HELP for Friedrich's novel...

Hello, everyone!

As some of you know, I'm currently writing a large-scale project in the form of an historical novel which starts in 1934 and sees the whole development of the nazi régime and many of the great battles of WWII.

After a lot of investigation, I still have doubts that some dramatic stuff are unrealistic or that some very specific dates are not compatible with reality. I think you guys can help me with it.

I know you will laugh because some of the dramatic stuff being mixed with reality. I know you don't like that very much, but it's the price you'll pay for having Friedrich here!
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First, when did the SS Junkerschule - officer candidate school - was created and started operating?

Second, when did the SS Wachsverbände changed its name to Totenkopfverbände and what did Theodor Eicke have to do with this? By this time, did some of its men made parades and ceremonial stuff in the party rallies and meetings as did the LAH and other SS units?

Is it possible that an ex French Foreign Legion officer, who had saved the life of the just appointed German chancellor, Adolf Hitler, would have been accepted in the Stosstruppe Berlin - later LSSAH?

I know that Hitler's afinity with this man, highly decorated and born in Braunau am Inn too would have been great. Not to mention that the man saved Hitler's life in some fiction-assassination-attempt, so he could very easily order: "I want him taking care of my back".

But I can see some objections on Himmler's part because this man - though of complete aryan looks and with aristocratic surname - has a very dubtious past and a Siryan-Lebanese grandfather. But there's no way to track this man's 'criminal' record because those are French police records.

The main problem is Himmler accepting him, because I know Sepp Dietrich wouldn't have wanted him, since he didn't have the height and other standards recquired in the future LSSAH.

I don't think I was clear enough, but if you want I can make a far more detailed description on my main character so you can advice me. :=

Thank you very much!

 

Checking on the data later on in my books but others can and should do the same as I cannot be sure I´ll find it.

Anyway, I don´t think it´s too much of a problem to make the character "alive". If Hitler wanted him I´m sure he would have gotten him in the position he wanted. wasn´t it Himmler who said "We decided who´s a jew and who´s not" so the background may not be a problem. The again the height might be if you considered the early stages of LAH. So maybe you should add to the height. And maybe you should make the character a competitor with Dietrich instead of a Komrade...

 

Thanks for the response, Kai!

The character's name is Omar von Reit and he's supossed to have been born in Braunau in 1909. Blond, blue-eyed, but with scars and not-enough height to fit Dietrich's recquirements.

But I think that 5 years of service in the Legion, achieving the rank of captain plus the: Légion d'Honneur, Médaille Militair and Croix de Guerre, plus saving the Führer's life is enough to make him an officer in the LSSAH, no matter what's his background, right?

 

Sounds to me like "tall boy" Dietrich is ending up as a concentration camp guard here...

 

Come on, guys! (You'll get your credit in the foreword!)

Carl, Martin, Bish, Andy, Knight, Patrick, Jeff, Nine, Erich, OTF, T.A., Gordon, Red, Stevin, Sapper...?

 

Well, I'm struggling a bit...I've been searching for the history of the SS-Junkerschule at Bad Tolz but can find no conclusive reference as to when it was established/built.....

 

I remember when we spoke about your book before Freddy, I liked it. I also remember I suggested exercising some caution on making your characters, (I think it was just about all of them), too intricate and colourful else it may detract from the story?

No.9

 

Thanks for the help, gentlemen!

I asked because in Chapter VII there is SS captain Von Reit —the saviour of the Führer— who takes his friend for a walk and shows him the SS Junkerschule at Bad Tölz where he had some three months of instruction. This happens in half February 1934. I am afraid it could be too early for the school to be running already.

Nine, and I did listen to your advices. I changed some of the things about the characters you suggested.

I'll bring the initial synopsis later, for the first chapters. I only need more members to participate in this thread! Quorum!

 

Glad if I’ve been of any service Freddy. Glad you stuck with the project.

No.9

 

Here´s some answers Friedrich:

SS Junkerschule at Bad Tölz started in October 1934.

Wachsverbänce changed its name to Totenkopfverbände on 29th march 1936 as they were allowed to wear new collar patches with death´s head.I didn´t find Eicke´s reasons for certain but he seems to have been making a new kind of army that fought against the enemies of the state all night and day!!. He wanted to make the definite line between the other armed forces and his forces all the time.

Requirement for Stosstruppe Berlin: PARTY MEMBER whose loyalty was first and foremost to Hitler himself! Persons like Hess, Dietrich.

 

Here´s a list of SS-Stabswache in 1933, the names etc that were included for you to see what kinda people were in it.

http://www.geocities.com/~orion47/SS-POLIZEI/SS-StabswacheRoster.htm

Quite interesting I think.

