It was a shame, Karl thought. There were many good young women in the university, young women who should have been churning out the next generation of Germans. And the older women who’d spearheaded the protests in support of the strikers had good connections. They couldn’t be purged as long as their husbands held positions of power and influence. But that would change after Harden’s men had cleared the streets. The unmarried girls would be sent east, where they would become farm wives, while the married women were taught a sharp lesson before being returned to their husbands. They’d never dare go onto the streets again.
And the Reich Council will have no choice, but to back me, he thought, as he rose. There were other preparations to make. I will become the next Fuhrer and save my country from itself.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Albert Speer University, Berlin
16 August 1985
Horst hadn’t been sure if Gudrun would be allowed to return to the university or not, even though she’d been released from jail without charge. Her father might have refused to allow her to return to the university, as several other fathers had apparently done in the wake of the strike and protest movements, or she might simply have been expelled for daring to get arrested in the first place. The university might try to be a little freer than the average school, but there were limits. He was relieved – very relieved – when he saw her entering the university two days after she’d been released, only to discover that half of the lectures they were due to attend had been cancelled.
“I’m glad to see you again,” he said, as they slipped into a meeting room. He wouldn’t have blamed her for taking advantage of the opportunity to drop out of the growing protest movement, but he was pleased to see she hadn’t. “What did your parents say?”
Gudrun winced as she sat down on a hard chair. “My mother apparently joined the crowd after she’d heard I was arrested, even defying my father to do it,” she said. “They bawled me out, then had a huge argument afterwards. Father wanted me to stay home for the next eternity, but mother insisted that I should return to university.”
Horst raised his eyebrows. “Your mother must be a very strong woman,” he said. He sat down next to her, close enough to touch… if she wanted to touch. “Did they impose any conditions on you?”
“Just wanted me to make sure I stuck to my classes and kept my head down,” Gudrun said, rather ruefully. “Father… was not very happy with me. I know he was worried…”
“He had good reason to worry,” Horst pointed out. “Better than he knows.”
Gudrun gave him a sharp look, then leaned forward until her lips were practically brushing his ear. “Is it safe to talk in here?”
“Someone has been sweeping the building and removing all the bugs,” Horst said. He smiled at her stunned expression. “As far as I can tell, there isn’t a bugged room left in the university.”
“The SS must love that,” Gudrun muttered. She kept her lips close to his ear. “Have you had any other orders?”
“Keep an eye out for troublemakers, but otherwise do nothing,” Horst said. “Right now, just about everyone in the university is a troublemaker. There’s going to be a big meeting this afternoon in the cafeteria.”
“I’ll be going,” Gudrun said. “I’m already marked as a troublemaker.”
“You were arrested for being in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Horst reminded her, dryly. “But they’ll use that against you if they catch you causing trouble.”
“I can’t give up now,” Gudrun said. “Are you going to stop me?”
Horst wished he could. It would be simple to ring her father and tell him that Gudrun wasn’t staying out of trouble. She’d be kept home… and he probably wouldn’t see her again, even if she was released after a few weeks of grounding. The thought of her mad at him was almost painful…
Admit it, he told himself, sternly. You’re falling in love with her.
“No,” he said, finally. “But you do realise I’d have to report it? And you’d be at the top of the list because you were already arrested?”
“I understand the risks,” Gudrun said, softly. “I’ve been arrested.”
“It will be worse next time,” Horst hissed. “Gudrun, there are worse things than spending a night in a cell.”
“You forget the bit about being stark naked,” Gudrun snapped. “Is that normal?”
“You’d be amazed at what can be turned into a weapon with a little ingenuity,” Horst said, dryly. “Keeping the prisoners naked not only makes them uncomfortable, it ensures they have problems hiding anything from the guards.”
“Yeah,” Gudrun said. “You promised you’d teach me how to fight.”
Horst flushed. “I’m going to have to give that some thought,” he said. He knew there were SS tutors who specialised in teaching the handful of female SS operatives, yet he’d never met any of them, let alone watched them in action. He’d been pounded mercilessly by his teacher, but the thought of hammering Gudrun like that was intolerable. “How did you do with your exercises in the BDM?”
“Well enough,” Gudrun said. “They never taught us to fight, though.”
“I doubt you have time to learn,” Horst said, reluctantly. There were sparring chambers they could use, on the lower levels, but they weren’t truly private. Taking Gudrun back to the apartment he shared with the other SS operatives would be far too revealing. “Let me sort out where and when we can get together, then we can arrange something.”
“Very well,” Gudrun said. “And now… what’s been happening in my absence?”
“An uneasy peace,” Horst said. “I don’t expect it to last for long.”
Gudrun had never really expected to be grateful to her mother, not after she’d realised she didn’t want to be a housewife, a nurse, or any of the handful of other socially acceptable female professions, but she had to admit that her mother had stood up for her, even when her father had been in a foul mood. The smouldering ache in her backside, the droll reminder that her parents were displeased with her, was nothing compared to the knowledge of just how close she’d come to being locked away in her room until her father found a suitable man. And yet…
She cursed under her breath as she met up with the others and listened. Hilde’s mother was arranging more female groups, trying to set up a hierarchy of women demanding the same rights and freedoms as men, while Leopold’s father was still working with the growing network of strike committees. Clearly, Konrad’s father didn’t believe the government had been beaten either, even though it had conceded the first round. New committees were being set up all time, while experienced workers were sorting out what demands to present to the Reich Council.
“Volker Schulze is planning to run for the Reichstag,” Sven commented. “He’s organising thousands of men to support him.”
Horst looked unimpressed. “How does one even get elected to the Reichstag?”
“Good question,” Sven said. “I looked it up. One can win a seat through being selected by the local party committee. It’s just that most party committees rarely put forward candidates.”