Chapter 162
Blooming of Evil (1)
A past that now felt like the distant ancient days.
Adolf Hitler could still never forget that day.
“We… have been defeated.”
“What are you talking about?”
“A revolution has broken out back home! The Kaiser has been driven out, the Empire has collapsed. We… we lost the war.”
Leaving behind the fools joking about finally being able to go home, Hitler broke down in tears.
“Cowards who never even stepped onto the battlefield got a little hungry, fell for agitation, and stole our victory!!”
“Hey, Adolf.”
“This is a deception! The bastards who threw us into those hellish trenches—how could they! How could they overthrow the nation?! Then what the hell were we fighting for all this time?!”
Why had they been defeated?
Here were soldiers still full of spirit, weapons still in their hands, and the enemy hadn’t even reached them—so how could they have lost?
Hitler could not see the men rejoicing, praying in gratitude to God that they could return home.
He could not see that there were no bullets left to load into his rifle.
He could not see that before the Allies ever reached him, the proud Imperial Army would starve to death for lack of even sawdust to eat.
He could not see.
He did not want to see.
Because he could not accept that, for four years, both the dead and the living in those rotting trenches had been reduced to something less than beasts.
Clinging to illusion instead of truth, the art-loving corporal—who adored Wagner and devoured Schopenhauer—returned not to his birthplace of Austria, but to Munich.
But Munich was anything but peaceful.
In that chaotic city teeming with communists, Jews, revolution, counterrevolution, suppression, and partisans, he finally found a new calling.
A war veteran with a gleaming Iron Cross, brimming with confidence, and possessed of a strange yet captivating way with words.
Thus Hitler joined the National Socialist German Workers’ Party, and his grand struggle to reform what he saw as a decadent and degenerate Germany began.
Then one day—
As always, while he stood in a beer hall cursing Jews and communists and loudly proclaiming the superiority of the German people, a drunken heckler shouted:
“Hey, mustache guy. Are we really that great?”
“Yes! The German people are—!”
“I fought in those damned trenches from the very start of the war. You know who scared me the most? The U.S. 93rd Division. The 93rd.”
“…What?”
“You know Yujin Kim, right? Attila’s fist. After you’ve fought that black unit led by a yellow guy, try talking about the greatness of the German race again. Just thinking about it still makes me piss myself! Hahaha!”
“Hahahahaha!!!”
The citizens of Munich burst into laughter and returned to their beer.
Hitler understood instinctively.
If he stayed silent here, he would never again command attention from a crowd.
He didn’t care how some defeated soldier, crushed by a disgusting “yellow monkey,” comforted himself—but as a speaker and debater, he had to refute even nonsense like this.
“Yujin Kim is not a German, of course! But he is an Aryan!”
“What?”
“Don’t you read the newspapers? Yujin Kim is said to be a descendant of the Chinese imperial family! A descendant of Genghis Khan! That means Aryan blood—blood that once ruled Eurasia—flows through his veins!
It’s not that Germany lacked talented individuals like Yujin Kim! We lost because of those damned Junkers—men like Groddeck who treated our soldiers like chess pawns and cared nothing for the horrors of the trenches! Even the superior German race cannot win if incompetent leaders sit above them! Am I wrong?!”
“Uh… well…”
“Remember this clearly! Our victory was stolen! By those Jews! Those communists! Those Junkers! It wasn’t because Yujin Kim was superior! Our German soldiers—all born of noble blood—were stabbed in the back and perished! If only we had been given the chance! If only there had been no traitors!”
At some point, the people had put down their beer mugs and were staring at him.
This was it.
Exactly this.
Which nerves to strike to command an audience.
Where to stir pride, and where to shift the shame of defeat onto traitors.
That was how he began to take root.
***
Hitler believed there must be a white-horse-riding Übermensch who would save Germany.
At first, he thought the hero of Tannenberg, Ludendorff, was the one destined for that throne.
But Ludendorff showed pitiful weakness during the Nazi coup attempt, and such a worm could never be a superman.
For years, Hitler searched for a shining German star—like Mussolini in Italy, or Yujin Kim in America.
Why had the German people not been granted such a great leader?
After long endurance and endless contemplation, Hitler finally found that great leader.
One stormy day, as he looked into a mirror to shave his mustache, he saw him—
The white-horse-riding Übermensch who would save Germany.
Yes.
Only he himself—Adolf Hitler—was destined to save Germany. Why had it taken him so long to realize it?
From that moment, Hitler grew once more.
With talent, will, effort, and a sense of mission combined, his speeches gained a magnetic pull that seemed to draw people in.
“I understand you. I offer my heartfelt tribute to the German people, who did not falter even through a long war.”
When addressing the masses, he dressed properly in a black suit.
“However! All our efforts were rendered meaningless by the schemes of those Jews seeking to dominate the world! Look at the Protocols of the Elders of Zion! Germans and Jews can no longer live under the same sky!”