 

Thank you very much, Kai! That's exactly what I needed!

I think then I'll have to make some deep changes in the story...

I think I will make Mr. Von Reit a simple bodyguard, an enlisted man or even a corporal serving in the SS Stosstruppe 'Berlin' and then in the Leibstandarte. Then, after the 'night of the long knives' and the creation of the officer school I will make him to go in there and become an SS officer. Then promoted very rapidly by order of the Führer.

Now, a question for our militaria guys. In early 1934, this man would be wearing the dreaded black uniform of the SS as an enlisted man in the Leibstandarte?

 

Not sure if this will help you or not Friedrich, but there's a book that I saw called:

In Perfect Formation: SS Ideology and the SS-Junkerschule-Tolz by Jay Hathaway...

you might want to check it out? I'll see if any of the history people I know have it and if they do I'll let you know.

DUCE

 

Well, finally here’s the synopsis of my novel to this point. I’d like you to carefully read it, imagine it and please, feel free to comment anything about it.
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The whole story starts on April 1945 when the main character, Friedrich Baron von Jolly has just been promoted to field marshal. He’s an old and bittered man who’s completely destroyed by life. He’s now suffering some strange decease which makes him forget a lot of things and his hands shiver —he’ll never know that he was suffering from Alzheimer and Parkinson deceases. At that moment he close his eyes and the story takes us all back to where and when it all began, to Cologne in early February 1934.

The main character —as I said— is Friedrich von Jolly, a nobleman —a baron—, a very rich businessman and a very famous and respected writer. He’s then forty-eight and is still a very attractive, wise and classy man. He’s the perfect dandy intellectual man. He has written many novels and many other historical works —in a Churchill style— of many volumes in French and German. Despite his obvious literary genius, he’s not held in high regard by the new régime; maybe as much as Mann, Freud, Zweig or Remarque. But he still was a nobleman, a powerful industrialist and an apolitical —even if completely anti-nazi— and reserved intellectual friend of President Von Hindenburg.

In 1930 he lost his wife, who died giving birth to his seventh son and this has altered his mind severely. He now depended a lot on alcohol and was persuaded to get back into the Army because his professional and remarkable combat record: he won the Pour Le Mérite at Verdun. He does join the Army again and becomes a major and a battalion commander despite he was very severely wounded and deeply changed psychologically during the Great War.

The novel also starts when Von Jolly’s daughter: Anna is about to marry a thirty-four-year-old Bavarian man named Viktor Kastre, who was a doctor in Physics, II lieutenant in the Army and a war veteran. The environment is full with wedding planning and engagement parties.

Mr. Kastre’s friend happens to be a handsome twenty-three-year-old Austrian who is part of Hitler’s bodyguards corps: the Leibstandarte SS ‘Adolf Hitler’. His name is Omar von Reit and is a highly decorated former member of the French Foreign Legion, who in a brief trip to Berlin he casually saved Adolf Hitler’s life during a fiction assassination attempt.

In the second chapter I portray a party in a jazz nightclub in Cologne. Viktor Kastre, his fiancée Anna, Omar von Reit and Von Jolly’s eldest daughter, Konstanze assist. During the party, SA members sneak into the saloon and ‘officially close’ the nightclub because of playing "degenerated music". The SA men beat Viktor and Omar saves the night beating the SA men by himself and threatening them. [Here I want to make very clear how the SA was out of control at the time].

Then Omar meets Friedrich von Jolly, his favourite writer ever —he is a very talented poet himself— and finds out the tormented soul of a man, full of secrets and contradictions. He first has to bear Von Jolly’s rejection towards him —because he’s an SS officer— and Von Jolly’s fifteen-year-old son, Ferdinand, who rapidly falls in love with the young Omar.

Then the following chapters we slowly but detaily observe the Von Jollys’ personalities, education and manners. All characters are developing in the story. As this happens we see how all are being slowly but decisively affected by the nazification of Germany. They have to bear the SA’s violence, the party’s racist and unfair measures and Friedrich von Jolly has to bear how his highly acclaimed books are publicly removed from libraries and shops and burnt. Jewish friends all face exile and Von Jolly is now getting weaker and weaker as his demons chase him.

Then there’s the wedding of Viktor and Anna, the greatest social event in Cologne that year, many important and very prominent people assist —except the ones most directly threatened by the nazis, e. g. Freud— among them, a British nobleman, officer in His Majesty’s Army, a theatre producer and business man called Marc A. Wayne and his family —he’s married to a Russian woman, cousin of the Czar Nicholas II— who is Friedrich’s best friend. [He is going to be the eyes to see the development of British history during the novel].

