Unrelenting: Love and Resistance in Pre-War Germany Read online

  UNRELENTING

  World War II Trilogy, Book 1

  Marion Kummerow

  UNRELENTING, World War II Trilogy, Book 1

  Marion Kummerow

  All Rights Reserved

  Copyright © 2016 Marion Kummerow

  This book is copyrighted and protected by copyright laws.

  No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without prior written permission from the author.

  This story is based on actual events. The main characters Q and Hilde have existed in real life under a different name. The author has tried to keep as close to real events as possible, but incidents, characters and timelines have been changed for dramatic purposes. Side characters may be composites, or entirely fictitious.

  Cover Design by http://www.StunningBookCovers.com

  Cover Photo: Bundesarchiv, Bild 102-13199 / CC-BY-SA 3.0

  https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/de/deed.en

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  Table of Contents

  Foreword

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Acknowledgements

  Contact Me

  Foreword

  Dear Reader,

  UNRELENTING is the first novel in my World War II Trilogy. It’s a story dear to my heart, and I’ve wanted to write it for many years. But somehow I never found the time – or the courage – to look deep into the past and dig up the truth.

  My grandparents Ingeborg and Hansheinrich Kummerow were two remarkable people I unfortunately didn't have the opportunity to meet, because they died long before I was born. But their story – one of courage and unrelenting spirit – intrigued me and captured me until I gave in to the overwhelming need to write it down.

  UNRELENTING is for them, to remember their sacrifice and the difficult choices they – along with many others in war-ridden Europe – had to make. Research on World War II showed me how heroic even the slightest act of resistance was during those dark times, and my admiration for my grandparents, and all the brave persons in the German resistance, has grown beyond imagination.

  From a prison cell, my grandfather wrote in one of his many letters…

  “Ich lege durchaus Wert darauf, dass mein Andenken ehrenhaft ist.”

  “I want to be remembered honorably.”

  ~Hansheinrich Kummerow

  With this book, I hope to honor my grandfather’s wish. Honor his and my grandmother’s unrelenting spirit. Their love. Their legacy.

  Sincerely,

  Chapter 1

  Dr. Wilhelm Quedlin didn’t know it, but today, the course of his life was about to change.

  Q, as his family and friends called him, was on his way to work on this sunny October morning in 1932. Oranienburg was lovely this time of year, with trees flaming their fall colors along the banks of the Havel River.

  Strolling through the gates of Auer-Gesellschaft, he quickly headed to his labs. Then stopped. The door to his office stood open, which was peculiar, but he entered nonetheless. He stopped just inside, surprise freezing him in his tracks. Two police officers were waiting for him. He recovered quickly and removed his hat, nodding to the men congenially as he placed it on the rack.

  “Good day, gentlemen. What can I do for you?” he asked, trying to mask his surprise and worry with a polite welcome. An unexpected visit from the police was almost never a good thing. The political climate in Germany had grown increasingly tense, and everyone knew it was much better to keep a low profile these days.

  “Doctor Quedlin, we need you to accompany us down to the police station,” the older officer said, unashamedly eying Q with blank, dark eyes.

  “Is there a problem?” Q asked, trying to remain calm even as his mind raced to identify anything he could have done wrong. And who might have been around to witness his error and report it. Telling on one’s fellow man was no longer taboo like before, but actually encouraged by the government.

  “You need to come with us now,” the older officer repeated, stepping forward, his expression brooking no argument.

  Q nodded and retrieved his hat from the rack he’d just hung it on. “Of course, officer.” He stepped out of the office, keeping his eyes straight ahead and his hands in his pockets as he walked from the building, followed by the two police officers. On his way out, the eyes of his fellow workers watched him surreptitiously. Of course, they wanted to know what was going on, but without drawing attention to themselves, lest the police decided they too needed to be questioned.

  The policemen ushered him from the building, past a seemingly perplexed gatekeeper and placed him in the back seat of a black DKW2. The motorized vehicle took off just as soon as everyone was inside. Q was squeezed between two officers, the seating very tight and uncomfortable from his point of view, but then again, the police were rarely concerned with anyone’s comfort.

  He looked straight ahead, seeing the people hurrying along the streets, turning their heads to avoid the passing police automobile. No one seemed to even notice the beautiful sunny autumn day. Their minds were focused on getting to their destination and minding their own business. Even in his current predicament, or maybe because of it, he thought it sad that most people didn’t share so much as a passing smile or warm greeting to the people they encountered along the street.

  On their way to the police station, they passed the Oranienburg Palace, with its white stucco walls and red tiled roof as well as several brick and stone buildings housing churches and schools. As they approached the last intersection before the police station, Q noticed a small group of men wearing the SS Schutzstaffel uniform standing on the street corner.

