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Praetorium Honoris

Tuesday, March 12, 2024

The Farm

Walter Ulbricht visits the "Red Banner" production cooperative in Trinwillershagen.
Bundesarchiv
(Source)
Von Lüttwitz stretched as the bus drove off. He watched as it rolled down the road, he figured that the shock absorbers on that bus had last been serviced in the '30s. His back had felt every mile on the road from Leipzig.

"You there!"

He turned, the voice had been in barely understandable German. Of course, here he was, in the land of his birth being accosted by a Soviet soldier. But the man seemed furtive, looking around as if were doing something he shouldn't.

"What?" was all von Lüttwitz said.

The soldier looked around again, then at von Lüttwitz, "Sigareta?¹"

Von Lüttwitz was about to shake his head and tell the man he didn't smoke, then he remembered. Someone, he couldn't remember who, had advised him to buy some cigarettes in the first East German town he visited. While he didn't smoke, one could often bargain with the lower ranking Russians with cigarettes.

Von Lüttwitz grinned and reached into his coat, he pulled out a pack which he had purposely removed a few cigarettes from to make the pack look used. He pulled one out and handed it to the soldier.

The soldier smiled and shook his head, then he held up three fingers. Von Lüttwitz noticed that the man's mouth was full of metal, classic Soviet dental work.

After handing over the cigarettes, the soldier thanked him, again in really bad German, then walked back to a small sentry box that Von Lüttwitz hadn't noticed before.

"Were the bastards everywhere?" he muttered under his breath.


There were two roads leading off of the main highway, the one the sentry box sat next to, which was cobbled, and another, dirt, which he knew led to his uncle's farm. As he started walking, the smell of manure was heavy in the air. The farmers were prepping their fields for the spring planting.

As he walked he wondered if his uncle was even still alive. The last he had heard from him was in the early winter of 1945. He knew that his cousins were home from the war, one minus a leg, the other minus his sanity. The letter had been unclear on that, perhaps his uncle was talking about shell shock and was trying to avoid anything which the Gestapo² might take umbrage with.

He turned a bend in the dirt road and saw his uncle's farm house. He could discern a man harnessing a horse to what appeared to be a plow. He could see someone else, sitting on a chair near the front door, a man with one leg?


"People are saying that we'll be forced to join the collective when it's mandated across the country." Herbert Lüttwitz said as he shifted himself in the chair. His missing leg still ached at times.

"Das sind ungelegte Eier.³" Kurt Lüttwitz said to his eldest son.

"Vati, someone's coming down the road." Herbert shaded his eyes as he looked. Then he grabbed his crutches and began to move towards the figure on the road.

"It's Jürgen, Vati. I'd know that walk if I saw it from a thousand meters!"

The elder of the Lüttwitz's stopped what he was doing and stared. When he saw his son hugging the man on the road, and being hugged in return, he knew it had to be his younger brother's son.

"Mutti! We have company for dinner!" Herbert shouted as he ran to greet his nephew.


As the family sat down to eat, Jürgen couldn't help but notice that the interior of the farmhouse was missing many of the precious knickknacks that his aunt loved to collect. He didn't want to ask what had happened to them, afraid it might upset her.

She noticed anyway, "Don't fret my nephew. We sold or traded many of the little things we kept around the house when the Russians came. We were lucky, the men who came here were more interested in getting a crop in so that they could feed their soldiers. Terrible things happened in the cities but not here."

"Annaliese Krupinski was raped over in Reinsberg, Mutti. How can you say nothing happened?" Herbert protested.

"Yes, and they shot the soldier who did it. We're farmers, we work the land, we feed the people, even the bloody Bolsheviks understand that. Cause unrest and crops don't get sown and people don't eat. The local commander understands these things." Kurt Lüttwitz barked at his son.

Herbert shrugged, he was tired of arguing with his father. He turned to Jürgen, "We thought you were dead, Junge. A telegram from the Army said that you were missing in action. What happened?"

Von Lüttwitz wasn't sure if he should tell that story, how he had surrendered his battalion in the late stages of the war rather than see more of his men die.

"We were surrounded in the ruins of Köln, most of my men were dead, or missing, all of my vehicles had been destroyed. There was no hope, the Amis mopped us up and into the cage we went."

"I read about those," Herbert said, "the Russians made a big deal out of it. Inhumane treatment, caged like animals, that's what they said at any rate."

"They were bad, make no mistake, but the western Allies had no idea of the number of prisoners they would have on their hands when resistance collapsed."

Von Lüttwitz shrugged, "The war is over, I've put that behind me."

"Do you plan on staying here, in Saxony?"

"I don't know, there is nothing left for me here. But there is nothing in the West either."

"Stay with us, work the farm with me," Kurt suggested, "Herbert can't manage it, not with one leg, and Heinz ..."