After the wedding Omar von Reit has to go back alongside the Führer, leaving his relation with his literary idol without even starting and an impossible love with young Ferdinand. Viktor and Anna have a nice honeymoon in the far east and Friedrich makes a journey to Spain and Great Britain to finish the research for his last novel: one about the impossible love of Elizabeth I and Philip II.

Then on the night of June 30th 1934 we see how the ‘hero’ of the novel, Omar becomes a cold-blooded murderer during the blood purge of the SA. [The novel has its first action sequence and then we are going to see how Germany keeps changing by the death of President Von Hindenburg, by the extension of Himmler’s powers, etc. The characters are now complete enough in their personalities and are now starting to form the novel’s real trama].

In 1935 Omar von Reit saves the life of general Göring during a visit to a fabric, preventing some metal piece from hitting Göring’s head. The latter promises unconditional help to the young Austrian whenever he needs it. Soon he needs it because he finds Friedrich von Jolly’s files on Himmler’s desk. He soon realises that if the SS Reichsführer finds out that Von Jolly has a lot of money in Switzerland, that he had been helping Jews, that he has numerous records of homosexual activities and relationships and liaisons with the German Socialist Party, added to his hostile intellectual tendencies against the régime, he’s condemned. Omar steals the files and asks Göring to ban them from Earth. Which he does, not before gently forcing Von Jolly to use his factories and firms exclusively for manufacturing Luftwaffe equipment and to give the party and the Luftwaffe millionaire ‘contributions’. Von Jolly sells his soul to Satan.

In 1936 Omar finishes his officer training at Bad Tölz and is given by the Führer his former rank in the Legion: captain. But Omar is tired of SS environment: illiterate officers and men and nonsense ideology. He then is dismissed with honours from the SS and joins the Army as a captain and battalion commander, in one of the Army’s best regiments: Von Jolly’s.

Here the two men finally know each other properly and not much time passes before they become secret lovers. In 1937 they both are going to travel all around Europe and Africa. Omar finally gets true love for the first time in his life and Friedrich is absolutely revitalised: he quits drinking, starts writing the best works of his career and is spiritually satisfied for the first time in his life.

1938 sees a lot of political action and the two men have to stop their ‘honeymoon’ because of the international environment. Omar meets his family in the just annexed Austria after many years and all he gets is total rejection from his father. It doesn’t affect him now, because he now moves into Von Jolly’s house and lives quite happily along his beloved, and his ‘adoptive’ ‘brothers’ and ‘sons’ there until September 1939, when the second part of the story begins.

 

Generally I like it...It looks really interesting and I think that by including the love story along with the historical aspect you will draw in a broader audience as well.

When is this going to be completed? I'd love to read it.

DUCE

 

Hi General; I like the idea of the book except for a few items; I did not understand the passage : In 1935 Omar von Reit saves the life of general Göring during a visit to a fabric, preventing some metal piece from hitting Göring’s head. Did you mean a visit to a factory ?

I also did not like the name of the main person von Jolly, could you give him a more German name, more Gothic sounding. Also him having eight kids and being bi-sexual is a bit much. How about one or two kids and bi-sexual ?

Try and keep the plot complex but don't add too many people to keep up with as they did in the book "Sum of All Fears" I had to take notes to keep up with everthing in that book, even though it was very good. Heard the movie was terrible though.

Also explain all the history and politics somehow in the book as few people in the world are as fluenent on German history as you are  Also an explaination of the social setting in mid to late 30's Germany would be nice since many people do not understand the dislike of Jews, gypsies and east Europeans and the Germans not understanding how they lost WWI and the different social classes in that period of Germany such as the Prussians ect.

Also add some history of the German caboret and some stuff on Marlane Dietrich to help add some spice to the book.

 

Freddie,
Generally, it reads ok. It flows, it seems credible.
I was going to agree with TA about Jolly's bisexuality, then I remembered he suffered major psychological trauma in the war which may have altered his perception in that respect.I would agree with TA about making his name sound more German though.
Just a couple of small points, don't take it as nit-picking.
1) Is it possible for Jolly to have had Parkinson's AND ALzheimers? Feel free to correct me, it just seems like overkill (no pun intended!).
2)Kastre seems a bit young to have been a Second Lieutenant in the Great War, but on reflection, perhaps you're planning to weave that in to his being decorated.
All in all, I thought it sounded interesting so far.

Regards,
Gordon

 

I agree with the others, the story seems interesting, but in some way it seems you pile it on a little... and a homosexual German during the 3rd Reich is SO detrited. What about having a nice menage á troi with his wife and a prostitute both being bisexual? But ok, it doesn't match the storyline.