  Unlike the police officers currently riding in the vehicle with him, those men wore all black uniforms. Their caps were adorned with the Totenkopf skull and bones symbol, indicating they were loyal followers of the National Socialist German Worker’s Party.

  Nazis.

  The late July elections had seen many parliament seats go to both the Nazis and the Communists, and political unrest was growing stronger with each passing day. Q sighed inwardly as he pondered on the reasons for the growing tensions.

  With the crash of the United States Stock Market three years earlier, and the tremendous financial burden placed upon the German people by the Versailles Treaty to make reparations for Germany’s actions in the Great War, the economy and people were suffering greatly.

  Banks had collapsed, factories and entire industries were in jeopardy of closing, and people were ripe for some sort of change. This was evidenced when Adolf Hitler’s Nazi party won an overwhelming thirty-seven p
ercent of the popular vote in the most recent election.

  Q looked at the younger police officer sitting next to him and asked, “Can you tell me what the problem is?” He understood very well that people didn’t get taken to the police station for a minor transgression and wanted to know what he was facing.

  “Doctor Quedlin, we–”

  “Silence!” the older officer stated from the front seat. “He will find out soon enough.”

  Q bit his tongue so that he wouldn’t make a pointed remark and incite the rude policeman any further. The trickle of fear he’d felt since seeing the police officers in his office had increased during the automobile ride. It now crept up his spine and made his neck hair stand on end.

  Finally, the police vehicle stopped in front of the three story brick building, and he was ushered into the station that had most definitely seen better days. The wooden furniture was worn and very sparse. Only two wooden chairs stood against the far wall, the only accommodations being made for visitors, of which Q was almost positive were few and far between. The climate didn’t allow for people to bring themselves to the police station unless the circumstances were dire and no other options existed.

  He lowered his eyes and noticed the dirty and cracked tiles on the floor, which fit perfectly into the threatening and tense atmosphere of the entire place. Q’s fear escalated, but he did his best to regulate his breathing and stay calm.

  Do not let them sense your fear. You’ve done nothing wrong. Remember that.

  But his self-talk did little to quell his nervousness when a ranking officer approached. “Doctor Quedlin?”

  “Yes. Could someone please explain why I’ve been brought here?”

  “Of course. Take him to the interrogation room,” the ranking officer demanded, his voice harsh and intimidating. Another officer grabbed Q’s elbow and led him down the hallway, pushing him into a sparsely furnished room featuring a large, bare bulb light hanging over a well-worn wooden table and three chairs.

  “Sit!” the man barked, pushing on Q’s shoulder until he took a seat.

  The ranking officer entered the room and waited until the other one had left before he seated himself across from the table. When the metal door snapped shut, Q felt a sudden surge of panic. He was trapped, and nobody could come to his rescue. The officer stared into Q’s eyes, and Q tried not to fidget. “Oberkommissar Strobel,” he said by way of introduction. “You know why you’re here?”

  “No, Herr Oberkommissar, if you would please let me know what this is about?” Q hoped the other man didn’t hear the panic in his cracking voice.

  Oberkommissar Strobel sent him a stern glance, “You are Dr. Wilhelm Quedlin?”

  “Yes.”

  “What were you doing at Auer-Gesellschaft?”

  Q took a deep breath. The police probably knew all of that already, but he would play their little game. “I work there as chief engineer in the chemical laboratory and supervise a team of scientists.”

  “Since when?”

  “I started working for Auer-Gesellschaft four years ago after I received my PhD in chemical engineering from the Technical University of Berlin.”

  “What exactly did you work on?”

  A puzzled look crossed Q’s face. He had no intention of going into detail about his scientific research. After all, that was classified material. “Herr Oberkommissar, I wrote my dissertation about the thermal decay of nitrous oxide, and at Auer-Gesellschaft, this expertise served handy in researching and investigating new ways of finding a method to de-stabilize…”

  Oberkommissar Strobel cut him off. “Enough.” He paused for effect and added, “Doctor Quedlin, you have been accused of industrial espionage.”

  Chapter 2

  Q looked at the police officer, letting the words register, and barely contained his laugh. Industrial espionage? Me? That’s ridiculous!

  He had collaborated with fellow scientists on many projects but stealing and selling that knowledge to someone else was not something he would ever do. No, he knew how hard it was and how much effort and dedication it cost to work in research. Never would his ethics allow him to even contemplate stealing the intellectual property of another scientist.

