Chapter Text
11 October 1933
It all happened under the dark cloud of night, when every normal person was asleep apart from those working nightshifts at care homes and hospitals.
The sitting President of Germany didn’t want his plans to be discovered, as he knew deep down that the new German Chancellor would not let it happen if he knew. But Von Hindenburg had always been a Royalist by heart, and he knew he had to do this before he left the mortal realm.
He would reinstate the Hohenzollern family in their original position of prominence, giving the German people once again a family to look up to for guidance and to appreciate their strength.
The paperwork was ready, all typed up in secrecy, only needing a pair of signatures: Hindenburg’s & the new German Emperor’s.
After careful consideration of all potential male heirs, the choice had fallen on Prince Louis Ferdinand.
Louis Ferdinand was yet unmarried and had, unlike his older brother Wilhelm, not renounced his rights. He could still marry dynastically, as the Prussian law of succession still prescribed.
It was just past midnight when Prince Louis Ferdinand entered the large state office in the Reichstag, accompanied by his twin sister Princess Marie Anastasia (named after her maternal grandmother).
“I am glad to see you arrived safely.” Paul said, slowly standing up from his chair.
“My parents express gratitude for reinstating our House to its former position at the head of Germany as a nation.” the Prince said, bowing slightly. “Though I do ask, what is your motive with this?”
The President hummed. “To give the people of Germany a family to look up to, a strong example of how a family unit should interact. This might be one of the last decisions I make, as I may not be around for much longer. I need you to take care, heed the warning signs, and stay strong as an exemplary family.”
“That is quite the ask. What makes you think we can remain strong?” the eldest Prussian Princess asked.
“Because you currently are strong together.” Von Hindenburg replied. He then pushed the official papers towards the pair in front of him. “All you need to do, is sign this. I made sure it’s watertight and the person taking up my office won’t be able to disband the monarchy without the full support of the German people.”
“Mister Hitler is quite persuasive, though.” Marie Anastasia commented.
The 86-year-old nodded. “Your observation is correct, Your Highness. But there are more monarchists amongst the older generation than you think, and it’s up to you to make the younger generations believe in the House of Hohenzollern. I have faith in you, to make this happen.”
Louis Ferdinand picked up the black ink pen. He then took a deep breath. “Here goes nothing.” and he signed the line beneath his name.
“Congratulations, Your Majesty.”
25 November 1933
From the second he signed up to be a member of the Nazi Party and the Schutzstaffel, Michael had his doubts. He really didn’t believe in the party’s radical ideology, though he did understand the sentiment.
But group pressure had gotten to him, and he had reluctantly filled in the paperwork.
In the beginning, it was easy to pretend and to fall in line. He was of the opinion something had to happen in society, but what he wanted couldn’t happen.
Rage was rampant, and rage did not encourage peaceful conversations which were needed to tackle complex social problems and fears. Rage meant giving into your fears, to destroy and totally wipe out the source of that fear which you had, instead of facing it.
Yet the pretending… it was getting to him.
The 24-year-old SS-Scharführer had a younger brother, 6 years younger than him, who now also wanted to enlist in the SS as soon as he was done with school. But he didn’t want his little brother to enlist. He had seen some of his friends totally transform, and he was scared to see his little brother go through that exact transformation.
He wanted to quit the SS, but he didn’t have much to fall back on. He’d gone years without studying considering he’d dropped out of university after signing up, and going back to university scared him. He didn’t know if he still had that discipline now he had tasted adult life.
A second option was getting married and taking up a desk job. Considering he was a tall, blue-eyed and blonde-haired man whose ancestry had been harshly vetted by Himmler’s men, there were likely going to be quite a few women out there who would consider him as their husband. Plus, his marriage would be seen by others as ‘doing his duty for the Aryan race’. He did want to become a father, so that probably wouldn’t be much trouble.
It would put him under the radar and he would be able to properly evaluate what he wanted to do with his life to make up for the catastrophic mistake he was deeply regretting at this point in time.
The young man from Hürth did need a plan B, a secondary option as he retired from the Schutzstaffel force. And considering he didn’t yet have one, he was obliged to go to that massive gathering in Berlin which the newly installed German Emperor Louis Ferdinand was hosting.
The gathering was primarily meant for the high-profile German Elite such as working politicians, former politicians, members of the deposed Royal families, and other members of nobility. Yet, many junior SS officers had been called upon to provide ‘security’.
And with ‘security’, they meant watching non-Nazi Party members such as the Imperial Royal family.
In accordance with the new constitution drawn up by President Von Hindenburg, none of the Imperial Royals was allowed to be involved in politics. They were limited to the public service of ribbon cutting, philanthropy, volunteering, and getting involved in non-political social projects.
The Emperor’s sisters Princess Marie Anastasia and Princess Cecilie were volunteers at the Red Cross, Prince Hubertus was involved with several housing projects in the Brandenburg province, and Prince Frederick had decided to go with conservation of German architecture and landmarks. All of those causes were indeed non-political and non-controversial, nothing nefarious about it.
On face value, at least.
The German Chancellor, Adolf Hitler, didn’t trust the Hohenzollerns.
Personally, the Scharführer thought the man was growing more and more paranoid. No one else was seeing a ‘threat’ in the reinstalment of the Hohenzollerns in their old position at the head of Germany.
Though there were indeed some who believed that the Royal bloodlines were way too mixed, their family trees were extremely well-recorded as Royal marriages have been tracked since the early Medieval period. If there was anyone who could most definitely prove that they were purely Aryan, it would be those with a Royal bloodline.
