“Better that way,” Helldorff said. “Nobody will think to look here.”
“What’s wrong?” Gerlich asked Bauer. “You’re favoring one side.”
“Think I dislocated my shoulder.” Bauer walked over to the doorway, reared back, and slammed his right shoulder against the doorframe. It hurt like hell for a moment but then felt a little better.
Bauer opened the bag and laid out the contents of Hitler’s vault on the table.
Five envelopes.
One was stuffed to capacity, and, not surprisingly, contained the pornographic sketches of Geli—lewd anatomical drawings, unmistakably showing Geli’s face but with her body in obscene poses that prominently and explicitly featured her genitalia. Bauer could hardly look at them.
“These were the drawings Father Stempfle stole from Hitler’s house and pretended to buy back from the thief?” asked Helldorff. “So these help establish an… intimate relationship between Hitler and his niece. It’s a start. A good start.”
Bauer opened the second envelope. It contained a two-page memorandum written by Joseph Goebbels, Hitler’s propaganda chief, and was entitled “The Plan.” It began with this summary:
While we of course would hope for the Führer’s election as president in 1932, we should remain realistic that the incumbent, von Hindenburg, is likely to prevail. We should focus on two results: (1) forcing a runoff election in which the Führer commands a strong second place, and (2) most importantly, retaining the strongest position in the Reichstag. If NSDAP can control the parliament, we can demand that von Hindenburg appoint the Führer as chancellor. Once the Führer is chancellor, it will take but one national emergency to issue executive decrees assuming the reins of total power.
“Damn.” Bauer shook his head at this proof of the Nazis’ plan to take over the country.
“Mary, mother of God.” Fritz Gerlich threw up his hands. “A ‘national emergency’? Of course. Once they get into power, once Hitler holds the number two position in the government, they will manufacture a crisis. They’ll declare martial law, suspend civil liberties, and hand all power to Hitler. And never mind von Hindenburg. He’s, what, eighty-four years old? They’ll shove him aside. Probably kill him if need be. All in the name of national security. Hitler will have full control of the country despite not being elected president.”
“And once he has it, he’ll never let go,” said Bauer.
The third envelope contained another memorandum, this one from Hermann Göring, entitled “The Aryanization of the Jewish Economy.” It read in part:
Our approach will be gradual, of course, so as not to jeopardize the economic vibrancy of the country. We will begin with bans on Jews holding certain professions and general boycotts of various establishments. We will impose more and more stringent limitations on how and when Jewish-run businesses may operate and what goods and services they may sell.
Over time, as our position strengthens, we will dispatch emissaries to the more robust of the Jewish establishments under the guise that it would be advantageous to have a friend of the Party affiliated with that company. We will then arrest the owner of the company for undefined reasons and the “friend” will intervene, telling the Jewish owner that it was only because of his connections to the Party that the owner was not sent to a concentration camp.
We will repeat this process. The owner will feel increasing pressure and allow the “friend” greater access and control within the company. Ultimately the Jewish owner will relent and turn the business over to the Party, for fear of either financial failure or being sent to a concentration camp and never returning.