  Oberkommissar Strobel apparently had some kind of evidence against him, and Q searched his brain to find something – anything – he could have done wrong but drew a blank. It would be best to wait until the Oberkommissar presented him with concrete accusations and compiled evidence.

  That is, if he actually had any. It wasn’t unheard of for the police to act upon rumors and accusations without any proof whatsoever. Just the hint of impropriety was enough to be punished these days.

  He held the Oberkommissar’s stare and said, “Industrial spying? Of what?”

  The officer stood up, slammed his palms against the table and leaned forward until his breath wafted into Q’s face. “What you have done constitutes high treason.”

  High treason? That was quite ridiculous. Q didn’t flinch and kept his voice calm. “Again, what evidence do you have to support those accusations?”

  Q might be afraid, but he still was a scientist who dealt with cold facts and analysis on a daily basis, not with generalized assumptions. If the police didn’t put facts on the table, they probably didn’t have anything solid against him.

  The officer looked at him. “Do you deny these accusations?”

  For everything he knew, Q had a clean slate, and this knowledge gave him the strength not to succumb to the threatening atmosphere. He kept his poker face in place, looking into the officer’s eyes. “You haven’t actually made any. You’ve yet to tell me what exactly I have supposedly done wrong.”

  “How about working with the enemy?”

  That’s when it hit him, and Q had a sneaky suspicion that his only wrongdoing might be in his political opinions. Since the Russian October revolution when he was a teenager, Q had made no secret of the fact that he was rather fond of the ideas behind the Bolsheviks and Vladimir Lenin’s idea of government. As a young and idealistic student, he applauded the actions of the peasants and working class who, in 1917, overthrew first the Tsarist autocracy of Russia and then the provisional government.

  He still recalled the joy he’d felt on behalf of the Soviet people when the peasants and workers fought back against the stringent punishments and seized control of their government.

  Communism seemed like the perfect ideology – hand over the power to the people. Under that rule, there would be free and open elections, where representatives of the workers and peasants were elected to lead the country, rather than some autocratic monarchy ruling and serving only themselves. The idea that all people were created equal and that no one was worth more than anyone else agreed with Q’s engrained sense of fairness.

  Many of his compatriots felt the same way, believing communism was the only way to prevent war between nations and help the people live in peace with one another.

  Q raised a brow in question. “Do you have evidence to support your accusation?”

  Rather than respond, Oberkommissar Strobel turned on his heel and left the room without a word, slamming the door shut behind him. The sound of metal on metal caused Q to hunch his shoulders. He knew this was an attempt to make him nervous, and it worked, despite his best intentions to remain calm.

  His mind wandered back to his time at university and how he had worked with a bunch of Russian scientists while doing the research for his PhD about the thermal decay of nitrous oxide.

  “Q, your hypothesis seems plausible,” Vladimir, one of the Russian master students, had stated.

  Q had nodded. “By my calculations, the unwanted reaction of the nitrous oxide converting back to nitrogen gas can be minimized by reducing the amount of time the gaseous mixtures are in contact with the catalyst.”

  “That may be so, but what about the temperature as a controlling factor?”

  Q had gone back to his lab and run some additional tests while the other scientists had done th
e same. Three weeks later, they’d made the breakthrough they’d been striving for. They were one step closer to manufacturing nitrates using industrial nitrogen fixation techniques.

  The sound of steps passing the door to his room brought his mind back to the present. Was it possible that news of that collaboration was what had landed him in this interrogation room? He and the Russian researchers had shared many ideas, helping solve one another’s setbacks as they all strove to discover the next big thing, the one detail that would change the course of science forever.

  They all wanted to leave a legacy in the world. To become part of history. Like Albert Einstein, a man Q admired immensely and who had received the Nobel Prize in Physics for his vast work in the field of theoretical physics.

  Einstein was a professor at Humboldt University of Berlin and Q had been given the rare opportunity to sit in on several lectures where Einstein discussed his newly discovered photoelectric effect and the quantum theory.

  Now, years later, Q would always remember the privilege of listening to such a brilliant man and had striven to make his own marks upon science. Collaboration and the exchanging of research material was a part of that, and as long as the intellectual property being shared and exchanged was his, it wasn’t illegal. At least not yet.

  So what exactly did the police hold against him? What evidence could they possibly have to support their accusations of high treason and industrial espionage?

  He decided it was best not to offer anything they might not already know about, but rather stand firm and make them produce the evidence. In these uncertain times, one never knew who was listening or what information might be interpreted incorrectly and out of context.

  Accidently or on purpose.

  Chapter 3

  Before long, Oberkommissar Strobel returned to the interrogation room. “Tell us what we want to know.”