Commoner records were harder, as there were very often misspellings either through individuals themselves or church clergy. Baptism records were often the only source of tracking ancestry. And then you had to hope that no records were destroyed in a fire or had any water damage.
Anyway, the SS-officer had to get to Berlin.
The gathering was held inside Sanssouci Palace, the pride and joy of King Frederick the Great. The Palace was shining bright with the gold and silver of family heirlooms because of the many candles lit all around as well as the electrical lights of the chandeliers hanging from the ceiling.
It truly gave off that feel of old money.
The gathering was a typical rich people’s party.
Servants dressed in neat attire provided a near constant flow of alcohol and small bites with exotic / expensive ingredients such as seafood, tropical fruit, and special meats.
Michael was definitely tasting the many dishes served, not knowing if he’d ever taste them again. He was still a man with a working-class background, and an SS-officer of his rank didn’t earn a top salary. He would never be able to afford such a luxury.
As the man from Hürth was stuffing his mouth with scallops, there was a light tap on his shoulder. He turned around, only to be faced with a stunningly beautiful woman with ash blonde hair in a golden Greco-Roman one-shoulder dress with floral diamond clasps along the seam and a diamond tiara on her head. He quickly reminded himself he still had seafood in his mouth and turned his head away to chew the food and swallow it. He turned his attentions back to the woman and bowed his head. “My Lady.”
“I see you are quite enjoying yourself. Those molluscs must be tasting great.”
“They’re indeed very nice.” the 24-year-old stated, slightly embarrassed.”
The ash blonde smiled. “It’s nothing to be ashamed of. My brother knew many of our guests would be of working-class background, hence the exotic food is plenty around here.”
“Ah, he must’ve wanted us to taste the riches of the Earth.” those words put the SS-officer a tad bit at ease. He then cleared his throat. “May I have your name, My Lady?”
“It’s Marie Anastasia, but you may call me Mika for short.” the beautiful woman told.
The dark blonde bowed his head. “That would be too casual, Your Highness.”
“Perhaps. Though I would advise you to say my nickname, Marie Anastasia is a bit of a mouthful.” the Prussian Princess said. “Would you perhaps pass me a spoonful of molluscs and a napkin?”
“Of course, Your Highness.” Schumacher said and turned around to grab the requested items. One napkin, and one white spoon with scallops. He then turned back. “My Lady.”
“Thank you, officer.”
Michael didn’t think he had ever seen anyone eat as graceful as the Royal woman in front of him.
She held the napkin under the spoon as she first slurped up the liquid contents, swallowing that down before eating the solid scallops.
The man born in Hürth swallowed to prevent his throat from going dry. “Do you like them?”
“The chefs prepared them perfectly.” Mika replied as she wrapped the napkin around the spoon, placing it on the white satin table covers. “Nicely supple, yet still crispy, and the sauce brings out that sea flavour.”
“You almost sound like a professional food critic.” the commoner stated.
The Princess chuckled. “I am known to have good taste buds. Personally, I wouldn’t mind becoming one.”
“I think it would be a strong career option for you, Your Highness.”
The ash blonde nodded. “My brother would agree with you. But the monarchy has now been reinstated, though our role is nothing like it was before, I still have to support him for a little while. That will be my role for now, until I am married.”
“Marriage on the horizon?” the SS-officer questioned.
“Not by a long shot, haven’t met anyone yet who I’d like to marry.” the noble replied. She looked him up and down. “You look rather snatching. Dressed up for the occasion?”
The dark blonde blushed a little. “Uh… well… we were requested to wear our formal uniforms.”
“You’re quite a sight for the ladies, mister.” and the Prussian left the man standing there.
Mika didn’t really know what to think about his encounter with the young SS-officer, but decided to perhaps think about it in the upcoming week. She decided to join her twin brother again who was still surrounded by members of his Imperial Guard as well as high-ranking Nazi men.
The new Emperor had been situated in a limbo between their family’s own values and those of the new political party which had taken sole power due to an Emergency Decree. Hence, he had found it necessary for his own personal protection that he hired men with military experience and no affiliation to the Nazi party as part of his Imperial Guard.
The Princess could not fault his brother. She herself had been observing the highest-ranking members of the Nazi party too, finding that some of the men and women were… mentally unwell.
Such ailments had been seen within the nobility before, sometimes with disastrous outcomes for the future of their realms. The fact that it existed amongst some of the elite members of the Nazi party could very well spell out an instable future for the citizens of Germany and its eventual collapse.
Her observations did worry the ash blonde woman. She wanted the best for her people, and she was worried that this ‘choice’ that the German people had made was solely bred by resentment over the Great War and the aftermath of the Treaty of Versailles.
Yet the Treaty of Versailles had been just like any other post-war treaty where a single party was blamed for instigating the war (often the losing party) and who had to pay the victor reparations. It was however clear that non-nobles didn’t know this information.
Together with some extremely liberal stuff that had happened during the Roaring Twenties and the Great Depression of 1929 had not helped democratic sentiment amongst the severely conservative majority of Germany as there were many who wanted a sole autocratic figure to be in power. And apparently, many saw their desired autocratic figure in the Austrian born Adolf Hitler.
The 25-year-old was beginning to appreciate the elderly President’s move to reinstate the House of Hohenzollern as Germany’s Imperial family. Together with her siblings, she would need to have a calming influence over the German people as war could be on the horizon.
It was no secret amongst certain circles in the upper echelon of society that the Nazis wanted to ‘unite’ all German speaking people, which would mean taking a large part of Poland (an action which would instigate a war with Great Britain and France), add Austria to their realm, and take over the Sudetenland in Czechia.
It was almost a guarantee that there was going to be a war, a war which would undoubtedly exceed the death toll of the Great War.