The older man paused and looked out a window before continuing, "Heinz is in an institution, in Dresden. The war, I don't know, unhinged him. He sits all day, staring at nothing. He awakens in the night, screaming. In his mind, the war hasn't ended. It never will end."

Herbert chimed in, "I visited him last month. The doctors keep him sedated, he sits and stares ..."

"And shits himself." Kurt added, deeply angry.

His wife snapped, "Enough of that in my house, Vati."

"Ja, ja, sorry Mutti. But it is true. Ah, forgive us Jürgen, we are bad hosts. Can you stay?"

"Certainly, but only for a couple of days. I have business in Dresden, then I must return to the West. The Amis have a hold on me, they want this little thing taken care of. If I refuse, they report me to the Soviets. No doubt I would then be transported to Siberia, or shot."

Kurt looked alarmed, "But why, you were captured by the Amis ..."

Herbert interrupted his father, "Jürgen invaded the Soviet Union, yes, with millions of others, but the Soviets don't care. To them he is a war criminal. The only reason I was released was ..."

Herbert's mother spoke again, "That's enough, Herbert."

"No, it isn't Mutti, it will never be enough. You see Jürgen, after I was wounded, I joined the Reds. I hated Hitler and his ilk, and not just because of the loss of my leg, I saw what they, what WE did in the East. I thought the Reds would be different."

Von Lüttwitz shrugged, "They are but two sides of the same coin."

"Exactly. But it helped my parents keep their farm. Do you know that Ulbricht and his gang of thugs plan to collectivize the farms in the DDR? Ours is small enough that we will be in charge of it still, but the Party will decide what we grow, and how."

"We do what we must to survive." von Lüttwitz answered his cousin. "We can do no more."

To be continued ...




¹ The Russian word for cigarette.
² The German acronym for the Secret State Police, Geheime Staatspolizei.
³ Those are unlaid eggs = We'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

44 comments:

  1. Shuddering with unsaid words.

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    1. Things were pretty grim in Eastern Europe after the war. Same sort of knuckleheads wants that for the US of A.

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  2. An engaging storyline Sarge, looking forward to this one also. Jürgen has more tribulations to experience curtesy of the Reds........(sigh).

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  3. "Von Lüttwitz shrugged, "They are but two sides of the same coin."

    "Exactly. But it helped my parents keep their farm. Do you know that Ulbricht and his gang of thugs plan to collectivize the farms in the DDR? Ours is small enough that we will be in charge of it still, but the Party will decide what we grow, and how."

    "We do what we must to survive." von Lüttwitz answered his cousin. "We can do no more."

    Deep thoughts about what happens when you lose the war.

    Caused shuddering with the reports of Haiti gangs, the Chicago Gangs NoGo zones, the NYC and such gangs "gifted" to us from the prisons of South America into the USA. Defunding and demoralizing the police to the point that some Police Departments are getting beaten up in the streets arresting illegals just to see them released in an hour (literally) and Purge Level Police stations CLOSING in the wee hours. Yeah, they are still "patrolling" with a few cars but tell me just how much would you do IF there is NO BACKUP until "normal Business hours" in a major city.

    War doesn't always mean bombs and armies. Sometimes they are economic and social.

    Sorry for the bummer thoughts this am. Not popular, easier to talk about problems ober there.

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    1. Rereading this I remember what "gift" is in German.

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    2. Michael #1 - Yes, we are at war, with parts of the Federal gubmint.

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    3. Yes, "Gift" in German is not good.

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    4. What am I missing with the German word for "gift?"

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    5. Joe - Not the German word for "gift." The actual German word "Gift."

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    6. Michael - Joe thought we meant Geschenk.

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  4. "Two sides of the same coin", I'm familiar with that! Good story...

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  5. It's always the little people who suffer, no matter what side of the coin they are on.

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    1. Until humanity evolves beyond having these so-called "elites," the little guy will always suffer.

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  6. And soon we may find that all animals are equal, but some are more equal...
    Post war German, pre-reunification is a very blank chapter, at least to me, so enjoying learning from this. (Even in historical fiction there is fair amount of history.
    JB

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    1. There are a couple of fairly good articles on Wikipedia in German about the drive to collectivize in the East. Driven by Stalin and supported by Ulbricht and his lot. Not happy times.

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  7. I read a good comparison of Communism and Nazism as evil twin sisters.

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    1. Tyranny by any name is still tyranny.

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    2. They are both totalitarian regimes, just one dresses better and hides the government control better.

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    3. Neither one cared at all about hiding government control.

      The "better dressed Nazis" theme is overdone.

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  8. I throw in a couple of other political systems and say different faces of the same die.
    On A Cowboy Action Shooting forum one of the members mentioned that his father flew fighers in WWII and didn't like it when his unit transitioned from Me 109s to FW 190s, but had enough seniority to get his 109 back. He went on about the conditions in post war East Germany and their escape in 1948. Matches pretty well with what you wrote .

