Fiihrer.'
' 'I suppose he was beginning to think he was God Almighty
himself at that time,' said Colonel Pikeaway unexpectedly,
and he chuckled.
Dr Reichardt looked shocked.
He asked me to let him know certain things. He said
that Martin B. had told him that I actually had a large
number of patients thinking, not to put too fine a point
on it, that they were themselves Adolf Hitler. I explained
to him that this was not uncommon, that naturally with
the respect, the worship they paid to Hitler, it was only
natural that the great wish to be like him should end even147
tually by them identifying themselves with him. I was
little anxious when I mentioned this but I was delighted
find that he expressed great signs of satisfaction. He took
I am thankful to say, as a compliment, this passionate wi
to find identity with himself. He next asked if he could m
affliction. We had a little consultation. Martin B. seem
doubtful, but he took me aside and assured me that H
Hitler actually wished to have this experience. What he hi]
self was anxious to ensure was that Herr Hitler did not meet
well, in short, that Herr Hitler was not to be allowed to r
any risks. If any of these so-called Hitlers, believing passio
ately in themselves as such, were inclined to be a little viole
or dangerous ... I assured him that he need have no won
I suggested that I should collect a group of the most amiat
of our Fuhrers and assemble them for him to meet. Herr
insisted that the Fiihrer was very anxious to interview ai
mingle with them without my accompanying him. The patien
he said, would not behave naturally if they saw the chief
the establishment there, and if there was no danger . . .
assured him again that there was no danger. I said, howev
that I should be glad if Herr B. would wait upon hil
There was no difficulty about that. It was arranged. Messag
were sent to the Fiihrers to assemble in a room for a we
distinguished visitor who was anxious to compare notes wi
them.
'Aoh, so. Martin B. and the Fiihrer were introduced in
the assembly. I retired, closing the door, and chatted wi
the two ADC's who had accompanied them. The Flihn
I said, was looking in a particularly anxious state. He h;
no doubt had many troubles of late. This I may say w
very shortly before the end of the war when things, qui
frankly, were going badly. The Fiihrer himself, they to
me, had been greatly distressed of late but was convinc(
that he could bring the war to a successful close if the ide
which he was continually presenting to his general sta
were acted upon, and accepted promptly.'
"The Fiihrer, I presume,' said Sir George Packham, 'w;
at that time--I mean to say--no doubt he was in a sta
that--'
'We need not stress these points,' said Herr Spiess. 't- was completely beyond himself. Authority had to be tak
for him on several points. But all that you will know w(
enough from the researches you have made in my country
'One remembers that at the Nuremberg trials--'
148
^iSCS^.
'There's no need to refer to the Nuremberg trials, I'm
sure,' said Mr Lazenby decisively. 'All that is far behind
us. We look forward to a great future in the Common
Market with your Government's help, with the Government
of Monsieur Grosjean and your other European colleagues.
The past is the past.'
'Quite so,' said Herr Spiess, 'and it is of the past that we
now talk. Martin B. and Herr Hitler remained for a very
short time in the assembly room. They came out again
after seven minutes. Herr B. expressed himself to Dr Reichardt
as very well satisfied with their experience. Their car was
waiting and he and Herr Hitler must proceed immediately
to where they had another appointment. They left very
hurriedly.'
There was a silence.
'And then?' asked Colonel Rkeaway. 'Something happened?
Or had already happened?'
'The behaviour of one of our Hitler patients was unusual,'
said Dr Reichardt. 'He was a man who had a particularly
close resemblance to Herr Hitler, which had given him
always a special confidence in his own portrayal. He insisted
now more fiercely than ever that he was the Fiihrer, that he
must go immediately to Berlin, that he must preside over a
Council of the General Staff. In fact, he behaved with no
signs of the former slight amelioration which he had shown
in his condition. He seemed so unlike himself that I really could not understand this change taking place so suddenly.
I was relieved, indeed, when two days later, his relations
called to take him home for future private treatment there.'
'And you let him go,' said Herr Spiess.
