The Businessman

The border before fortification: inter-zonal barrier near Asbach in Thuringia, 1950.
Bundesarchiv
(Source)

As they got off the train, von Lüttwitz noticed another train on a siding. It was familiar to him as he had ridden a number of troop trains during the war. This one was carrying soldiers, German and Soviet, and had a number of flat cars loaded with materials. The sort of materials combat engineers used to put up fortifications and barriers.

He said nothing to his cousin, but he noticed that the train had not gone unnoticed by Herbert. In town they discovered that the buses weren't running that day, so they would be walking the five kilometers out to the farm.

Jürgen was concerned for his one-legged cousin, but he'd noticed over the past few days that the man had almost no problems with mobility.

"Any problems, Herbert?"

"Heh, I lost my leg almost ten years ago. I've gotten pretty good at getting around with these crutches. Great upper body workout, you know?" Herbert winked at Jürgen when he said that.

When they were well on the road and clear of the town, Jürgen brought up the topic of the troop train.

"I saw it," Herbert shook his head, "I'm afraid it confirms the rumors we've been hearing. People are not happy under the Soviets and their German lackeys. Thousands are fleeing and it's causing lots of problems with the Soviet drive to get us up and running again."

"How does a troop train confirm those rumors?" Jürgen asked, knowing the answer.

"That siding is off the main line for Bayern,¹ no one is fleeing to Czechoslovakia, people want to get away from the verdammte Russen.² Where would you block the routes west from Sachsen³?"

Jürgen nodded, then said, "And that presents a problem for me."

"How so?"

"I took the long way in, through Thüringen⁴, I had hoped to get out over the border into Bayern. But if those troops are heading that way, I'll need to go back out through Thüringen, which might take a few days to set up."

"You can stay with us, that's not a problem."

"I need access to a telephone, one that I can be sure isn't being monitored too closely. You don't have one, I noticed."

"Old man Rudel has a phone, he's a man my Father has done business with for years. Any excess crops we produce, he buys. He's trustworthy, he hates the Russians, lost two sons in Russia."

"Well then, when we get back to ..."

"His house is on the way, we can stop ..."

Jürgen interrupted his cousin, "Let's play this by ear, Herbert. We'll see when we get there."

Von Lüttwitz was concerned, to say the least. He had agreed to this mission thinking that if he could keep the people who knew he was in the East to the bare minimum, there would be less risk. He trusted his uncle and his family, he trusted Klaus-Peter Keller. But this Rudel fellow was a different thing altogether.

"That's Rudel's place, just ahead." Herbert said, pointing at a neat set of buildings alongside the road.

Jürgen took his cousin's arm and said, "Hold up. What unit were his son's in?"

Herbert looked puzzled, "The 223rd, same as us. Different regiment, I think they were in the same regiment and battalion, different companies though."

"Both of his sons were killed in action?"

"No, both went missing in the Third Battle of Kharkov, presumed captured or dead."

"So they might still be alive?"

"Anything's possible, but how many men have come back from the East?"

"I met one the other day, he ..."

"Was he an official of some sort?"

"Yeah, for the bus line but ..."

"I'm betting he was a Red before the war. The Russians let their own go home first. From what I understand, they're still holding thousands of our boys in Siberia."

Jürgen simply nodded, his cousin had a point. Being somewhat well-dressed, it's possible that the bus official had determined that Jürgen might be a Red. He could use that, if he had to. Something to look into when he returned to the West.

Nodding at his cousin, Jürgen said, "Let's stop in and say hello to Herr Rudel."

"Herr Rudel!" Herbert shouted as they walked through the gate, "Are you home?"

From one of the outbuildings a graying older man stepped into the sunshine, "Young von Lüttwitz, is that you?" He was wiping oil from his hands with an old rag as he spoke.

"Yes Sir, and this is my cousin, Jürgen. You know we're not supposed to use the 'von' anymore, right?" Herbert said as Rudel grasped Jürgen's hand.

"Bah! Pleasure to meet you Jürgen, you have the look of a soldier about you. You're not 'the' Jürgen von Lüttwitz are you? Knight's Cross, Landser to Major, the tiger of Saxony, that von Lüttwitz?"

Jürgen was blushing, his face felt like it was on fire. "I don't know about all that Sir, but yes, I guess I am that von Lüttwitz."

"Come in, come in. Wilhelmina! Break out the schnapps, we have a war hero visiting us!"

"Herr Rudel, you shouldn't shout so ..." Herbert began.

"Nonsense boy, any man who served with my boys is a hero!"

"I was in a different regiment, Sir, I ..." Jürgen began, only to be cut off.

"Were you at Third Kharkov?"

"Yes Sir, but ..."

"That's enough, that's where those Red bastards killed my boys."

Frau Rudel rescued von Lüttwitz, "Now, now, Papa, hush and go inside. These boys look hungry."

Turning to von Lüttwitz she said, "You look like your father."

"You knew him?"

"Yes, before the war."

That gave von Lüttwitz pause, she noticed.

"The first war, the Kaiser's war, not that filthy man Hitler's war. Are you boys hungry? I have a pot of Leipziger Allerlei ready, Papa and I were just going to eat, there's plenty."

"Does it have crab?" Herbert asked.

"Of course it does. Come inside."

Herr Rudel said, "In a moment Mama, you and Herbert go ahead, I need to talk with Herr von Lüttwitz, won't be but a moment."

After the two went inside, Rudel turned to von Lüttwitz and said, "We have a mutual acquaintance in Dresden."

Seeing von Lüttwitz's raised eyebrow, Rudel continued, "Klaus-Peter Keller, I served with his father in the first war, the Kaiser's War as Mama calls it."

"I see ..."

"I'm sure you don't, but as a businessman, I have many contacts throughout Sachsen and Thüringen. Hauptwachtmeister der VP⁵ Keller said to give you this, should you pass this way. He was sure you would."

Rudel removed a small packet of documents from his coat pocket and handed it to von Lüttwitz.

Von Lüttwitz gave them a quick glance and then put them away.

"Where did you get these? These are worth a fortune."

The documents now in von Lüttwitz's pocket were blank identity papers, East German identity papers.

Rudel looked von Lüttwitz in the eye, "Klaus-Peter has contacts in Berlin, former soldiers and the like who found work with the Soviets and the new government. For certain considerations they can provide other things. Things of value that I'm sure the Gehlen Organization could make good use of, for certain considerations I can get such things to the west."

"For money," von Lüttwitz stated flatly.

"I'm a businessman, but I'm also a patriot. I can get things to the West, for a price, I can bring things into the East for my Fatherland."

"I can't promise anything."

"I know, now come on, let's eat."

¹ Bavaria

² Damned Russians.

³ Saxony

⁴ Thuringia

⁵ Chief Constable of the People's Police (Volkspolizei)