Warta

Er sass ganz genau gleich wie sonst, übers Pult gebeugt und mit der Stirn auf den Händen liegend. Er hatte sich abgewöhnt, an den Haaren zu reissen, jedoch lief seine Hand immer durchs grauende Blonde. He sat just as usual, bent over the desk in an almost crippled fashion, his forehead resting on his palm. He'd gotten out of the habit of tearing at his hair, but his hand still ran through the greying blonde. 

Die Welt ist nicht da für feige Völker (The world is not there for cowardly peoples/nations).

Hitler's words drummed against the inside of his skulls, threatening to crack the bone open and leak into his blood like lost marrow. The simple sentence had mapped out all of human - and also animal - history hadn't it? The barbarians had lived under then impression that 'the strongest live and the weaker die', in the animal kingdom the mothers sometimes left behind or killed the runt, or simply didn't let it crawl it's way to the source of nutrience. And famous Mr. Darwin, hadn't he based his whole theory of evolution on the fact that the stronger survive and everything and all that wasn't strong enough would and will die! Natural selection!

Die Welt ist nicht da für feige Völker. 

But as the sentence crossed through his conscience for the x-time, he realized that it didn't say 'for weaker nations' but instead, 'for cowardly nations'. In his studies of history he'd learnt a thing or two about anthropology, and he'd even sat in on some of their lectures, until the professor had found out that the one student in the back row (who had been taking the most notes) wasn't signed up for the seminar and had publicly thrown young Bowmore out. So, with this sentence Hitler was saying that not only was the world only there for the strong, but also for the brave. Had it not been for Hitler's bloodthirsty nature he might have placed 'strong' and 'brave' as synonyms, but...something was missing.

What was 'brave' in the mentality of the Nazis? A similiar 'hero-figure' as it would be for perhaps the russians; tall, blonde, blue-eyes and curious, a slave to his duty, a good son or a good father, self-confident, cheerful but with the ability to be serious. And most importantly; he should be a soldier. He should want to fight; to be willing to give up his life for their great cause, for their motherland. 

So, the world is only there for people who fight. Who go to war.

Alistair dropped the pencil he'd been spinning. The two theories together didn't explain it half-bad - get rid of the weak, those you don't fight back, and even if they do, they won't be as strong, which makes them 'naturally' be the lesser people. The people that evolution would write over. 

Sometimes people to get very close to playing God. 

Alistair let his hand drop onto the map. He was supposed to read through the endless pages of descriptions of small towns in western Poland or eastern Germany, places he could potentially set up a concentration camp, but he had no will or want to do so. He sighed and lifted his hand off of the map. And there it was. Right under where his thumb had lain. 

Warta. 

A small Polish town with plenty of fields and rivers around it. Not too big; that would be too hard to control if there was an Aufstand from the townsfolk. KZ Warta. It sounded good didn't it - well, not good, terrible but - it had a ring to it. Alistair made a mental note to research the place when he awoke back in the United States, in the saftey of the 21st centuary. If nothing happened in that town, nothing important, then he'd chose it. It seemed like a play of destiny, he'd chosen the town with his own hands, but without looking. As if that would make the events to take place any less his fault or his doing. 

He circled the town in red color and skimmed through the pages they'd left for him. Maybe they'd even noted Warta as one of the towns he could chose from. After searching through the haystack for a minute he dropped the pages with a loud laugh. Why would Warta be listed? It didn't belong to Germany yet, they hadn't taken over Poland! Still, he'd found the city he wanted to own, so he left the papers unattended and crossed over to the door where he left his office to prowl the hallways with a dark demeanor. He knocked on Hitler's door and was soon emitted inside where he, bubbly as a freshly opened bottle of champagne, explained his choice and asked for permission to let it be Warta. 

Hitler war mit seiner Auswahl zufrieden, er schaute dem Amerikanern die ganze Zeit ins Gesicht, er suchte in den sanften Zügen eine Falle. Aber er fand keine. Hitler agreed to his choice, he regarded the American the whole time, he was searching for traps in his soft expression. But he found none.

"Very well, Alistair. Warta it will be. Get the report to some of the generals you picked out and soon enough they'll be off on their way to observe the area. Good choice." He clapped the man's shoulder. "They usually take about two years to build, which you can oversee. Afterwards it's your choice if you want to work alongside some of our men in the Lager, or if you'd rather coordinate the whole story from your office."

"Of course, Adolf."

"Sehr gut, dankeschön! Du kannst gehen!" 

"Danke Dir, und einen schönen Abend noch!"

With his words of thanks he left the room and stolled back to his own office, relieved. He'd purposly chosen a polish town because no matter how confident Hitler was, there was still a chance, that with a turn of events, Poland could or would not be occupied afterall. If he'd chosen a German town for the KZ it would have definitely built. But if Stalin believed him - if he listened - they might be able to end the war before KZ Warta was ever built or in the least, finished. 

Planning an entire Lager in a city not yet counting to the Deutsche Reich was risky, but wasn't Hitler's entire bible risky? 

Hitler, much like Bowmore, was pleased about the city, but for different reasons. To him it seemed like a sign that Fall Weiss would suceed, especially because of how the city had 'jumped out' at Alistair, making him chose it. In only a few scarce weeks Fall Weiss would be launched, and big parts of Poland would be theirs. And then, already in the early hours of their occupation, they'd already have a town selected to be the bearer of a new KZ. He smiled to himself. The American might have wavering loyalty to the system, but there was a basis of loyalty there, and for the moment that was enough. And though loyalty was something Hitler looked for the in the uneducated and dim-witted, he looked for bravery in the bright. And Alistair, choosing a not yet German town, was quite brave. 

Die Welt ist nicht da für feige Leute.