When dealing with fanatical Nazi followers, he dressed in the brown party uniform and spoke more radically than ever.
“To you—the future and guiding lights of our fatherland! To you, the young shoots of this nation, uncorrupted by the decadence and depravity filling Germany! I promise you this—when you step into society, you will live with a home, a job, and pride. I will prepare everything for you!”
When addressing intellectuals and university students, he adopted the tone of a dignified patriarch worthy of respect.
“Antisemitism, you say? Heh. How many Jews have come from Eastern Europe? They take jobs and drive up housing prices—some degree of restraint is unavoidable. I merely value social stability.”
And when facing capitalists, he became a shameless opportunist, ready to abandon any belief for money and votes.
No matter who they were, once Adolf Hitler decided to persuade them with time and effort, they eventually opened their hearts.
The Nazi Party, which had begun with only seven members, grew day by day on the strength of his stirring speeches. At last, years of effort bore fruit.
“Listen, Party Leader Hitler… I hesitate to say this, but…”
“It’s all or nothing.”
Chancellor Franz von Papen was a pitiful, worm-like man. It was astonishing someone like him could even rise to lead a nation.
And yet, he had seized the position. How? By flattering President Paul von Hindenburg to perfection.
Speaking with such a man was beneath dignity—but that very talent of coaxing the stubborn old president gave Papen his value.
“Chancellor Papen. A man decisive enough to purge the communists from the Prussian state government—why hesitate now?”
“Ahem. That was done purely out of national necessity.”
The hypocrisy almost made Hitler laugh, but before he spoke, Dr. Joseph Goebbels calmly stepped in.
“If the Centre Party and the Social Democrats submit a vote of no confidence, Your Excellency’s political career will be finished. You understand that continuing in power is no longer feasible, don’t you?”
“W-what nonsense! The President trusts me! How dare those without his backing speak of my position!”
“This is, after all, a so-called democracy. The President may appoint you, but if you wish to remain in office, you must secure the people’s votes. Buy them, beg for them… or compromise.”
As Goebbels flicked his tongue like a snake, Papen’s ears perked up.
“The chancellor’s seat… I—”
“That’s enough, Chancellor!”
Bang!!
Hitler slammed the table, and Papen flinched.
“I’ll make a final offer. I become Chancellor. You become Vice Chancellor and Governor of Prussia. We won’t be greedy. The Nazi Party will take just two cabinet posts. The rest can go to others.”
“But if I’m not Chancellor, His Excellency—”
“That damned ‘His Excellency’! Think in broader terms! How many years does that old man have left? If you want to keep playing politics, you need to prove yourself now!”
“Join hands with us. The Party Leader never abandons his allies.”
Papen hesitated.
Not out of patriotic concern over handing such power to this mustached agitator—but calculating how long he himself could stay in power.
If he backed the Nazis now, could he secure a future as a minister… or head of a state enterprise?
But what if Hitler failed within a few years, as others said? Would he go down with him?
“Decide. We don’t have time.”
“Fine! Fine! You’ll be Chancellor. I’ll persuade the President myself.”
“I look forward to working with you, Vice Chancellor von Papen.”
Moments after Papen scurried out of the room, Hitler let out an exclamation.
“Dr. Goebbels—we’ve done it!”
“Congratulations, my Führer.”
“Now it’s time to get rid of that disgusting institution called elections. First, we take Prussia.”
“I’ll have Hermann Göring move immediately.”
Papen would sit as Governor of Prussia, while Göring would become head of the state police.
Until now, Nazi stormtroopers had been beaten into dust by police batons and guns—but now, the “staff of the people” would become the staff of the Nazis, a fine tool for cracking the skulls of communists and Jews.
“And Ernst Röhm and Heinrich Himmler?”
“They’ve already begun scouting suitable sites.”
“Good. Communists—and Jews. Let’s sweep away these cancerous elements of society.”
It still wasn’t enough.
He was still hungry.
To truly save Germany, the chancellorship was only the beginning.
It was merely the moment a legendary hero pulled a sword from stone. He had gained the sacred blade, gathered allies—now it was time to slay the dragon.
“We must seize the army.”
“That’s still…”
“Try persuading Yujin Kim. Appeal to him—once—for our cause.”
Goebbels almost blurted out “Will that even work?” but swallowed the words at the last second.
“He isn’t even German to begin with. Wouldn’t it be better to work with pro-Nazi figures like von Blomberg—”
“How can I trust those Junkers?! Remember this—if they had been competent, we would never have suffered the humiliation of Versailles! I will make them tremble before the people! Just watch!”
“…Understood.”
This country was too corrupted.
Communists, Jews, the disabled, bloated Junkers, pig-like capitalists, parasites living off welfare, degenerate artists, women stepping out of line—
He despised them all.
“From now on, everything must be remade.”
For Germany to become truly great—
A great many sacrifices were required.
He had never once forgotten that truth since 1918.