'Naturally I let him go. They had a responsible doctor
with them, he was a voluntary patient, not certified, and
therefore he was within his rights. So he left.'
1 don't see--' began Sir George Packham.
'Herr Spiess has a theory--'
'It's not a theory,' said Spiess. 'What I am telling you is
fact. The Russians concealed it, we've concealed it. Plenty
of evidence and proof has come in. Hitler, our Fiihrer, remained in the asylum by his own consent that day and a man
with the nearest resemblance to the real Hitler departed
with Martin B. It was that patient's body which was subsequently
found in the bunker. I will not beat about the
bush. We need not go into unnecessary details.'
'We all have to know the truth,' said Lazenoy.
'The real Fiihrer was smuggled by a pre-arranged under149
ground route to the Argentine and lived there for some
years. He had a son there by a beautiful Aryan girl of good
family. Some say she was an English girl. Hitler's mental
condition worsened, and he died insane, believing himself to
be commanding his armies in the field. It was the only
plan possibly by which he could ever have escaped from
Germany. He accepted it.'
'And you mean that for all these years nothing has
leaked out about this, nothing has been known?'
'There have been rumours, there are always rumours. If you remember, one of the Czar's daughters in Russia
was said to have escaped the general massacre of her family.'
'But that was--' George Packham stopped. 'False--quite
false.'
'It was proved false by one set of people. It was accepted
by another set of people, both of whom had known her.
That Anastasia was indeed Anastasia, or that Anastasia,
Grand Duchess of Russia, was really only a peasant girl.
Which story was true? Rumours! The longer they go on,
the less people believe them, except for those who have
romantic minds, who go on believing them. It has often been
rumoured that Hitler was alive, not dead. There is no one
who has ever said with certainty that they have examined his
dead body. The Russians declared so. They brought no
proofs, though.'
'Do you really mean to say--Dr Reiehardt, do you support
this extraordinary story?'
'Aeh,' said Dr Reiehardt. 'You ask me, but I have told
you my part. It was certainly Martin B. who came to my
sanatorium. It was Martin B. who brought with him the
Fuhrer. It was Martin B. who treated him as the Fuhrer.
who spoke to him with the deference with which one speaks
to the Fiihrer. As for me, I lived already with some hundreds
of Fiihrers, of Napoleons, of Julius Caesars. You must
understand that the Hitlers who lived in my sanatorium, they
looked alike, they could have been, nearly all of them could have been, Adolf Hitler. They themselves could never havr believed in themselves with the passion, the vehement with which they knew that they were Hitler, unless they ha;
had a basic resemblance, with make-up, clothing, continui
acting, and playing of the part. I had had no person;
meeting with Herr Adolf Hitler at any previous time. On'
saw pictures of him in the papers, one knew roughly wh;
our great genius looked like, but one knew only the pictun
that he wished shown. So he came, he was the Fiihrer, Marti'i 150
B. the man best to be believed on that subject said he was the
Fiihrer. No, I had no doubts. I obeyed orders. Herr Hitler
wished to go alone into a room to meet a selection of his?
what shall one say??his plaster copies. He went in. He
came out. An exchange of clothing could have been made, not
very different clothing in any case. Was it he himself or one
of the self-appointed Hitlers who came out? Rushed out
quickly by Martin B. and driven away while the real man
could have stayed behind, could have enjoyed playing his
part, could have known that in this way and in this way
only could he manage to escape from the country which
at any moment might surrender. He was already disturbed
in mind, mentally affected by rage and anger that the orders
he gave, the wild fantastic messages sent to his staff, what
they were to do, what they were to say, the impossible
things they were to attempt, were not, as of old, immediately
obeyed. He could feel already that he was no longer in
supreme command. But he had a small faithful two or three
and they had a plan for him, to get him out of this country,
out of Europe, to a place where he could rally round him
in a different continent his Nazi followers, the young ones who
believed so passionately in him. The swastika would rise again
there. He played his part. No doubt, he enjoyed it. Yes, that
would be in keeping with a man whose reason was already
tottering. He would show these others that he could play
the part of Adolf Hitler better than they did. He laughed
to himself occasionally, and my doctors, my nurses, they
would look in, they would see some slight change. One patient
who seemed unusually mentally disturbed, perhaps. Pah, there
was nothing in that. It was always happening. With the
Napoleons, with the Julius Caesars, with all of them. Some
days, as one would say if one was a layman, they are
madder than usual. That is the only way I can put it. So
now it is for Herr Spiess to speak.'