And then, I think you indeed do not have a lucky hand with the names...

von Jolly is not only not German - no name could be less daunting, as Jolly is in German associated with the Jolly Joker playing card.

Kastre - sounds not German, rather Estonian, or Turkish. Well, might be a possible name. But why not some typical name, like Kastner?

And an Austrian with first name "Omar"... well... everything is possible... but don't you think to overegg the pudding?!

Is your main priority to tell a story, or to describe the situation?

 

Hi Friedrich - basically, I echo the above ( especially about the names....) but basically it looks OK.

BTW, have you read Henry Williamson's novel series, 'A Chronicle Of Ancient Sunlight' ? It consists of 16 books (! ) several of which are set during WW1.

I only ask because it may help you with ideas of how to develop many different, complex characters in parallel. Although written as a 'novel', it is semi-autobiographical as Williamson fought in WW1, was mentally unbalanced by the war and later came to admire Hitler in the 1930s. For this reason Williamson was later branded a 'fascist' and his work is largely overlooked today.

I'm not for one moment suggesting you write 16 books ( unless you feel like it, of course ! ). But Williamson's descriptive power, development of character, and handling of controversial themes of sexuality are well worth considering.

 

That's exactly the kind of help I needed.

And of course, in the second part of the novel there I'll need you even more. So Friedrich doesn't write in his novel that the Luftwaffe was shooting down the last five British Spitfires...

And now, I'll explain your doubts, why I made such things and what I want to portrait.

I hope to have it finished by half 2005. But many things can happen...

Factory, yes! Excuse me. Let's say a planes factories —Heinkel, Jukers, whatever.

About the names. That's probably the more fantastic aspect of the novel. My characters are almost all based in real people —friends, family, etc.— and I had to germanise their mostly Spanish names.

And Von Jolly is of course a very ungerman name, in fact is is completely English... … and I am thinking about changing it. But it sounded nice and I wanted to give Friedrich von Jolly a little more than the name and personality of the very author. I could use my own 'aristocratic', long and snobbish name, Von Hammerstein und Hartmann but it's rather awkward... And as my moher's surname is Jolly I think it could fit.

But I'm opened to name suggestions.

Here's another very complex aspect of my troubled-mind... It is precisely made to make to mischievously confuse the reader a little bit. Von Jolly was gay all throughout his life, but to innherite his father's millions, tittles and properties he had to marry an aristocratic girl, breed chidren and have a military career. This explains why he has so many demons in his head. He wanted to be a boehemian gay artist living in Paris but he was forced to become a soldier, family and business man. Luckily he married his best friend, a low-aristocratic German woman only a year younger than him who needed money, higher social position and cover for her homosexuality —she too! Therefore, because of social duty, mutual confidence and a sincere —if not extreme and passional— love they incredibly managed to breed eight children to this world —remember that even in those times sexual intercourse wasn't necessarily needed to get a woman pregnant.

This sounds really too fictional and shows that Friedrich was smoking something else than tobacco when he invented all that and again, I'm opened to suggestions.

I only want to be clear that those seven children are going to be our eyes to many historical aspects during the novel and that are the only reason why Friedrich doesn't shoot himself. He desperately loves his chidren and is a good, even if spoiling father. And the death of his 'wife' affected him so much because he lost his closest friend and companion, not his sexual partner and besides the situation of her death caused him a trauma.

That is why the development of the characters and story takes so long, because I've carefully and not cientifically explained all the things you mention —and more— during the first stages of the novel, included in the story and seen by the characters. I, as the narrator don't say things like this, by example: "In January 30th 1933 Hitler became chancellor", but make a whole chapter in which people is in the streets, characters read the papers and listen to the radio and then have talks. Through dialogues and situations the reader is learning very detailed history. [Or that's what I'm trying...]

You'll have to wait for the second part, when the characters celebrate the German victory in 1940 in the Moulin Rouge!

Yes, medically speaking one person can develop both deceases simultaneously. But I think Alzheimer is horrible enough... OK, Parkinson's out! Deleted from the novel. Thanks, Gordon.

Here I have to clearify, that Viktor Kastre reached only the rank of corporal during WWI, but joined the Army and went to the Military Academy in Munich and graduated as II lieutenant in 1933. (I guess he seemed very weird among 19-year-old classmates...)

But NOT TWO HIGH-RANKING OFFICERS IN THE MIDDLE OF THE GREATEST BATTLES IN HISTORY.

And what about if his grandfather is a Syrian-Lebanese? —though he dosn't seem Arab at all.

As I said, is describing a situation —European History in this period— through the story.

Thanks for the book suggestion, Martin!

And please, I repeat that I'm completely opened for comments, critics, additions, remarks, requests, eveything! That's why I posted this here!