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    1. Erich Hartmann (352 kills) kept his "Hundert-Neun" until the end of the war.

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    2. I would not have been enthusiastic about engaging Mr Hartmann in his ME-109 and me in my Eagle. Experience has a way of overcoming better technology. Not always but frequently. Assuming Visual ID Was required of course.
      juvat

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    3. Like they say, it's the man, not the machine.

      If visual ID not required? Auf Wiedersehen, Erich!

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  9. Very good story, Sarge, well written. A bit depressing but with knowledge of it going away in about 50 years. Also a bit scary as some of the actions I recognize going on here.
    juvat

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  10. Crusty Old TV Tech here. I can see that farm in Saxony now, hear the family talking. It makes me want to hear more, see where the rabbit hole leads in the DDR or FRG for Jurgen. Not all war stories have battles in them.

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    1. I based that scene on memories of sitting around my maternal grandmother's kitchen on her farm. This story is starting to pull me in as well. Hopefully I can keep it going.

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  11. History may rhyme, and even be poetic; pretty is rarely part of it.

    I saw a news thing about an influx of very fit Chinese, and remembered the fictional war between Earth and Grainee in Mike Williamson's "Freehold" and "The Weapon". This USA is not yet that USA, but our society is that fragile. Collapse several of the largest towers in each state ... no nukes or airliners required. We lose.

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    1. I like to remind myself that totalitarian regimes never win in the long run. They have built in flaws. You'd think our species would learn that over time. But those who seek such power always tell themselves, "this time will be different," and it never is.

      But in the meantime the innocent suffer, thousands die and the dictatorship still falls. Only to rinse and repeat 30 years down the road.

      Only the dead have seen the end of war.

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  12. "I thought the Reds would be different."
    Von Lüttwitz shrugged, "They are but two sides of the same coin."

    Keen observation Sarge - and it often puts me into the mind of those who seek to elevate one group over another in any system. Are they really that different, or have they just convinced themselves of that?

    Like many things, I wish people would study their history more - especially now, that we have so much more of it available after The Fall of the Iron Curtain. It struck me as I read this that I was probably one of the last year of political science majors that studied Communist Eastern Europe and Communist Structures in Eastern Europe both as subject and from the view of the Cold War; as I was finishing my BA, the Wall had fallen.

    Very good, very thought provoking writing.

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    1. It's a very interesting period as the Soviets try to build their "socialist paradise" in Russia by raping eastern Europe. Of course, they failed.

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    2. I also studied the old COMINTERN and the pre-war Reds in Eastern Europe. It was kind of stunning what happened to all the old hardline nationalist reds when the Red Army rolled over them. Pauker and her gang were lucky, most of them were simply shot out of hand.

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    3. There comes a time when the "useful idiots" are no longer useful.

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  13. Smart Germans buried family treasures before the Soviets came. Smarter Germans didn't acknowledge that they had buried treasures. Even smarter Germans used them to get the heck out if they could.

    The Red Army was rather vindictive and grasping, with minimal control by officers, often spurred on in their actions by the political officers. Dark times for all of Eastern Europe.

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    1. The Soviet front line troops were rather well-disciplined compared to the support troops who came after them.

      Modern fiction likes to give the political officers lots of control, in combat units they were frequently ignored. Those who didn't like being ignored were often victims of "friendly" fire. The rear echelons weren't nearly as well led. Fortunately, there weren't many of them as the Soviets tended to have a very small (compared to western armies) logistical tail.

      But bottom line: can you blame the Russians for being vindictive? Yes, they brought it upon themselves with their pact with Hitler concerning Poland, but the common folk had no part in that. It's always the little guy who gets screwed.

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  14. Back when I was still at Redstone there was a young Dutch kid I used to go caving with. He used to tell us 'scary' stories about the dread BVDs back in the Netherlands. We all laughed out loud every time he referred to the Dutch secrety police.

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    1. Ah yes, the Binnenlandse Veiligheidsdienst (Homeland Security, not the one created by Dubya.)

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  15. I should probably stick to reading the stories, and not the comments. So much truth and knowledge reminds me of the here and now, and where this country and the world are going, and the horrors that probably await my offspring in the future. Read someplace today that illegal, military age 'immigrants' now outnumber the US military by about 6 to 1. I do not think their primary goal is to find gainful employment, for the most part.

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    1. Beware the media, both sides and all flavors. Remember, they're selling you something and it isn't necessarily the truth.

      Bear in mind that in many countries "military age" men are the most likely to not have jobs. The folks coming in from south of the border, who actually speak Spanish as their native language, probably are seeking work. The Chinese and the Middle Easterners? They're seeking trouble. Hopefully the folks at the border aren't that stupid, though I fear their bosses are.

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    2. Those invaders may outnumber the U.S."military" - such as it is these days - but they don't outnumber armed, trained veterans.
      Boat Guy

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