'Fantastic!' said the Home Secretary.
'Yes, fantastic,' said Herr Spiess patiently, 'but fantastic
things can happen, you know. In history, in real life, no
matter how fantastic.'
'And nobody suspected, nobody knew?'
'It was very well planned. It was well planned, well
thought out. The escape route was ready, the exact details
of it are not clearly known, but one can make a pretty
good recapitulation of them. Some of the people who were
concerned, who passed a certain personage on from place
to place under different disguises, under different names,
151
some of those people, on our looking back and making ,. ? . ..-^ts their inquiries, we find did not live as long as they might have eir spearhead, their anarchists, their propnets, meir
done.' he Castros, the Guerrillas, their followers, a long
You mean in case they should give the secret away or aining in cruelty and torture and vlolence aM should talk too much?' after it, glorious life. Freedom! As Rvlsrs of the
The SS saw to that Rich rewards, praise, promises of d State.' The appointed conquerors.'
high positions in the future and then--death is a much nonsense,' said Mr Lazenby. Once all this is pui
easier answer. And the SS were used to death. They knew
the different ways of it, they knew means of disposing of
bodies--Oh yes, I will tell you that, this has been inquired
into for some time now. The knowledge has come little by
little to us, and we have made inquiries, documents have
been acquired and the truth has come out. Adolf Hitler
certainly reached South America. It is said that a marriage
ceremony was performed--that a child was born. The child
was branded in the foot with the mark of the swastika.
Branded as a baby. I have seen trusted agents whom I can
believe. They have seen that branded foot in South America.
There that child was brought ud. careful)" ^.---' . . -
d State. The appointed conquerors.'
nonsense,' said Mr Lazenby. 'Once all this is put
-the .whole thing will collapse. This is all quite
What can they do?' Cedric Lazenby sounded srulous.
ess shook his heavy, wise head.
ay ask. I tell you the answer, which is--they do They don't know where they're going. They don't ,t is going to be done with them.'
iean they're not the real leaders?'
_.._??.?. are the young marching Heroes, treading their
believe Theyha^etn"^ T" '^sted agents whom I can lorv' on-the stepping-stones of violence, of pain, of
Theretha?cL?d was hrolh. foot in south Ameri<:a hey have now their following not only in south>
prepared^prePared b Z n^' T^ guarded' shielded. and ^P6- The cult has travelled north- In the prepared for h^ereaT^n c" Lama might have been tetes, there too the young men riot, they march,
Ac fanaticS vou pounds th?^y" hat was the idea behind 3W the banner of the Young ^^ Th^ are theyhadsSrtS^uTw^ ^ was greater than the idea that s ways, they are taught to kill, to enjoy pain, they
new Naris tnP ou /? s was not merelv a reviv^ of the .t the rules of the Death's Head, the rules of Himmler.
but it was'manvw "emlan ^P61- race. It was that, yes, s being trained, you see. They are being secretly
many oSernauon^ ^8S besldes- It was the Y^Sof ated. They do not know what they're being trained
neaSy Terv
istic worid taTn^Y' troy the old worid' the material- ^ssia they know, in America they have begun to
violent broth^^n^ great Dew band of kmme murdering, hey know that there are the followers of the Young
to powerAnTrt,^ fi, on destnlcti0^ and then on rising iegfried, based on the Norse Legends, and that a
riehtMood- r y now thw leader- A leader with the iegfried is the leader. That that is their new religion.
up with no ereat lik0"" ^ ^ lTder wh0' ^"S" he grew ?ion of the glorious boy, the golden triumph of youth.
golden hairp^f nt T dead father' w
as--no, is--a. :he old Nordic Gods have risen again.
^^^^^?^ --------
..^-- u^u ^'vJ^*xv vj^v?lj ^ju*^ iu^^l a^aXLL.
hat, of course,' said Herr Spiess, dropping his voice
mmonplace tone, 'that of course is not the simple
truth. There are some powerful personalities behind
il men with first-class brains. A first-class financier, a
idustrialist, someone who controls mines, oil, stores
ium, who owns scientists of the top class, and those
ones, a committee of men, who themselves do not
ilticUlarlv intWWrfino r?r CYtr'tnrdinot-ir hut OTnunythn
K^^^^- ^S
they despised, where Moses led hi? f^J.L-.l-'1^' whom
_^ __... ,,..? v^,^w ^vM.^i^t^w v/i. M-t*/ *.^F ^idoa, aixu iuuac
thpv ri^^i. a "" ^r ^^o?se(l land of the Jews, whom ones, a committee of men, who themselves do not
dead 3s fh e Moses led his Lowers. The Jews were irticularly interesting or extraordinary, but nevertheber
Th- e ground' klued w murdered in the gas cham- we got control. They control the sources of oower. vein. iiiis was to be a land r>f fhfir ^.,-- - ?
.--- ^us-w, icu ms rollowers. The Jews were
dead under the ground, killed or murdered in the gas chambers.
This was to be a land of their own, a land gained by their
own prowess. The countries of Europe were to be banded
together with the countries of .South a------ "
----,-,^^wi*j al.^wa?/i3mi& Jt t^A IA dVA U-IUA1 y , UUl UCVCilUCve
got control. They control the sources of power, 'ntrol through certain means of then" own the young
ho kill and the young men who are slaves. By control
IgS they acauire slaves. Slavps in fvrrv mnntnf iuhr>
___ _?__ ?^..^?.*t/ ?/*- t*A^-AA wn HAfc/ J JUILI.ly
together with the"^^""1"
me wiinines of South America. There already yes they acquire slaves. Slaves in every country who
^2 myy little progress from soft drugs to hard drugs and who
H 153
are then completely subservient, completely dependent on
men whom they do not even know but who secretly own
them body and soul. Their craving need for a particular
drug makes them slaves, and in due course, these slaves prove
to be no good, because of their dependence on drugs, they
will only be capable of sitting in apathy dreaming sweet
dreams, and so they will be left to die, or even helped to die.
They will not inherit that kingdom in which they believe.
Strange religions are being deliberately introduced to them.
The gods of the old days disguised.'
'And permissive sex also plays its part, I suppose?'
'Sex can destroy itself. In old Roman times the men who
steeped themselves in vice, who were oversexed, who ran
sex to death until they were bored and weary of sex, sometimes
fled from it and went out into the desert and became
Anchorites like St Simeon Stylites. Sex will exhaust itself.
It does its work for the time being, but it cannot rule you
as drugs rule you. Drugs and sadism and the love of power
and hatred. A desire for pain for its own sake. The pleasures
of inflicting it. They are teaching themselves the pleasures of
evil. Once the pleasures of evil get a hold on you, you cannot
draw back.'
'My dear Chancellor--I really can't believe you--I mean,
well--I mean if there are these tendencies, they must be put
down by adopting strong measures. I mean, really, one--
one can't go on pandering to this sort of thing. One must
take a firm stand--a firm stand.'
'Shut up, George.' Mr Lazenby pulled out his pipe, looked
at it, put it back in his pocket again. 'The best plan, I think,'
he said, his idee fixe reasserting itself, 'would be for me to
fly to Russia. I understand that--well, that these facts are
known to the Russians.'
They know sufficient,' said Herr Spiess. 'How much they
will admit they know--' he shrugged his shoulders--'that is
difficult to say. It is never easy to get the Russians to cc'ne
out in the open. They have their own troubles on the Chinese
border. They believe perhaps less in the far advanced stage,
into which the movement has got, than we do.'
'I should make mine a special mission, I should.'
'I should stay here if I were you. Cedric.'
Lord Altamount's quiet voice spoke from where he lea:'d